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Halloumi Schnitzel
This halloumi schnitzel is everything a long weekend recipe should be. Halloumi soaked briefly in boiling water, coated in seasoned flour, egg, and breadcrumbs, then pan fried in olive oil until shatteringly crispy and golden. Served with lemon wedges and absolutely no regrets.
Halloumi Schnitzel
This halloumi schnitzel is the vegetarian dinner that even the most committed meat eaters will be reaching across the table for. The trick is soaking the halloumi in boiling water first, which transforms it from squeaky and rubbery into something wonderfully soft and creamy on the inside while the outside goes perfectly golden and crispy. It is quick, satisfying and genuinely impressive for something so simple to pull together. Save this recipe for your next meat free night and prepare to be converted!
Ingredients
- 2 × 180 g blocks halloumi, each cut into 2 slices (about 1 cm thick)
- 60g plain flour
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 100g breadcrumbs
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- 1/4 cup olive oil, for frying
- Lemon wedges, to serve
Instructions
- Place the halloumi slices in a shallow bowl and pour over enough boiling water to cover. Leave to soak for 10 minutes. Drain and pat completely dry with paper towel. This step is important as any moisture left on the surface will prevent the crumb from adhering properly.
- Set up your crumb station with three bowls: flour in the first bowl, beaten egg in the second, and breadcrumbs mixed with garlic salt in the third.
- Coat each slice in flour, shaking off the excess. Dip in egg, letting the excess drip off. Press firmly into the breadcrumbs on all sides. Really press it in.
- Heat the oil in a heavy-based frying pan over medium-high heat until a breadcrumb dropped in sizzles immediately. Fry for 2-3 minutes per side, or until deeply golden. Don't move them while they're cooking.
- Drain on paper towel and serve immediately with lemon wedges.
Notes
- Soaking the halloumi in boiling water mellows out the saltiness and softens it slightly so it doesn't squeak as much when you bite into it. Don't skip this step.
- Drying the halloumi thoroughly is crucial. Any moisture will make the crumb slide off, and you'll end up with soggy, patchy schnitzel.
- I use this non-stick frying pan for schnitzel. It holds the heat beautifully and gives you an even, golden crust.
- Press the breadcrumbs on firmly. You want them to stick, not fall off in the pan. Use your hands to really pack them on.
- Garlic salt adds flavour to the crumb, but if you don't have it, use regular salt and add 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder to the breadcrumbs.
- The oil needs to be hot enough that a breadcrumb sizzles immediately when dropped in. Too cool and the schnitzel will absorb oil and go greasy. Too hot and the crumb will burn before the halloumi heats through.
- Don't move the schnitzel while it's frying. Let it sit undisturbed so the crumb sets and crisps up properly.
- Halloumi doesn't need long to cook as it's already a firm cheese. You're just heating it through and crisping the crumb.
- Serve immediately while the crumb is still crispy and the halloumi is warm and gooey inside.
- A squeeze of lemon over the top cuts through the richness and adds brightness. Don't skip the lemon wedges.
- These are best eaten fresh. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for 1 day, but the crumb will soften. Reheat in a hot oven at 200°C for 5-7 minutes to crisp up again, though it won't be quite the same.
- Not suitable for freezing as the texture of the halloumi changes after defrosting and the crumb won't hold up.
What I Cook With
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 328Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 3gUnsaturated Fat: 16gCholesterol: 93mgSodium: 623mgCarbohydrates: 30gFiber: 2gSugar: 2gProtein: 8g
Please note, this nutrition information is to be used as a guide only. Nutrition information isn’t always accurate.
Serve this with
- Serve with my Crispy Lemon Thyme Roasted Potatoes for a fresh, punchy side. The lemon cuts through the salty halloumi beautifully, while the thyme keeps everything savoury and herby.
- Pair with my Greek Salad for something crisp and refreshing alongside the crunchy schnitzel. Tomato, cucumber, olives and feta bring plenty of acidity and freshness without competing with the halloumi.
- Add a simple rocket, tomato and pickled red onion salad with a lemony dressing. The peppery leaves and sharp onion balance the richness of the fried halloumi and keep the plate feeling bright.
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A TikTok Recipe, Finally Made
It’s Easter long weekend. I’ve just cooked a batch of my crispy roasted lemon and thyme potatoes, and I knew I needed something equally as golden and crispy alongside them. Enter halloumi schnitzel, a recipe I first spotted on TikTok a while ago that has been sitting on my to-cook list ever since, waiting for the right moment. This weekend was the weekend. Beautiful sunny Brisbane weather outside, beautiful sunny food on my plate, a cold glass of Sauvignon Blanc in hand, and on Netflix a rewatch of Bon Appétit Your Majesty, a gloriously warm Korean dramedy that made me believe in love again. Or at least, made me fall back in love with cooking and with actors who are far too attractive for their own good, which is essentially the same thing.
This pan-fried version is what I’m sharing today, but I also made an air fryer version of halloumi schnitzel over the weekend and let me tell you, it’s a whole other experience and one I highly recommend exploring. Unfortunately, the photos didn’t turn out. Boo. However, both versions have merit, both versions are delicious, and now that my air fryer has finally come out of retirement after sitting on the bench for more than two years, you’ll be seeing a lot more of it here on the blog. I’m sharing all my secrets, tips, and tricks, starting with my guide on how to cook bacon in the oven and air fryer, and including the strawberry sauce I also made this weekend. A productive long weekend by anyone’s standards.
