Recipe
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🍽️ DINNER
Spanakopita
Spinach, herbs, and feta folded into shatteringly crisp phyllo, northern Greece’s classic greens pie.
Greek (Macedonian) · medium · serves 6
prep 30 min · cook 45 min
~525 cal · 25g protein · 50g carbs · 25g fat · 5g fiber · 2g sugars · 14g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Spanakopita belongs to Greece's vast family of pites, the savoury pies wrapped in paper-thin phyllo that appear all over the country, and northern Greece, with its deep tradition of gathering wild greens (horta), makes some of the best. At its heart it is spinach and other greens, feta, herbs, and egg baked between crisp golden layers of pastry.
Making it is a point of pride and patience. Village grandmothers still roll their own phyllo by hand into sheets thin enough to read through, a skill that takes years, though good shop-bought phyllo has made the pie a weeknight possibility for everyone else. The balance of the filling is argued over: how much dill against the spinach, how much feta, whether to add leeks or spring onions.
It is eaten every way, a hot slice for breakfast, a wedge from a bakery at midday, a coil cut from a big pan at a family table. Crisp, herby, and salty with feta, it is one of the truest tastes of everyday Greece.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
2 lbs spinach, chopped and wilted
2 cups feta, crumbled
6
1/2 cup fresh dill
1/4 cup parsley
3 eggs
1 lb phyllo pastry
1/2 cup olive oil (for brushing)
a scrape nutmeg
generous black pepper
Instructions
1
Squeeze the wilted spinach very dry.
✎ Chef’s note
Wring out every drop you can. Wet filling steams the pastry from within and leaves the bottom soggy instead of crisp.
2
Mix the spinach with the feta, scallions, herbs, eggs (or slurry), nutmeg, and pepper.
3
Brush a pan with oil and layer in half the phyllo sheets, oiling each one.
4
Spread the filling over, then top with the rest of the phyllo, oiling as you go.
✎ Chef’s note
Keep the phyllo you are not using under a damp cloth. It dries and cracks within a couple of minutes in the air.
5
Score the top layers into portions and brush with a last coat of oil.
6
Bake at 375F (190C) for 45 minutes, until deep gold and shatteringly crisp, then rest 10 minutes before cutting along the scores.
Northern Greek pita tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Macedonia (Thessaloniki). Greek Macedonia, centred on Thessaloniki, turns phyllo and wild greens into pites baked in every household. Its cooking carries refugee traditions from Asia Minor, giving northern Greece more chili, more peppers, and a bolder hand than the south.
🗺️
Greece. Foraged wild greens, horta, are a genuine part of the diet rather than a garnish: blanched, then dressed with olive oil and lemon, or folded into a pie. They matter most during nistia, the long Orthodox fasting stretches when meat, dairy and often fish are set aside and the everyday cooking becomes, in effect, vegan.
🌍
Europe. Europe has written a great deal of its food into law. A regulation of 1992 created the protected designation of origin and the protected geographical indication, tying a name to a place and a method, and an EU evaluation published in 2021 counted more than three thousand registered names across those schemes, from cheeses and hams down to particular shapes of bread.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Greece
Gemista (Stuffed Summer Vegetables)Tomatoes and peppers baked slowly around an herbed rice filling, with potatoes roasting in the juices.
MoussakaLayers of eggplant and cinnamon-scented lamb under a deep duvet of béchamel, baked bronze.
BougatsaCrisp phyllo pastry wrapped around a warm semolina custard, dusted with sugar and cinnamon.
Browse all Greece recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Store in an airtight container. Most keep 2 to 3 days at room temperature, and longer refrigerated.
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Spanakopita?
Spinach, herbs, and feta folded into shatteringly crisp phyllo, northern Greece’s classic greens pie.
Where does Spanakopita come from?
Spanakopita is a Greek (Macedonian) dish from Macedonia (Thessaloniki), Greece.
Can Spanakopita be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Spanakopita recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Spanakopita safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Spanakopita take to make?
About 75 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 45 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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