Spanakopita: the iconic traditional Greek Spinach Pie encased in layers upon layers of golden, buttery and flaky filo pastry. For the best Spanakopita of your life, use raw rather than cooked spinach, and bind the phyllo pastry layers using a little finely shredded Greek cheese so they stay together rather than flying everywhere when you cut it!
Spanakopita
If I were to compile the Greatest Hits of dishes I’ve served to friends in recent years, this one shoots straight to the list. It made an appearance at a recent gathering, and to say it was the most popular dish of the night would be an understatement.
It was the first thing to go. There were rave reviews around the table. We were picking at the leftover shards of filo pastry long after the last piece had disappeared.
But the biggest compliment? Silence. To say my group of friends are chatty is a bit of an understatement. So when something renders them totally silent at the table? It’s a serious compliment!! 😂
Ingredients in Spanakopita
Here’s what you need to make this traditional Greek Spinach Pie.
Fresh spinach
Skip the frozen spinach and convenience bags of baby spinach. For the best flavour, the best filling texture, and to ensure the pie base stays crispy, you cannot beat fresh spinach. Sorry folks! You know I always offer convenient alternatives if I think I can get away with it, but in this case, I can’t!
You will need 2 big bunches weighing around 600g/ 1.2lb in total in order to get ~300g/10oz of spinach leaves, once they’re trimmed from the stems.
Other Ingredients
In addition to spinach, here are the other ingredients you need for the Spanakopita filling:
Feta – The other key filling ingredient along with spinach. A combination that’s as Greek as it gets!
Dill and mint – The fresh herb flavours bring an unmissable taste to Spanakopita. Don’t skip it!
Greek yogurt – Or other unsweetened plain yogurt. This is a wet ingredient that makes the filling nice and juicy, but not so wet that it makes the pastry base soggy;
Greek kefalotyri cheese – A traditional Greek hard cheese made from sheep or goat’s milk. It tastes somewhat like parmesan but is different and not as salty or sharp. This is used between the filo sheet layers that form the the top of the Spanakopita so they stick together rather than flying everywhere when you cut – neat trick!
It’s sold at Woolworths and Coles in Australia, or European/Greek delis. Don’t fret if you can’t find it, readily-available cheeses like parmesan, pecorino or romano make excellent substitute! Use leftover kefalotyri cheese for Pastitsio, the traditional Greek Pasta Bake;
Egg – This is what binds the filling together. Egg is, after all, the best food glue known to mankind!
Garlic – Because rarely will you see a Greek dish without garlic (usually much more than just one clove!);
Nutmeg – This is the signature spice used in Spanakopita fillings;
Cayenne pepper – Just a touch, not to make it spicy, but to provide a hint of warmth. It brings an extra little something-something to this Spanakopita!
Lemon – Some zest and juice for brightness;
Green onion – For sweetness and its onion-y taste in the filling;
Butter – Plenty here, for brushing on each and every layer of the filo pastry! It adds flavour plus keeps each layer separated so you get the signature flakiness. Want to up your Spanakopita game? Use clarified butter instead – the buttery flavour is even more intense!
Sesame seeds – To sprinkle on the surface. Using both white and black is a lovely signature look, but you could just double up on one or the other!
Filo pastry for Spanakopita (aka phyllo pastry)
Spanakopita is encased with filo pastry on the base and top. Also known as phyllo pastry, this is a very thin, parchment-like pastry. It is used to make both savoury and sweet pastries and pies in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines, such as Baklava. It comes frozen or fresh, in the fridge section of grocery stores.
Tips for handling filo pastry
I know some people are a bit intimidated by the thought of working with filo pastry. It can be prone to breaking if not handled correctly. But if you follow a few simple steps, there’s nothing tricky about it at all!
