Easy Spanakopita Recipe (Greek Spinach Pie)
Spanakopita is a delectable spinach pie from Greece. It’s made with a flavorful spinach mixture, feta cheese, phyllo pastry and it’s one of the BEST savory pie dishes around! I think you’ll love this super easy spanakopita recipe.
Today I want to share with you one of my favorite non-Mexican dishes. It can feed a lot of people without being too expensive. Plus this spanakopita can easily be made vegetarian or vegan.
What Is Greek Cuisine
The cuisine of Greece is a wonderful and relies heavily on fresh ingredients. It’s truly some of the best food you’ll eat.
Greek food use a lot of fresh fruits, vegetables, olive oil, wine, olives, cheese, nuts, honey and yogurt and much more. These freshest of ingredients make Greek food among the healthiest in the world.
Even if you aren’t the most adventures eater, I can almost guarantee that you’ve tasted Greek food.
Surely you’ve heard of or tasted: tzatziki, mezés, gyros, pita, souvlaki, dolmathakia or stuffed grape leaves, Avgolemono or egg-lemon soup, feta cheese, baklava, Metaxa, and Ouzo.
These are among the most popular Greek foods and drinks.
Another two very popular dishes from Greece you may have heard of are spanakopita and moussaka — the latter is often considered their national dish.
Moussaka is another of my favorite Greek meals that can also be made vegetarian or vegan.
I never had a Greek dish I didn’t like. Thankfully there are also lots of vegetarian and vegan dishes to choose from.
What is Spanakopita
Spanakopita is a savory Greek pie made using phyllo pastry, spinach, onions, green onions, herbs, eggs and feta cheese.
It’s actually quite easy to make and a classic Greek dish that’s a must try.
Spanakopita can be baked in a large dish or shaped into a large spiral, or small individual portions — often triangle shapes.
Different recipes call for additional ingredients, sometimes even tofu may be used for a vegan spanakopita version.
Additionally when phyllo dough is not available it may be replaced with puff pastry dough — as was the case for me.
As you can see the ingredients list is relatively small and though it takes a bit of time to prepare, it is very much worth every second of preparation and waiting.
This is such a super easy recipe that even a beginner cook can get it right on the first try. It’s just as easy to experienced home cooks too.
And the taste…it will blow your tastebuds away!
From the first time I prepared it, it quickly became one of our favorite meals that went into my dinner rotations.
This spinach pie is savory, flaky, and bursting with amazing creamy flavors. You can serve it warm or cold, and it tastes even better the next day!
Spanakopita Ingredients
The main ingredients are pretty easy find. Most grocery stores will carry them. The only exception to this is the sheets of phyllo dough.
Phyllo is sometimes also spelled or called filo pastry.
Phyllo sheets are a paper-thin dough which is commonly used in authentic Greek spanakopita recipes. They are what hold in the spinach filling inside.
The sweet honey and pistacho dessert, baklava is also made with filo pastry.
You can get flaky phyllo dough crust in the frozen section of your local grocery store. But if you can’t find it you can substitute it with puff pastry or pie dough. It’s not the traditional spanakopita ingredient, but it’s a close enough substitution.
That is unless you want to make your own homemade dough. Here’s a recipe to check out.
Below are all the ingredients you’ll need to make spanakopita with puff pastry.
- frozen spinach
- green onions (aka spring onions)
- yellow onion
- garlic
- ground black pepper
- flat leaf parsley
- feta cheese
- eggs
- all purpose flour
- puff pastry sheets
- egg for egg wash
Ingredient Variations
As with any other food and recipe, there’ll always be variations to the ingredients.
With spanakopita, for example, some people will use leeks instead of onion.
Herbs like fresh dill may also be added. I’ve seen recipes calling for oregano, but not sure how traditional that is.
I’ve also seen some recipes call for lemon juice or lemon zest.
This one I really don’t recommend you swap, the feta cheese for cottage cheese. It just won’t be the same. Just as this is a spinach pie, it too is a feta pie and the taste wouldn’t be the same without it.
Lastly, I’ve seen a classic spanakopita recipe or two call for fresh spinach instead of frozen. On a couple occasion when I made a smaller portion than the recipe here, I used baby spinach.
But as we all know, a huge pile of fresh spinach wilts down to a very small pile. So it’s not only easier, more convenient, but also less expensive to use frozen spinach.
Lastly, if you’re using phyllo dough then it’s recommended that you brush your baking dish with either a couple of tablespoons of olive oil or some melted butter, before layering the first sheet of phyllo dough.
How to Make The BEST Vegan Spanakopita
My recipe is vegetarian because it calls for eggs and feta cheese. But you can easily make this a vegan spanakopita.
You can use vegan puff pastry or if you can find it, use phyllo dough. Filo pastry is naturally vegan.
For the eggs you can substitute with silken tofu. Use 6 oz. of silken tofu and crumble it up. You can season it with salt, pepper, garlic, nutritional yeast and anything else you’d like.
You may want to add a little extra flour to the mixture to help it bind together. Otherwise the vegan spanakopita filling will be more crumbly and come apart easier.
Substitute the regular feta with vegan feta cheese. There are several brands, one I’ve used is Violife.
