If you have not tried Spanakopita before, you’re in for a treat! Spanakopita is a delicious savory Greek pie made of perfectly crispy layers of phyllo dough and a comforting filling of spinach and feta cheese. I’m sharing my family’s favorite spanakopita recipe, complete with tips, video, and step-by-step photos. Trust me, this is so much easier to make than you think!
Spanakopita makes a great side dish for large holiday dinners next to lamb or lemon chicken. But it can easily stand alone as the main dish. Serve it with a big salad like Greek salad; Balela; or this Mediterranean chickpea salad, and favorite dips like Greek Tzatziki or Roasted Garlic Hummus.
This post is sponsored by The Fillo Factory.
What is Spanakopita?
My little one describes spanakopita this way, “yummy, crispy cheese pie with lots of green stuff!”
Spanakopita is a popular Greek savory pie made of perfectly flaky phyllo dough with a comforting filling of spinach and feta cheese nestled in. If you’re not familiar with phyllo dough, it is basically layered sheets of tissue-thin pastry dough, typically found in the freezer section next to things like pie crust and puff pastry.
Spanakopita can be made in a large casserole dish like in today’s recipe, or in the form of hand pies shaped in triangles or even rolls.
When I was at an Atlanta-area Greek festival a few weeks ago, my daughter’s lunch of choice was a piece of spanakopita and a side of Greek salad. Luckily, she allowed me a taste; it was heavenly! I ended up chatting with the woman behind the lavish lunch, her name was Yiayia Helen. We discussed family recipes and shared spanakopita lessons and tips…
Tips for How to Make Spanakopita
1. What is in the spanakopita filling?
The key filling ingredients in a classic spanakopita recipe are spinach and feta cheese. And yes, only use quality feta cheese, no other cheese qualifies for spanakopita.
To the spinach and feta, we add flavor makers in the form of fresh herbs and aromatics. I used two whole bunches of parsley (parsley stems pack a ton of flavor, by the way, so don’t be afraid to throw some in) Then, onions, garlic and a little dry dill weed.
To bind everything together, I used four large eggs.
2. Do I need to cook the spinach in advance?
You need a good amount of spinach in this recipe, so using frozen spinach is the way to go. In this easy spanakopita recipe, frozen spinach–fully thawed, of course–is mixed right in with the remaining filling ingredients, no advanced cooking necessary.
But one thing you must do, be sure to drain all liquid from the thawed spinach. I ended up squeezing the spinach by hand a few times until it could no longer produce any liquid. If you do use fresh spinach, you will need to cook it with the onions and garlic, drain, and let cool completely before mixing the filling.
3. The Phyllo
Golden, crispy phyllo pastry, encasing the soft spinach filling is really what spanakopita is all about! Quality of phyllo (fillo) dough can make or break the recipe! I am a big fan of organic dough from The Fillo Factory. It’s vegan and contains no preservatives; no cholesterol; and no trans fat. And be sure follow the tips below for best results.
Tips for working with Phyllo Dough:
– Thaw phyllo dough properly; too much moisture will make the dough or sheets sticky and hard to manage. When thawing, do not remove the phyllo (fillo) from the package, place it in the fridge 12-14 hours before using.
-Before you begin assembling the spanakopita casserole, unroll the thawed phyllo (fillo) sheets and place them carefully between two ever-so-slightly damp kitchen cloths. This helps the sheets remain lenient so they won’t tear too much.
-Do not skimp on the oil, but don’t overdo it either. Some use butter, but I use quality extra virgin olive oil here instead to keep it light. You need to brush each of the phyllo layers with a little olive oil (see the video as well)
-Remember, Phyllo (fillo) sheets will tear, and that’s perfectly fine. Just make sure you save a couple good sheets for the top of your spanakopita casserole.
Can I make Spanakopita Ahead of Time? What about Leftovers?
– You can make spanakopita the evening before you need to serve it. Follow the instructions for assembling, but do not bake. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight. When you are ready, go ahead and bake according to recipe instructions. Budget 1 hour for baking.
– Already cooked spanakopita will keep well if properly storied in the fridge for 2 to 3 evenings. Heat in medium-heated oven until warmed through. You can also portion cooked leftover spanakopita and freeze for a later time. Warm in oven; no need to thaw in advance.
Watch the video for How to Make Spanakopita:
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Spanakopita Recipe (Greek Spinach Pie)
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 12 pieces 1x
Description
Foolproof family recipe for Spanakopita! Delicious savory Greek pie made of perfectly crispy layers of phyllo dough and a comforting filling of spinach and feta cheese.
