Sigara Boregi, Turkish cheese rolls, are crunchy appetizers that satisfy everyone. They are one of the easiest Turkish börek recipes. Prepare them in advance and fry right before serving for the crispiest result.
There are several savory pastries in Turkey and they are served either as breakfast food or afternoon snacks. We have shared most of them here on Give Recipe. Gözleme, spinach cheese borek and this sigara boregi are among the most popular ones.
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What Is Sigara Boregi?
Borek is one of the most loved Turkish dishes. It is the general name in Turkish cuisine we use for savory pastries made with phyllo sheets (yufka) and various fillings.
There are LOTS of börek recipes in Turkey and we name them with their fillings inside, their shapes or the method of cooking. So when you make the filling with potatoes, you call it potato borek. If the filling is with chicken, you call it chicken borek and so on.
When you cook the phyllo dough in water first, it is called water borek, su boregi.
And this sigara börek or cigarette borek have this name because of their cylindiric shape, which is similar to the shape of cigarette or cigar.
So what exactly is sigara boregi?
Filo sheets are cut into pieces, filled with feta cheese, rolled up and then fried in a pan. It is best when they are served warm as they are crispy and the cheese inside is melting. That being said, they are tasty when served cold too.
These crispy phyllo rolls are one of the most common mezes or appetizers served at restaurants before a main dish arrives. They are also quite popular at Turkish households as a snack to go with delicious black Turkish tea.
About The Ingredients
Phyllo Dough: This is a super thin pastry dough that we use very often to make borek recipes. Traditionally, all Turkish boreks are made with a special dough called yufka, which is thin, soft and flexible.
Yufka dough is sold at any market in Turkey but you might not find it easily in your area. So the best option to substitute yufka is phyllo dough, also known is filo dough.
Unlike yufka, phyllo sheets dry out very fast after they are removed from their pack. So make sure to cover them with a damp kitchen towel to prevent them from drying when you are working with one of them.
Another substitute for yufka dough to make sigara boregi is spring roll pastries. They are already sold in squares, so you might find it easier to work with.
Cheese: We use a mixture of feta cheese (Turkish beyaz peynir) and grated mozzarella. They go really well together in these crispy pastries. You can get creative and make a cheese mixture with Turkish cottage cheese called lor peyniri, halloumi cheese (hellim peyniri) and Turkish kasar cheese.
It is possible to use cream cheese or labneh too, but they might easily ooze when frying the filo rolls, so we don't prefer them.
Parsley: It gives a nice herby touch to the sigara börek cheese filling. We do love the combination of cheese and parsley but you can substitute spinach for it if you want.
Oil: This is to fry these filo cheese rolls. We use either sunflower oil or vegetable oil. Light olive oil is fine too.
A Word On Yufka: They are large and round in shape. You can easily cut it into triangles when making sigara boregi. Slice it with a sharp knife or a pizza cutter just like you slice a pizza. And then stuff the yufka triangles with the filling. Alternatively, you might find pre-cut yufka triangles in packs at Middle Eastern markets.
How To Make The Recipe
These Turkish cheese rolls recipe has four easy parts: Making the filling, cutting the phyllo sheets, rolling them up with the cheese filling and frying.
Before starting to make sigara boregi, make sure to thaw the phyllo dough if it is frozen by keeping it at room temperature for 2-3 hours.
Prepare the filling: In a medium mixing bowl, combine crumbled feta cheese and mozzarella with chopped parsley.
Cut the phyllo sheets into squares: Place a phyllo sheet on a flat surface. Cover the remaining sheets with a damp kitchen towel to prevent them from drying out. Brush the filo sheet with water. Place another sheet right on this one.
Brush it with water as well. Now cut it into 4 equal pieces using a knife. Don't forget to cover the filo sheets with a kitchen towel each time you get one to stuff and roll.
Make the rolls: Put a square-shaped filo sheet on the counter like a diamond shape. And put about 1 and ½ tablespoons cheese mixture on the bottom side leaving some room at each side. Fold the bottom tip over the cheese.
Then fold both sides on this one and make a tight roll. Brush the top edge with water so that it sticks when rolled. Roll it up and put it aside. Repeat these steps for the remaining phyllo dough sheets.
Fry the rolls: Heat oil in a pan (about 2 inches of oil) and fry the phyllo cheese rolls in batches until they get golden on all sides. It takes about 5-7 minutes. Make sure you transfer them on paper towel to remove the excessive oil. Serve them warm. Yummy!
If you want more ideas with filo dough, check out our Turkish baklava, homemade baklava and all the other filo dough recipes we love!
Tips
- Remember to cover the phyllo dough sheets with a damp kitchen towel after removing them from the package so that they won't dry out.
- Make sure to secure the filling well to prevent the cheese from oozing when frying.
