This took me two hours to prepare and bake! So make this recipe when you have some time on your hands. It’s delicious, especially if you eat it cold out of the refrigerator! The spinach and Feta mixture is to die for. I don’t normally eat Feta cheese, but it tastes just fine in this Spanakopita.
By the way, I’ve never had Spanakopita before, so I don’t know what it is supposed to be like (and don’t know how to pronounce it either). Most of the recipes I looked at called for Dill. It might be really good with dill, but I’ve never cooked with dill and figured I’d rather be on the safe side. But if you know you like dill, why not add it?
Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie) Recipe
Ingredients:
- 3 Tbsp. light olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 1 bunch green onions, chopped (include the white parts as well)
- about 1/2 c. chopped parsley
- 2 lbs. Triple Washed baby spinach leaves, roughly chopped (I only used 24 oz, but would have loved more in the Spanakopita if I had more to use)
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 C. Feta cheese
- 1/2 C. finely grated Parmesan cheese
- a pinch of Kosher salt
- about 1/2 C. extra-virgin olive oil (or you can just use Pam, but I haven’t tried using Pam in this recipe yet)
- 18 sheets thawed Phyllo dough (if it’s frozen, thaw overnight. Pull it out of the refrigerator before starting the spinach mixture so it can be at room temperature when you use it)
Instructions:
- Heat a large pan or pot to medium heat. Add the 3 Tbsp. light olive oil. Saute the garlic, yellow onions, green onions and parsley until onions are translucent.
- Roughly chop a handful of baby spinach and toss it in the pot. Stir and let cook a minute or two so it can wilt down. Add more and more spinach, waiting between each handful for the previous handful to be mostly wilted. Once you’ve got all the spinach wilted in the pot, remove from heat and drain/squeeze out any liquid. Once you get most of the water out, you can use a couple paper towels to blot out more of the moisture. Put the spinach/onion mixture back in the pot and set aside to cool.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine eggs, Feta cheese, Parmesan cheese and a pinch of Kosher salt. Stir this mixture into the pot with the spinach mixture. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Get out a glass 9×13 inch baking dish and brush with a little of the extra-virgin olive oil. Get a clean, damp dish cloth ready. Open the Phyllo sheets and place one sheet in the pan. Cover the rest with the damp cloth so they don’t dry out. Brush a little olive oil on the Phyllo sheet and repeat until you’ve used about 9 sheets.
- Spread the spinach/Feta mixture over the Phyllo sheets evenly in the pan. Fold over the sides of the Phyllo dough that are hanging over the edge of the pan.
- Continue layering and oiling the remaining 9 Phyllo dough sheets. Once you’ve brushed the last one with oil, use a sharp knife to score the top Phyllo layer into 16 rectangles, or however many pieces you plan to cut the pie into. Be careful not to cut into the bottom layer of Phyllo dough.
- Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool about an hour before eating. Personally though, I recommend letting it cool completely, refrigerating overnight, and eating it cold the next day. If you want to bring out the spinach flavor, microwave one of the pieces for 15-20 seconds.
I feel like there was a little too much Phyllo dough on top, and the top 2 or 3 sheets tasted a little burned, so we just took off like half the top layer of Phyllo sheets after baking and it was perfect!
*Inspired mostly by THIS recipe, but also by THIS recipe and THIS video.