Fridge (ie. fresh) filo pastry is easier to handle – It’s more pliable than frozen-then-thawed, so you don’t need to be as careful handling it. Find it in the fridge section of grocery stores, usually alongside fresh pasta;
If using frozen filo pastry – Thaw overnight in the fridge. Never try to speed up thawing by placing in a warm environment. It dries the pastry out and makes it brittle so it tends to shatter;
Take it out of the fridge 30 minutes beforehand – Whether using frozen thawed or fresh. Bringing it to room temperature makes it more pliable and therefore easier to handle;
Keep the phyllo pastry covered with a slightly damp tea towel to ensure it doesn’t dry out; and
Handle like tissue paper, ie. with fairy fingers. Don’t manhandle it like a slice of ham!
How to make Spanakopita
It does take time to layer and butter the filo pastry sheets one by one. But a little effort aside, I think you’ll be surprise how straightforward Spanakopita is to make!
Part 1: Filling
The key to the filling is to remove as much water from the spinach as you can so it doesn’t make the pastry base soggy. We do not cook the spinach – the filling flavour is better made with raw rather than cooked spinach. A little tip I picked up from one of the best Greek restaurants in Sydney, Alpha Restaurant!
Sweat spinach with salt to remove water – Sprinkle chopped spinach with a little salt, then leave for 10 minutes. The salt will draw moisture out of the spinach which makes it easier to squeeze out the water;
Wring out water – Put a handful of spinach on a clean tea towel. Bundle it up and twist firmly to squeeze out the water. It’s easiest to work with a handful at a time so you can do this step properly. I usually do it in 3 batches;
Filling – Place spinach with the remaining filling ingredients in a large bowl; and
Mix well – Mix filling well until it’s combined. It should be moist and juicy, but you should not see any water leaching out of the spinach into the base of the bowl.
Part 2: Assembling
You sometimes see Spanakopita baked in a pie dish. I prefer it freeform, baked on a tray, because the filo pastry is crispier – the base and sides.
As noted above, I recommend using refrigerated rather than frozen filo pastry because it’s easier to work with. It’s more pliable, and there’s no need to plan ahead and thaw overnight.
Trim filo pastry – Take the filo pastry out of the fridge 30 minutes prior to bring it to room temperature. This makes it more pliable and less prone to breaking. Then cut 16 sheets to size: 32 x 25cm / 13 x 10″ (rectangle shapes, pictured) or 26cm / 10.5″ squares.
This makes a Spanakopita pie which is 3.5 – 4cm / 1.4 – 1.6″ thick which I think is the perfect thickness for a good filling to pastry ratio. Any thicker, and there’s too much filling. Any thinner, and there’s too much pastry!
The pie base: 8 filo sheets, buttered – Lay a sheet of filo pastry on a baking paper-lined tray, then brush with melted butter. The butter not only adds flavour, it also causes each base layer to separate so you get the signature flakiness;
Repeat – After brushing with butter, top with another sheet of filo pastry and continue repeating until you have used 8 sheets in total;
Filling – Spread the filling in the middle of the pastry base, leaving a 2.5cm/1″ border. Make the surface as level as possible, pressing down lightly to compact the filling;
Brush with butter – Brush the borders of the pastry with butter;
The pie top: 5 filo sheets, butter + cheese – Cover the filling with a sheet of filo pastry. Brush with butter then sprinkle with kefalotyri cheese. Cover with another sheet of filo pastry and repeat. Do filo → butter → kefalotyri cheese for the first 5 sheets of filo pastry;
Grating kefalotyri cheese – You can either grate the cheese then sprinkle it on with your hand, or measure out the amount of cheese required then grate it straight onto the filo pastry (you get more even coverage this way);
The pie top (final sheets): 3 sheets filo, butter only – For filo pastry sheets # 6, #7 and #8, just use butter in between each layer. We skip the cheese for visual reasons; you can see the golden brown bits of cheese under the top layers of the filo otherwise. It also encourages more puffiness for these layers. However it’s really not a big deal if you forget!
Part 3: Finishing
The crimping you see in these steps is optional. It is perfectly acceptable just to press down and seal the edges flat against the tray!
