Vegetarian Dishes
Spanakopita (Greek Spinach and Feta Pie)
Layers of crisp, buttery filo around a filling of wilted spinach, salty feta, ricotta, spring onions, dill and a little nutmeg, baked until golden and flaky.
- Serves 6
- Hands-on 40 min
- Bake 40–45 min
- Rest 10 min before cutting
- Good warm or cold
- Greek
Method
Wilt the spinach (900 g) in batches in a large dry pan with a splash of water, or in a colander by pouring over a kettle of boiling water. Cool, then squeeze out as much water as you can with your hands and chop roughly. Frozen spinach just needs thawing and squeezing.
Heat the oil (2 tbsp) in the pan and cook the onion (1 onion) gently for 8 minutes, until soft. Add the spring onions (6 spring onions) and garlic (2 cloves) for 2 minutes more, then cool.
Heat the oven to 190°C (fan 170°C, gas 5). Mix the spinach, onions, feta (200 g), ricotta (150 g), eggs (2 eggs), dill (15 g), parsley (a little) and nutmeg (pinch). Season with pepper (the feta is salty).
Brush a baking dish about 30 × 20 cm with melted butter (75 g). Lay in a sheet of filo (275 g), letting it overhang the sides, brush with butter and repeat with 4 more sheets, turning each a little. Keep the rest covered with a damp tea towel so it does not dry out.
Spread the filling evenly in the dish. Fold the overhanging pastry over the top, then crumple the remaining sheets loosely on top, brushing each with butter.
Score the top into 6 or 12 portions with a sharp knife (do not cut right through), sprinkle with a few drops of water and bake for 40–45 minutes, until deep golden and crisp. Rest for 10 minutes before cutting.
Tip: tap a step to tick it off as you cook.
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See also
Chef’s notes
- Squeeze the spinach really dry: wet spinach makes a soggy base.
- Scoring the top before baking stops the crisp filo shattering when you cut it.
- For small triangles (spanakopitakia), cut the filo into strips, put a spoonful of filling at one end and fold into triangles. Bake for 20 minutes.
How this recipe was developed
We compared the two most-rated spanakopita recipes on Allrecipes with Angela Nilsen’s lighter spanakopita on BBC Good Food.
- Feta and ricotta. Allrecipes’ Spanakopita (4.6/5 from 892 ratings) uses feta with ricotta; we keep both for a creamy but salty filling.
- Dill and spring onion. Angela Nilsen (BBC Good Food, 4.95/5 from 21 ratings) adds dill, spring onions, nutmeg and chives; we kept the dill, spring onions and nutmeg.
- Squeeze the spinach. Allrecipes’ Greek Spanakopita (4.8/5 from 349 ratings) uses thawed frozen spinach squeezed dry; we give both fresh and frozen.
- Crumpled filo top. We crumple the top sheets for extra crunch and score them before baking so the pie cuts cleanly.
Sources we compared (ratings as shown on each site on 1 November 2026):
- Allrecipes (SILVERWOLF): Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie) (4.6/5, 892 ratings)
- Allrecipes (MARY KESSLER): Greek Spanakopita (4.8/5, 349 ratings)
- BBC Good Food (Angela Nilsen): Lighter spanakopita (4.95/5, 21 ratings)
This is an original Cookeryonline recipe written in our own words. Ingredient choices and techniques are credited above; no source text has been copied.