This Greek Spinach Pie is a dinner recipe that my family absolutely loves! Watch the video showing you how to make this recipe, then scroll to the bottom of this post and print out the recipe so you can make it at home.
I’ve always, always been drawn to Greek food of every kind. I love lemon. I love spinach. Feta cheese is my favorite. Dill adds life to everything. And I adore lamb! So if you were taking me on a hot date and you took me to a Greek restaurant, I guess you could say I’d be pretty happy. (I’m married though… so that hot date would have to be with my hot husband).
Is this an authentic Greek Spinach Pie recipe?
No, this is not authentic! This Greek Spinach Pie recipe is a homemade version of the traditional Greek spanakopita with a couple of twists. This version utilizes three cheeses: feta, ricotta and jack. There is dill. There is sauteed onion. This pie makes a great dinner item (my family loves it so I’m going to call it family-friendly!) It’s especially awesome served with Greek Orzo and Chicken Soup!
How do you make Greek Spinach Pie?
My Greek Spinach Pie is made layered with phyllo, melted butter and the spinach- cheese filling. Before I bake it, I score the pastry with a knife so the baked squares will be easy to cut out of the pan for serving.
It bakes up so perfectly, and the scored square servings naturally kind of pull apart as it bakes.
The baked pie pieces are delicious! The filling is tender and cheesy and wonderful, and it’s layered with crispy, golden phyllo. It’s a neat twist on the classic Greek spinach pie (or spanakopita). I hope you like it as much as we do!
Here are a few more Greek-style recipes you might enjoy:
- Greek Spinach Triangles
- Greek Salad Sushi
- Pastitsio (Greek Lasagna)
- Greek Potatoes with Lemon Vinaigrette
- Cucumber Dill Greek Yogurt Salad
- Greek Style Cole Slaw
Greek Spinach Pie
Recipe Details
Ingredients
TOPPING:
- 6 sheets phyllo pastry (17x13-inches each), defrosted if frozen
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
FILLING:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 20 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
- 2 cups ricotta cheese
- 8 ounces crumbled feta cheese
- 8 ounces grated Monterey Jack cheese
- 2 large eggs
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 13x9x2-inch baking dish or spray with nonstick spray.
- In a medium skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat for about 1 minute. Add the onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, stir together onion, drained spinach, ricotta, feta, jack cheese, eggs, dill, parsley, salt and black pepper. Spread half of filling in baking dish. Cover with 2 pieces of the phyllo pastry (just tuck the edges in on the sides). Brush pastry lightly with melted butter. Top with one piece of phyllo. Tuck in any overhanging edges. Spread remaining filling over phyllo. Top with 2 more pieces of phyllo and brush lightly with butter. Top with remaining phyllo sheet and brush with butter. Use a sharp knife to mark 12 squares by cutting through the top layers of pastry.
- Bake until phyllo topping is golden and filling is bubbling gently, about 45 minutes. Use a sharp knife to cut through the marked squares. Serve warm.
Video
Notes
- *If covered tightly and refrigerated, this pie can be assembled early in the day and baked later. Cold pot pie will probably need to bake an additional 5 minutes.
If no jack cheese, what would you use instead or leave it out all together ?
I’d probably want to put “some” kind of cheese that melts in there… so any kind of white cheese that you can shred — that isn’t too strong flavored.
jack cheese? no. absolutely not.
I love Spinach pie, and go to several greek restaurants to get it.However the spinach pie is not always as good as I’d like . Some are pretty tasty, and pricey as well ,about 5 bucks a slice. I made this recipe tonight and got 9 big delicious slices . I only used 2 oz. of pepper jack cheese as I didn’t want it too spicy and that was what I had on hand along with the feta and ricotta and extra dill (yum) that’s what I was missing in my own recipe. It’s a bit time consuming but well worth the effort. I will be making this again and again! Thanks!!….Happy 2017 !
What is jack cheese? all I can find where I live is Colby/jack or Pepper Jack???????? Help quickly!!
Monterey Jack cheese…
OMG!….I think I’m in love….haven’t determined if it’s with you or the pie….But this pie is amazing. I, being a garlic junkie, needed to add a bit of fresh garlic and a touch of cinnamon and lemon juice, which I find usually brightens up most Mediterranean dishes, although I didn’t even notice the lemon in there. I also was thinking a bottom crust of filo would be nice, but would most likely be soggy w/o baking/crusting it up first. (too much trouble). Great recipe…keep up the good work.
P.S. Get my tabbouleh from a little Mediterranean store here in Grand Rapids, MI. and have been trying to replicate it for years, getting it in the hood, but not quite as good as theirs. Your recipe is even closer to where I got….Good stuff. Bright, fresh, and terribly delish. Good job. I’ll use your recipe from now on.
Thx.
It may be too late to ask a question, but here goes anyway. 🙂 I want to make sure I’m reading the recipe correctly. There is no phyllo on the bottom – just in the middle and on the top, right? thank you.
Yes, no phyllo on the bottom.
Oh! And if you have scallions chop about 4 into the filling too!
Hi!! From Greece!! You’re recipe is spot on with the exception of the Jack cheese 😉
we don’t get it here and not far a lack of searching believe me. I use olive oil to brush the phyllo. Butter is usually used when making sweets with phyllo (baklava). And alot more olive oil in the filling.
great to hear- thank you!
Hi, this looks delicious. I found your recipe on Pinterest while looking for recipes that use fresh spinach. I bought a huge bag of spinach to make soup and I’m now determined to find ways to use the rest of the bag. Do you think fresh spinach would work in this recipe? If so, how much and would I need to cook it first? Thank you!
Fresh spinach will yield a lot of moisture. I’m not sure it would work the same.
I found your recipe and gave a try. I liked all ingredients and it was so good. Delicious! Awesome!. Thanks for your great recipe. I served with a lamb patti-Larry
Can I used puff pastry instead of phylo?
No, it will not work— must use Phyllo!
You actually can use puff pastry, I bought the puff pastry instead of the phyllo sheets. Used one package made everything else the same but added some garlic to the onions. Baked for 1:15. I actually read this question after I had prepared everything and was worried. But it came out delicious.
can I make it a day before and then just bake it the next day?
I wouldn’t think so. The filo will not hold up well.
Lori, this looks so good!! I have to make this for Curtis soon!
Lori,
this looks delicious. I love all the ingredients.
Annamaria
This looks so so delicious!! Now I am craving this!
Love spanakopita and this one looks great, especially with the triple cheeses!
Greek food is one of my favorite too! The crust looks so yummy, crispy, and golden!
Thank you for the nice recipe.
YUUUMMM!! I love all the flavours going on here — this would be the perfect recipe to feed a crowd 🙂
My family is so picky about foods without meat. Can you suggest a tasty protein to add in?
Thank you!
You can serve this as a side dish, and then make some chicken as the main dish!
I so enjoy Greek foods! This recipe looks like it is what I enjoyed at our favorite Greek Restaurant. Thank you for sharing.
Sounds amazing! This has all my favorite flavors.
Ohhhhh I can’t wait to try this Lori!! Absolutely lovely!
Being Greek, I grew up with my grandfather’s leg of lamb, my aunt’s spanakopita — I was so lucky. Good Greek restaurants are few and far between, so I’m trying to make Greek food more often at home. Spanakopita is one of my favorites, and I loved how you made a pie out of without so many layers of phyllo. Delicious!
Greek food is my favorite international food. I worked for a year at the BEST Greek restaurant in Portland and ate Greek food daily. It was so awesome!
I LOVE spanakopita. It is one of my favorites and I sometimes make it. My youngest doesn’t like it so we don’t make it often.
This recipe looks great