# The best traditional Greek dishes

The Greek dishes that every guide to eating in Greece puts at the top, from taverna mezze to Sunday oven bakes. Desserts included at the end because baklava and loukoumades deserve it.

- 55 votes · 18 items
- Sep 5, 2025 · Amber Watson
- https://even.best/en/l/96/the-best-traditional-greek-dishes

## Top 15

1. **Moussaka** (6 · ▲6 ▼0) — Layers of aubergine, potato and cinnamon-spiced meat sauce under a thick béchamel, as codified by Nikolaos Tselementes in the 1920s.
2. **Souvlaki** (6 · ▲6 ▼0) — Marinated pork or chicken grilled on skewers, wrapped in pita with tzatziki, tomato and onion.
3. **Tzatziki** (5 · ▲5 ▼0) — Strained yoghurt with cucumber, garlic and olive oil, served with bread or grilled meat.
4. **Greek salad (horiatiki)** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — Tomato, cucumber, onion, olives and a slab of feta with oregano and olive oil, no lettuce.
5. **Grilled octopus** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — Octopus sun-dried and grilled over charcoal, a staple of island ouzeries.
6. **Saganaki** (3 · ▲4 ▼1) — Fried kefalograviera or kasseri cheese finished with lemon.
7. **Dolmades** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — Vine leaves stuffed with rice and herbs (sometimes minced meat), served with lemon.
8. **Keftedes** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — Fried meatballs with mint and oregano, a meze classic.
9. **Gyros** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Meat roasted on a vertical spit and sliced into pita with chips; Greece's favourite street food.
10. **Baklava** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Layers of filo with walnuts or pistachios soaked in honey syrup.
11. **Loukoumades** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Fried dough balls drenched in honey and cinnamon, among the oldest desserts in Greece.
12. **Spanakopita** (1 · ▲3 ▼2) — Spinach and feta pie in crisp filo pastry.
13. **Pastitsio** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Baked tubular pasta with meat sauce and béchamel, Greece's lasagne.
14. **Kleftiko** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Lamb slow-cooked in parchment or a sealed clay pot with garlic and lemon, named after the klephts.
15. **Fasolada** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — White bean soup with tomato, carrot and celery, often called Greece's national dish.
16. **Bougatsa** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Phyllo pastry from Thessaloniki filled with semolina custard, cheese or minced meat, eaten for breakfast.
17. **Gemista** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — Tomatoes and peppers stuffed with herbed rice and baked with potatoes.
18. **Stifado** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — Beef or rabbit stewed with lots of small onions, red wine and cinnamon.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.