Crispy Halloumi Burgers (15 Minute Meal)
on Apr 28, 2022, Updated Jun 16, 2026
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These crispy halloumi burgers might be the quickest and easiest veggie burgers you’ll ever make – ready in around just 15 minutes. Just coat halloumi cheese slices in flour, shallow fry and assemble your delicious burgers. Don’t skip the special 2-ingredient halloumi burger sauce!
A unique 15-minute dinner
These crispy halloumi burgers are the kind of dinner you can make in barely more time than you’d need to make a slice of toast. Grab a package of halloumi cheese – that salty, semi-hard cheese from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus – and your favorite bread rolls, and you most likely already have everything else you need.
If you’ve already tried these crispy halloumi fries, you’re going to love these burgers. The halloumi cheese in them is really just a flatter, wider version of the fries. Roll thick slices of the cheese in flour (the natural moisture will help it to stick), pan-fry quickly on both sides until really golden and crispy, then layer in your burger buns with ribbons of cucumber and carrot, a few green salad leaves, and my special 2-ingredient sweet chili mayonnaise. Yes, it’s just sweet chili sauce and mayonnaise!
My favorite way to serve these simple but delicious burgers is with sweet potato fries. If you have an air fryer I also have a recipe for air fryer sweet potato wedges, otherwise just bake them in the oven.
📌Recipe snapshot
- Prep: 10 minutes
- Cook time: 5 minutes
- Serves: 3 (easy to scale up to feed more)
- Key ingredients: halloumi cheese, flour, oil, cucumber, carrots, burger buns, salad leaves, mayonnaise, sweet chili sauce
- Why you’ll love them: 15-minute dinner (vegetarian), just halloumi + basic ingredients, interesting & unique combination of flavors & textures
About the ingredients
You’ll find a full list of ingredients with amounts in the recipe card below. But here’s a summary of what you need to know.
You only need 8 simple ingredients (9 including the cooking oil) to have these delicious burgers on your dinner table:
- Brioche burger buns: You can of course use other types of burger buns, but my favorite for this recipe are brioche buns.
- Halloumi cheese: This is available in most major supermarkets in the cheese aisle or from the deli counter. If not, try a European style specialty shop. I prefer to get an authentic Cypriot brand if possible for the best and authentic texture and flavor.
- Flour: This is all you’ll need to coat the halloumi with to help make it super crispy when pan-fried. Any is fine – all-purpose flour, gluten-free, rice flour or even corn starch (cornflour).
- Oil: You’ll need enough to coat the base of a small saucepan or frying pan – about 0.5 inches. You can use a vegetable oil such as canola oil, or even a light olive oil will work if you prefer.
- Green salad leaves: I usually get a small bag of pre-washed salad leaves, for convenience, but any salad leaves are great.
- Cucumber: You’ll use a vegetable peeler to make ribbons of cucumber to pile onto the burgers. About a quarter of a cucumber should be enough.
- Carrot: You’ll need around just half to one carrot for 3 to 4 burgers.
For the burger sauce:
- Mayonnaise: If you don’t have this, sour cream or even Greek yogurt could be a good substitute.
- Sweet chilli sauce: If you don’t have this, substitute with sriracha or another kind of hot sauce, plus 1 to 2 teaspoons of honey.
How to make crispy halloumi burgers
I make these simple halloumi burgers in the same way as my halloumi fries:
Dredge them in a little flour. No need for egg, flour, breadcrumbs, or any other fancy coatings to make them crispy.
There’s no need to deep fry the halloumi and waste all that oil. Just use about half an inch of oil in a small saucepan and shallow fry in batches for a few minutes.
When the cheese is a deep golden colour, a bit like slightly over-cooked fries, the burgers are nice and crispy and ready to take out of the pan.
Pop them onto a brioche burger bun, then pile on ribbons of cucumber and carrot and sweet chilli mayonnaise (just mix the 2 ingredients together). You’ll have yourself one very tasty veggie burger…
Meanwhile, make the refreshing carrot and cucumber ribbons to pile onto the burgers with the halloumi. It’s very easy! Just grab a good quality vegetable peeler. Then peel along the whole length of the vegetables until you have some nice thin ribbons.
Helen’s Top Tips
- You’ll find the cheese is a bit wet when you take it out of the wrapper and this little bit of water is enough to make the flour ‘stick’. If for any reason it’s dry, simply brush with a little milk.
- Try adding beetroot slices, sauteed mushrooms, or thin slices of red onion. Instead of the sweet chili mayonnaise, try tzatziki sauce, Caesar dressing or ranch dressing as an alternative.
What to serve with halloumi burgers
If it’s just a light(ish) meal you’re looking for, it’s absolutely fine to serve the burgers on their own. Anyone who is extra hungry can just grab two. 😉
But if you’d like to make more of a substantial meal out of your burgers, here are some ideas for side dishes for halloumi burgers:
- I think they go exceptionally well with sweet potato fries or sweet potato wedges. If you don’t have an air fryer just bake them in the oven for around 30 minutes at 445F/230C (regular oven) or 210C/410F (fan oven).
- Try Greek zucchini fries instead of regular fries.