All of this food, I should mention, lasts me the entire long weekend rather than just one meal, which is one of the great joys of cooking for yourself. You cook once and eat beautifully for days, which is a very efficient form of self care that I’m completely committed to.
Diving Back In, Head First
As you can probably tell, I am diving back into cooking and recipe development with absolutely everything I have, and I’m loving every minute of it. It’s remarkable what a good kitchen does for your motivation. The Adelaide kitchen was tiny and difficult and made cooking feel like a chore, which is the worst thing a kitchen can do to a person who loves food as much as I do. This Brisbane kitchen, with its bench space and its light and its actual room to move, has made me want to cook every single day. Which I basically have been.
I’ve also stopped waiting for someone to cook for, which has been the other shift. I love myself thoroughly and completely, so why shouldn’t I cook the good stuff just for me? The answer is that I absolutely should, and I am, and the food is outstanding. That’s not to say I’m not dating, because I am, and it’s as chaotic and occasionally disastrous as ever. But I’ve had a bit of a realisation lately about what I’ve been doing. I think I’ve been trying to find someone to replace my ex-boyfriend-turned-best-friend, who I’m still very close to and care about enormously. We live in completely different cities and have absolutely no intention of ever dating again, but we’re besties, and apparently that’s putting a few men off.
Here’s the thing though: if someone can’t handle two people who used to love each other being genuinely close friends, living in different cities, with no romantic agenda whatsoever? That’s on them, not me. The realisation I’ve had to sit with is that I’ve been looking for someone the same rather than someone new, and that’s the part that’s on me. Working on it. In the meantime, halloumi schnitzel.
Why You Should Soak Your Halloumi First
The soaking step is the one most people skip and the one that makes the most difference. Halloumi is a naturally salty cheese, which is part of what makes it wonderful, but a brief soak in boiling water draws out some of that excess salt before you coat and fry it. The result is a schnitzel that is properly seasoned rather than aggressively salty, and the texture softens ever so slightly which helps the coating adhere better and creates that perfect contrast between the crispy exterior and the soft, yielding cheese inside.
The coating itself is a standard schnitzel process: flour first to give the egg something to cling to, egg to bind the breadcrumbs, and breadcrumbs to create that golden, crunchy shell. The garlic salt goes into the breadcrumbs and gives you seasoning that blooms as the crust fries, giving you that gorgeous garlicky flavour in every crispy bite. Don’t rush the frying, medium heat gives you time to develop a proper golden crust without burning the outside before the cheese has had time to warm through.
Lemon wedges to serve are non-negotiable. A squeeze of lemon over a freshly fried halloumi schnitzel is one of the great simple pleasures, cutting through the richness of the fried coating and brightening everything on the plate. These potatoes, this schnitzel, a cold glass of wine, and a K-drama on the television. Easter weekend, sorted.
Ingredient breakdown
Halloumi
Two blocks of halloumi, each sliced in half to give you four slices roughly a centimetre thick. That thickness is important because too thin and the halloumi dries out before the crumb gets properly golden, too thick and the crumb is done before the inside has had a chance to warm through. Before anything else happens, the slices go into a bowl of boiling water for ten minutes. This step mellows the saltiness considerably and softens the texture slightly so the finished schnitzel is less squeaky and more yielding when you bite into it. After soaking, pat them completely dry. Any moisture left on the surface will prevent the crumb from sticking properly and you’ll end up with patchy, sliding breadcrumbs in the pan.
Plain flour
The first station in the crumbing process. The flour creates a dry, slightly tacky surface on the halloumi that gives the egg something to cling to. Without it the egg slides straight off and the whole crumbing process falls apart before it starts. Shake off any excess after coating because a thick, clumpy flour layer will make the finished crumb uneven and heavy.
Eggs
Two eggs, beaten, which is the adhesive layer between the flour and the breadcrumbs. Let the excess drip off before the halloumi goes into the breadcrumbs so you get an even, thin coating rather than a thick eggy layer that makes the crumb clump and fall off in the pan.
Breadcrumbs
The outer layer and the thing that makes this a schnitzel rather than just fried halloumi. Press them on firmly with your hands rather than just rolling the halloumi through the bowl. Really pack them in on all sides. The more firmly the breadcrumbs are pressed onto the surface, the better they adhere during frying and the more even and golden the finished crust will be.
Garlic salt
Mixed through the breadcrumbs before crumbing, which seasons the outer crust and adds a savoury, garlicky flavour that works really well with the mild, salty halloumi inside. If you don’t have garlic salt, regular salt with a small amount of garlic powder mixed through the breadcrumbs does the same job.
Olive oil
Enough oil in a heavy-based pan to shallow fry the schnitzel rather than just a thin smear. The oil needs to be hot enough that a breadcrumb dropped in sizzles immediately before the halloumi goes in. Too cool and the schnitzel sits in the oil absorbing it rather than crisping in it, which gives you a greasy, heavy result. Once the halloumi is in the pan, leave it completely undisturbed for two to three minutes so the crumb sets and develops a proper crust before you flip.
Lemon wedges
Served alongside rather than squeezed on before serving, so everyone can add their own. A squeeze of lemon over the finished schnitzel cuts through the richness of the fried crumb and the saltiness of the halloumi and makes the whole thing taste brighter and lighter. Don’t leave them off the plate.
