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Spanakopita

A Greek spinach and cheese pie made with phyllo pastry, spinach, feta, cottage cheese, and herbs, baked until golden.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Spanakopita

Serves 8
Oven180°C (350°F)
Time45 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the spinach

  1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).

  2. Wash the spinach. Remove large stems from spinach and chop it.

  3. Place spinach in a steamer over boiling water and steam for 2 minutes, or until wilted and reduced in volume.

  4. Drain spinach, pressing out any liquid with the back of a spoon.

Make the filling

  1. Heat the oil in a large skillet.

  2. Add onion and cook over medium heat until slightly tender.

  3. Add scallions and cook until limp.

  4. Remove skillet from heat.

  5. Stir in parsley, dill, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.

  6. Add the cheeses, spinach, and lemon juice to the skillet and mix.

  7. Add eggs and mix again gently.

Layer and bake

  1. Brush a 9x12-inch baking dish with some clarified butter.

  2. Lay a sheet of phyllo dough across the bottom of the dish, covering the entire surface and letting the edges fold upward against the sides.

  3. Brush the phyllo sheet with butter. Place another sheet of phyllo on top.

  4. Continue layering the phyllo, brushing each sheet, until the bottom of the dish is covered with about 8 sheets.

  5. Place half of the spinach filling on top of the phyllo, smoothing out with a rubber spatula until evenly distributed.

  6. Cover the filling with 5–8 phyllo sheets, brushing each layer with butter.

  7. Place remaining spinach filling on top and smooth as above.

  8. Cover with 5–8 phyllo sheets, brushing with butter as above.

  9. Roll up all overhanging phyllo sheets and crumble any broken sheet bits on top.

  10. Drizzle any remaining clarified butter over top.

  11. Place the spanakopita in the oven on a medium rack.

  12. Bake for 45 minutes, or until puffed and golden.

  13. Let sit for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

706Calories
38 gProtein
52 gFat
24 gCarbs

Counts 14 of 15 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 14 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Feta Cheese1 oz (28g) cheddar113
Parmesan Cheese1 oz (28g)110
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Cottage Cheese1/2 cup (113g) 2%98
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Spinach1 cup raw (30g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Dill5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried4
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Pastrynot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Parsley + dilltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together669 recipes

    Shared aroma: p-mentha-1,3,8-triene (camphor, herbal).

  3. Dill + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together976 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Spinach + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together603 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Fresh or frozen spinach
Forms the bulk of the filling and provides moisture that must be pressed out first.
Eggs
Bind the filling and set during baking, holding it together when sliced.
Feta cheese
Adds salty, tangy flavor and creamy richness to the filling.
Cottage cheese
Adds moisture and soft creaminess, helping the filling stay tender.
Phyllo pastry
Forms crisp, flaky layers that brown when brushed with butter.
Clarified butter
Adds richness and helps the phyllo layers crisp and brown.

The step that matters

Pressing out the spinach liquid. Excess water left in the cooked spinach dilutes the filling and can make the phyllo soggy, so the spinach should be thoroughly drained and pressed before mixing.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (spinach, olive, parsley, dill, nutmeg, lemon, feta cheese):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Eggplantfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against spinach, olive, parsley, dill, nutmeg, lemon, feta cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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