Spanakopita – Greek Spinach Pies

If you love Spanakopitas, you need to try this! If you’ve never had a Spanakopita, you need to try this! A traditional Greek food that’s simply amazing! These are packed full of delicious feta cheese, ricotta cheese, sweet onion, green onion, fresh dill and parsley, and let’s not forget the spinach! Give this a try this week!

Spanakopita Crazy

Growing up in New Jersey, diners were everywhere, and you knew which were the best diners by their Spanakopitas. I tried several different recipes, but none tasted like I remembered. So I created my own! I made 75 of these for this year’s Super Bowl part and they were the first thing to disappear.

There are never have leftovers of these.  I prefer the triangles, but they are a little more time consuming, and dealing with phyllo dough is challenging (a bit more on that later). My family loves the mini cups. They are much easier and are a really delightful small bite. Once my wife learned how to make the min cups, she loves to make these!

A Greek Spinach Pie

Spanakopita is a Greek Spinach Pie that goes back thousands of years. It one of Greece’s signature dishes and is one of the most popular Greek dish in the US. I mentioned earlier that diners all over New Jersey have them, but really, I have found them just about everywhere I’ve traveled in this country.

Besides diners, Greek food is found in many shopping mall food courts as well as stand alone restaurants. Every time I ask someone, “have you ever had a spanakopita,” I have never received a “No,” it’s always a “Yes.”

Working with Phyllo Dough

A spanakopita would not be the same without that crispy, flaky pastry called phyllo dough. It comes in thin sheets or mini cup typically found in the freezer section of most grocery stores.

Phyllo dough sheets are awesome, but they are a little tricky to work with. The main reason is because they dry out super fast. When that happens, they become extremely brittle. They tend to stick to each and tear. Once they get just a little dry, they begin to crack and rolling them to make those yummy squares is impossible.

So here’s a tip. Keep them covered. It’s really that simple. When you take a sheet to work with, cover the rest. There’s several ways to do this, but this is the easiest for me.

I take 2-3 paper towels, make a double layer, and place that on top. Next, I wet another 2-3 paper towels and wring them out so I’m left with damp towels. Then I place those over top of the dry paper towels. I will only remove the towels when it’s time for a new sheet. I then promptly return the towels on top of the sheets.

There really is no way to re-hydrate the phyllo dough sheets once they’ve dried out. So prevention is the only thing you can do.

The Perfect Party Hors D’oeuvre

I absolutely love to bring Spanakopitas to a party. They are super easy to make and they’ll always a big hit. Especially the Mini Cup Spanakopitas. My wife’s mini cupcake pans can hold 48 total. So we can cook 3 packages of 15 mini cups at a time, which uses up all the mix. And that’s usually enough.

For a smaller event, like just hanging out with a bunch of friends, my favorite thing is to make a double batch of the triangles. I show up with 20 and everyone typically gets 2 each. They are just so satisfying!

Pro Tip

Believe it or not, too much parsley can make things taste a bit spicy. So be sure to use the right amount of spinach and other ingredients. I find the prepackages spinach in those plastic clamshell containers typically come in 15 or 16 ounce sizes, so I use those.

If you’re unsure about the amount of spinach you are using, just scale back on the parsley.

Useful Kitchen Tools

I don’t know what I would do without these amazing kitchen tools. I use all of these at least once a week, some I use every day. None of these are sponsors. However, the links below are brands I trust and use regularly. I highly recommend these product to make your life in the kitchen easier.

Other Amazing Recipes That You’ll Love!

Best Greek Marinated Chicken

Mediterranean Fish Recipe

Simple Chicken Gyro and Souvlaki

Greek Stuffed Chicken Breast with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Print

Spanakopita - Greek Spinach Pies

Course Appetizer

Cuisine Mediterranean

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Servings 10 pies

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 15-16 ounces Fresh Spinach, chopped
• 1/2 cup Green Onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup Sweet Onion, diced small
• 4 cloves Garlic
• 1 cup Feta Cheese
• 1/2 cup Ricotta Cheese
• 1/4 cup Fresh Dill, chopped
• 1/4 cup Fresh Parsley, chopped
• 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
• 1 Egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 1 teaspoon Pepper
• 20 sheets Phyllo Dough, or
• 45 cups Mini Phyllo Dough Cups

Instructions

1. Note: If using frozen phyllo dough sheet, read the package to find out how long before preparing you need to take them out of the freezer to thaw. The ones I use require 3 hours.

2. Preheat the oven to 350° F.

3. Heat 2 Tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. When the oil begins to shimmer, saute the green onions, sweet onion, and garlic until soft, about 2-3 minutes.

4. Add half of the spinach. As that cooks down, be sure to stir often so the onions and garlic don't burn.

5. Once the first batch of spinach has cooked down, add the remaining spinach and allow it to cook down as well.

6. Transfer the mixture to a medium mixing bowl.

7. Add the feta cheese, ricotta cheese, dill, parsley, lemon juice, egg, salt, and pepper and mix until all ingredients are even mixed.

Instructions for Triangles Using Phyllo Dough Sheets

1. Place one sheet of phyllo dough on a cutting board or flat surface. Using a basting brush, coat the sheet evenly with olive oil.

   Important: Phyllo dough sheets dry out super quick. Place a double layers of dry paper towels over the phyllo dough sheets and a double layer of damp paper towels over that. When you remove 1 sheet, recover the rest of the sheet until you're ready for the next one.

2. Next, add another sheet on top of the first and coat with the olive oil. Repeat the same with the remaining 2 sheets. You should have 4 sheets total.

3. Cut the stack of phyllo dough sheets down the middle lengthwise so you have 2 long even sheets.

4. Scoop about 2 Tablespoons of the mixture to one end of each sheet. Fold the upper corner of the sheets over the mixture on a diagonal to form a triangle.

5. Keep folding until the you come to the end of the sheet. You should have a wedge shape. Repeat the folding with the other half. Place both pies on the sheet pan.

6. Prep a sheet pan with cooking spray or foil.

7. Repeat the same process - steps 8-12 - with the remaining sheets of phyllo dough.

8. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Enjoy!

Instructions for Phyllo Dough Mini Cups

1. Using a basting brush, oil each cup of a mini cupcake tray with olive oil.

2. Place a mini cup in each hole and brush olive oil inside each cup.

3. Spoon in enough spanakopita mix into each mini cup so that the mix is just level or slightly above. Sometimes the bottoms of the cups are pushed up. Those will sink down during the cooking.

4. Cook in the oven for for 12 minutes.

5. Depending on the size of your mini cupcake tray, you may have to cook these in batches.