Crispy zucchini cigars with feta cheese

Flaky, crispy filo dough with a flavorful, cheesy zucchini filling. Yum! These zucchini cigars with lemony feta & a sprinkle of fennel seed are a tasty side or appetizer. Well, in our case, they became the main event on the dinner table. 😉 The cheesy zucchini filling has a fresh and savory Mediterranean flavor. You can eat them plain, or dipped in a sauce such as marinara, roasted red pepper dip, or garlicky lemon yogurt.

The filling for these zucchini cigars comes together pretty fast, but (no surprise) rolling them up takes a bit of time. This recipe cooks up great in either the oven or air fryer (instructions for both ways in the recipe). If using the air fryer to cook (for extra-crispy filo dough), you can work in batches and prepare the next batch while the previous is cooking.

Tips for making zucchini cigars

• Get as much moisture as you can out of the zucchini
• Don’t let the filo dough dry out (cover with a damp tea towel when not using)
• Serve warm or hot, while the cheese is still melty and soft

Shredding zucchini for zucchini cigars

A soggy zucchini cigar is no good, so you need to get out a lot of the moisture. After grating the zucchini (either by hand or with the food processor), I put it all in a tea towel and squeezed hard. Lots of zucchini juice down the drain. Using this method, I did not need to salt the zucchini for this recipe, and the zucchini cigars were nice and crispy.

How to roll zucchini cigars with feta

Lay out a single rectangular sheet of filo dough, and brush it with a mixture of butter and oil. Flip over the sheet so the oil is on the outside. Place about a ¼ cup filling along one of the short ends. Roll the filling up tightly in the filo dough, all the way down the sheet of dough. Cut the roll of dough in to three even pieces. Brush with the more butter + oil.

Some filling might fall out the sides while cooking, but it’s no problem. Really, those golden cheesy ends are quite tasty 😉

Oven or air fryer

I highly recommend using the air fryer for this recipe, if you have one. The filo dough gets wonderfully crispy this way. You can also make them in the oven, and they still turn out great. Instructions are given for both ways.

Reheating zucchini cigars with feta

Reheat your zucchini cigars for 5 minutes in the oven (190 °C) or air fryer (170 °C). This way the zucchini cigars will get back their crispy outside. Filo dough does not reheat well in the microwave – it gets soft and disappointing.

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If you’re in the mood for zucchini, you might also like my zucchini & ricotta tart with tomato-basil sauce, ma lemony zucchini pasta sauce, ou ma porcupine meatballs with hidden zucchini.

If you liked these zucchini cigars, please let me know in the comments! 😊

Imprimer la recette

Zucchini cigars with feta

Crispy rolls of filo dough filled with shredded zucchini, plenty of melted cheese, and Mediterranean flavor

Temps total45 minutes min

Type de plat: Appetizer, Dinner, Side Dish

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Mots clés: feta, filo dough, mozzarella, zucchini

Servings: 4 as a main

Ingrédients

• 1 courgette 225 g after shredding
• 1 small shallot finement coupé
• 3 gousses d'ail finement coupé
• 1 ½ c. à café grated lemon zest
• ½ c. à café graines de fenouil
• 100 g feta cheese crumbled
• 200 g grated mozzarella
• 2 c. à soupe melted butter
• 1 c. à soupe huile d'olive
• 8 feuilles pâte filo

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 200 °C, convection mode.
• Shred the zucchini. Place in a tea towel and squeeze out as much moisture as you can. You should have about 150 g squeezed zucchini shreds.
• Mélanger : In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients up to the grated mozzarella.
• In a small bowl mix together 2 tbsp melted butter and 1 tbsp olive oil.
• Roll up the cigars: Lay out one rectangular sheet of filo dough on a large cutting board. With a pastry brush, brush some of the butter-oil mixture on one side of the sheet of filo. Flip over the sheet of filo (so the butter is on the outside). Place about 60 g (about ½ cup) of the zucchini filling all along one of the short ends of the filo dough. Tightly roll up the filo to the end of the sheet. Cut the filo roll into 3 equal parts. Brush a bit more butter on the outside. Repeat for all 8 sheets of filo dough.
• Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Arrange the zucchini cigars so they are not touching.
• Mijoter : Cook the zucchini cigars at 200 °C on convection mode for 9-10 minutes, until golden and crispy.
• Servir hot.

Remarques

This recipe also works very well in the air fryer. If you go the air fryer route, work in batches, rolling up more zucchini rolls as others cook. Air fry at 190 °C for about 6-8 minutes, until golden.