Make this prawn saganaki recipe and pretend you are on a Greek island… Delicious prawns in a rich tomato sauce flecked with salty, melty feta cheese. Serve as shared appetiser or over rice as a main course.
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Published in 2013, Updated February 2020
PRAWN SAGANAKI RECIPE
Prawn Saganaki (Garides Saganaki) is a classic Greek dish made with tomatoes, prawns (shrimp)and feta cheese.
It is usually synonymous with holidays and summertime – no wonder I am craving it on a dreary winter’s day!
This dish is usually served as a shared appetiser with plenty of crusty bread to dip into the delicious sauce. In our family we always ate it as a main course over rice.
WHAT IS SAGANAKI?
“Saganaki” refers to the cooking pan (sagani) which is why you can have cheese saganaki (fried cheese) and prawn saganaki in which prawns are cooked in a tomato sauce and topped with feta cheese. Despite the common name they are totally different recipes. Confused yet?
This recipe predates the current “baked feta” pasta craze (originated on Tik Tok) but is just as delicious if not more so!
WHAT GOES INTO PRAWN SAGANAKI
My mother always makes this recipe with whole, large jumbo shrimp, heads and all – her saganaki is the stuff of LEGEND!
This adds a lot of flavour to the dish, but makes it very messy to eat. Use the best quality, large raw prawns (white shrimp) deveined with or without shells for ease.
Use fresh tomatoes – the best and ripest ones you can find – if you can. Unfortunately I haven’t ever been able to find Greek caliber tomatoes in the UK so I have adapted the recipe to use passata (sieved tomatoes) and tinned tomatoes. If you can’t find pasta you can use two cans of diced tomatoes instead of the one.
Ouzo and plenty of olive oil are usually added to this recipe in Greece… I have left the ouzo out because not many of us will have it handy. Feel free to drizzle plenty of extra virgin olive oil over the dish before baking if you like!
How to make Prawn Saganaki
Take a look at this step by step tutorial – please note you will find the full recipe, including ingredients in the recipe card at the end of this post.
STEP 1 Heat the oil in a large oven-safe casserole dish. Sauté the onion over medium-low heat for 5 minutes, stirring, until slightly softened. Stir in the garlic, salt, sugar, thyme, chill flakes and bay leaves and cook for a couple of minutes.
STEP 2 Add the passata, chopped tomatoes, tomato paste and wine and bring to a simmer.Cook, stirring occasionally, for 20-30 minutes until the tomato sauce has thickened.
STEP 3 Stir in the prawns, mixing into the sauce until they start to turn pink.
STEP 4 Top with the crumbled feta and cook under a hot grill (broiler) until the feta starts to colour and melt.
STEP 5 Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with chopped parsley or fresh thyme. Serve as a shared appetiser (meze) with plenty of crusty bread or as a main dish over rice.
This baked prawn recipe is Slimming World friendly with minor modifications noted in the recipe card below. Serve over rice or cauliflower rice with a Greek salad on the side!
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Prawn Saganaki
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil or olive oil cooking spray for slimming version
- 1 large onion , very finely diced
- 3 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp chilli flakes
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 bay leaves
- 240 g (1 cup) passata strained tomatoes /tomato purée
- 400 g (14oz) tin diced tomatoes in juice (crushed tomatoes)
- 120 ml (½ cup) dry white wine or water
- 450 g (1 pound) raw jumbo prawns (shrimp)
- 200 g (7 oz) feta cheese, crumbled
- Chopped parsley or fresh thyme to garnish
- Salt and pepper to season to taste
Serving suggestions
- Crusty bread to serve as a starter
- Steamed rice to serve as a main
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large oven-safe casserole dish. Sauté the onion over medium-low heat for 5 minutes, stirring, until slightly softened.
- Stir in the garlic, salt, sugar, thyme, chill flakes and bay leaves and cook for a couple of minutes.
- Add the passata, chopped tomatoes, tomato paste and wine and bring to a simmer.
- Cook, stirring occasionally, for 20-30 minutes until the tomato sauce has thickened.
- Stir in the prawns, mixing into the sauce until they turn pink, 2-3 minutes.
- Top with the crumbled feta (and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil if you like) and cook under a hot grill (broiler) until the feta starts to colour and melt.
- Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with chopped parsley.
- Serve as a shared starter with plenty of crusty bread or as a main dish over rice.
aga says
I did this dish with some changes, I did add the wine after I softened onion and garlic and bay leaves has been added then I have put wine to keep the taste in onion and garlic. If you add this with tomatoes you won`t be able to take out this taste!!! The dish over the rice is avesome!!!!
Joan Birdsell says
Can you substitute regular shrimp for prawns? I don’t have access to anything like that.
Lucy Parissi says
Yes you can 😘
Michele McInerney says
Hi Lucy, I hope you and your loved ones are safe and well. I cam across this recipe whilst looking for a curried prawns recipe. I can remember making this decades ago but had forgotten about it. I would like to try adding Ouzo so would you mind telling me how much to add?
Thank you for your time.
Best regards
Michele
Sydney Australia
Lucy Parissi says
Hi Michelle, a splash would do! About a tablespoon – ouzo is really strong tasting
prwilson says
Reminds me of my holidays! So delicious 🙂
glennamy says
So delicious! We served it over rice too. Syn Free (using feta allowance)
Pie Scientista says
Made this tonight. Used ouzo as suggested and very good. Thanks for a great recipe!
underthebluegumtree says
I am really intrigued by the prawn/feta/tequila/soy combo in this dish. It looks and sounds amazing and I am definitely going to try it. Just as an aside, I absolutely love your photography and was wondering if you'd share your secrets. Do you have any specialist equipment and which photo editing software do you use?
supergoldenbakes says
I have a good digital camera (Nikon D300), and a tripod (which I tend not to use as it limits the angles you can shoot from). To edit the images I use Lightbox and Photoshop software. For props I use whatever I cook with and serve on, but have collected lots of interesting bits and bobs over the years. And I collect anything that could be used as a background mostly from skips!
Catherine says
Hate to sound silly, but could you please tell me what passata is? Really want to try this recipe!
Lucy Parissi says
Not silly at all! Passata is also known as tomato purée in the Us – it’s smooth sieved tomatoes. If you can’t find it you can use crushed tomatoes, blended smooth
supergoldenbakes says
Sorry that should be LightROOM not Lighbox!