Halloumi Sandwich with Grilled Vegetables

Deliciously filling and packed with veggies, this halloumi sandwich is great for a tasty dinner or lunch. Seared halloumi with sweet roasted vegetables, spinach and smashed avocado. This truly is the ultimate halloumi sandwich, even hardcore meat-eaters will love this!

This hearty sandwich is packed with roasted vegetables, salty halloumi and creamy avocado. We love halloumi, whether it's halloumi burgers, halloumi curry or wraps, halloumi is always on the menu. This sandwich is one of our favourite quick dinners.

Roasted sweet romano pepper and courgettes (zucchini) along with grilled halloumi are just the perfect combinations. They all come together with creamy smashed avocado and baby spinach served on toasted ciabatta. Great hot or cold this sandwich is halloumi heaven!

Why You'll Love This

• Griddled halloumi - perfectly soft and salty, so good in a sandwich
• Roasted peppers - sweet romano peppers are roasted to perfection making them juicy and sweet!
• Smashed avocado - no need for sauces here, that creamy avocado is just delicious!

Ingredient Spotlight - Halloumi

Halloumi is a traditional Cypriot cheese made from a mixture of goat's and sheep's milk and sometimes cow's milk too. Its texture is often described as squeaky. It has a high melting point making it great for grilling or frying.

What You'll Need

• Halloumi - for best results look for authentic Cypriot halloumi, you will find it with the speciality cheeses in the cheese aisle of your grocery store.
• Romano Pepper - these are long sweet peppers, you should find them in all good supermarkets. If you can't find them then you can use a couple of bell peppers (capsicum) instead.
• Courgette/zucchini - look for the smaller courgettes, they have the most flavour. One medium courgette should do.
• Ciabatta - I use two half ciabattas, but you can use ciabatta rolls too. You can also use a French baguette if you prefer.
• Avocado - you will need one large ripe avocado. Depending on the size of your avocado, if they are very small I would use two.
• Baby Spinach - I use baby spinach for this, fresh is best. You can swap this for lettuce if you prefer.
• Other Ingredients - you will also need a small bunch of fresh coriander (cilantro), a couple of spring onions, one lime, olive oil, salt and black pepper.

How To Make Halloumi Sandwiches

*This is just a quick guide, see the recipe card below for full instructions and the ingredients list.

1. Roast the vegetables - preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F. Slice the courgette into thick slices then cut the romano pepper in half lengthways. Add them to a baking tray, drizzle them with a little oil, season with salt and black pepper and roast in the oven for 15 -20 minutes. Turn everything halfway through cooking.

2. Make the smashed avocado - roughly mash the avocado with a fork. Add the chopped coriander (cilantro), chopped spring onions (scallions), minced garlic and lime juice and stir well, season to taste with sea salt and black pepper. Heat a grill pan, griddle pan or frying pan, and cut the ciabatta in half lengthways. Toast the ciabatta cut side down.

3. Cook the halloumi - griddle the sliced halloumi on a dry griddle pan. Place slices of halloumi on the pan, cook until they are crispy and have golden brown stripes then turn them over and cook the other side. 

4. Build your sandwich - spread one-quarter of smashed avocado over one side of the ciabatta, add the spinach, pepper, and courgette, and finish with a couple of halloumi slices. Spread another quarter of the smashed avocado on the remaining slice of bread. Close the sandwich then cut it in half. Repeat with the remaining ciabatta and ingredients.

Top Tips

• Dry the halloumi - I rinse my halloumi in cold water then pat it dry with kitchen paper/towel. This gets rid of the brine that the cheese is stored in. This will also get rid of some of the saltiness from the halloumi.
• Roast or grill your veggies - if you want you can grill the courgettes and pepper on a grill pan, or on the bbq. Roasting and grilling the vegetables for this sandwich really brings out the flavours of the veggies and adds more flavour to your sandwich.
• Cooking the halloumi - there is no need to use oil in the pan to cook halloumi, this cheese has a high melting point and won't melt easily. Dry frying the halloumi will give you the best results. I use a well-seasoned cast-iron griddle pan to cook the halloumi if you don't have one of those you will still get very good results using a non-stick pan.

Variations

• Swap the avocado for mayo, and try a spicy mayo or a creamy pesto mayo instead. Both of these go really well with that salty cheese!
• Make it with fresh vegetables, try adding juicy tomatoes, cucumber and slices of red onion for a quicker version.
• Add slices of roasted portobello mushrooms for an even meatier sandwich.

More Tasty Sandwich Recipes

We love our sandwiches and there's no need to miss out or settle for a boring sandwich just because you're vegetarian. Try my Portobello Mushroom Sandwich, this is such a delicious sandwich and great for lunch or dinner. Want something a little different? Why not try my Falafel Wraps instead. If you want more halloumi then check out my Halloumi Fajitas, they make a very tasty quick and easy dinner.

*This recipe was first published Aug 2020 and updated Jan 2023 with new photos and more information.