Ingredients
For the Spinach and Feta Filling
- 16 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well-drained
- 2 bunches flat-leaf parsley, stems trimmed, finely chopped
- 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tbsp Private Reserve extra virgin olive oil
- 4 eggs
- 10.5 oz quality feta cheese, crumbled
- 2 tsp dried dill weed
- Freshly-ground black pepper
For the Crust
- 1 16 oz package The Fillo Factory Organic Dough (#4 pastry sheets), properly thawed (see tips above)
- 1 cup Private Reserve extra virgin olive oil, more if needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- Before you begin mixing the filling, be sure the spinach is very well drained, and squeeze out any excess liquid by hand.
- To make the filling: In a mixing bowl, add the spinach and the remaining filling ingredients. Stir until all is well-combined.
- Unroll the phyllo (fillo) sheets and place them between two slightly damp kitchen cloths.
- Prepare a 9 1/2″ X 13″ baking dish like this one. Brush the bottom and sides of the dish with olive oil.
- To assemble the spanakopita: Line the baking dish with two sheets of phyllo (fillo) letting them cover the sides of the dish. Brush with olive oil. Add two more sheets in the same manner, and brush them with olive oil. Repeat until two-thirds of the phyllo (fillo) is used up.
- Now, evenly spread the spinach and feta filling over the phyllo (fillo) crust. Top with two more sheets, and brush with olive oil.
- Continue to layer the phyllo (fillo) sheets, two-at-a-time, brushing with olive oil, until you have used up all the sheets. Brush the very top layer with olive oil, and sprinkle with just a few drops of water.
- Fold the flaps or excess from the sides, you can crumble them a little. Brush the folded sides well with olive oil. Cut Spanakopita ONLY PART-WAY through into squares, or leave the cutting to later.
- Bake in the 325 degrees F heated-oven for 1 hour, or until the phyllo (fillo) crust is crisp and golden brown. Remove from the oven. Finish cutting into squares and serve. Enjoy!
Notes
- Tips for Working with Phyllo: As mentioned earlier in the post, remember that phyllo is paper thin and will break as you are working with it. For best results, place phyllo dough sheets in between two very slightly damp kitchen towels (step #4) before you start working with it (unless you think you will work fast enough that the phyllo will not dry out.) Also, be sure to brush each layer with oil; don’t skimp.
- Make Ahead Tips: You can make spanakopita the evening before. Follow up to step #9, cover and refrigerate. When you are ready, go ahead and bake according to step #10.
- Leftover Storing and Freezing Tips: Already cooked spanakopita will keep well if properly storied in the fridge for 2 to 3 evenings. Heat in medium-heated oven until warmed through. You can also portion cooked leftover spanakopita and freeze for a later time. Warm in oven; no need to thaw in advance.
- What to Serve with Spanakopita? Spanakopita makes a great side dish for large holiday dinners next to lamb or lemon chicken. But it can easily stand alone as the main dish. Serve it with a big salad like Greek salad; Balela; or this Mediterranean chickpea salad, and favorite dips like Greek Tzatziki or Roasted Garlic Hummus.
- Recommended for this Recipe: Private Reserve Greek extra virgin olive oil (from organically grown and processed Koroneiki olives).
- SAVE try our Greek olive oil bundle and our popular Ultimate Mediterranean Spice Bundle
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Entree or Side Dish
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Greek
*This recipe and tutorial was originally published 11/08/2016. Last updated with new information and photos on 4/15/2019.
Could I use a glass baking dish?
Sure, Sarah! I don’t see why not. Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Easy & delish
Thanks, Patty! So glad you enjoyed it!
Made it last ,boy it was very good with the eggplant.
So glad you enjoyed it, Kevin!
Hi Suzy , I was reading the recipe but I’m a little confused with the phillo. I have never used phillo before and the quantity is not clear to me. Under ingredients it says 1 16 oz phillo (4 sheets) but then under the instructions the recipe seems to need a larger quantity. Forgive me if this seems obvious, I have never worked with phillo sheets. Thank you !
Agnes, for this recipe, you need to purchase a package of phyllo which is 16 ounces or 1 pound. Phyllo comes in different sizes, this one is #4 pastry sheets. You can see a picture of the package in the post and we’ve also included a link to the actual product: http://www.fillofactory.com/organic-fillo-dough-p/rf-o.htm You can find it in the freezer section.
I haven’t made this recipe yet but will do so soon. I go to the Greekfest every year and my first stop is the Spanokopita booth. My Greek friends use green onions in lieu of yellow onion and it is not overpowering. I can’t wait to try this recipe. Many thanks for sharing.
