Greek Antipasto Skewers

24
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes

Your guests will love these cocktail party appetizers! Garlicky tortellini, stuffed grape leaves, feta, olives and peppers with almost no effort!

Party skewers are one of my favorite appetizers for holiday parties and by far one of the most popular client requests. They accomplish so much with so little effort. No plate needed, no utensils, a variety of flavors and the ease of sticking to a theme of cuisine or seasonal ingredients.

You’ve already seen my Spanish Chorizo Skewers, Italian Antipasto Skewers and the hit of our Halloween, the Halloween Candy Skewers. These Greek skewers keep all the ease of the previous ones while mixing up the flavors for a fun Middle Eastern twist.

One of my favorite parts of being a private chef was working with clients on party menus, and more specifically small bite menus. I had a long list of items I would make because when it came to cocktail or holiday parties it was all about mingling. People didn’t want to be tied down to a table and served large meals. The downside to this was if you weren’t careful people would get bored with the spread and either not eat much of anything at all and leave hungry or they would find one thing they liked and eat it and nothing else.

Skewers were an easy way to provide the variety while keeping the service moving quickly. Plus with skewers you don’t get people cherry picking only the stuffed grape leaves or only the tortellini…or those delicious Kalamata olives. I am totally guilty of snagging/hoarding those when I would go to Armenian catered events and they put three of them on top of a bowl of hummus for the table (and I’m not even sorry, haha). Plus, room temperature! A party hosts best friend. While I have given you guys three versions of skewers (my three favorite) I have made/served many more varieties that I love as well.

The makeup of my skewers are normally five parts:

  1. The Starch: You are trying to fill up your guests here. The tortellini is the “filler” here and provides a good base to work off of.
  2. The Protein: Cheese/Meat. Starch will only go so far, people need to have some protein so they stay full through the evening.
  3. The Vegetable: I prefer roasted vegetables or soft raw ones like tomatoes.
  4. The Fat: Normally a butter sauce or olive oil. Your starch will suffer if dry, but just a bit of fat will go a long way in terms of creating a feeling of fullness/satiety.
  5. The Acid: You need something to cut the richness of the fat. This acid will balance out the whole skewer. It could be the pepperoncini or balsamic glaze. In this skewer it is the grape leaves, the lemon served with it and the Kalamata olives.

As long as you keep an eye towards a balance you can alter any/all ingredients quite successfully and chances are your skewers will be the hit of the party!

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Greek Antipasto Skewers

Easy five minute appetizer that with have your guests fighting over the last skewer! Tortellini, feta, stuffed grape leaves and roasted red bell pepper bring out all the greek flavors you love in one easy to hold party appetizer!
Yield 24
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Course Appetizer
Cuisine Greek
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 24 cheese tortellini
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic , minced
  • 24 kalamata olives , pitted
  • 4 ounce block of feta cheese , cut into 24 cubes
  • 8 stuffed grape leaves , cut into thirds
  • 2 red bell peppers , roasted

Instructions

  • Cook the tortellini one minute shy of the package instructions
  • Drain water completely (leave the tortellini in) and let pot heat on high to dry out (this should just take a few seconds).
  • You could also just drain the tortellini in a strainer and wipe the inside of the pot dry but I find prepping for a holiday party to be time consuming and this trick saves a couple of minutes and one less dirty strainer!
  • Add the olive oil to the hot pan and add the garlic.
  • Toss for 15 seconds until you can smell the garlic and oil.
  • Remove from pan and let cool.
  • Cut the roasted bell pepper into 24 strips.
  • Add the pieces to a skewer in alternating patterns.
  • Serve at room temperature, garnish bowl with lemon wedges if desired, they go great with the grape leaves and over the tortellini.

Nutrition

Calories: 29kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 5mg | Sodium: 120mg | Potassium: 28mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 621IU | Vitamin C: 13mg | Calcium: 31mg | Iron: 1mg

Your guests will love these cocktail party appetizers! Garlicky tortellini, stuffed grape leaves, feta, olives and peppers with almost no effort!

Any plans for the holidays, I would love to hear all of your plans! I’m having a relaxing long weekend off from cheffing and blogging to recharge and start wrapping Christmas presents! Our garage looks like Disney Jr. and Nickelodeon exploded into all corners of it down to the wrapping paper!

Your guests will love these cocktail party appetizers! Garlicky tortellini, stuffed grape leaves, feta, olives and peppers with almost no effort!
Your guests will love these cocktail party appetizers! Garlicky tortellini, stuffed grape leaves, feta, olives and peppers with almost no effort!
Your guests will love these cocktail party appetizers! Garlicky tortellini, stuffed grape leaves, feta, olives and peppers with almost no effort!

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. My mother-in-law made something similar to these but she wouldn’t tel me the name…but these look so good and I’ll definitely be giving them a try soon!

  2. What a great way to serve antipasto as an easy to eat appetizer. I love stuffed grape leaves, especially, and this way when you eat it you don’t get oil on your hands.

  3. I need these on my Thanksgiving appetizer table! And again on my Christmas one. And then maybe also for New Year’s. :o) Weird that I never thought of chunking the grape leaves and putting them on a skewer! They’re perfect for that!

    (Love your new profile pic, BTW! :O).

  4. I have to admit – I am a sucker for just about anything on a skewer! They make such a great way to serve appetizers when entertaining.

  5. These would be so amazing at any holiday party!! So versatile and you could get really creative with them using whatever you had on-hand 🙂

  6. I never thought to think about what goes on a skewer like this before! These look like they would be amazing appetizers for a holiday party!

  7. Party skewers are a great idea. I will have to make some of these for my next get together. I am sure it will be a big hit.

  8. I would never have thought of adding in a tortellini as a starch. What a great idea. I know I am going to a couple of holiday parties and these would be perfect to bring with me. Thanks so much

  9. Oh these antipasto skewers would make the best appetizer for holiday parties. I love how easy they are to toss together and they would make delicious finger foods!

  10. Skewers are the ultimate party food. I could live on cheese and olives, I can’t imagine how good it would be if it had balsamic glaze on it.

  11. I love these skewers, everything awesome in one place. It’s a perfectly balanced bite. Plus it just looks so darn pretty.

  12. Your antipasto skewers are the best ! I love the stuffed grape leaves in this one! Such a winner, I might take this to Thanksgiving dinner, for the first time in years it is not in my house! But i still bring the food that isn’t ordered lol

  13. I’ve never really made skewers for a party before but you make it sound like an idea worth trying! Thanks for the tips and the delicious recipe to get me started. I’m excited just thinking about all the different food combinations i could try! 🙂