- Don't overfill the rolls, otherwise the cheese filling will easily ooze.
- If the cheese starts to ooze when frying your sigara börek, it will splatter hot oil. So be careful not to burn your hands.
- Don't overcrowd the pan, otherwise the temperature of the oil will reduce and your rolls won't be fried well.
Serving Suggestions
We make this sigara börek recipe quite often since it caters us in many occasions. They make an easy and tasty meze, especially when served with an simple yogurt sauce on the side.
We sometimes serve them with a thick cacik and sometimes with a mixture of yogurt, mint and red pepper flakes. It makes a fresh and healthy company to the fried feta rolls at lunch too. You can also serve them with a fresh salad.
It is often served as a part of meze platter and it is accompanied by kisir salad, biber dolma or cikofte.
Storage
The best part of these delicious Turkish cheese rolls is that you can roll up a good batch and store them for later.
You can keep them in the fridge for a week. It’s really time saving when you have a party at home. Fry them when your guests are about to arrive and serve them warm. Make sure you keep the uncooked phyllo rolls in an airtight container in the fridge though.
These sigara börek rolls are perfect to freeze uncooked. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. They shouldn't be touching one another. Let them sit in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Then put them in freezer bags and store for up to 6 months.
You don't need to thaw them when you are ready to fry the frozen sigara boregi. Make sure they are stored properly in the freezer and are not icy. Otherwise, the oil will splatter.
FAQs
Sure, you can. Sigara boregi is traditionally made with a cheese filling but you can make it with boiled and mashed potatoes too.
If you are one of those folks who likes meat in almost any food, try putting chopped salami, sausage or sujuk and cheese on the phyllo triangles and roll them up!
You can use whatever cheese you like. Some of our favorites are Turkish cheeses such as beyaz peynir (feta), tulum cheese, kasar cheese.
Turkish people traditionally use fresh yufka sheets, which are similar to phyllo pastry sheets. Although it won't be sigara borek, you can use puff pastry and bake them in oven instead if that's what you want. You will have to brush their top with beaten yolk and bake them at 350F/180C for 20 minutes.
Yes. You can! Bake them in the oven if you want them lighter. This works very well too. Just make sure you brush their top with beaten egg yolk. Bake them at 350F/180C for 20-25 minutes.
More Turkish Pastries
- Pide Bread
- Bazlama Bread
- Manti (Turkish Dumplings)
Other Recipes with Feta Cheese
As always: If you make this recipe, let us know what you think by rating it and leaving a comment below. And post a pic on Instagram too—tag @give_recipe so we can see!
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📖 Recipe
Sigara Boregi (Turkish Cheese Rolls)
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup feta cheese crumbled
- 1 cup mozzarella grated
- ¼ cup parsley chopped
- 8 pieces phyllo sheets thawed
- 1 tablespoon water to brush the phyllo sheets
- ½ cup oil to fry the boreks
INSTRUCTIONS
- Before starting to make sigara boregi, make sure to thaw the phyllo dough if it is frozen by keeping it at room temperature for 2-3 hours.
- Prepare the filling: In a medium mixing bowl, combine feta cheese and mozzarella with chopped parsley.
- Cut the phyllo sheets into squares: Place a phyllo sheet on a flat surface. Cover the remaining sheets with a damp kitchen towel to prevent them from drying out. Brush the filo sheet with water. Place another sheet right on this one. Brush it with water as well. Now cut it into 4 equal pieces using a knife. Don't forget to cover the filo sheets with a kitchen towel each time you get one to stuff and roll.
- Make the rolls: Put a square-shaped filo sheet on the counter like a diamond shape. And put about 1 and ½ tablespoons cheese mixture on the bottom side leaving some room at each side. Fold the bottom tip over the cheese. Then fold both sides on this one and make a tight roll. Brush the top edge with water so that it sticks when rolled. Roll it up and put it aside. Repeat these steps for the remaining phyllo dough sheets.
- Fry the rolls: Heat oil in a pan (about 2 inches of oil) and fry the phyllo cheese rolls in batches until they get golden on all sides. It takes about 5-7 minutes. Make sure you transfer them on paper towel to remove the excessive oil. Serve them warm. Yummy!
NOTES
- Remember to cover the phyllo dough sheets with a damp kitchen towel after removing them from the package so that they won't dry out.
- Make sure to secure the filling well to prevent the cheese from oozing when frying.
- Don't overfill the rolls, otherwise the cheese filling will easily ooze.
- If the cheese starts to ooze when frying your sigara börek, it will splatter hot oil. So be careful not to burn your hands.
- Don't overcrowd the pan, otherwise the temperature of the oil will reduce and your rolls won't be fried well.
- To prepare a simple yogurt sauce: Mix Greek yogurt, red pepper flakes and dried mint well. And serve this in a bowl on the side of your sigara borek.
