Spanokopita (Greek spinach pie) with Abbie

I've been asking for vegetarian recipes and family recipes, and the lovely Abbie (who is writing about music at Music for my Generation) came through with this fantastic comfort food, passed down from her Greek relations.


Spanokopita is a filo pastry pie, filled with spinach and cheese (unfortunately it's not vegan). It's delicious, very filling and can be made in a huge batch then frozen for later, it can be eaten as a meal all by itself or cut into bitesize pieces for a meze platter or buffet.

To make it you will need;
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 kilo spinach (we used frozen)
1 teaspoon each basil and oregano - these can be dried or fresh
2 eggs (the recipe will work without these if you add more ricotta)
125g ricotta cheese
250g crumbled feta cheese
- it's not in the traditional recipe, but we also added some cheddar
8 sheets filo pastry
olive oil

Lightly oil a 23cm square baking tin

Fry the onion and garlic in a little olive oil until they are soft.

Add in the spinach and cook until it has all wilted. Remove from the heat and allow it to cool.


In a bowl, mix together the eggs, ricotta and feta. Add in the basil and oregano.

It'll look a lot like egg mayo at this point.

Line the bottom of the baking tin with a sheet of filo, and brush it with a little oil. repeat this with the next three sheets. They'll be big enough to overhang the pan, but don't trim them, they're there to keep the filling in.


You can mix the cheese mixture and the spinach together, but we layered them. Spread out about half of the spinach in the pan, layer the cheese mixture on top, and then add the last of the spinach. We then added some more grated cheddar on top of that.

Lay another sheet of filo on top and brush with oil. Tuck the overhanging pastry in to keep the filling in. Repeat with the remaining filo sheets. Top with a little more cheese.


Bake the whole lot for 30-40 minutes until the pastry is golden brown, and serve.


It takes about an hour to put this all together and cook it, but a batch will freeze beautifully, and you can grab a slice and simply microwave it in 2-3 minutes. Because you only need a little piece, each batch will last for ages too.