# Seadas Sardinian fried cheese pastries with honey. Barbagia, Sardegna. Desserts (Dolci). > Sardinia's fried pastries of semolina and lard sealed round melted fresh pecorino and lemon zest, eaten hot under honey, and a PGI since 2023. - Level of proof: EU-codified (Disciplinare europeo). The dish itself is protected by an EU specification (TSG, PDO or PGI) that fixes how it is made. - Sources checked: 2026-10-27 - Published: 2026-10-27 - Page: https://nonnario.com/recipes/seadas/ ## In short - A dough of durum wheat semolina (or soft wheat flour), water, salt and lard, the lard at most a fifth of its weight. - No whole egg, butter or oil in the dough: besides the lard, the specification allows only an egg yolk. - A filling of fresh sheep's, goat's or cow's milk cheese with grated lemon or orange zest, melted slowly until thick or mixed raw. - Two thin sheets round the cheese, each 0.5 mm–3 mm thick, sealed all the way round: 4 cm–18 cm across and 30 g–300 g each. - Fried, then covered with honey or sugar and eaten hot. Also called: Sebadas, Sabadas, Seattas, Savadas, Sevadas di Sardegna, Sebadas di Sardegna, Seadas di Sardegna, seada, sebada, Sardinian cheese fritters. ## Where it comes from Seadas are the signature sweet of Sardinia: thin semolina pastry made with lard, sealed round a fresh, slightly sour cheese, fried and eaten hot under honey. They are fresh pasta in every respect, yet they are fried rather than boiled and eaten as a dessert. Their name changes from one part of the island to the next (seada, sebada, sabada, sevada, seatta), and all its forms seem to come from the Sardinian ‘seu’, fat, for the lard in the dough. The EU specification holds them to come from central Sardinia; they are typical of the Barbagia and northern Ogliastra, and are now made all over the island, above all in its pastoral areas. As the story goes, they were served to the shepherds on their return from transhumance, as a welcome home and a thanks for their work. Since 2023 the name has been a PGI, registered by Regulation (EU) 2023/1426 in all six of its forms (Sebadas, Seadas, Sabadas, Seattas, Savadas, Sevadas), each followed by ‘di Sardegna’: only seadas made in Sardinia, the whole island and its archipelagos, under the specification may carry it. The specification fixes the dough (durum wheat semolina or soft wheat flour, water, salt and lard, at most 20% of the dough's weight, with an egg yolk if wished), the filling (sheep's, goat's or cow's milk cheese, or cow's curd, with grated lemon or orange zest and sugar if wished, mixed raw or melted over a low heat) and the sizes: each sheet 0.5–3 mm thick, each seada 4–18 cm across and 30–300 g, with pastry and filling each 40–60% of the weight. Melting the filling, as this page does, is what it calls the ancient recipe. It describes the raw seada, sold fresh or frozen; frying, and honey or sugar on top, are the custom it records. The quantities here are a published home batch within these limits, rolled to about 2 mm: within the 3 mm allowed, and thin enough for the batch's 32 discs. The cheese is melted together with the zest, as the specification describes. - Defined by: European Union - Reference: PGI ‘Sebadas/Seadas/Sabadas/Seattas/Savadas/Sevadas di Sardegna’, Regulation (EU) 2023/1426; specification as published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale of 3 August 2023 ## Sources - [Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 180 of 3 August 2023, pp. 11–19: the PGI specification as registered (PDF, Italian)](https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/eli/gu/2023/08/03/180/sg/pdf) - [EU Official Journal C 103 of 20 March 2023: the application to register the PGI, with the single document (EUR-Lex, Italian)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/IT/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52023XC0320(02)) - [Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1426, registering the PGI (EUR-Lex, Italian)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/IT/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32023R1426) - [Cookist: seadas (sebadas), the recipe (Italian)](https://www.cookist.it/seadas-ricetta/) - [Eataly: Sardinian seadas, the traditional recipe (Italian)](https://www.eataly.it/ricette/seadas-sarde-ricetta-originale.html) - [USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service: Leftovers and Food Safety (archived copy of 29 May 2025)](https://web.archive.org/web/20250529160018/https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/leftovers-and-food-safety) ## Ingredients For 8 servings, in metric units. ### For the dough - 360 g fine