NUTRITION
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Tea says
Thanks for the recipe. These were lovely. I made them for lunch as a vegetarian protein accompaniment for a creamy vegetable soup. Worked lovely together.
I have a question: I'm surprised that the phyllo sheets are brushed with water, instead of oil. I don't have much experience with store bought phyllo, but whenever I used it, the recipe would state the layers should be brushed with oil, to get the flaky crispiness. I liked that they were less oily than what I usually get. I'm just wondering is there a perk to brushing with water? Maybe they crumble less?
Btw, for this amount of filling, I got half the boreks than the recipe states. (Not complaining, just mentioning) I even added quite a bit of spinach in. I didn't get the impression that I overfilled them, but then again, I think it's safer that I opted to bake them instead of frying, just in case I did stuff a bit more in.
Although, just in case I want to try frying them once - are you sure the oil is supposed to go two inches high? I don't see how that could be possible with half a cup of oil.
Zerrin & Yusuf says
Hi Tea,
Thank you for trying our recipe, Tea! We're so glad you enjoyed the böreks with your soup – that sounds like a delicious pairing.
About your questions:
Brushing with water instead of oil: Yes! The water helps the phyllo sheets stick together without adding extra oil. Since this recipe is for fried sigara böreği, we didn't brush the sheets with oil—water works just fine to seal them. However, if we were baking them, we would brush with oil to get that flaky, crispy texture.
Frying oil amount: You're absolutely right to question that! We must have made a mistake by saying 2 inches—we likely meant 2 cm instead. We're not deep-frying these böreks, so ½ cup of oil should be enough, depending on the size of your pan. If you’re using a large frying pan, you might need to add a bit more oil to ensure even frying.
Filling amount: Thank you for this feedback! It should normally be enough, so we’re wondering if the size of the phyllo sheets we used might be different from yours. We really appreciate your input. We’ll measure the phyllo sheet dimensions and the cheeses in grams and update the recipe soon.
Thanks again for making our recipe and sharing your experience here! It really means a lot to us!
Cheers!
Sam says
I have made this recipe many times and cannot rave enough about it. The step-by-step photos are so helpful, and if you follow them you'll succeed. I just love it when a recipe works. My whole family loves these. So, well deserved 5 stars!!
Zerrin & Yusuf says
Hi Sam,
We are so happy to hear that your family and you love this sigara boregi. Easy to make yet so satisfying, right?
Thank you for your rating and leaving a comment. We really appreciate that.
Cheers!
Yasemin says
Is there a gluten free yufka or phyllo? Also corn (sorghum and teff free) free. I have tried using rice sheets (for spring rolls) for borek in the oven but it makes it too hard.
Zerrin & Yusuf says
Hi Yasemin,
The only alternative to phyllo (yufka) would be rice sheets. Did you try brushing the rice sheets with a mixture of yogurt, egg and olive oil? This is a mixture we use when making spinach borek. It helps the phyllo sheets stick to each other and makes them soft. So this might work with rice sheets as well.
Hope this helps.
Yasemin says
Hello, thank you for taking the time to reply. I have tried oils (olive as well as grapeseed) and also yogurt. Not with the egg though. I have tried both in the oven or on the stovetop (then stove transfer) but it either came out very hard or gummy. I guess the next try is with egg (all 3 mixed together it sounds from what you wrote).
Ted says
I made these today and we ate them ALL! I'm going to make more next time so that I can freeze some for later use. Thank you for the recipe!
mary-anne durkee says
Love Sigara Boregi! Our son-in-law's mum was a chef in former Yugoslavia and she even makes her own phyllo dough sheerts. Sometimes she makes the layered types with meat, cheese or potatoes, also the coiled ones.
She usually uses feta cheese, but I think they sometimes use kajmak cheese. I have even made them with kashkaval!
Zerrin says
I didn't know that sigara boregi is known in other parts of the world. I'm sure it is even better when you make the phyllo sheets yourself. You're lucky to taste the one made by a chef in this way.
Sam from The Second Lunch says
Zerrin, these look wonderful, I think I might make some soon... usually they last about oh, three hours in my house before they are gone!
For all of you not in Turkey, white cheese (beyaz peynir) is a type of sheeps milk (usually) cheese similar to feta.
It's a little bit softer than feta, and a little bit less tangy. You store it in water, like you would tofu, to release some of the salt. In Turkey it is used in dishes like this one, or even eaten plain for breakfast with some cucumber and tomato.
Some specialty cheese markets, or middle eastern markets will sell it, although if you can't find it, you can get either Bulgarian feta, or French Valbreso, they are fairly similar.
Tangled Noodle says
I definitely prefer eating these with cheese rather than tobacco! What a great snack - they remind me (in their shape) of a Filipino appetizer, Lumpia Shanghai, although it's with meat.