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    Home » By Category » Appetizers & Snacks » Baked & Grilled

    Published: Sep 8, 2014 · Modified: Oct 1, 2020 by Usha Rao

    Spanakopita

    Spanakopita is a savory, flaky Greek pie with phyllo sheets, spinach and cheese. A delicious appetizer and a light meal.

    In Greek, a pie is called pita. This is a savory pastry made with phyllo (filo) sheets. The filling used is spinach, feta cheese, scallions and eggs. Phyllo sheets are used for the cover, that is for for the base and top of the pie.

    Spanakopita is baked in a dish and then cut into wedges or is folded into triangles and then baked. Spanakopita is usually served as an appetizer but can also eat as a regular meal, as I did for lunch.

    Spinach pastry, Greek SPinach Pastry, Spinach Pie, Greek Food, Blogging Marathon, Around World  in 30 day with ABC Cooking

    Working with phyllo sheets has always been tricky for me until I read a post on how to handle phyllo sheets. The key is to keep the sheets covered with damp cloth to keep the sheets from drying out. I made a small pie in a rectangular dish.

    Spinach pastry, Greek SPinach Pastry, Spinach Pie, Greek Food, Blogging Marathon, Around World  in 30 day with ABC Cooking

    Source: About Food
    Total Time: 45 minutes
    Preparation: 20 minutes
    Bake Time: 25 minutes

    Ingredients:

    • 2 tbsp. Olive Oil
    • ¾ - 1 cup Onion chopped or ½ large Onion chopped
    • ½ bunch or ¾ - 1 cup chopped Green Onions ~ Scallions
    • 9 oz. or 255 grams Spinach chopped or about 4 ½ - 5 cups chopped (I used prewashed spinach)
    • 2 tbsp. Parsley, chopped
    • 2 tbsp. Dill, chopped or ¾ tsp. dried Dill
    • Dash of Nutmeg Powder (Dash is 1/16 tsp.)
    • ½ tsp. Black Pepper Powder (adjust to taste)
    • ¼ - ½ tsp. Salt (adjust to taste and also mind you feta is a salty cheese)
    • 2 oz. or approx. 2 tbsp. Feta Cheese, crumbled
    • 2 tbsp. Ricotta Cheese (can substitute with cottage cheese)
    • 1 Egg, lightly beaten
    • 1 tbsp. Butter, melted
    • 1 tbsp. Olive Oil
    • ½ - ⅔ lb. Phyllo Pastry Sheets or 10 – 12 Sheets (thaw the sheets overnight in the fridge or follow the instructions on the box)

    Preparation:

    • Wash and drain all the water from spinach. Chop spinach and keep it aside. If using frozen chopped spinach, thaw completely and squeeze out excess water. I used pre-washed spinach and did not have to worry about drying the spinach.
    • Heat oil in a pan and sauté onion and green onions until onions are translucent.
    • Add spinach, parsley, dill and cook until the spinach wilts and the liquids evaporate. This should take about 5 – 10 minutes. It took 5 minutes with dry prewashed spinach.
    • Add nutmeg, salt and pepper, and mix well. Cook for another 2 – 3 minutes until spinach becomes dry.
    • Remove from fire and let cool.
    • Preheat oven 350F.
    • Melt butter, about 20 seconds in the microwave and mix it with olive oil.
    • Mix crumbled feta, ricotta cheese and lightly beaten egg. Add this to spinach and mix to combine all the ingredients.
    • Take 5” X 7” baking dish and lightly grease it with butter olive oil mixture. I used pyrex 3 cup rectangular dish.
    • Using a scissors cut 12 phyllo sheets in half to make two 9” x 7” stack of sheets. I used Athens brand and the sheets were 9" x 14". There was another brand that had longer sheets.
    • To prevent the sheets from drying, cover one stack of sheets with wax paper and a damp kitchen towel or paper towel while working with the other stack of sheets.
    • Layer one stack of sheets at the bottom of the pan, brushing each sheet with butter olive oil mixture. Do not stack all the sheets as it is. Carefully remove one sheet from the stack, place it in the dish, brush it with butter oil mixture. Now place the second sheet on top of the first. Brush the 2nd sheet with butter oil mixture and them place the 3rd sheet. Repeat the process until all the sheets from the first stack (12 sheets) are layered in the dish.
    • Add spinach cheese mixture on top of the sheets and flatten it.
    • Cover the spinach with other stack of sheets, brushing each sheet with butter oil mixture.
    • Fold the edges of the phyllo sheets on to the pie; carefully score the pie to make it easier when cutting into pieces later.
    • Bake in a preheated oven for 25 minutes until golden brown. Temperatures vary from oven to oven. One may have to bake longer depending on the oven temperature.
    • Cut the spanakopita and serve. I liked mine as it is but it can be served with some hot sauce or yogurt dip.