Crimp edges – Fold up the edges then use your fingers to crimp them to create little ruffles. See recipe video below for visual demo;
Pinch corners firmly to tuck in the surplus filo pastry;
Trim the filo pastry all around using scissors so it is around 2cm / 4/5″ high. We don’t want it sticking up too much higher otherwise the ends might become too browned or burn;
Butter and sesame seeds – Brush the surface with melted butter, then sprinkle with sesame seeds;
Bake 25 minutes in a 220°C/430°F oven. A hot oven is key here to make the pastry beautifully golden and crisp on top and on the base without overcooking the spinach filling!
Voila! Set your masterpiece on its serving stage and be prepared for the incredible eating experience about to take place!
And oh my word … the smell that wafts out from the filling when you cut it open is 100% incredible! The perfume of fresh dill and mint, the fresh spinach, the cheesy goodness of the feta, the subtle notes of nutmeg and garlic … it sends everyone within nose-shot into a salivating stupor!
You can see in the photo above how the filo pastry topping is still ultra-flaky but is still (happily) sitting comfortably atop the Filling. This is thanks to the little trick of layering the filo pastry with a bit of cheese which makes them stick together (while simultaneously still allowing for good, flaky, puffing action) rather than flying everywhere.
Because while we do love that spinach filling, let’s face it: Spanakopita wouldn’t be Spanakopita without that flaky, crispy, buttery and wafer-thin pastry. We love it, and we want lots of it. So if it all fell off when we started cutting up the pie, it would just make us sad wouldn’t it?
Sure, we’d scramble and salvage every little pastry shard we could find off the tray / table / plate. But it really is so much more satisfying when all those layers of filo pastry actually stay ON the Spana, leaving the perfect eating experience intact! Right? 🙂 – Nagi x
PS. It was a wonderful discovery at my “New Years’ Eve (Take 2)” party I held a couple of weeks ago that Spanakopita can be assembled earlier in the day and baked in the evening, and you’d be none the wiser. I was concerned the base might get soggy, but I was wrong. However I’m not convinced you could get as good a result if it’s left in the fridge overnight or frozen (unbaked). I would love to be proven wrong on these points, so please do share your findings in the comment section if you try it!
Watch how to make it
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Spanakopita
Ingredients
Spinach:
- 300g/10oz English spinach leaves , trimmed from thick stems, thoroughly washed, dried, then chopped into 2.5cm/1" pieces (Note 1)
- 1/2 tsp salt
Filling:
- 175g/6oz Greek feta , crumbled
- 1/2 cup Greek yoghurt
- 2 green onions / scallions , finely sliced
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp mint , finely chopped
- 1 tbsp dill , finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp lemon zest
- 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 garlic cloves , finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg , freshly grated
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Filo pastry:
- 16 sheets filo pastry (Note 2)
- 120g/ 8 tbsp butter , melted
- 60g / 2/3 cup Greek Kefalotyri cheese , finely grated (sub parmesan, Note 3)
- 1/2 tsp white sesame seeds (or more black)
- 1/2 tsp black sesame seeds (or more white)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 220°C/430°F (200°C fan). Line a tray with baking paper / parchment paper.
Filling:
- Sweat spinach: Place spinach in a large colander or bowl. Sprinkle with salt, toss through. Leave for 10 minutes to sweat.
- Wring out water: Place a handful of spinach in a tea towel, then wring out tightly to remove excess water.
- Filling: Place spinach in a bowl with remaining Filling ingredients. Mix well to combine.
Assembly:
- Trim filo: Cut 16 sheets of filo pastry into 32 x 25cm / 13 x 10" (pictured) or 26cm / 10.5" square.
- 8 base layers: Layer 8 sheets of filo pastry on the tray, brushing each layer with melted butter.
- Filling: Spread filling on filo pastry. Smooth surface and leave a 2.5cm / 1" border.
- 8 Filo topping layers (Note 4): Cover spinach with a sheet of filo pastry. Brush with butter, sprinkle with Kefalotyri. Repeat for Sheets #2 to #5. Then cover with filo sheets #6 to #8, brushing with butter in between, but do NOT sprinkle with cheese (neater finish).
