~210 cal · 6g protein · 2g carbs · 20g fat (estimated, per serving)
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Golden coiled phyllo pastry with cheese filling
🇧🇬 Sofia
Banitsa is Bulgaria’s morning staple and New Year’s Eve tradition — bakers hide lucky charms and paper fortunes in the coil, and everyone reads their year in the slice they pull. The sour sirene cheese and yogurt in the batter are what make it Bulgarian.
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Make it yours
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
Ingredients
Serves 6 —
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1 lb phyllo pastry sheets
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2.5 cups sirene or feta, crumbled
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4 eggs
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1 cup plain yogurt
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1/2 cup butter, melted (or oil)
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1/2 tsp baking soda
Instructions
1
Whisk the eggs (or chickpea batter), yogurt, baking soda, and crumbled cheese into a loose filling.
2
Lay one phyllo sheet, brush with butter, spoon a line of filling along one edge, and roll into a loose rope.
3
Coil the first rope in the center of a round buttered pan; continue with each sheet, coiling outward into a spiral.
4
Brush the top with butter and a splash of the yogurt.
5
Bake at 375°F for 40 minutes until deep gold and crisp. Cool slightly; tear into coils. Hide a charm for luck if it’s New Year.
Sofia New-Year tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers — know your destination
📍
Sofia. Where flaky banitsa hides a fortune for the new year.
🗺️
Bulgaria. Yogurt’s ancestral home, and pastry country besides.
🌍
Europe. Village recipes guarded for generations.
The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.
👩🍳
Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker
Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →
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