Traditional Spanakopita Recipe

If you're a fan of Mediterranean cuisine, chances are you've already encountered the tasty Greek spinach and cheese pie known as spanakopita. Spanakopita might seem like a complicated dish to prepare, but the use of frozen phyllo dough takes a lot of the work out of it. In this recipe, the spanakopita, rather than being formed into squares or circles, is instead folded into little two-bite triangle shapes.

Recipe developer Miriam Hahn says she likes this spanakopita recipe because it makes "such a pretty appetizer," although she does admit that the folded dough triangles "are a little time consuming" to make. Nevertheless, she says the process is a pretty easy one. While the cheesy filling is central to spanakopita, and all the butter used to coat the dough adds flavor as well, Hahn does say that if you can find plant-based feta and butter substitutes that you like, you could easily veganize this dish. As she assures us, "The phyllo dough doesn't contain dairy." Of course, you could stick with dairy cheese and either way, this dish is vegetarian through and through.

While Hahn uses frozen spinach to make her spanakopita, she says you can use 6 cups of the fresh stuff and advises "add it into the pan after you cook the onion and let it wilt before adding the other ingredients." You'll also need the aforementioned phyllo dough, which you'll need to thaw — overnight in the fridge ought to do it, or else 3 hours at room temperature. Other ingredients include feta cheese, butter, oil (Hahn favors avocado, but says olive is fine), a red onion, garlic, parsley, dill, scallions, lemon zest, salt, and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 375 F, then plop that thawed spinach (you did remember to thaw it, didn't you?) in a colander to let it drain in the sink. As it drains, fry the onions in the oil for 5 minutes. Once the 5 minutes are up, squish the spinach against the sides of the colander (Hahn uses a wooden spoon), then add the drained green stuff to the onions in the pan. Toss in the garlic, parsley, dill, scallions, lemon zest and feta as well. Stir everything in and cook the mixture for 2 minutes.

Turn your attention to the thawed phyllo dough, first cutting it into five strips about 3 inches wide and 12 inches long (or as long as the sheets are when they come out of the box). Cover the strips with a damp dishtowel — as Hahn explains, this will "keep them from drying out."

Now take three of the strips (just a single layer) and brush them with butter, then top them each with another strip and brush those with butter, too. Put a tablespoonful of spinach filling at the bottom of each pile of strips, then fold until it's encased in a triangle. Continue folding the strip, keeping the triangle shape intact, until you've reached the top of the dough and the spinach is wrapped in multiple layers. As you finish each spanakopita, put it on a baking sheet and cover it with a damp towel. Keep buttering, filling, and folding the phyllo strips until you've used up all of the dough and/or filling (with luck, both will run out at the same time).

The oven should definitely be hot enough now, so put the spanakopita in and bake them for 20 to 25 minutes or until they look golden brown on top. If you like, you can garnish them with additional dill and/or scallions once they're done.

Hahn notes that these spanakopita can be prepared in advance. She says if you want to freeze them, do so before baking, then tack on an additional 10 minutes to the cooking time in lieu of thawing. She also says the spinach filling can be made up to five days in advance of stuffing the spanakopita.