Greek Spinach and Cheese Pie (Spanakotyropita)

Ask most Greeks what pie they actually make at home and spanakotyropita, not the purely spinach spanakopita most people outside Greece picture, is often the honest answer, since a generous amount of cheese folded through the spinach makes the filling richer and more forgiving of imperfectly drained greens.

It sits genuinely in between its two more famous relatives rather than simply being one dressed as the other, using proportionally more cheese than a plain spanakopita and considerably more spinach than a plain tyropita, giving a filling with real body and a rounder flavour than either alone.

The technique is otherwise identical to any Greek phyllo pie: drain the spinach thoroughly, cool the filling fully, and layer with real attention to keeping every sheet brushed with oil or butter.

Key preparation steps

1. Wilt and thoroughly drain a large quantity of spinach.
2. Mix with a generous amount of feta, egg and herbs.
3. Layer with phyllo, brushing every sheet.
4. Bake until deeply golden, then rest before slicing.

Draining the spinach properly

Wilt fresh spinach briefly in a dry pan, or thaw and squeeze frozen spinach, until it releases as much water as possible, since spinach carries a genuinely large amount and any left behind makes the filling wet and the pastry soggy. Squeeze in a clean tea towel, working in batches, until it feels properly dry rather than merely drained.

Balancing spinach and cheese

Mix the well-drained spinach with a generous amount of crumbled feta, roughly equal in volume to the spinach itself, along with beaten egg and chopped dill or spring onion. This higher cheese ratio compared with a plain spanakopita is what gives spanakotyropita its rounder, richer character.

Layering and baking

Layer half the phyllo sheets into an oiled tin, brushing each individually, spread the filling evenly, then top with the remaining sheets, again brushed throughout, and score before baking. Bake until deeply golden and firm, resting for at least fifteen minutes before cutting along the scored lines.

What matters in this dish