- Seal: Press edges down to seal. Crimp and trim if desired (see process steps in post or video) or just leave the edges flat on the tray.
- Sesame seeds: Brush the top with butter, sprinkle with sesame seeds.
- Bake: Bake 25 minutes, or until golden brown on the surface.
- Serve! Serve immediately! It is at its absolute prime fresh out of the oven, though still good as long as its hot (~15 min or so). The base does lose crispiness as it cools.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
More Greek classics
Life of Dozer
Typical scene from a road trip up north – Dozer sprawled across the entire back seat. Me, trying to get some work done in the front (passenger 🙂) seat!
Joseph says
Also hulled Hemp seed great for topping along with sesames
Nagi says
Great idea Joseph! N x
Joseph says
Also hulled Hempis great for topping along with sesames
Tina says
Of course a Greek person has to chime in! I have to say my mother truly made the best spanikopita. Hers was sought after. Nothing like this – but so many wonderful variations. One of her secrets to stop the filling from being “wet” was she always added cream of wheat. She also addded leeks.
Nagi says
Everyone has their own version – and I love that! Leeks sound amazing Tina, I’ll have to give it a try! N x
Rhondalee says
Hi Nagi 🙂 If I wanted to make this for 6-7 people would I need to make 2 trays? I noticed the number of filo sheets increased to 28 when I increased to 7 people. Tia. 🙂
Nagi says
Hi Rhondalee, depends if you’re serving as a side or main, this make 4 LARGE portions, but if I were you, make two as leftovers are just as good! You’ll see if you scale up to 8 it will double all ingredients. N x
Ru4us says
Your recipe is similar to mine. I use small curd cottage cheese instead of yogurt. Refrigerate after assembly to harden the butter. Remove from frig. And cut into squares. You can now either bake or cover and freeze. The trick with freezing is the pie must be put in the oven frozen. If you thaw it first, the filo will be soggy. Also, do not use the convection option on your oven. Doing so will cause pieces of filo to fly all over your oven.
Nagi says
Hi RU4US, that’s why I prefer to keep mine whole and not cut prior to baking – the filo stays intact that way. But I love your idea and am loving that everyone has their own tricks for making Spanakopita! N x
Gus says
What are your thoughts on using a pie dish? I’ve seen it served like that and it looks so good!
Nagi says
Hi Gus, you could definitely make this in a pie dish. I have something similar in this post for using left over pastry https://www.recipetineats.com/baklava/ N x
Lexi says
Spinach is quite expensive where we are. What would happen if I tried this with baby spinach? I really want to make it!!
Nagi says
Hi Lexi, I don’t recommend it here – it will change the texture and flavour unfortunately. N x
May says
This looks incredible! Perfect one for a rainy weekend 😄
Nagi says
Yes 100% May – I hope you love it! N x
Isabel Laurie says
Always wanted to try spanakopita but the pastry thing totally throws me. Not good at pastry, and haven’t seen philo here in Canada. It is obviously available somewhere. Just haven’t looked. Now I will be . Love spinach and every ingredient u listed. Totally love Dozer. We had a very daft dog like him. Now we have two crazy cats dont asklollol
Joyce says
Filo, also sometimes spelled Phyllo, is usually available in any major Canadian grocery store, in the freezer section, in with the frozen pie crusts and bread dough. Some specialty stores may even have it refrigerated only.
Nagi says
Hi Isabel, It’s so worth it if you can find the pastry!!! Dozer, of course always stealing the show 😂 N x
Isabel Laurie says
Dozer to us is the star of the show. We just love him. Sorry, your recipes are always so very good!! Joking, love them.
L Mc says
Hi Nagi – this looks amazing. How much puff pastry should be substituted for the phyllo? Thanks – can’t wait to try!
