🥙 LUNCH
Imeruli Khachapuri (Cheese-Stuffed Bread)
A golden, pan-baked flatbread sealed around a molten heart of tangy, salty cheese.
Georgian · medium · serves 4
prep 30 min · cook 15 min
~736 cal · 33g protein · 64g carbs · 38g fat · 2g fiber · 4g sugars · 23g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Khachapuri is Georgia's cheese bread, and the Imeruli version from the Imereti region is the everyday one, a round, pan-baked flatbread sealed around a molten filling of tangy, salty Imeruli or sulguni cheese. It is so central to Georgian life that its price is used as an informal inflation index, the 'Khachapuri Index.'
Cheese-filled breads are ancient in the Caucasus, and each Georgian region has its own shape; the Imeruli is a filled disc, while the famous Adjaruli is an open boat topped with egg and butter. The dough is soft and slightly tangy, the cheese pulling into strings as you tear it.
Served hot and eaten by hand, it turns up at every supra feast and family meal, and is a national symbol as much as a food.
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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
- 2.5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup plain yogurt (matsoni)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 cups imeruli cheese (or mozzarella and feta), crumbled/grated
- 1 egg (to bind the filling)
- 2 tbsp butter, for brushing
Instructions
- 1Mix flour, yogurt, baking soda, and salt into a soft, slightly sticky dough. Rest 20 minutes under a towel.
- 2Mix the cheese with the egg (or slurry) into a thick, packable filling; form into one big ball.
- 3Flatten the dough into a wide disc, set the cheese ball in the center, and gather the edges up over it like a purse, pinching to seal.
- 4Gently flatten the sealed ball, seam-side down, into a 9-inch round, go slowly so the cheese stays inside.
- 5Cook in a dry skillet over medium heat, 6-7 minutes per side under a lid, until deep golden and hollow-sounding.
- 6Brush hot with butter or olive oil, cut into wedges, and eat while the middle still flows.
Imeretian household baking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Imereti. Western Georgian cooking is more herb-forward and more walnut-heavy than the eastern side of the country. Ground walnut thickens sauces for beans, aubergine and poultry; coriander, blue fenugreek and marigold go in generously; and ajika, the pounded chilli and herb paste, sits on the table so each diner adjusts their own heat.
🗺️
Georgia. Georgian food is one of the world's great undiscovered cuisines, famous for khachapuri (cheese-filled bread), soup dumplings called khinkali, and walnut-thickened sauces. As the likely birthplace of wine, its feasts (the supra) are legendary rituals of toasting and abundance.
🌍
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
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.
Adjaruli KhachapuriGeorgia’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.
Browse all Georgia recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Skillet or frying pan.
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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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Imeruli Khachapuri (Cheese-Stuffed Bread)?
A golden, pan-baked flatbread sealed around a molten heart of tangy, salty cheese.
Where does Imeruli Khachapuri (Cheese-Stuffed Bread) come from?
Imeruli Khachapuri (Cheese-Stuffed Bread) is a Georgian dish from Imereti, Georgia.
Can Imeruli Khachapuri (Cheese-Stuffed Bread) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Imeruli Khachapuri (Cheese-Stuffed Bread) 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 Imeruli Khachapuri (Cheese-Stuffed Bread) 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 Imeruli Khachapuri (Cheese-Stuffed Bread) take to make?
About 45 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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