The Best Spanakopita Pie

4.86 from 7 votes

This is the best spanakopita pie recipe made with fresh spinach and feta sandwiched in buttery filo.

Servings:

20 ounces of fresh spinach prior to removing the stems
6 ounces feta cheese
½ cup greek yogurt optional
3 scallion green onions
3 springs of fresh dill 2 tablespoon fresh chopped dill or 2 teaspoon dried dill
2 garlic cloves
1 egg
¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese optional
6 tablespoon melted butter Kerrygold
16 ounces package of filo pastry sheets #4 ** see notes
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg optional
1 teaspoon black pepper
salt to taste

Cut the stems from the spinach leaves. Roughly chop the spinach. Wash the spinach 3 times to make sure all of the sand and dirt have been removed. Strain the spinach.
In a large nonstick pan on medium heat, add the roughly chopped spinach and cover with a lid. Once the spinach has wilted and the water has separated from the spinach (about 3 to 5 minutes), remove the spinach and drain.
Allow the spinach to cool. Finely chop the spinach. The spinach will be a lot smaller once it has cooked. This is completely normal.

Peel and finely mince the garlic. Chop the green onion and the dill.
Mix the greek yogurt, feta cheese, chopped spinach, chopped green onion, minced garlic, chopped dill, egg, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and salt. Set aside.

Unwrap the thawed filo sheets. Melt the butter in the microwave or on the stovetop.
Very delicately, handle the filo sheets one at a time. Layer a filo sheet on the pie dish. Using a brush spread the melted butter. Don't add too much butter to make the filo sheet soggy, just a thin layer.
Add another filo sheet slightly rotated (the filo sheets are not square so we need to rotate them so the filo will wrap evenly). Spread more butter. Continue to do this for about 7 to 10 filo sheets. If you want more filo crust, use 10 sheets total. If you want less filo crust, use 7 sheets total. The sheets will wrap up over the spinach and feta filling to create a top layer.
Add the spinach and feta filling.
Wrap the filo sheets on top of the spinach and feta filling one at a time. It's not necessary to add more butter at this step. On the last few sheets, sprinkle a little bit of parmesan (or alternatively, add the parmesan on the top at the end).
Cook the spanakopita pie for 20 to 25 minutes at 375 ℉ (190 ℃) using convection bake or at 400 ℉ (205 ℃) using regular bake.
Cut and enjoy!

For this recipe, I used The Filo Factory filo dough (#4). The sheets are 12" x 17" in size, and the package contains roughly 24 sheets. This recipe will not use all of the filo sheets (it will roughly use a little less than half the container).
Be very careful to not dry out filo pastry sheets. They dry out very easily and make it difficult to wrap or fold the pie. If using frozen filo dough, move the package from the freezer to the fridge the night before. Don't thaw at room temperature because it can dry out the filo sheets. Don't keep the filo dough in the fridge for longer than 2 days because it will dry out the dough. Lay a damp towel on top of the filo sheets to keep them from drying out at room temperature while assembling the pie. Handle the sheets delicately because they break easily.
I recommend using a pie dish (between 8" and 10" in diameter) for this spinach and feta pie.