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Home » Blog » Eat as a Vegan in Greece – Main Dishes

Eat as a Vegan in Greece – Main Dishes

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Are you Vegan in Greece?

Are you planning to visit Greece and you are getting discouraged by all the Authentic meaty foods known as gyros, moussaka, pastitsio, etc around Greece?? I have great news for you!! Actually, in Greece, there is a BIG variety of Traditional Vegan dishes to try. Despite that few Greeks are aware of the world of Veganism, in fact, lots of Greek foods and Greek Desserts are originally Vegan.

Spinach pie piece

If you visit a Greek restaurant and ask for Vegan dishes, most probably (90%), mainly in Islands and small towns, people will stare at you without having any idea what are you talking about. To make it worse many of the serving people there are not even aware of the ingredients in the served dishes. Sorry but this is the truth.

It reminded me of one day that I visited a bakery and asked for dairy-free cookies. The lady at the store was very happy about their delicious vegan cookies and offered me a free sample. I took a bite and discovered that inside were pieces of small milky chocolates. I informed her that those cookies were not vegan as they were having milky chocolates. Her answer? “Oh, it’s ok! Little bit of pieces of milk chocolates don’t matter, our cookies are vegan“. See? So be aware.

Study the article below, print the list I have provided along with the Greek instructions and you are ready for your next dream vacation in Greece!

Be aware: When you ask for a dish please specify that you are Vegan because in some of them they sprinkle cheese on the top of the dish. Below you can find a card translated into Greek mentioning your diet restrictions to your waiter. 

Main Dishes- Vegan in Greece

Ladera cooked with lots of Olive oil (Vegetables)

Gemista

My favorite summer Greek dish!! It’s stuffed vegetables (tomatoes, eggplants, green long pumpkins, pumpkin flowers, potatoes, and green peppers) with rice and herbs, baked in an oven along with pieces of potatoes. Be careful! There is a version with minced meat also, so just make sure you order the meatless one.

Gemista Recipe by Akis Petretzikis –> Here

Stuffed tomato, pepper and potatoes in a grey plate

Mpriam  

Baked vegetables with tomato sauce and herbs. Another version is Grilled vegetables.

Gemista Recipe by Maninio -> Here

Vegetables in aa blue plate

Imam 

Baked eggplants in tomato sauce.

Imam Recipe by Lazy cat kitchen -> Here

Gigantes 

Big white beans baked in a tomato sauce and herbs.

Gigantes Recipe by My Greek Dish -> Here

Beans with tomato in a white plate with oregano

Mpamies

Okra cooked in tomato sauce.

Mpamies Recipe by My Greek Dish -> Here

Arakas

Peas cooked in tomato sauce with potatoes and carrots.

Arakas Recipe by Olive Tomato -> Here

peas with potatoes and a piece of bread in a blue plate

Fasolakia 

Green beans cooked in tomato sauce and served hot.

Fasolakia Recipe by The Mediterranean Dish -> Here

Dolmadakia

Stuffed vine leaves with rice, herbs, and lemon cooked in a big pan with water. Served cold, with a drizzle of lemon and olive oil.

Dolmadakia Recipe by The Hellenic Deli -> Here

Stuffed Dolmadakia with olive oil in a white plate

Pies

Spanakopita  

Spinach pie mainly is made with eggs and cheese but some restaurants especially during lent, make it in a Vegan version.

For the recipe click Here -> Spinach pie with homemade phyllo

A white plate with vegan spinach pie in a blue cover

Kolokithopita  

Pumpkin pie mainly is made with eggs and cheese but some restaurants especially during lent, make it in a Vegan version. You can also find it in a sweet version made with raisins.

Pumpkin pie in a white plate

Manitaropita  

Mushroom pie mainly is made with eggs and cheese but some restaurants especially during lent, make it in a Vegan version.

Grains & Legumes 

Fasolada

Bean tomato soup served hot.

Fasolada Recipe by The Akis Petretzikis -> Here

Greek bean soup with tomatoes and onions

Fakes

Lentils soup served hot.

Fakes Recipe by My Greek Dish -> Here

Revithia

Chickpeas soup.

Chickpeas soup in a white plate

Spanakorizo

Creamy Rice and Spinach cooked in a big pan with olive oil and herbs. Served hot.

Laxanorizo

Creamy Rice and cabbage cooked in a big pan with olive oil and herbs. Served hot.

Prasorizo

Creamy Rice and leeks cooked in a big pan with olive oil and herbs. Served hot.

Risotto

Ask for the vegetable version without dairy.

For the recipe click Here -> Risotto with beetroots & dill/

Ten secrets for the best risotto/

Risotto with asparagus

Pasta with tomato sauce or vegetables

Ask for the version without the cheese.

Pasta with tomato sauce in a white plate

Fava  

Yellow beans with olive oil and lemon. Can be served as a side dish and you can mainly fond it in Islands mainly in Santorini.