durum wheat semolina (semola rimacinata) - 150 g lukewarm water - 70 g lard (in small pieces) - 3 g fine salt ### For the filling - 500 g fresh pecorino sardo (young and soft, not aged: a fresh cheese that melts into strings) - 1 unwaxed lemon (for its grated zest) ### To fry and serve - peanut oil, for frying (plenty: about 2–3 cm deep in the pan) - strawberry-tree (corbezzolo) honey (or chestnut honey; both are dark and slightly bitter) ## Equipment - Kitchen scale - Large bowl, or a stand mixer - Non-stick pan and a wooden spoon, for the cheese - Baking paper and a spoon - Rolling pin or pasta machine - Round cutters of 10 cm and 7 cm - Fluted pastry wheel - Wide non-stick frying pan with sides at least twice the depth of the oil, its lid, and a kitchen thermometer - Slotted spoon and kitchen paper ## Method Hands-on 1 h 27 min, cooking 8 min, resting at least 40 min. About 2 hours for 16 seadas, two each. Make the dough first and melt the cheese while it rests; while the cheese cools, roll the dough and cut the pastry discs. Filling, sealing and trimming take about 15 minutes; frying them two at a time about 20, just before serving. ### The dough 1. **Dissolve the salt in the water** (Hands-on 2 min). Dissolve the 3 g of salt in the 150 g of lukewarm water. Check: No grains of salt left at the bottom. 2. **Mix the semolina and water** (Hands-on 3 min). Put the semolina in a large bowl, pour in the salted water and mix briefly, by hand or in a stand mixer, until the semolina has absorbed all of it. Check: No dry semolina left in the bowl. 3. **Work in the lard** (Hands-on 10 min; follows the official text). Combine all the dough ingredients and work them together, by hand or with a mixer. Check: A smooth, soft dough that no longer sticks to your hands. Tip: Add the lard a small piece at a time, letting each disappear into the dough before the next. Tip: Our guide: about 10 minutes of kneading in all. 4. **Rest the dough** (Rest 20 min). Wrap the dough in film and leave it in the fridge for 20 minutes. Do not skip it: the rest makes the dough elastic and easy to roll. ### The filling Make it while the dough rests. 5. **Cube the cheese, grate the zest** (Hands-on 5 min). Cut the pecorino into small cubes. Grate the zest of the lemon, the yellow part only: the white pith is bitter. 6. **Melt the cheese with the zest** (Hands-on 5–10 min; heat: lowest; follows the official text). Melt the cheese over a low heat, with the grated lemon zest, until it is a thick mixture. Check: Completely melted into a thick, stringy mass, with no lumps left. Tip: Use a non-stick pan over the lowest heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon. Tip: Our guide: 5–10 minutes. 7. **Spread it on baking paper** (Hands-on 3 min). Tip the melted cheese onto a sheet of baking paper and spread it with a spoon into an even layer about 7 mm thick. Work quickly: it stiffens as it cools. Tip: Our guide: at about 7 mm, the 500 g of cheese gives the 16 discs you need. 8. **Leave it to cool** (Rest 20–30 min; follows the official text). Leave the cheese to cool. Check: Firm enough to cut cleanly, and no longer warm to the touch. Tip: Our guide: 20–30 minutes at room temperature. 9. **Cut the cheese discs** (Hands-on 5 min; follows the official text). Cut the cheese into thin rounds. Check: 16 discs, about 30 g each. Tip: Use the 7 cm cutter. Tip: Warm the scraps in the pan again until soft, then spread and cut them the same way. ### Shaping 10. **Roll out the dough** (Hands-on 10–15 min; follows the official text). Roll the dough out thin, with a rolling pin or a pasta machine. Check: An even sheet all over, with no thick or thin patches. Tip: Our guide: about 2 mm. The specification allows 0.5 mm to 3 mm for each sheet, and this batch needs the dough that thin to give 32 discs. Tip: Roll on a lightly floured board, a piece at a time, keeping the rest wrapped. 11. **Cut the pastry discs** (Hands-on 10 min; follows the official text). Cut the sheet into rounds. Check: 32 discs, two for each seada. Tip: Use the 10 cm cutter. Tip: Gather the scraps, roll them out again and cut more. 12. **Fill and seal** (Hands-on 10 min; follows the official text). Lay a cheese disc in the centre of a pastry disc, cover it with a second pastry disc and seal the two edges all the way round. Check: No air trapped round the cheese, and the edge sealed all the way round. Tip: Before sealing, press gently all round the cheese to push the air out: air left inside can split the pastry in the oil. Tip: Seal the edges firmly with your fingers. 