🍳 BREAKFAST
Halloumi and Eggs
Slices of grilled halloumi with fried eggs and fresh tomato, the classic Cypriot breakfast.
Cypriot · easy · serves 2
prep 5 min · cook 10 min
~714 cal · 40g protein · 20g carbs · 56g fat · 4g fiber · 8g sugars · 25g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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is Cyprus's great gift to the world's tables, a firm, salty cheese, traditionally of sheep's and goat's milk, with a very high melting point, so it holds its shape on the grill or in the pan and squeaks pleasingly between the teeth. Protected as a Cypriot product, it is inseparable from the island's identity.
The classic Cypriot breakfast puts it front and centre and keeps everything else simple: slices of pan-fried or grilled until golden and blistered, served with fried eggs, ripe tomato, cucumber, and olives. Warm bread, or a village-style flatbread, is there to mop up the yolk and carry the cheese.
It is fresh, salty, and sustaining, sunshine food that reflects a Mediterranean larder of good cheese, eggs, and vegetables. Unfussy and generous, with eggs is the taste of a Cypriot morning.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 2
- 8 oz cheese, sliced
- 4 eggs
- 2 tomato
- 1 cucumber
- 1/3 cup olives
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lemon
- a few leaves mint
Instructions
- 1Pan-fry the halloumi slices in a little olive oil until golden on both sides.
- 2Fry the eggs (or ready the avocado) in the same pan.
- 3Slice the tomato and cucumber.
- 4Plate the halloumi and eggs with the salad and olives.
- 5Finish with olive oil, a good squeeze of lemon over the halloumi, and mint, and serve with warm bread.
Nicosia tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Nicosia. The spice that marks Cypriot cooking is coriander seed rather than the leaf, crushed into afelia of pork cooked in red wine, into loukaniko sausages, into lountza, and into olives cracked and dressed with lemon. It is the flavour Cypriots themselves name as the island's own.
🗺️
Cyprus. The flavour that marks Cypriot cooking out from Greek and Turkish is coriander seed rather than the leaf, crushed into afelia, pork marinated in red wine, and into loukaniko sausage, lountza and the olives cracked with lemon. Kleftiko takes its name from klefti, thief, and is lamb sealed in a clay oven so no smoke gives it away.
🌍
Europe. Europe has written a great deal of its food into law. A regulation of 1992 created the protected designation of origin and the protected geographical indication, tying a name to a place and a method, and an EU evaluation published in 2021 counted more than three thousand registered names across those schemes, from cheeses and hams down to particular shapes of bread.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Cyprus
SheftaliaHerby caul-wrapped sausages of pork and onion, charcoal-grilled and tucked into pita with salad.
KoupesTorpedo-shaped bulgur shells stuffed with spiced minced meat and onion, fried crisp, a favorite Cypriot snack-lunch.
LoukoumadesAiry fried dough puffs soaked in honey syrup and dusted with cinnamon, an ancient sweet loved across Cyprus.
Browse all Cyprus recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
Make it a Cyprus meal
Cypriot Brandy SourDrink
LoukoumadesDessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Halloumi and Eggs?
Slices of grilled halloumi with fried eggs and fresh tomato, the classic Cypriot breakfast.
Where does Halloumi and Eggs come from?
Halloumi and Eggs is a Cypriot dish from Nicosia, Cyprus.
Can Halloumi and Eggs be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Halloumi and Eggs recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Halloumi and Eggs safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Halloumi and Eggs take to make?
About 15 minutes total (5 minutes prep, 10 minutes cooking), serving 2.
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