🥙 Hawawshi
Hawawshi is Egypt's favourite street sandwich: round baladi bread split open, stuffed with minced beef seasoned with onion, bell pepper, chilli and spices, then baked until the bread turns crisp and the meat juices soak into it. It is crunchy outside and juicy inside, and is eaten hot, cut into wedges, often with pickles.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 baladi or pita breads
- 500 g minced beef
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
- 1 green chilli, chopped
- 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp paprika, ½ tsp allspice
- Salt and black pepper
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil for brushing
Method
- Mix the beef with onion, bell pepper, chilli, spices, salt and pepper.
- Cut each bread open along one edge and spread a thin, even layer of meat inside.
- Press the bread closed and brush the outside lightly with oil.
- Bake at 220 °C for 15–20 minutes, turning once, until the bread is crisp and the meat cooked through.
- Cut into wedges and serve hot.
How to make it lighter
- Use lean minced beef: much of the fat ends up in the bread.
- Brush the bread with a little oil instead of soaking it, or bake it without oil.
- One hawawshi with a big salad is a full meal — skip the fries.
History
Hawawshi is usually credited to a Cairo butcher named Ahmed Hawawshi in the early 1970s, whose name the sandwich now carries; the story is widely told but hard to verify. Today it is sold in bakeries and street stalls across Egypt and is a common home dish.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →