Spanakopita.

Name: Spanakopita (Greek Spinach and Feta Filo Pie)
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h 50 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: Greece
Ingredients: 1 kg fresh spinach, thick stalks removed, washed; 6 spring onions, thinly sliced including the green; 1 onion, finely chopped; 3 tbsp olive oil, for the filling; 350 g Greek feta, crumbled by hand; 30 g fresh dill, finely chopped; 15 g flat-leaf parsley, chopped; 2 eggs, beaten; ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper; to taste salt, only after tasting the feta; 450 g filo pastry, thawed; 150 ml olive oil, for brushing the sheets; 2 tsp sesame seeds, for the top

Greek Spinach and Feta Filo Pie

Σπανακόπιτα · Spanakopita · say it: spah-nah-KOH-pee-tah

Spanakopita is a spinach pie built in a tray: a bed of filo brushed with olive oil, a thick layer of wilted spinach mixed with crumbled feta, dill and spring onion, then more filo on top, scored and baked until the surface blisters into brittle golden shards. The filling is savoury and sharp rather than creamy — feta does the seasoning, dill does the perfume, and there is no cheese sauce anywhere near it. Cut into squares it is picnic food, lunchbox food and bakery-window food all at once, eaten warm or at room temperature but almost never hot from the oven. The single technique that decides everything is squeezing the spinach dry, and it is not optional.

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Greek Spinach and Feta Filo Pie

Gate: Greece
Prep: 40 min
Cook: 50 min
Total time: 1 hr 50 min incl. 20 min rest
Serves: 8
Status: Medium
Nutrition / serving · estimated: Calories 420 kcal; Protein 14 g; Carbs 31 g; Fat 27 g; Fiber 4 g; Sodium 780 mg

Why this recipe works.

The spinach is salted and wrung out properly, which is the difference between a crisp pie and a soggy grey one.
Feta seasons the filling, so there is almost no added salt to overshoot — you taste before the eggs go in.
Olive oil rather than butter between the sheets, as in Greek home baking, giving a lighter and more brittle crust.
The top is scored before baking so the finished pie cuts into clean squares instead of shattering everywhere.

Tips from our kitchen.

Squeeze the wilted spinach in a clean tea towel until no more water comes out, then squeeze again. Nearly every failed spanakopita is a wet-filling problem.
Keep the filo you are not using under a barely damp tea towel. Uncovered sheets go leathery and start cracking within a couple of minutes.
A torn sheet is not a disaster. Lay it in place, patch it with the next one, and no one will find the seam once it is baked.
Brush oil in dabs rather than sweeping strokes — a loaded brush dragged across thin filo tears it, while a stippling motion barely moves the sheet.
Score only through the top layers before baking, not down into the filling, or juices bubble up and soften the crust.
Let the pie sit at least 20 minutes out of the oven. Cut straight away and the filling slumps out of every square.

Substitutions.

Fresh spinach → 600 g frozen leaf spinach, thawed and wrung out very hard: Frozen works genuinely well here and saves a lot of washing. Use leaf spinach rather than chopped, which turns to purée, and expect to squeeze out a startling amount of water.
Feta → A mix of feta and ricotta, or crumbled goat cheese: Adding ricotta softens the tang for people who find feta too salty. Straight ricotta alone makes the filling bland — keep at least half feta.
Filo pastry → Puff pastry, top and bottom: Not traditional and not the same pie — puff is richer and does not shatter the same way — but it is a reliable fallback if filo is unavailable. Roll it thin and bake a little longer.

Variations.

Hortopita: The older village pie made with wild greens — dandelion, nettle, sorrel, wild fennel — instead of spinach. Bitterer, more aromatic, and worth making if you can forage or find a mixed greens bunch at a market.
Nistisimi spanakopita: The fasting version: no feta and no egg, bound instead with a handful of rice or fine bulgur and carried by olive oil, dill and spring onion. Naturally vegan and genuinely traditional.
Strifti spanakopita: Filling rolled into long filo ropes, then coiled into a spiral in a round tin so every slice has both crust and filling running through it.

Storage & reheating.

Spanakopita keeps 3 days in the fridge, covered loosely so steam can escape; airtight containers turn the crust limp overnight. Reheat squares in a 180°C oven or an air fryer for 8–10 minutes to bring the filo back — a microwave makes it soft and sad. Unbaked pie freezes very well: assemble in the tray, score the top, freeze solid, then bake from frozen at 180°C for about 60 minutes. Baked and frozen slices reheat acceptably but never regain full crispness.

Serve with

A wedge of lemon, plain thick yogurt, and a tomato salad — or nothing at all, wrapped in paper and eaten in the street.

The story behind Spanakopita.

Greece is a country of pies. In Epirus, the mountainous northwest, pie-making is close to a regional identity: households there roll their own filo by hand with a long thin dowel called a plastis, and the repertoire runs to dozens of fillings — wild greens, leeks, pumpkin, cheese, cornmeal, whatever the hillside and the pantry offered. Spanakopita is the most travelled member of that family, but it belongs to a much wider tradition of feeding people cheaply and well by wrapping something green in something starchy.

The greens themselves matter more than the spinach implies. Rural Greek pies were, and often still are, made with horta — foraged wild greens gathered in spring, from dandelion and nettle to sorrel and wild fennel — which are bitterer, more mineral and more interesting than cultivated spinach. Cultivated spinach became the default because it is available year-round and predictable, and the dill and spring onion in the modern filling partly compensate for the wild aromatics that were lost. Cooks who can get a handful of chard or nettles into the mix will taste immediately why the older version had a following.

The pie also has a calendar. Because a version can be made entirely without dairy or eggs, it slots neatly into the long Orthodox fasting periods when animal products are off the table — those pies rely on olive oil, rice or bulgur and a heavy hand with herbs. The rest of the year, feta returns and the pie becomes what most people know. In bakeries it is sold by weight, in squares or as coiled strudels, wrapped in paper and handed over still warm; on Greek tables at home it is more likely to appear as a whole tray in the middle, cut in front of everyone, with the corners fought over because that is where the filo is crispest.

Questions, answered.

Why did my spanakopita turn out soggy?

Almost always because the spinach was not squeezed dry enough. Spinach is over 90 percent water, and any moisture left in the filling steams into the pastry from underneath during baking. Wilt it, cool it, then wring it hard in a tea towel until it stops dripping. A second cause is brushing on too much oil, which pools at the base of the tray.

Can I use frozen spinach for spanakopita?

Yes, and many Greek home cooks do. Use frozen leaf spinach rather than chopped, thaw it completely, then squeeze out the water in batches — you will typically remove several hundred millilitres. Because it is already blanched, you skip the wilting step and go straight to mixing with the cheese and herbs.

How do I stop filo pastry from cracking?

Thaw it slowly in the fridge overnight rather than on the counter, and keep the stack covered with baking paper and a barely damp tea towel while you work, uncovering one sheet at a time. Cracks and tears in the inner layers do not matter at all — layer over them and they disappear during baking.

Is spanakopita served hot or cold?

Warm or at room temperature, rarely piping hot. Straight from the oven the filling is loose and the squares fall apart; after 20 to 30 minutes the pie sets and the flavours of dill and feta come forward. Greeks happily eat it cold the next day, which is why it is standard picnic and travel food.

Can I make spanakopita ahead of time?

Yes. Assemble the whole pie, score the top, cover and refrigerate for up to a day, then bake as normal. It also freezes unbaked for up to 3 months — bake from frozen, adding about 15 minutes. What does not work well is preparing the filling days ahead, since it slowly weeps liquid in the fridge and needs draining again.

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