Tomatokeftedes

Meatless fried balls made of tomato and herbs. Make sure there is no egg or milk inside, as sometimes they cook it with them. They are very famous on Santorini Island.

Tomatokeftedes Recipe by Akis Petretzikis-> Here

Pita Oikologiki

You can have the Traditional Greek pita with vegetables, potatoes, and tomato sauce.

As you can see you have lots of choices for Main Dishes. The majority of them you can find them in Tavernas and Restaurants. In most of the Souvlakeri (Gyros shops) they can serve you Vegan gyros. Be careful with the sauces which normally is tzatziki and contains yogurt.

List of Vegan Greek Main DIshes

Vegan Transition card in Greek

Are you traveling to Greece?

Please find below a few related posts:

Are you a traveler? I have written other vegan guides about various places around the world. Here are a few:

Europe

America

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. ayewanderful

    This is such a fantastic post Penelopi. I am not a vegan but I am a vegetarian and having such a list on hand is great when I visit Greece next time because I will get to try so many authentic Greek dishes. I must say I did not face a big problem when I was in Santorini and I ate souvlaki with courgette fritters, peppers stuffed with rice, etc.

    Reply

    • penelopi

      Hey there thanks for your message! 🙂 Since you are Vegetarian there is even a bigger variety of Greek foods. I will post about appetisers, sweets and salads also pretty soon. 🙂 Yeah I agree wherever there is Souvlaki is easy to mix and match.

      Reply

    • Apoorva

      Hey, I am travelling to greece santorini and a vegetarian and Indian, Could you suggest some good places and dishes to eat ?

      Reply

      • ayewanderful

        Hi Apoorva, I don’t have restaurant recommendations as such because we ate in the area that we were visiting at the time (Fira, Imerovigli, Firostefani, etc.) Generally speaking, you cannot go wrong with souvlakis with veg options like courgette or tomato fritters, baked peppers stuffed with rice, etc. Also, I would ask in the restaurant if they could make some Greek homestyle vegetarian dish even if it’s not on the menu.

        Reply

  2. shussey27

    I would have imagined it to be quite difficult to eat vegan or vegetarian in Greece where lamb and meat is so dominate on menus. But you’ve just proven me wrong (and given me an idea for dinner tonight!) 🙂

    Reply

  5. Sissi

    Uuuuff!!! I’m not vegan but vegetarian and this post makes me want to visit Greece so badly :D!!!! I’ve always been curious about Thessaloniki, yet now there’s a far better reason to go. I always thought much of Greek food is minced meat 😀

    Reply

    • penelopi

      Hahahah I feel your pain!! Except these dishes where you can find in the majority of the restaurants, Thessaloniki has Vegan places one is “Roots” and the other “Elephant in the room”
      Enjoy your time when you visit Greece. 🙂

      Reply

  7. Lena Ameri

    This was so interesting and useful! There are so many veggie options which is awesome! I would think cheese would be the hardest part to be vegan in Greece.

    Reply

    • penelopi

      Hey Lena 🙂 I agree cheese is the difficult one but nowadays all the big supermarkets have a vegan option cheese and a few restaurants serve vegan cheese pizzas also. Personally, I really hate the vegan cheese. 🙂

      Reply

    • penelopi

      Great!! Have a nice time in Greece! if you need anything let me know. I am based in Athens. 🙂 Since you are not Vegan do not miss to try the following foods.

      1. Mousakka – I believe you know about it. 🙂
      2. Pita Giros
      3. Cheese pies with traditional phyllo
      4. Haloumi Cheese
      5. Roasted chicken and lamb in a spin.
      6. Chorta – Green vegetables
      7. Tzatziki
      8. Ntomatokeftedes – mostly in islands
      9. Galaktompoureko – Sweet
      10. Karidopita – Sweet
      11. Baklava – Sweet
      12. Greek Ice cream

      and of course the wines, ouzo and tsipouro. 🙂

      Reply

  9. Sarah Shumate

    Trying new food is one of my favorite parts of traveling. All of these dishes look SO good. I’ve never been vegan, but I was vegetarian for years and was always happily surprised by how many new things I was still able to try, even while staying away from meat!

    Reply

  10. Dani

    Wow this isn’t a great resource for vegan travelers! I am not vegan but getting closer and closer every day…. my sister is and although she doesn’t travel often I’ve seen how it can be such a challenge. Greek food is the best by the way!

    Reply

  16. amandasettle

    I’m always amazed that people think Greek food is all about meat, it’s got some of the best vegetarian dishes I’ve every tasted 🙂 Great to meet someone else who loves Greece and the food.

    Reply

  17. The Full-Time Tourist

    I had no idea that there were so many vegan dishes in Greece!! (As well as many that don’t appear to have gluten either!) I’ve had a similar experience before where I’ve accidentally had gluten because the person serving the food didn’t realize that barley also contains gluten, so I completely understand your frustration that not everyone understands what vegan means. Your printable card at the very bottom will definitely be very helpful to circumvent this problem! Thanks for this incredible round-up post!!

    Reply

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