These grilled veggie and halloumi pitas are a summertime favorite when it is too hot to cook in the house. The halloumi cheese has a delightful squeaky chew and I adore its caramalized flavor off the grill.
My biggest concern when I started experimenting with grilled halloumi was that it would stick to the grill, and it does not! In my experience, if the cheese isn’t wanting to loosen from the grate, it is not sufficiently browned yet. It should remove easily when it’s ready to flip.
The spread in the pitas is designed to accent all the other flavors. The vinegar adds brightness that makes the vegetables better, the mayo adds creaminess that highlights the cheese, and the mustard adds a punch of flavor that bring the whole sandwich together.
Depending on the brand of halloumi that you buy, the block will come in different shapes. I found I usually can slice at least 3, and often times 4 slices off the block. If your block is narrow and harder to get more slices, then you can also cut the slices in half to distribute them among the pita.
Variation to the Grilled Veggie and Halloumi Pitas recipe:
- Use any vegetables you like. Here I used zucchini, onion, and orange bell peppers on the grill with fresh tomatoes and lettuce added to the pita. Mushrooms and eggplant would be delicious to grill as well. You could grill whole cherry tomatoes on a skewer, or fry fresh spinach or arugula in place of the lettuce.
- Can I use a different cheese? Yes, and no. If you want to grill the cheese, you should stick to the halloumi which melts very slowly so it will get nice and toasted without getting gooey. You could swap the cheese if you just add a few slices to the pita with the grilled vegetables.
- Swaps for the pita: Try making it a wrap in a flour tortilla. Make it a sandwich between two crusty slices of sourdough, or make it a salad by serving over a big bowl of greens and top with pita chips or croutons.
- 8 oz block halloumi, sliced
- 1 orange or red bell pepper, seeds removed
- ½ medium onion, root intact
- 1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
- Splash olive oil
- ¼ cup whole grain mustard
- 2 TBS mayo
- 1 TBS red wine vinegar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 whole wheat pita, cut in half and opened into 4 pockets
- 1 tomato, sliced
- 4-6 leaves of romaine, rib removed, torn into large pieces
- Set up a charcoal grill and preheat the grill grates.
- Toss halloumi, bell pepper, onion, and zucchini in a splash or two of olive oil. Grill on the hot grill until charred on both sides. Warm the pita on the sides of the grill off of direct heat.
- Mix together mustard, mayo, red wine vinegar, and salt. Set aside
- Chop the onion, removing the root, and slice the pepper.
- Assemble the pita by spreading each half with mustard mixture. Add chopped grilled onion, sliced grilled pepper, grilled zucchini slices, sliced tomatoes, and sliced grill halloumi. Slide a few pieces of romaine in on the side.
