Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Smažený Sýr
A thick slab of breaded, deep-fried cheese served with tartar sauce and potatoes, a Czech pub lunch.
Czech · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 10 min
~742 cal · 39g protein · 50g carbs · 42g fat · 3g fiber · 3g sugars · 25g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Smažený sýr, fried cheese, is one of the Czech Republic's favourite everyday meals, found on every pub and cafeteria menu and adored by students and night owls. It is about as gloriously indulgent as everyday food gets.
A thick slab of Edam or a similar semi-hard cheese is breaded in flour, egg, and breadcrumbs and deep-fried until the crust is golden and the inside molten. It comes with boiled potatoes or fries and a dollop of tartar sauce, and is the definitive Czech answer to a hungry, cold day.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and 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 4
1 lb Edam or Gouda cheese, thick slabs
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs
for frying oil, for frying
to serve tartar sauce and boiled potatoes, to serve
Instructions
1
Cut the cheese into thick slabs about half an inch thick.
2
Coat each in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs, and repeat the egg and crumb for a double coat.
✎ Chef’s note
Double-bread the cheese. A single coat can split and leak the molten cheese into the oil; two coats hold it in.
3
Fry in hot oil until deep golden, about 2 minutes, turning once.
4
Drain and serve with tartar sauce and boiled potatoes.
Czech pub tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Bohemia. Bohemian beer has a precise birthday. The first pale lager was brewed in Plzen on 5 October 1842 by a Bavarian, Josef Groll, using Saaz hops and unusually soft local water, and poured for the first time that November. The town's name went on to label the style wherever it is now brewed.
🗺️
Czechia. Czech cooking is built for its beer, all roast pork, bread dumplings, sauerkraut, and rich gravies. Hearty, Central European, and unapologetically comforting, it centers the pub and the Sunday table.
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Europe. A surprising amount of European cooking is under five hundred years old. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, maize, beans and chocolate all crossed from the Americas after 1492, and none of them was trusted quickly: the potato took most of the eighteenth century to be accepted as food rather than animal fodder across much of the north.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Czechia
Bramboráky (Potato Pancakes)Crisp-edged garlicky potato pancakes flecked with marjoram, Bohemia’s answer to any hour of hunger.
KoláčeSoft sweet buns with a dimple of fruit, poppy seed, or sweet cheese filling.
Ovocné KnedlíkySoft dumplings wrapped around whole plums or apricots, boiled and rolled in butter, curd, and sugar, a Czech summer treat.
Browse all Czechia 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 Czechia meal
Ovocné KnedlíkyDessert
Bramboráky (Potato Pancakes)Dinner
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Smažený Sýr?
A thick slab of breaded, deep-fried cheese served with tartar sauce and potatoes, a Czech pub lunch.
Where does Smažený Sýr come from?
Smažený Sýr is a Czech dish from Bohemia, Czechia.
Can Smažený Sýr be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Smažený Sýr recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Smažený Sýr 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 count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), 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 Smažený Sýr take to make?
About 25 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 10 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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