This is an easy recipe for fried manchego cheese tapas. It’s a simple Spanish appetizer that can be prepped ahead of time and fried right before serving!
For more tips and serving suggestions, please read the post below. The full manchego cheese recipe card can be found at the bottom of this post.
Pro tips
Manchego cheese is a good-quality product so please note that it melts fast when being fried. For this reason, it is important to follow these steps/tips:
- Make sure the cheese slices are well coated on all sides. If not, it will ooze out and you may end up with an empty breaded shell.
- Double coating/breading in egg and breadcrumbs is a must and should not be omitted. Especially, when using fine breadcrumbs.
- Oil has to be hot as it will seal the coating quickly and prevent fried Manchego from oozing out. A deep fryer would probably be the best and quickest option, but a skillet/pan-frying is fine to use as well.
- Freezing breaded Manchego cheese slices for 30+ minutes prior to frying hardens the cheese which also keeps it from melting too fast.
What goes well with fried Manchego cheese?
This Manchego cheese appetizer is delicious with sour cream and garlic dip (Aioli would also work well), sweet jams (apricot jam and fig jam are great choices) or spicy chutneys.
You could also use it as a topping for tossed salad – just add 2-3 manchego triangles on top for an extra flavor.
Now bear in mind that fried Manchego is a rich appetizer, so I highly recommend serving it alongside other appetizers that are lighter or contain no cheese (like these BLT egg sliders or pear pomegranate salsa).
You can make the prep ahead of time and keep the breaded manchego cheese triangles in a container in the freezer.
Most places that serve beer in Spain (pubs and restaurants) will have some kind of tapas (Spanish appetizers) on their menu.
If you ever visit Madrid, make sure to spend some time in Mercado de San Miguel. It’s tapas heaven and there are so many options to choose from – deep-fried, marinated, cooked, fresh, fish, meat, ...
They can be served on a slice of a fresh or toasted baguette, croissant, or in a small bowl (like olives or a tiny portion of paella, salad) and the large ones, the more complicated ones are brought to you on a slate board.
A couple of Spanish appetizers you might like to try:
Fried Manchego Cheese
Ingredients
- ½ pound Manchego cheese (wedge-shaped, 225 grams)
- ½ cup all-purpose flour (70 grams)
- 1 cup breadcrumbs (150 grams, see note 1)
- 2 eggs (large)
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup oil (for frying, see note 2)
Instructions
- Cut off the hard rind and slice the cheese into about 15 thin-ish triangles (a little less than ¼ inch/about 0.5 centimeter each).
- Get 3 bowls. Put flour in one. In the second one, beat the eggs with 1 tablespoon of water. In the last bowl, mix breadcrumbs with paprika, oregano and black pepper (you can use a Ziploc bag for the breadcrumb mixture as well).
- Coat each manchego slice in flour, then dip into the egg mixture, coat in breadcrumbs, and again dip into the egg mixture and coat in breadcrumbs. Make sure the whole cheese is coated well. If not, it will ooze out during frying!
- Place them onto a tray and put in the freezer for 30 minutes (or longer).
- Heat the oil and fry them until golden brown (you might need less time so keep an eye on them).
- Best enjoyed warm.
Notes
- I used fine breadcrumbs. You can use any dry breadcrumbs you like.
- When using a skillet/frying pan, you will only need about ½ cup to ¾ cup of oil for frying. You can also use a deep fryer and it should only take a minute or so.
- More tips and serving suggestions can be found in the post above this recipe card.
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