- Keep with the yummy Mediterranean theme with these incredible Greek potatoes. You won’t regret making these – everyone loves them.
- These popular Mediterranean roast vegetables go with almost anything. Make them in your oven or air fryer.
- These 10-minute frozen sauteed green beans, 10-minute frozen sautéed broccoli or this crispy air fried cauliflower are surprisingly delicious options, too!
Recipe FAQs
Where I live, almost every supermarket stocks halloumi cheese. In the USA I believe you can get it at Trader Joe’s. If you’re struggling, try a European style deli. You can even use Hispanic cheese queso para freir as a substitute if you like.
When the halloumi is perfectly fried it will be golden brown and crispy looking all over. Usually I flip the halloumi over after about 2 minutes in the oil so that it cooks evenly. Altogether I usually cook it for between 3 and 4 minutes. It’s hard to go wrong, to be honest. As long as your cheese is golden and crisp, it’ll be delicious!
Add a slice or two of crispy bacon or pan-fried chorizo! Bacon and chorizo happen to taste delicious with halloumi!
A few more halloumi recipes
Just love halloumi? Here is a list of 15 easy halloumi recipes and ideas.
Crispy Halloumi Burgers
Ingredients
For the burgers
- 9 ounces halloumi cheese, 1 ‘log’ = 250 grams, sliced into 6 slices lengthwise
- 2 tablespoons flour, (roughly)
- 0.5 inches oil, in a small saucepan
- 0.25 cucumbers, peeled
- 0.5 carrots, peeled
- 2 burger buns, (I like to use brioche buns)
- 1 handful salad leaves, (I used rocket and spinach but any lettuce/greens is fine)
For the mayonnaise
- 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
Instructions
- Heat the oil until it sizzles when you dip the end of a piece of halloumi in it.0.5 inches oil
- Dip each slice of halloumi in the flour so that it has a thin layer all over.9 ounces halloumi cheese, 2 tablespoons flour
- Carefully place the halloumi into the oil (in 2 batches) and let cook for 2 to 4 minutes until golden brown on both sides (you can turn it over half way through cooking if you like but you may not need to).
- Meanwhile, use a vegetable peeler to peel thin strips of cucumber and carrot. Mix the two together.0.25 cucumbers, 0.5 carrots
- Remove the halloumi from the oil and drain for a moment on kitchen paper while you prepare the mayo and burger buns.
- Lightly toast the buns. Meanwhile, mix the mayo and sweet chilli sauce.2 burger buns, 4 tablespoons mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
- Assemble the burgers. Spread the bottom part of the bread with a layer of mayonnaise, then top with some salad leaves.1 handful salad leaves
- Top each burger with 2 slices of crispy halloumi, then pile a handful of cucumber and carrot on top.
- Finally, spoon over more mayo to taste and cover with the top part of the burger. Enjoy!
Delicious Helen, and just what I needed for dinner tonight. Found the saltiness of the halloumi intense, but that was easily remedied by adding extra salad greens. Agree with you about brioche over standard burger buns.
Regards,
Helen from Arrowtown, NZ
Very happy you enjoyed it, Helen! Definitely a very salty cheese – no need to add any more salt, that’s for sure! Have a wonderful weekend and as always thank you so much for letting me know how you got on with the recipe 🙂
Thanks so much for this recipe, it has become a Friday night go-to in our household!
I’m so happy to hear this, Jess – thank you so much for letting me know!
These are DELICIOUS!!! All four of us loved it, and we all eat/don’t eat different things. I will definitely be adding this to the rotation!! Thank you!!
Ahhh this is wonderful to read, Katie! So happy you liked them, and thank you very much for letting me know. 🙂
Yum! Now I know what I’ll be using my halloumi that has been sitting in the fridge for very soon!. I’m making your Spanish omelette today for lunch. Grandson is coming to stay so we’ll see how it goes. I’m a bit nervous as I’ve had it in San Sebastian, Spain and it’s amazing, not sure I’ll overcook it or something lol! We went there just to try all the pintxos we could and so ate that for lunch every day. That was so much fun.
Hello Sue! So happy you’re going to try both this recipe and the Spanish omelette. The halloumi burgers are really quick and easy. As for the Spanish omelette, don’t be scared! Just cook it very long and very slow. If it starts falling out everywhere when you start sliding it onto a plate (a little spillage is ok but you want the omelette to mostly keep its shape) then just cook for a little longer. You’ll be fine. It’s definitely worth the effort and once you’ve made it the first time you’ll have more confidence. Also remember that it doesn’t have to look perfect. I had a bit of a disaster making this a few weeks ago (but only for the first time!) but it still looked and tasted OK because I just tipped it back into the pan and tried to shape it again until it had cooked a little more. Let me know how you get on! 😉
Wow, I haven’t bought Halloumi in a while, but will definitely get some. This sandwich looks amazing! Can’t wait to try it!
Thanks, Mira. I’m addicted to these – I hope you get addicted too!
is this cheese sold at ALDI in USA?
Hi! I’m afraid I really don’t know and there doesn’t seem to be an answer online!
I haven’t made Halloumi anything for so long and I remember those amazing fries of yours! This burger needs to happen in our house right away!
So glad you approve, Marissa. I dream about those fries…