Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Adjaruli Khachapuri
Georgia’s famous boat-shaped cheese bread from Adjara: a molten pool of cheese in a golden crust, finished with an egg and butter stirred in at the table.
Georgian · medium · serves 2
prep 30 min · cook 15 min
~1348 cal · 63g protein · 100g carbs · 76g fat · 4g fiber · 4g sugars · 46g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Adjaruli khachapuri is the showpiece of Georgian baking, an open, boat-shaped loaf from Adjara on the Black Sea coast. A yeasted dough is rolled and its long sides twisted up into raised rails that cradle a deep pool of cheese, and the pointed ends are pinched into a prow and stern. It bakes fast and hot until the crust is deep gold and the cheese is bubbling.
The finish is the drama: the moment it leaves the oven, an egg yolk and a knob of butter are set into a well in the centre, and the residual heat turns them into a glossy, jammy sauce as they are stirred through the molten cheese at the table. The classic filling is a mix of stretchy sulguni and tangy, moist imeruli cheese, the same imeruli that names the round khachapuri of the neighbouring region.
The boat is built to be eaten with your hands: you tear off a pointed end, stir the egg and butter into the cheese, and use the torn crust as an edible spoon. It is communal, rich, and unapologetic, as much a centrepiece of the Georgian table as the wine beside it.
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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 2
2 cups (250g) bread flour
1 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup warm water
1 tbsp olive or sunflower oil
3 cups (350g) sulguni and imeruli cheese, grated (or low-moisture mozzarella with feta)
2 eggs (one for the filling, one yolk per boat to finish)
2 tbsp butter, to finish
Instructions
1
Whisk the yeast and sugar into the warm water and let it foam for 5 minutes, then add the oil, flour, and salt and knead 8 to 10 minutes into a smooth, slightly tacky dough.
✎ Chef’s note
It should cling to your palm for a second then release; add water a teaspoon at a time if it feels stiff.
2
Cover and let it rise in a warm spot until doubled, about 60 to 75 minutes.
3
Heat the oven as hot as it goes (about 250C/480F) with a tray or stone inside. Divide the dough in two, roll each into an oval, and pile half the cheese down the centre of each.
✎ Chef’s note
A screaming-hot tray sets the crust fast while keeping the cheese molten.
4
Roll the long sides inward to make raised rails, then pinch and twist the ends into pointed boat tips, opening the centre so the cheese shows. Bake 12 to 15 minutes until deep golden and bubbling.
5
Pull them out, make a well in the cheese of each, and drop in an egg yolk and the butter. Wait 20 to 30 seconds, then serve at once, stirring the egg and butter through the hot cheese before tearing off the crust to scoop.
Adjara, Black Sea coast.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Adjara. Adjara is Georgia's subtropical corner on the Black Sea, centred on the port city of Batumi, with a warm, wet climate that supports tea and citrus groves found nowhere else in the country. It is the home of adjaruli khachapuri, the open, boat-shaped cheese bread finished with an egg yolk and a knob of butter stirred into the molten centre at the table.
🗺️
Georgia. Walnuts do the job here that cream does elsewhere, ground into sauces for beans, aubergine and poultry and loosened with vinegar or pomegranate. The spice cupboard runs to blue fenugreek, dried marigold and coriander seed in the blend called khmeli suneli, and khachapuri changes shape as you travel, arriving in Adjara on the Black Sea as an open boat with an egg slid into it.
🌍
Asia. Fermentation is the thread that runs the whole way across: soy sauce and miso, Korean doenjang and kimchi, Southeast Asian fish sauces, the soured batter behind an idli. Chilli is the newcomer among them, arriving only after 1500 with Portuguese and Spanish traders, which makes the heat in Sichuan, Thai and Korean cooking far younger than the fermenting underneath it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Georgia
Imeruli Khachapuri (Cheese-Stuffed Bread)A golden, pan-baked flatbread sealed around a molten heart of tangy, salty cheese.
LobioKidney beans simmered and half-crushed with walnuts, coriander, and Georgian spice, served in clay with cornbread.
Chvishtari (Cornmeal Cheese Bread)Griddled cornmeal cakes packed with young melting cheese, crisp outside and molten within, from the mountains of western Georgia.
Browse all Georgia recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven, Whisk.
Storing it: Best the day it is made. Wrap well and refresh in a warm oven, or freeze and reheat straight from frozen.
Make it a Georgia meal
TarkhunaDrink
ChurchkhelaDessert
Mtsvadi (Georgian Grilled Pork Skewers)Dinner
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Frequently asked questions
What is Adjaruli Khachapuri?
Georgia’s famous boat-shaped cheese bread from Adjara: a molten pool of cheese in a golden crust, finished with an egg and butter stirred in at the table.
Where does Adjaruli Khachapuri come from?
Adjaruli Khachapuri is a Georgian dish from Adjara, Georgia.
Can Adjaruli Khachapuri be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Adjaruli Khachapuri 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 Adjaruli Khachapuri 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 Adjaruli Khachapuri take to make?
About 45 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 2.
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