13. **Trim the edges** (Hands-on 5 min). Trim each seada with a fluted pastry wheel. Check: A wavy edge all the way round, still sealed. Tip: The specification allows a smooth or a wavy edge, decorated too. ### Frying and serving Fry them just before serving. 14. **Heat the oil** (Cooking 8–10 min; 170 °C; heat: medium-high). Pour peanut oil into a wide non-stick frying pan, about 2 cm–3 cm deep, and heat it to 170 °C, checking with a kitchen thermometer. Check: The thermometer reads 170 °C. Tip: Our guide: the depth, enough for the seadas to float free of the bottom as they puff. Tip: Use a pan whose sides are at least twice as high as the oil is deep: the seadas bubble hard as they fry. Never leave the oil unattended, and keep the pan's lid at hand: if the oil ever catches fire, turn off the heat and cover it, never pour water on it. 15. **Fry two at a time** (Hands-on 16–24 min; 170 °C). Lay two seadas in the oil and fry them, spooning the hot oil over the top all the time, so the typical small bubbles form on the surface, until golden: 2–3 minutes for each pair. Fry the rest the same way. Check: Golden, puffed and covered in small bubbles. Tip: Lower each seada into the oil gently with the slotted spoon, letting it slide in away from you, so the oil does not splash. Tip: Let the oil come back to 170 °C before each pair: more at once cool it, and the pastry turns greasy instead of crisp. 16. **Drain** (Hands-on 1 min). Lift each pair out gently, so as not to break the bubbles, and leave them on kitchen paper for a moment. Check: No oil pooling on the paper under them. 17. **Serve with honey** (Hands-on 2 min; follows the official text). Cover them with honey and serve them hot. Tip: Strawberry-tree honey here, or chestnut; sugar is the other topping the specification records. ## Good to know - Keeping: Best fried and eaten at once. Raw, they keep in the fridge on a tray dusted with semolina, well apart and covered with film: fry or freeze them the same day. To freeze them raw, set the tray in the freezer and, once they are firm, move them into freezer bags; fry them still frozen, a few seconds longer. Fried leftovers go into the fridge within 2 hours, in an airtight box, for 1–2 days: reheat them in a hot oven at 180 °C or in a non-stick pan until hot right through (75 °C at the centre), never in the microwave. ([source](https://www.eataly.it/ricette/seadas-sarde-ricetta-originale.html)) - Variant: With a raw filling: The specification's other way: the cheese mixed cold with the grated zest, and sugar if used, then laid between the sheets, with no melting. ([source](https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/eli/gu/2023/08/03/180/sg/pdf)) - Variant: With goat's or cow's milk cheese: The specification allows goat's or cow's milk cheese, or cow's curd, alone or with pecorino; the cheese changes from one area of Sardinia to another. ([source](https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/eli/gu/2023/08/03/180/sg/pdf)) - Variant: With orange zest or sugar: Grated orange zest with the lemon, or in its place, and a little sugar in the filling, as the specification allows. ([source](https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/eli/gu/2023/08/03/180/sg/pdf)) - Variant: Baked: A lighter version: baked at 180 °C for 15 minutes instead of fried. They come out less crisp. ([source](https://www.cookist.it/seadas-ricetta/)) ## Common mistakes - Rolling the sheets thick: the specification allows 3 mm at most for each one, and about 2 mm gives the 32 discs this batch needs. - Leaving air round the cheese: it can split the pastry in the oil, and the filling runs out. - Frying more than two at a time: the oil cools and the pastry turns greasy instead of crisp. - Using an aged pecorino: the filling needs a fresh cheese that melts and turns stringy. - Skipping the dough's rest: it is what makes the dough elastic and easy to roll. ## Cooking it outside Italy - Fine durum wheat semolina (semola rimacinata) is sold as semolina flour or durum flour; the specification also allows soft wheat flour. - If you cannot find fresh pecorino sardo, the specification allows a fresh goat's or cow's milk cheese, or cow's milk curd: choose a young one that melts into strings. - Use lard, not butter or oil: lard is the only fat the specification names, and it is what makes the pastry friable. - Any dark, slightly bitter honey can stand in for strawberry-tree honey, such as chestnut; or use sugar, which the specification also records. --- From Nonnario, the documented recipes of Italy: https://nonnario.com/recipes/seadas/. Cite the recipe's page and the month its sources were checked; for the official text itself, cite the document listed under its sources.