Nagi says
Hi L MC, you’d need a piece for the bottom and then a piece for the top to cover the spinach. Love to know what you think!! N x
Joseph says
wow brings me back to da 70s those weekend pot parties.great group ,Italians. Greeks Jewish Polish yikes Friday evening through Sunday and that Greek Girls Spanikopita that’s the last time I was Blessed with eating eat . spinach is growing in my garden now Bloomsdale , a rumpled leaf thick dynamite one , will make this recipe. as soon as it is plentiful thanks for those foodie recipes ” Good Eating “
Nagi says
Oh I’m jealous – fresh spinach from the garden would be amazing here – promise me you’ll try it! N x
Joseph says
buy the seed BLOOSDALE if not available to Aus. from Victory seed or Bakers trek Ill send some there are also radish ready in 18 days and they are great baby bok choy also doin great. Happy Growing ” Good Eating “
Danielle Godfrey says
Hi Nagi!
Thanks a million for your fantastic recipes!!! You’re so good!!!!! And I love following Dozer’s antics….lol!!!
Nagi says
Thanks so much Danielle 🙂 N x
Drusilla Gillen says
I follow your website with enthusiasm, and this sounded naughty but yummy.
However, working (boringly) out all the calories of the ingredients, i discovered each serving (one fifth of the whole) is more like 600 calories, not 480.
Sadly, I’ll have to wait until I get my post lockdown waistline back under control again, before I try this one.
Nagi says
Hi Drusilla, you’re correct, one of the ingredients was left off my calculations. I’ve updated the post and the nutrition is for 4 LARGE servings 🙂 N x
Cathy says
Nagi I love this!
Being Greek I have always Loved! Spanakopita.
And I have Thoroughly enjoyed eating my Mother’s
(she makes her own Filo – Amazing) my whole life.
But I have never attempted to make my own. I just thought maybe it’s too much work, too fiddly.
But your explanations & video make me feel that i can make it.
And now that it is orthodox lent and we are not having any meat for about 40 days I am secretly quite excited to try this!
Thankyou! Maybe for the 40Th time or so Lol
Nagi says
Hi Cathy, I really hope you do try it, I would love to know how it compares to your mothers!!! ❤️ N x
Farrah Gillani says
I was literally looking for a Spanakopita recipe yesterday that used fresh spinach and this turned up today! You are a mind reader 🙂 And an amazingly reliable and fantastic chef. Sending love from happy bellies in Sweden 🙂
Nagi says
Great minds Farrah!!! 😂 N x
Jenny S says
I was also looking for this recipe on your site a couple of days ago. Nagi the mind reader! Thanks for the recipe – am going to try this weekend
Nanna says
if someone can’.t find fresh filo, try Turkish baklavalık yufka. They’re the same. Going to try this method of not cooking the spinach first.
Nagi says
Great suggestion!! I haven’t seen it around here! N x
Eha says
One big thank you for a new recipe for one of my very favourite dishes – I have had mine for over twenty years, so this is meant as a real compliment ! Love the two kinds of sesame seeds and I have not used dill ! Now you keep your fingers crossed for me and i’l; keep my fingers crossed for you and let the Powers Above make certain we both are still smiling come Monday with that amount of rain and wind to come ! Oh, and I love the colour of the pansies in your new herb garden ,. . . best . . .
Nagi says
You’ll have to try this one and let me know what you think Eha! Stay dry and safe!! N x
Kim says
Yum, can’t wait to make this for my Greek husband…
Nagi says
I’ll nervously await feedback Kim, I hope it’s a hit!! N x
Mel says
So excited for this recipe! Thank you. Do you think you could make smaller single serves like spinach triangles? And I was planning to freeze raw and cook for lunches?? I know you said you wouldn’t recommend but I’m hoping…
Nagi says
Hi Mel, 100% you could make them as individual serves. I still need to test the perfect way to make ahead, maybe Barbara’s suggestion below! N x
Barbara Pierson says
I have made a slight variation, my recipe is nearly the same. It was a wedding gift from a little restaurant where their Spanakopita won best in NYC, 41 years ago. Cook it first and then you can freeze it. Wrap it well in foil and then put in a ziplock bag. I was an international flight attendant and I would make a huge batch, sometimes folded and handheld and I would freeze for my sons to eat when I was gone. It’s fine for school lunches too.
Nagi says
I’ll have to try this Barbara!! N x