Love Greek Food? Try my Kokkinisto!

Does food taste better when you are on holiday? I haven’t conducted any official research, but, between you and me, yes it does!

I associate Greek bifteki with summer holidays on sun-drenched Skiathos island and so automatically this extremely simple dish tastes incredible!

What’s more it’s a sheet pan wonder that’s ready in under 30 minutes – I do love a meal that requires minimal washing up.

If it were up to me everything would be made in one pot, a sheet pan or the Instant Pot. I love cooking but I despise washing up, as I am sure my husband would tell you. He is the one always cleaning up after me!

What Is Bifteki?

If you have never heard of bifteki and are expecting something exotic, then I have to let you down easy. Bifteki is simply a beef patty or burger made with herby minced beef or lamb. It can be cooked under the grill, on your BBQ, or in the oven as I have done here.

Although bifteki very much resembles a burger in every respect, it is almost never served in a bun in Greece.

Instead it is served with potatoes or rice and salad and flavourful enough to stand on its own, no ketchup required.

All you need is a squeeze of lemon – which is why most Greek food will be served with a lemon wedge on the side.

Greek bifteki with potatoes and tomatoes

How to Make Greek Bifteki

Use the best quality minced beef (or lamb) you can find – I like to use organic 10% fat minced beef.

Don’t use very lean mince as you will end up with a dry sad bifteki. Use fresh herbs such as mint and parsley, but also a good pinch of rigani (dried oregano).

Finally you can stuff your bifteki with a slice of feta cheese for extra flavour – or you can crumble the cheese in the bifteki mix if you prefer in order to conceal it. You might have little kids who hate feta when they can detect it, as mine sometimes do!

How to Cook Bifteki

For an authentic ‘on holidays’ taste you should be cooking these on a charcoal BBQ as you would regular old burgers. But they taste pretty incredible cooked in your oven on a sheet pan with potato wedges.

Heat your oven to 220°C (430°F) and drizzle the largest sheet pan you own with olive oil. Scatter potato wedges on the tray, coating them in the oil, and season liberally with salt and pepper.

Greek bifteki and potato wedges in a sheet pan

Add a good pinch of dried oregano and then nestle the bifteki among the potatoes. It might be a tight squeeze, but everything will shrink slightly as it cooks.

Cook for 20 minutes then add a couple of bunches vine tomatoes, still on the vine (this, I admit, is mostly for how pretty they look).

Scatter with feta cheese and finely sliced red onion and stick back in the oven for 5 minutes, just long enough for the tomatoes to blister and cheese to melt a little.

Serve with a green salad or a Greek salad and think back to those summer holidays…

Close up of Greek bifteki with potato wedges and tomatoes

HAVE YOU MADE MY BIFTEKI RECIPE ? Please leave a rating, post a photo on my Facebook page, share it on Instagram, or save it to Pinterest with the tag #Nusde and make my day!