Greek Spanakopita or Spinach Pie is one of the most delicious and healthy pies. And although nothing beats a pie made with homemade phyllo (whether it's a Spanakopita or a Chicken Pie like this one) sometimes you need all that well-loved flavor without having to roll open a crust or having to "play" with phyllo.
This Crustless Spinach Pie tastes just like Spanakopita, but without the crispiness of the phyllo. Soft and tender, made with raw fresh spinach, spring onions, dill, parsley, all finely chopped. The filling is sandwiched between a cake-like cheesy top and bottom. Which is made with Greek yogurt, eggs, flour, olive oil, and Feta cheese.
How To Make A Crustless Spinach Pie
It's one of the quickest and easiest pies you can make. All you have to do is whisk the ingredients for the batter in a mixing bowl and pour half of that runny mixture to cover the bottom of the pan. Then add the remaining half, over the filling. As for the filling, you don't have to cook anything, just finely chop the spinach, spring onions, and fresh herbs, and mix together.
Spinach, Fresh Or Frozen?
It's better to skip frozen spinach in this recipe. Since the filling is not cooked and also, there isn't a crust. Fresh spinach makes this pie light and airy. But if you don't want to go into all the trouble of cleaning whole fresh spinach, you can use baby spinach leaves instead.
Pan Size & Portions
This recipe yields a round 28 cm / 11-inch pan of Spanakopita. But since it's a flattened pie (don't try and use a smaller pan to make it taller, as it won't cook properly) it's to feed 2-3 people tops if you're planning to serve it as a main meal. If you are cooking for a family of four, then you can double the recipe and use your oven's tray pan to bake it in.
Turn This Pie Into GF, Low Carb...
By substituting the 150 grams of all-purpose with 120 grams of corn flour.
Recipe
Crustless Spinach Pie With Feta Cheese
Ingredients
For The Batter:
- 200 grams / 7 oz Greek yogurt
- 2 eggs
- 125 ml water
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 150 grams / 5.3 oz all-purpose flour
- 100 grams / 3.5 oz Feta cheese coarsely crumbled
- 2 tablespoons Gruyere or Kefalotyri cheese grated
For The Filling:
- 250 grams / 8.8 oz fresh spinach
- 2 small spring onions
- 1 tablespoon dill chopped
- 1 tablespoon parsley chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 50 grams / 1.7 oz Feta cheese coarsely crumbled
Instructions
For The Batter:
- In a mixing bowl stir the Greek yogurt with a whisk until it's smooth and creamy. Whisk in the eggs, then the water and the olive oil. Add the salt and stir in the flour in bits at a time until a smooth runny batter forms. Stir in the crumbled feta cheese as well.
For The Filling:
- Remove the stems of the spinach and give the spinach a good rinse. Let it drain completely in a strainer. Then finely chop and add to a mixing bowl. Mince the spring onions, their green parts as well and add to the bowl along with the parsley and dill. Add the 2 tablespoons of olive oil and season with a pinch of salt (not too much because feta is salty enough) and pepper. Mix everything well.
Put Together:
- Preheat oven to 190°C / 374°F.
- Grease a round 28 cm / 11-inch pan with olive oil. Add half of the batter and spread it evenly to cover the bottom of the pan. Then add the filling evenly on top. Toss the crumbled feta on top of the spinach (the one that's for the filling). Then add 3 tablespoons of water into the remaining batter and give it a stir in order to make it a bit runnier, and spread spoonfuls of it on top of the spinach and feta filling. It doesn't matter if it doesn't cover the spinach completely. Sprinkle the grated Gruyere or Kefalotyri cheese all over on top along with a drizzle of olive oil.
- Bake for about 1 hour and 10 minutes, until it gets deep golden on top.
Nutrition
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Great recipe. I actually just used dill, parsley and spring onions (scallions) for the grren filling and it still tasted like the spanakhopita i bought at the foot of the Acropolis! Quick Q about the gluten free tip. Did you mean use cornmeal/polenta when you said corn flour? Or did you actually mean the cornflour thickener used in sauces (i think it's a different food words in different places issue)? Thanks again. Super delicious!
Thank you Hayley. Corn flour is finer in texture than cornmeal and polenta. It's flour made out of corn with a yellowish color. The thickener I refer to as cornstarch. Although there is usually a misunderstanding between these two. There are two different things under the same word "flour". This time it's the actual flour.
I am a new member. Your recipes are amazing. Making them is helpful during LOCKDOWN! Thank you.
I saw a recipe for stuffed peppers, Yemites. Or something (forgive my memory). I can no longer find it, perhaps you could let me have this please.
The meatballs were sensational!
Take care.
Kindest regards.
Maggie Whitaker
Hi Margaret, it's so nice to know you enjoy the recipes and that they help during this terrible time we go through (which will hopefully pass soon). I have two recipes for stuffed peppers. The one is roasted red peppers that are stuffed with feta cheese and the other one is Yemista (stuffed peppers + other vegetables with rice). You can check those two links or use the search bar and type whatever you're looking for. It's okay if you don't type the exact name or recipe title. You can search for peppers for example and they will show up.
Hello Fotini: do you have good recipe for phyllo dough please
Hi Maria, you can find a recipe for phyllo dough here: Authentic Spanakopita Recipe I've also included some step by step picture instructions to make it easier.
Yiasou Fotini,
Tonight we are having Fasolakia, and no doubt my husband will insist on some sort of meat the next few days.
However, I am really keen to try out this crustless Spanakopita in the very near future. (I love Spanakopita but am a bit nervous about the phyllo pastry part,
So thank you for this recipe.
You're welcome Jette. I think you're going to like it, it's as delicious as a Spanakopita. And as for the phyllo, there is no need to be nervous about it. As long as you keep it covered with a tea towel so it doesn't air-dry. Though it does take more time and effort to make a pie with it.