Printed August 31, 2026
Mac and Cheese Sigara Böreği
Creamy mac and cheese gets rolled into crispy phyllo cigars and fried until golden, creating the most elegant finger food from the most casual comfort dish. Childhood meets Istanbul in hot oil.
Ingredients
- 2 cups leftover mac and cheese, cold
- 12 sheets phyllo dough
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- Vegetable oil for frying
- Hot honey for drizzling
- Lemon wedges for serving
Preparation
Sigara böreği—Turkish cheese cigars—are perfect little packages of crispy phyllo and melted cheese. Mac and cheese is already perfect. Together? They become something greater than the sum of their parts: a hand-held, dippable, impossible-to-stop-eating revelation.
Preparation
- Ensure your mac and cheese is cold—this makes it easier to handle.
- Mix the mac and cheese with feta, chives, paprika, and black pepper.
- Cut each phyllo sheet lengthwise into 3 strips.
- Place a spoonful of the mac mixture at the bottom of each strip.
- Fold the bottom corner up and over the filling, then continue rolling like a flag, creating a tight cigar shape.
- Seal the edge with a dab of water.
- Heat 2 inches of oil to 350°F in a deep pot.
- Fry the cigars in batches, 2-3 minutes per side, until golden and bubbling.
- Drain on paper towels.
- Drizzle with hot honey and serve with lemon wedges.
Why this works: Cold mac and cheese is usually gloppy and sad, but wrapped in phyllo and fried, it becomes an entirely new food. The cheese gets stretchy again, the phyllo shatters, and that hit of feta adds a salty tang that cuts through the richness. The hot honey drizzle is optional but highly recommended—sweet heat against fried cheese is always the right choice.
