I love Mediterranean food, including classics Greek salad, Shakshuka, Hummus, and this simple yet totally satisfying spanakopita.

You will definitely fall in love with this recipe for its ease of preparation and incredible taste and aroma!

Greek spanakopita

Yield: 9 portions

Ingredients

Filo pastry:

250 gr Filo dough
1 cup olive oil

Filling:

450g frozen spinach (drain excess moisture)
1 large white onion
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp olive oil (extra virgin olive oil)
3 eggs
400 gr feta cheese
1 tsp dried dill (my favorite spice)
freshly ground pepper

Instructions

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!

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 the thawing by placing it 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 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.

Handle like tissue paper, ie. carefully.

Top view of spanakopita. Top view of spanakopita. Spanakopita Greek pie is in a baking dish. In the foreground, blurred leaves of greenery. 1 piece has already been taken out of the pie.

Preheat oven to 170-180 C Before you start mixing the stuffing, make sure that there is no excess liquid in the spinach. For the filling: Mix together all the ingredients for the filling. Stir until everything is well combined.

Unfold the phyllo sheets.

Prepare a 20x20 baking dish. Brush the bottom and sides of the mold with olive oil. Line the baking dish with two sheets of phyllo so that they cover the sides of the dish. Brush with olive oil. Next, I suggest using filo sheets exactly the size of your form - for this, I cut off the appropriate squares from the dough. In the same way, add a few more sheets and brush them with olive oil. Now evenly distribute half of the spinach and feta filling. Cover with four more sheets and brush each with olive oil.

Now spread the rest of the spinach and feta filling evenly.

Continue stacking filo sheets, brushing with olive oil.

Now grease the edges of the dough sticking out of the form and bend them inward (this way we will seal the filling inside).

Fold 2 more layers of sheets on top, brushing each with olive oil.

Spanakopita can be cut before baking or later.

I decorated it with sesame, but I'm afraid that not a single Greek will understand me (🙈).

Bake Spanakopita in a preheated oven at 170-180C for 1 hour, or until the phyllo crust is crispy and golden brown. Remove from oven. Finish cutting into squares and serve.

Enjoy!