Watermelon Halloumi Salad Sandwich

Watermelon Halloumi Salad Sandwich is an incredibly delicious and unique culinary delight of summer. This sweet, salty and refreshing recipe can be a main course or cut into small pieces for a knockout appetizer.

A friend told me about a watermelon Halloumi sandwich she had at a restaurant, and I could not stop thinking about it until I wrote this recipe.

Made from goat and sheep milk, Halloumi is a traditional cheese from Cyprus, and if you haven't tried it, you must! It's unripened and preserved in a brine which gives it a fantastic tangy salty flavor that pairs perfectly with sweet watermelon.

When Halloumi is raw it's firm, but when it's sautéed it caramelizes, the outer surface becomes crisp, and the inside becomes soft with a squeaky-like texture. Check out Halloumi Fries to see exactly what I mean.

This is a Watermelon Halloumi Salad in the form of a breadless sandwich, and it's absolutely incredible!

Jump to:

• Key Ingredients
• How to Make it
• Variations
• How to Eat Them
• Serving Suggestions
• Can you make them ahead?
• More of the Best Watermelon Recipes
• Watermelon Halloumi Salad Sandwich Recipe

Key Ingredients

• seedless watermelon - It's easiest to use a mini seedless watermelon for this recipe, though a larger one will also work. A ripe watermelon should have a strong, consistent stripe pattern with a dull finish and dry, vein-like webbing lines that usually indicate extra sweetness. If you see a pale yellow-whitish area on the melon, that's where is was sitting, unexposed to the sun. It's a good sign. You can you a yellow watermelon if you'd like, but I prefer the red because they're usually sweeter and the color is so beautiful!
• Halloumi cheese - You can find Halloumi in many major supermarkets including Vons, Ralph's, Aldi, Gelson's, Costco, Trader Joe's, and of course Amazon has it. It comes in blocks and sizes may vary.
• fresh mint - The mint brings everything to life, brightening the flavors so they shine. Mint and watermelon are a classic paring, though basil would be a lovely substitution.

How to Make it

- Place the Halloumi on a paper towel and pat it dry. Cut it into 4 to 6 approximately ¼-inch slices -- horizontally, parallel to the top of the cheese. Pat the slices dry with more paper towel.

Tip: Move your knife through the cheese slowly with gentle pressure. The cheese is firm, but can easily break apart if you're not careful. If it does break at all, it's okay, you can just piece the slices together when you assemble the sandwiches.

Tip: No two Halloumi blocks will be exactly the same, so the amount of slices you get and their sizes might vary.

- Pan fry the Halloumi slices in a very hot non-stick skillet that's lightly coated with olive oil. Tip: If you don’t hear a sizzling sound when the cheese hits the pan, it's not hot enough yet. Wait until it is, or you won't get that amazing golden "crust."

- Cook on high until the bottoms are golden, and then flip them and brown the other side. Remove them from the pan and cool on a plate.

- Cut a flat surface on each side of the watermelon, so it's more or less a square/rectangle.

- Stand it on one of its bases and cut about 10, approximately ¼ to ½-inch slices.

Tip: You'll only need a portion of a mini watermelon, so when you cut it into slices, only cut the number you need, which is based on how many slices of cheese you have. You will need twice as many watermelon slices as cheese slices.

- Trim the slices to get any bits of remaining skin off, and to get them about the size of the cheese slices. (Save all scraps to eat later!)

- Finely chop the mint and mix it with olive oil and a few turns of freshly ground black pepper.

Tip: You can also use whole mint leaves for a slightly stronger flavor. If you choose to, you don't need the oil, which is primarily used to make the chopped mint spreadable.

- Place the watermelon slices on a parchment-lined sheet pan.

- Spread about half of the mint mixture on the surface of the watermelon slices, divided evenly between them. Then place a piece of cooled fried Halloumi on half of the slices.

- Spread the remaining mint mixture on top of the cheese slices.

- Add tomato slices, Kalamata olives, both, or anything else you might want to try, or nothing.

- Close the sandwiches and serve!

(More detailed instructions are in the recipe card below.)

Variations

• Above, I've already showed you a couple of ways you can mix things up. Tomatoes and/or Kalamata olives -- I love both together.
• It's also delicious to make a watermelon Halloumi sandwich with pesto. Use your favorite. Mine is Lemon Verbena Pesto and it works really well here. (It would be used instead of the mint.)
• I don't think it's gets much better than Halloumi cheese for this recipe, but it's fun to experiment with other cheeses, too. If you use Feta, crumble it on the melon. Fresh mozzarella slices are also delicious with fruit. You can even make a watermelon caprese of sorts, like my Peach Caprese Salad.
• This might sound odd, but think Dill pickle slices are super tasty with watermelon and Halloumi.
• Drizzle Blackberry Balsamic Vinaigrette on the melon in lieu of the mint or with it -- it's excellent.
• Other possible additions could include watercress, cilantro, spinach, thinly sliced figs or strawberries -- get creative and have fun. 🙂 I suggest only using one or two ingredients beyond the cheese and mint.
• Want to try another melon? Go for it! Honeydew, cantaloupe -- as long as they're on the soft side -- a Sugar Kiss melon is a great texture with the cheese.

Fun tip: You can cut the sandwiches into smaller pieces for an appetizer or hors d'oeuvre. They can be held together with a toothpick and eaten in a couple of bites. Above I stacked two small bites together.

How to Eat Them

Believe it or not, it's not messy to eat these sandwiches with your hands. They will get a bit wet from the juice of the melon, but it won't be a juice-dripping-everywhere-messy situation. You can of course also eat them with a fork and knife if you prefer.

Serving Suggestions

• I like to stick a toothpick into each sandwich with a mint leaf. It's cute and helps hold the sandwich together.
• Want to make the Watermelon Halloumi Salad Sandwich more of a salad? Just cut everything into bite-sized pieces and mix. Add lettuce to bulk it up if you'd like.
• Two sandwiches per person is a nice main course, but if you want to add to it, or just serve one per person, it's really great with corn, especially Lemon-Pepper Corn on the Cob or Grilled Corn Riblets.
• Probably my favorite thing to pair with it is Cold Cucumber Basil Soup. Together with the watermelon Halloumi sandwich, it's a super refreshing meal.

Can you make them ahead?

• You can make the sandwiches up to about 4 hours ahead of time, keeping them refrigerated and covered lightly with plastic wrap until you're ready to serve.
• If you're looking to save time, you can sauté the cheese a day ahead. Let it cool completely before storing it in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
• Don't cut the watermelon before necessary or you'll loose some of its sweet juice.

More of the Best Watermelon Recipes

• Watermelon Pizza with Feta
• Watermelon Cucumber Salsa
• Compressed Watermelon Salad
• Watermelon Basil Salad with Avocado
• Grilled Watermelon with Chile and Lime

I really hope you try this watermelon Halloumi recipe. Do it when watermelons are in peak season if you can. Share with friends and family and enjoy every last bite!