Greek Spinach Pie Recipe (Spanakopita)

Why you’ll love this recipe

• Popular Video: This Spanakopita recipe with ricotta has over 290k views, and 6k likes on YouTube! Check also my YouTube channel for more recipe videos.
• Vegetarian: The traditional Spanakopita is a vegetarian dish, with only spinach, cheese and herbs.
• Versatile: You can serve it as lunch or dinner, but it’s also perfect for a brunch, picnic, or potluck.
• Easy to Make-Ahead: Since it’s delicious also at room temperature, you can make this spinach pie a few hours ahead of time, or make it 1-2 days ahead and keep it in the fridge until ready to bake.
• Authentic: It’s a classic dish in Greece and this recipe for Spanakopita respects the traditional dish many people love.

What is Spanakopita

Spanakopita, comes from spanáki ‘spinach’, and πίτα píta ‘pie’, and it’s a traditional dish from Greece, also popular in all the Southestern Europe with different names, such as Börek. It may also be called spanakotiropita (from the Greek σπανακοτυρόπιτα “spinach-cheese pie”).

It has a filling of spinach and Feta, with other additions such as more cheese or herbs. You can find it in several shapes, more commonly round, rectangular, in single-serving triangles, or in a spiral shape.

Substitutions and Variations

• Vegan: There is a vegan version of spanakopita, eaten during Lent and other religious fasts. This version has spinach, onions or green onions, and other green herbs like dill, parsley as filling.
• Cheese only: For a more indulgent version, also called Tiropita, you can omit the spinach and add more Feta or other Greek cheese such as kasseri.
• Puff Pastry: If you don’t have Fillo pastry but want a similar crunchy texture, you can make Spanakopita with puff pastry. It’s not authentic, but still delicious.
• More Veggies: If spinach is not enough, you can customize your savory pie with more vegetables or your choice, like chards, roasted peppers, leek, and more.
• Meat: You can also add some ground beef or ground chicken to the filling for a meatier version.

How to make the Greek dish Spanakopita

1. In a large pan,add chopped onion and sauté, add spinach and cook until wilted. Drain excess liquids and transfer to a bowl. Crumble the feta cheese and ricotta cheese into the bowl, then add chopped spring onions, parsley, dill, lemon zest and spices.
2. Brush the bottom of a pan with olive oil. Take a sheet of pastry and place in the baking dish. Brush with olive oil. Add 2-3 more sheets in the same way.
3. Evenly spread the spinach and feta filling over the phyllo crust. Then, cover with 3 layers of phyllo, brushing with olive oil in between the layers. Fold the flaps or excess from the sides and brush the top layers with olive oil.
4. Using a very sharp knife cut the pie into rectangles or any other shape. Bake until golden brown. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Tips and Tricks

• Handle the phyllo layers with care as they’re very fragile and will break easily. Even if they break, you can still patch them together and use them.
• You can either brush the layers of pastry with olive oil or melted butter. Though butter is more common, olive oil is much easier to spread without breaking the pastry.
• Drain well the excess water from the spinach and from the cheese to avoid a runny filling.
• If your filling is still too runny, you can also add an egg and a bit of cornstarch to the mixture to make it more dense.

Make Ahead and Storage

You can make this feta and spinach pie a few hours in advance and serve it room temperature, or you can prepare it in advance and keep it in the fridge until ready to bake.

You can then store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days. You can also freeze for up to 2 months. The pie may lose crunchiness overnight, so you can reheat it a few minutes in the ventilated oven to make it crunchy again.

Common Questions