Mediterranean Halloumi & Vegetable Skewers

Salty hunks of warm Halloumi cheese with tender zucchini, juicy tomatoes, bell peppers, and red onions all smothered in a garlicky Greek vinaigrette and grilled to perfection. YES. These halloumi and vegetable skewers are one of my very favorite things to grill when fresh summer produce is at its peak.

Served up with a creamy Tzatziki, these halloumi skewers are a top-notch easy dinner. I’m honestly obsessed.

The Story Behind the Recipe

Why You’ll Love Halloumi & Vegetable Skewers

Halloumi & Vegetable Skewer Recipe Ingredients

Adaptation/Variation

How to Make Them

Tips for Success

More Halloumi Recipes

Jump to the Full, Printable Recipe

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The Story Behind the Recipe

If I had to pick a favorite cheese – and it’s like picking a favorite child, honestly – Halloumi might be #1. But ssshhh! Don’t tell chèvre, sharp cheddar, and manchego. They can never know.

Halloumi is a unique cheese that’s dense enough to grill and hold its shape, and it gets melty on the inside + golden and caramelized outside + has this salty creamy flavor that is out-of-this-world good.

Years ago, I shared how to grill halloumi cheese, and I also shared a vegetarian full English breakfast with halloumi, one of my favorite halloumi salads and a unique spin on bruschetta with halloumi. I’ve been wanting to share more halloumi recipes for awhile now, and I love this halloumi and veggie skewer recipe just as much as the others. Maybe even more.

Why You’ll Love Halloumi & Vegetable Skewers

Perfect summer recipe – We make these on our outdoor grill to keep our kitchen cool. We just moved to a house with no AC (Pacific Northwesterner problems) and I’m remembering how horrible it is to cook in a hot kitchen in the summer, so grilling skewers outside solves that problem.

Lots of veggies – Listen, I know none of us are going to claim that cheese is an out-and-out health food. But it DOES have some fat and protein and when combined with a bunch of veggies, overall these skewers are is nice and nutrient dense.

Easily customizable – Remove the tomatoes for the tomato haters, or add some chicken for the meat-eaters (just check the internal temp to make sure it’s cooked through – an instant-read thermometer should read 165°F or higher)

Make-ahead – You can prep the dressing and components ahead of time, or even thread the skewers up to 48 hours ahead. Love the options. Summers can get busy!

Halloumi & Vegetable Skewer Recipe Ingredients

Halloumi cheese – You’ll need one standard-sized block of Halloumi. Drain the brine, cut into hunks, and away you go.

Red onion – Cut into wedges.

Cherry tomatoes – I like the juicy/sweet flavor contrast that they add.

Zucchini – I love zucchini on the grill! If you want to swap in yellow/summer squash, that’s delicious too.

Bell pepper – I like to use a yellow bell pepper for pretty contrasting color, but you can use any color you want.

Greek vinaigrette – An easy marinade made with olive oil, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, fresh garlic, oregano, Dijon mustard, honey, and a dash of salt and pepper.

Fresh parsley, pita & tzatziki sauce for serving

Adaptation/Variation

Add chicken – For the meat-eaters, you can add hunks of chicken to this one. Marinate it separately then monitor the internal temp to make sure it’s cooked through (it should read 165°F or higher).

How to Make Them

First, you’ll want to make the vinaigrette. Just whisk all of the ingredients together in a bowl.

Thread the ingredients onto your skewers.

Brush the skewers on both sides with the vinaigrette and let sit for about 20 minutes for the marinade to soak in.

Heat up your grill and cook the skewers, flipping occasionally, until the veggies are tender and the halloumi is golden.

Remove from the grill and sprinkle with fresh parsley. Serve with warm pita and Tzatziki sauce. Yum!

Tips for Success

There’s no getting around it – Halloumi cheese is pricey. Sometimes, Costco carries it, and you can grab it at a significant savings. Trader Joes can be an affordable source, too.

Be sure to soak your skewers. If you’re using wooden skewers, soak them in water for a few minutes before assembling your halloumi and vegetable skewers. This will help prevent them from burning to a crisp once on the grill.

If you’re serving these halloumi and vegetable skewers with pita bread (highly recommended), throw it on the grill the last 2-3 minutes of grilling for perfectly warmed bread.

I hope you love these fresh and fun halloumi skewers as much as we do! They’re easy, delicious, great for a crowd, super customizable, and just a darn good excuse to eat melty cheese.

Mediterranean Halloumi & Vegetable Skewers

Salty Halloumi and tender veggies brushed with garlicky oregano vinaigrette and grilled until the cheese is golden outside and melty inside and the vegetables are perfectly tender. Serve with warm pita and creamy Tzatziki.

Keyword halloumi and vegetable skewers

Prep Time 35 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings skewers

Calories 361kcal

Author Kare

Ingredients

For the Greek vinaigrette marinade:

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice1 tablespoon red wine vinegar1 small clove garlic finely minced or grated1 teaspoon dried oregano1 teaspoon Dijon mustard1 teaspoon honey optional3/4 teaspoon kosher salt1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the skewers:

9 ounces halloumi cheese 1 block, drained, cut into 1-inch cubes1 small red onion cut into small wedges12 cherry tomatoes1 small zucchini cut into thick slices1/2 yellow bell pepper cut into 1-inch hunks

For serving

2 tablespoons fresh parsley minced, for garnish, optionaltzatziki saucesoft pita wedges

Instructions

Make the vinaigrette

Whisk together the ingredients in a bowl. Include the honey for a more balanced vinaigrette, but it’s delicious without too.

Assemble the skewers

If using wood skewers, soak in water for about 15 minutes to help keep them from burning when they’re being grilled. I like to use a rimmed baking sheet for soaking the skewers, then I rinse and dry the pan and use it to hold my skewers for marinating.

Thread the ingredients onto the skewers. I like to begin and end with a veggie that is sturdy and won’t be as likely to fall off of the end, like a bell pepper hunk or onion. If your halloumi is prone to splitting when you’re threading it on, try piercing it with a thinner toothpick before threading it onto the skewer. Otherwise, I always have a couple of casualties but I just do the best I can, usually even a cracked hunk of halloumi will cling to the skewer enough to grill.

Lay the skewers in a shallow pan and brush the vinaigrette on with a pastry brush. Flip and brush the other side. Let sit for 20-30 minutes to help soak up some of the marinade.

Grill

Preheat the grill to around 400°F, medium-high heat. Lay the skewers on the grill and cook with the lid down, flipping every 2-3 minutes, until the veggies are cooked through and the cheese has grill marks, 10-12 minutes.

Serve at once. Garnish with parsley if desired and serve with plenty of tzatziki sauce for dipping. Warmed soft pita wedges are delicious with these halloumi and veggie skewers, too.

Notes

Total recipe time includes 20 minutes for marinating.

Nutrition calculation does not include tzatziki or pita.

Meat option:

Add chicken – For the meat-eaters, you can add hunks of chicken to this one. Marinate it separately then monitor the internal temp to make sure it’s cooked through (it should read 165°F or higher).