    Suggestions:

    • For double the recipe, use a 9" x 12" pan and if using Athens brand, then you need not cut the sheets into two. I used a rectangular pan but a pie dish or a round pan can also be used.
    • To make triangles, check Chef in You recipe.
    • The pie was properly baked but felt I should have baked a little longer for that golden brown look.

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    1. themadscientistskitchen says

      October 10, 2014 at 10:11 pm

      Usha this is awesome. I too wanted to make spanakopita but there was some confusion . Love your version of sanakopita,

      Reply
    2. Priya Srinivasan says

      October 06, 2014 at 2:07 pm

      Another recipe of spanakopita!!! Looks delicious with that spinach filling, this must be an easy way to feed fuzzy kids who run a mile seeing spinach!!!

      Reply
    3. Pradnya says

      September 15, 2014 at 9:00 am

      i simply love the filling and i think it goes well with any casing...yours looks great too

      Reply
    4. Kalyani says

      September 15, 2014 at 7:14 am

      have this bookmarked :-)) and waiting endlessly for the phyllo sheets in india :(((((

      ur pics look awesome !

      Reply
    5. Chef Mireille says

      September 12, 2014 at 8:31 pm

      a classic...created perfectly

      Reply
    6. Pavani says

      September 09, 2014 at 1:26 pm

      I love spanakopita and your pics are tempting me to try it out soon.

      Reply
    7. PJ says

      September 09, 2014 at 5:18 am

      The pie has come out so well. And I have been wanting to try this for a long time and like srivalli said the phyllo sheets are not available here,,

      Reply
    8. kurinji says

      September 09, 2014 at 2:03 am

      this is new to me, thanks for sharing...spanakopita looks yum....

      Reply
    9. Manjulabharath says

      September 09, 2014 at 1:04 am

      wow version spanakopitas with phyloo dough is really amazing to look dear 🙂 love the spinach filling !! wonderful selection for G 🙂

      Reply
    10. Priya says

      September 08, 2014 at 5:24 pm

      Flaky spanakopita, fabulous choice from Greece, always love this spinach filling..

      Reply
    11. Harini says

      September 08, 2014 at 11:13 am

      Same Pinch, Usha!! Though the filling, the wrapper and shaping is all different 🙂 Love these flaky bites!

      Reply
    12. Suma Gandlur says

      September 08, 2014 at 9:38 am

      A great choice for letter "G" with a healthy filling. It has come out beautifully flaky.

      Reply
    13. Sarita says

      September 08, 2014 at 9:32 am

      Spanakopita looks great! Filling is tempting..

      Reply
    14. Vaishali Sabnani says

      September 08, 2014 at 8:26 am

      It looks stunning. .I like anything with that flaky phyllo..so glad we don't get it here else would be gorging on it forever. Like the spinach stuffing.

      Reply
    15. cookingwithsapana says

      September 08, 2014 at 8:14 am

      Spinach pies looks absolutely gorgeous in those pictures. I can imagine the flavors just by seeing on the screen.

      Reply
    16. Varada says

      September 08, 2014 at 8:02 am

      I made this a few months back. Love the way yours turned out. Lovely flaky sheets perfectly browned. I think the step I loved the most was squeezing out the liquid from the spinach mixture, so therapeutic!

      Reply
    17. Srivalli says

      September 08, 2014 at 7:53 am

      I have this on my to do list for so long and was hoping to make it this time. Again the unavailability of the Phyllo Pastry Sheets was a big factor. we have spring roll sheets available, though didn't want to use that...your pie has come out very well..I have always seen this triangles, good to know one can make this way as well!

      Reply

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