Spanakopita (aka spinach & feta cheese pie)

Spanakopita is another one of those items that you can practically find in any bakery, cafe or restaurant in Greece. You can also get them from street vendors. It’s a hardy snack, if you just eat one piece, or you can make it a meal by pairing it with a nice Greek horiatiki salata-village salad.

This can be made as a quick and easy dish if you use store bought phyllo and frozen chopped spinach OR if you have a little extra time you can make the phyllo from scratch and prep your spinach from fresh, or you can even substitute some cooked kale for the spinach. I have also used pre-made refrigerated pie dough before and it’s just as good! But my personal FAVORITE is when I use ready made puff pastry. I LOVE that extra flaky buttery taste. I also think it tastes a lot better with frozen chopped spinach. Try it all ways, at different times of course :), and see how you like it!

You can prepare and serve this in one large pan or make individual triangle portions to serve. Eat as a meal, with a Greek salad, or as a side.

You will need:

• 16 oz chopped frozen spinach, defrosted and drained well (or the equivalent of fresh spinach sauteed and drained well). Squeeze out all that extra liquid
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups feta, crumbled
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (a little more if it looks too dry)
• 2 eggs, beaten (optional if making individual portions, i.e. rolls or small triangles)
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, if needed. If your feta is pretty salty you won’t need extra salt.
• 1-16oz package of phyllo dough, puff pastry, or homemade dough.
• 1/4 -1 cup extra virgin olive oil (depending on the type of pastry you are using)

Steps:

1. Make sure spinach is fully defrosted, drained and all excess water squeezed out. You can do this by cupping the spinach in your hands and squeezing or by using a cheesecloth. Set in medium sized bowl.
2. Add chopped green onions and dill, crumbled feta, 1/4 cup olive oil, beaten eggs, and freshly ground black pepper to spinach and combine well. Try not to break up the feta too much more. Add salt at this point, if using, and combine some more. Set aside.
3. If using phyllo dough you will need closer to the full cup of olive oil. Using a pastry brush, grease your pan with olive oil and then lay your first sheet of phyllo in the pan and brush the top with olive oil. Do this 9 more times for a total of 10 pieces of phyllo, while continually brushing olive oil on each sheet before laying the next one. It’s okay if the phyllo comes up on the edges…it’s actually preferable so you get a nice top seal at the end. *
4. Spread the spinach mixture evenly on top of the phyllo. At this point, if you want the top of your pie to look less rustic then tuck the edges in now. If you don’t care then you can do it after you add the top sheets of phyllo.
5. Top with 10 more phyllo sheets, while brushing olive oil between each sheet, as before, and add some extra brushes on top. Push any excess phyllo into the sides of the pan with a butter knife or thin spatula so it’s all swaddled up :).
6. Gently score the top of the phyllo in squares or triangles. You don’t want to cut into it so much that you expose the filling, just the top few layers of phyllo.
7. Give the top a few mist sprays of water, or wet your hands and shake on top of it.
8. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes, until phyllo is a golden color.

*Note: You can make individual pieces too by taking one phyllo piece and brushing top with olive oil, bring both ends in and brush with olive oil some more then put 2-3 tablespoons of filling towards the top and fold over one end to make a triangle at the top and then fold over to other side. A couple pictures depicting this below. OR, you can just add filling to top before folding sides in, then fold sides in, brush with olive oil and roll up like a cigar 🙂 .

Kali Orexi!

Here are some pictures of how it looks with other types of dough.

Puff pastry (my fav):

With pie dough:

Making individual triangles out of phyllo: Listen to the crunch test!

Galette/tart style with puff pastry:

An oval and more rustic presentation:

Spanakopita

Spinach and Feta Cheese Pie

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Appetizer, Main Course, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine Greek

Ingredients

  

• 16 oz chopped frozen spinach defrosted and drained well (or the equivalent of fresh spinach sauteed and drained well). Squeeze out all that extra liquid
• 1 bunch green onions chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups feta crumbled
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil a little more if it looks too dry
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt if needed. If your feta is pretty salty you won’t need extra salt.
• 1-16 oz package of phyllo dough puff pastry, or homemade dough.
• 1/4 -1 cup extra virgin olive oil depending on the type of pastry you are using

Instructions

 

• Make sure spinach is fully defrosted, drained and all excess water squeezed out. You can do this by cupping the spinach in your hands and squeezing or by using a cheesecloth. Set in medium sized bowl.
• Add chopped green onions and dill, crumbled feta, 1/4 cup olive oil, beaten eggs, and freshly ground black pepper to spinach and combine well. Try not to break up the feta too much more. Add salt at this point, if using, and combine some more. Set aside.
• If using phyllo dough you will need closer to the full cup of olive oil. Using a pastry brush, grease your pan with olive oil and then lay your first sheet of phyllo in the pan and brush the top with olive oil. Do this 9 more times for a total of 10 pieces of phyllo, while continually brushing olive oil on each sheet before laying the next one. It’s okay if the phyllo comes up on the edges…it’s actually preferable so you get a nice top seal at the end.
• Spread the spinach mixture evenly on top of the phyllo. At this point, if you want the top of your pie to look less rustic then tuck the edges in now. If you don’t care then you can do it after you add the top sheets of phyllo.
• Top with 10 more phyllo sheets, while brushing olive oil between each sheet, as before, and add some extra brushes on top. Push any excess phyllo into the sides of the pan with a butter knife or thin spatula so it’s all swaddled up :).
• Gently score the top of the phyllo in squares or triangles. You don’t want to cut into it so much that you expose the filling, just the top few layers of phyllo.
• Give the top a few mist sprays of water, or wet your hands and shake on top of it.
• Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes, until phyllo is a golden color.