Green onions will work great, Edie! Enjoy
Terrific spanakopita! Everyone loved it – my dad said it tasted like it was from a restaurant on “The Danforth” (Toronto’s Greek Town)! Thank you Suzy!
That’s great to hear! Thanks, Joanne!
So where is the video?????????????????????????????????
Hello! It’s near the bottom of the blog entry, right above the recipe card in the section titled “Watch the video for How to Make Spanakopita”.
Hi Suzy,
I think there is something up with the video because it doesn’t show up under the section titled “Watch the video for How to Make Spanakopita”, or anywhere else on the page. 🙂 Going to try this recipe now but would love to watch the video to make sure I don’t mess it up!
Ah, trying a different browser helped! I just finished making it – we loved it! 🙂
Yay!!!!!!
Thanks for the heads up! We just checked on a few of our computers and can see the video there. Sometimes browsers prohibit pop ups and videos, so depending on your settings you may not be able to view the video. This is not something we can control on our end, sadly. I’m sorry :(.
I find American weights and measures very confusing. Could you please put the quantities into their standard metric equivalents?
cheers and thanks for the recipe (despite the maths it still worked out very well!).
Charlie, thank you for your feedback. This is something that requires special programming and we hope to add in the future.
Love this recipe! Although i’d suggest putting defrost the phyllo on the list as well. I know its above but it isn’t on the instruction list below and I forgot and made all the filling before I remembered the dough! (im new to phyllo) Anyway it was amazing and it’s going to become a staple in my house.
Thanks for sharing, Erin! Glad you enjoyed it.
THANK YOU,MYWIFE(AGNES PROTOS KARANIKAS)ALWAYS BAKED “SPANAKOPITA” NOT ONLY FOR MY BIRTHDAY—BUT FOR ANY ALL SPECIAL DAYS. NOW AT THIS PERIOD OF MY LIFE I AM 90 YEARS OLD–AGNES PASTED A WAY SEPT 4,2018 JUST 4 DAYS BEFOR BIRTH .–MARRIED FOR 60+YEARS.—I HAVE FOLLOWDED RECIPE AND I JUST SIT DOWN AND ENJOY IT BY MY SELF.——–PLEASE GIVE IT A TRY,PLEASE.
I’m sorry to hear about your wife’s passing, but I’m glad you were able to make this delicious recipe that made you think of her! I’m making tonight for the first time, wish me luck! Stay safe!
Delicious. We followed your instructions to the letter and it turned out yummy. I loved the onion in it.
Thanks, Colleen!
This recipe is mostly excellent – apart from the raw onion in the filling, which was so overpowering after the bake that it pushed it from delicious to just edible unfortunately. I even reduced the amount beforehand as I was worried about this happening.
I will make this again and try frying the onion for a while before putting it into the filling, or just omitting it entirely – all my friend’s recipes I have asked after do one or the other. Otherwise this recipe works very well – the pastry, cheese, spinach etc are all great!
Thank you for sharing, Luke!
Delicious, easy to make, cooking time is perfect.
I included the parsley stalks because they have heaps of flavour – just chop them really fine.
Next time I will add some lemon, as I’d like it to have a bit more tartness and zing – maybe lemon zest too?
Best thing of all – it has increased my confidence to work with filo pastry, which I’ve ben wary of in the past, but this was a breeze. Thx so much for sharing 🙂
So glad to hear this was a winner for you, Rick! Thank you so much for sharing.
Seems 2 buches of parsley overwhemled the other flavors. Next time 1 bunch
Yimmy, you can certainly adjust to your liking here
Yum!
Easy to follow instructions and came out great! Whole family loved it. Cutting the top layer before putting it in the oven is a must. The first time I made spanakopita years ago, I didn’t do that and when I cut it out of the oven it was a mess! Thanks so much for sharing.
My only feedback – It says prep time is 20 min and I’d love to know HOW you make it in 20 min. I’m an experienced cook who can work quickly and the only way I could see that is if you had ALLLLL the ingredients drained, chopped, minced, etc. and THEN started making this. I even zipped through the parsley and didn’t trim the stems hardly at all. I’ll concede that I’m no phyllo expert, but you’d have to be a phyllo wizard to make this start to finish in 20 min. Heck – I’d recommend changing the prep time to 40 minutes so if someone really IS a phyllo wizard, they’ll be psyched they finished in half the time!
Thank you for sharing, Pam! So glad you enjoyed the recipe!!
This is the most delicious and manageable recipe. I had fresh spinach that I sautéed in extra virgin olive oil. Looking forward to making it again.
Wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing.