I found myself with a lot of leftover phyllo pastry from a previous recipe. So, what did I do with it you ask? I made my own version of a spanakopita! This Sautéed Veggie Spanakopita with Feta, will be one of my new go to side dishes now! I highlighted feta in this recipe title, but I’ve secretly added some other delicious cheeses to go along with it! Once you add the herbs and seasonings, this pastry explodes with flavor! Bring this dish to your next potluck, or make it along side a meal at home. You will be glad you did!
Must Knows for Ingredient List:
- Phyllo Pastry– I, yes me, used a pre-made phyllo pastry for this recipe. Sometimes there isn’t enough time in my day to make everything from scratch. If, you are blessed with the time, I know this recipe would taste amazing with a homemade dough. I am just here to say that pre-made will work just as well! 🙂 If, you are new to using phyllo pastry, I have linked a helpful tutorial here, that will give you some tips when working with it!
- Cheeses- For this recipe, I used cottage cheese, fresh feta cheese, mozzarella, and traditional Scottish aged cheddar. These all blended nicely together and created a harmonious flavor with the veggies, and spices. If you wanted to use other specialty cheeses as a substitute, I don’t think it will change the baking outcome. It just might change the overall flavor depending on how strong the cheese is that is used as a replacement.
- Sautéed Veggies- The vegetables I used in this recipe are fresh spinach, fresh garlic, white onion. Minor changes to this ingredients will result in a similar result(ex: using a purple onion instead of a white). I would recommend here is to use fresh spinach and garlic, instead of frozen or pre-minced in a jar. This keeps glorious flavor with fresh ingredients!
Serving Sautéed Veggie Spanakopita with Feta–
Now that you have crafted your delicious spanakopita it is time to serve! Because this is labeled as an appetizer and a side dish, you can serve along various dishes when it comes to a potluck setting. For a homemade meal, I served this along with garlic shrimp, and steamed broccoli. It would be a wonderful addition to any standard meat or fish. Then if you add a salad, or steamed vegetable you will have a perfectly balanced meal! Enjoy!
Sautéed Veggie Spanakopita with Feta
A savory phyllo pastry with sautéed veggies, and so much cheesy goodness! Perfect side dish, or appetizer for a potluck or homemade family meal.
Equipment
- pastry brush
- sheet pan
- parchment paper (optional, but encouraged!)
Ingredients
- 10 sheets phyllo dough
- 4-5 large handfuls fresh Spinach
- 4 cloves fresh garlic minced
- 1 white onion chopped
- 1/2 cup cottage cheese
- 1/2 cup fresh feta crumbled
- 1/2 cup mozzarella grated
- 1/2 cup traditional Scottish aged cheddar grated
- 2 tsp garlic salt garlic powder+salt to taste works here as well
- 1 tsp basil dried
- 1 tsp dill dried
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp ranch seasoning
- salt+pepper to taste
- 1-2 tbsp avocado oil olive oil
- 1/2-1 cup butter melted
- parsley flakes for garnishing the top of your pastry
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º F.
- Place a skillet over medium heat. Add avocado oil(or olive oil), and allow pan to warm. Add onions and stir occasionally for 3-5 minutes. Then add handfuls of spinach and minced garlic.
- Next, add handfuls of spinach and minced garlic. Sauté until spinach has become soft, and onions begin to turn translucent. (*See Notes)
- Add salt, and pepper to taste. Then remove veggies from skillet to cool.
- In a medium sized bowl, add cottage cheese, fresh feta, mozzarella, aged cheddar, and seasonings(basil, dill, red pepper flakes, ranch seasoning, garlic salt, and pepper.).
- Next, add cooled sautéed veggies to the cheese mixture, and stir until all ingredients are well combined with one another.
Constructing Phyllo Pastry
- Grab your large sheet pan(lining with parchment is optional, but it makes for extremely easy clean up, and prevents sticking to your pan), prepped phyllo pastry(*see notes), and melted butter.
- Take your pasty brush, and brush a think payer of melted butter directly on to your parchment paper, or sheet pan where you will be laying the first layer of phyllo pastry.
- Pull one layer of phyllo pastry from your phyllo pile, and lay it directly on top of the sheet of parchment paper(or directly on top of the sheet pan) that you just brushed with butter. You will repeat this step for about ten times, or ten layers of phyllo dough. Brushing each layer with a thin spread of butter, before adding your next phyllo sheet.
- Once your layering is complete, you will then take your cheese and veggie mixture, and pour it down the center of the phyllo pastry, length wise.
- Taking scissors (or a pizza cutter), begin to cut one inch strips along the side of the phyllo dough from the outside, to where you meet the cheese mixture in the center of your dough. Do this on each side of your pastry, leaving the thickest strips at the ends of each side.
- For this step(I promise it is not as tricky as it may look).take each one inch strip, and pull it up towards the center of the pastry. As you pull it over to fold and lay on-top of pastry filling, you will turn it 180º, creating on twist in your strip. Begin at one end and work your way towards the other. As you twist and fold pastry over the veggie and cheese mixture, it will create a braided look.
- Once your braid is complete, take remaining melted butter, and brush it on top of the braid. Garnish with dried parsley flakes.
- Bake pastry for 30 minutes. Then turn your oven to broil(*see notes!) and allow 1-2 minutes on broil to create a golden brown color on top of your pastry.
- Serve warm, and enjoy!
Notes
- I prefer to keep my onions from turning translucent because I like the crunchier texture, as well as I think it preserves some of the nutrients of the vegetable, the less it is cooked. As soon as my spinach had gone soft and almost floppy, I remove my veggies from the skillet. Feel free to cook the onions through as much as you prefer!
- When I say “prepped phyllo”, I mean you have pulled it out of the package, its in an easily accessible spot next to your work space, and covered in a slightly damp tea towel. Refer to the link in the blog post above that will give you some pointers on working with phyllo pastry.
- When working with broil, DO NOT LEAVE YOUR OVEN! I have made this mistake way too many times. Every oven is different, so keeping an eye on your pastry as it broils will help you to find maximum success. Leaving oven unattended could result in your pastry turning black if its in too long(speaking from experience:). Setting a timer for one minute, and then continuing to do this pattern until the pastry as reached the perfect brown color to your liking, will help you to monitor this step!
Need another side dish recipe? I’ve got you covered!
Check out these Naan Bread Pizzas, or this Fresh Kale Summer Salad w/ Raspberry Balsamic Vinaigrette
I’ll definitely be trying this one next week! Love that you leave some crunch to your onions!
Yay! Let me know what you think! And thank you!
Yum! This spanakopita was so delicious! I loved all the flavors and the abundance of veggies!
Sounds like a delicious way to start a party. What a fun recipe to make. This is calling my name for sure.
so yummy! love adding veggies to it, will have to try this weekend.
This is so tasty and easy to make! It makes an impressive side to swerve to guests.
I love spanakopita, the feta really adds an extra punch of flavor! The look of the braided phyllo is so pretty.
This spanakopita recipe looks amazing. Saving this recipe for Thanksgiving this year!
Now this is my kind of food. Love spanakopita!
Spinach, pastry dough and cheese, is there anything better? Great recipe, we absolutely loved it and can’t wait to make it again.
Great version of spanakopita! The sauteed veggies are fantastic and so is the different cheeses! This is going to be my meatless Monday dinner next week.
Yum! This spanakopita was absolutely amazing and so full of flavor. This makes the perfect appetizer or snack between meals. Definitely one of my new faves!
Yum! I am loving this spanakopita! This was such a fun recipe to make!
This is so good!! My family enjoyed it! Can’t wait to make it again!
I have phyllo sheets in my fridge, unused. I will make this tomorrow for dinner. Looks delicious and I have all the ingredients. Yey, can’t wait 🙂