Greek Tomato Fritters are a popular summer dish from the island of Santorini. Famous for their rich tomato flavor, airy, herby batter, infused with bits of salty feta cheese, and delicious, deep-fried crisp edges! Served with a dollop of Greek yogurt on the side.

In Greece, we call them Tomatokeftedes or Domatokeftedes. They're a traditional Meze dish enjoyed in most Greek Tavernas, especially during the summer, when tomatoes are sun-ripe, juicy, and intensely sweet. The original recipe comes from Santorini Island in the Cyclades.
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Tomato Variety
The Santorini Tomato Fritters are made using the delicious local tomato variety that takes its name after the island, the Santorini tomato.
Of course, you can make these juicy and flavorful tomato fritters with almost any tomato variety, as long as it's ripe, sweet, and in season! If I were to suggest two safe options, it would be Roma Tomatoes or a Vine Ripe Tomatoes.

Ingredients
- Fresh ripe tomatoes
- Red onion
- Feta cheese crumbled
- Fresh herbs: basil and parsley
- Dried oregano
- Red wine vinegar: white wine and apple cider work as well.
- Sweet parika: to enhance sweetness, you can use ¼ of sugar instead.
- Self-raisin flour
Other Ingredients
The locals on Santorini island many times use Fava in the fritters as well. Since it's also a popular and well-loved product from the island. It's a type of Yellow Split Pea produced there, called Fava Santorinis.
Of course, Fava needs to be cooked first before you add it to the batter. You can see my recipe on How to Make Traditional Greek Fava.

How To Make
To make traditional Greek Tomato Fritters, finely chop the tomatoes and toss them in a bowl with their juices. Grate the onion and finely chop the fresh herbs. Toss in the bowl with the tomatoes, and add also the paprika, vinegar, and some freshly ground pepper. Stir well and marinate for 10-15 minutes. This intensifies the flavor a lot.
Next, mix in the crumbled feta cheese, and gradually incorporate the flour. Add enough flour so you have a batter that holds its shape on the spoon, but it's not thick enough to be shaped by hand.
Make Them Gluten-free
To make these deep-fried tomato fritters gluten-free, you can substitute flour with corn flour (Maize flour, not corn starch), millet flour, or chickpea flour. Just don't forget to mix 2 teaspoons of baking powder into the flour you are using before adding it to the batter.

Cooking Tomato Fritters
You can make this tomatokeftedes recipe deep-fried, pan-fried, or oven-baked. The latter is a healthier option in case you don't mind sacrificing some of the flavor.
Deep-frying: Take spoonfuls of the fritter batter and dip them in plenty of hot frying oil. Deep-fry until deep golden on both sides. Use two forks to flip them.
Pan-frying: Heat a good splash of olive oil in a non-stick frying pan. Add a spoonful of the batter and press with the back of the spoon to flatten it. Cook until it sets on one side, and then flip.

Oven-baking: Cover a sheet pan with parchment paper. Drizzle generously with olive oil. Add enough flour to the fritters so they are hand-shapable. Don't let the mixture sit too long because you will need to add more flour, which equals less flavor.
Shape into round, flattened patties and place in the pan. Drizzle with olive oil on top and bake until set and golden at 220°C / 428°F. And don't forget to preheat the oven well!

Serve With
Serve Tomatokeftedes with a dollop of Greek yogurt or a Greek dip such as Tzatziki, Tirokafteri (Spicy Feta Cheese Dip), or Htipiti (Red Pepper and Feta Dip).
Recipe

Tomatokeftedes - Greek Tomato Fritters
Ingredients
For The Fritters:
- 500 grams (1.1 pounds) ripe tomatoes
- 150 grams (1 medium-large) red onion
- 200 grams (7 ounces) feta cheese crumbled
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil leaves (about 5-6 large leaves)
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
- 1½ teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon paprika (sweet red pepper)
- 160 grams (1 cup + 4 tablespoons) self-rasing flour may need more
- sunflower, corn oil, or other vegetable frying oil
- salt and freshly ground pepper
To Serve With:
- 2-3 loaded tablespoons Greek yogurt
Instructions
- Finely chop the tomatoes. Add them to a large mixing bowl along with their juices.
- Grate the onion on the coarse scale of a hand grater. Or pulse in a small food processor until finely grated, not mushy. Add it to the bowl with the tomatoes.
- Add the fresh herbs, dried oregano, paprika, red wine vinegar, and season with freshly ground pepper. Stir to combine.
- Marinate the mixture for 10-15 minutes at room temperature.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil. Half fill a frying pan or a saute pan with oil and heat over medium-high heat.
- Add the feta cheese into the batter. Season lightly with salt.
- Mix in the flour gradually. You may need to add a little extra or slightly less, depending on how juicy your tomatoes are. The batter should be soft and hold its shape when taking a spoonful, but not too thick to be hand-shapable.
- Wait until the oil gets sizzling hot (not smokey hot) at about 170°C / 340°F.
- Take a spoonful of the batter and either dip it straight in the hot oil or use a second spoon to make a quenelle shape.
- Deep-fry in batches until honey golden and crisp on both sides. Don't fry more than 5-6 fritters in one batch.
- Transfer to paper towels for a few seconds.
- Serve warm with Greek yogurt to dip in on the side. Enjoy!





Ela Fotini. Can you save the batter if not used? If so how? Efhariato😀
Hi, I'm afraid not, it will become too soggy.
Fotini, these were absolutely the most tastiest tomato fritters I have ever eaten in Greece and ever made. You tips were fantastic. I did add a bit of concentrated tomato paste while cooking the tomatoes and it worked beautifully. The finished tomatokeftedes looked as perfect as yours did, I was so excited. Welcome back, you and your recipes were surely missed by me!! Can't wait to make more of your luscious recipes🤗❣❣
Thank you so much, Konstantina, it's so nice to know you really enjoyed them. Glad to be back and can't wait to share more recipes with you!!
This looks terrific. Good, ripe tomatoes are hard to find where I live. One question, if I may…….it seems that if I skin the tomatoes, give them a light chop, and otherwise follow your recipe, wouldn’t I get the same result?
Normally I follow a recipe closely a few times but this question just jumped out to me. Thanks, I’m so glad you do these.
Hello William, you can do it that way also. I prefer not cooking the skins (along with the insides of the tomatoes) as they give a nice, more fresh & crisp texture to the fritters. Cooking them will make them mushier.
Hi Fotini
I always love your recipes but this recipe tomato fritters brought back my childhood memories, I ate so much of these growing up even though I am not Greek but my mom used to make these on Wednesday and Friday because there was no meat on these days as Christian. The only difference between my mom and your fritters was semolina instead of flour. Try that some time and see. Thank
Hello Maryiana, I will definitely try that. It sounds like your mom really knew how to make Tomato Fritters and glad I brought back childhood memories. Is it fine semolina or semolina flour that she was using?