Instead of the egg wash you can use a pastry brush to brush on olive oil instead. Or use your favorite other vegan egg wash instead.
The rest of the ingredients and instructions are the same.
How to Make Spanakopita with Puff Pastry
As previously mentioned, spanakopita is made with thawed phyllo dough but since I can’t find it where I live, we’ll be using puff pastry instead.
- Thaw out the frozen spinach then squeeze out as much of the excess liquid as possible.
- Preheat the oven to 175C or 350F.
- Line a baking dish with a layer of puff pastry, making sure it goes up the edges. It’s ok if there’s extra pastry.
- Sauté both onions until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook another 2 minutes.
- In a large bowl, mix the spinach into the onion mixture. Season with black pepper, then add the crumbled feta cheese. Taste to see if salt is needed — feta can be salty so you may not need to add anymore salt.
- Mix in the two lightly beaten eggs into the spinach mixture.
- Pour the spinach and egg mixture into the baking dish.
- If the bottom layer of puff pastry overlapped the dish, folded in over the spinach filling.
- Lightly beat the remaining egg in a small bowl.
- Brush the overlapped pastry dough.
- Place the top puff pastry dough over the baking dish, covering the spinach filling.
- Pinch the top layer to the bottom to form a pie seal.
- Brush the top layer with the beaten egg wash.
- Bake in center of oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and flaky.
- Allow to cool before cutting and serving. Spanakopita may be served warm or at room temperature.
How to Serve It
This will depend on whether you want to serve spanakopita as a main course or as a side dish. You could also serve it as an appetizer or as part of a meze.
If serving as a main dish you could serve a creamy soup or broth as a starter. On the side it really doesn’t need much else…maybe some sort of carb, like potatoes.
You can serve this savory spinach dish as a side dish to just about anything you’d like.
If you make individual shapes they make a great starter and party food too.
How ever you decide to serve it just know that it can be served warm, at room temperature or even cold. Delicious everyway!
How to Store It
Store leftovers in the refrigerator and they will stay fresh for about 3 days. After that the dough will become quite soggy.
Spanakopita can also be frozen. Freeze in an airtight container for up to 2 months.
How to Reheat Spanakopita Leftovers
Refrigerated leftovers can be reheated in the oven for about 10 minutes.
You can also place them in the air fryer for 5 minutes.
Easy Spanakopita Recipe
Amigos, below you will find my super easy Greek spinach pie recipe.
My recipe isn’t the authentic spanakopita recipe, but it’s still delicous.
For lots of traditional and authentic Greek recipes you can visit my friend Mirella’s blog at Little Cooking Tips.
Easy Spanakopita Recipe (Greek Spinach Pie)
Equipment
- 9×7 baking dish
Ingredients
- 1.75 lbs. frozen spinach defrosted and chopped
- 3 green onions finely chopped
- 1 small yellow onion finely chopped
- 5 garlic cloves minced
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper to taste
- 1 small handful flat leaf parsley chopped
- 7 oz feta cheese
- 2 medium eggs lightly beaten
- 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
- 2 large puff pastry sheets**
- 1 small egg lightly beaten for egg wash
Instructions
- Thaw out the frozen spinach then squeeze out as much of the liquid as possible. Preheat the oven to 175C or 350F.
- Line a baking dish with a layer of puff pastry, making sure it goes up the edges. It’s ok if there’s extra pastry.
- Sauté both onions until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook another 2 minutes.
- In a large bowl, mix the spinach into the onion mixture. Season with black pepper, then add the crumbled feta cheese. Taste to see if salt is needed — feta can be salty so you may not need to add anymore salt.
- Mix in the two lightly beaten eggs into the spinach mixture.
- Pour the spinach and egg mixture into the baking dish.
- If the bottom layer of puff pastry overlapped the dish, folded in over the spinach filling.
- Lightly beat the remaining egg in a small bowl.
- Brush the overlapped pastry dough.
- Place the top puff pastry dough over the baking dish, covering the spinach filling.
- Pinch the top layer to the bottom to form a pie seal.
- Brush the top layer with the beaten egg wash
- Bake in center of oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and flaky.
- Allow to cool before cutting and serving. Spanakopita may be served warm or at room temperature.
Notes
allow to cool before mixing in with eggs. I always use frozen-defrosted spinach. **I always use two large sheets of puff pastry, just make sure what you purchase is large enough for a 9×7 baking dish. Alternatively you may use phyllo dough.
Nutrition
More Spinach Recipes
Nancy Lopez is a food blogger and author of the cookbook Mexican Tamales Made Meatless. Born in Mexico, raised in the US, and currently living in Southern Mexico, she has followed a meatless diet for almost 10 years. It is her passion and mission to share all she has learned about vegan Mexican cooking and vegetarian Mexican recipes. Mexican Made Meatless is a blog dedicated to preserving the authentic flavors of Mexican cuisine just without the meat. It’s a place to celebrate Mexican culture and all it’s delightfully delicious traditional foods. Read more…
Wow surprised you have this recipe. I love the little pastries from the bakery. Can I make them smaller?
I’m going to start adding non-Mexican recipes I eat often. Thank you and yes you can make it into small individual pastries. Enjoy!