This flaky pastry stuffed with creamy spinach goodness is golden savory perfection!
I happen to love spinach as you might be able to tell from my other Spinach recipes on my site. And the spinach and cheese combination in a pastry is no-brainer really! I mean…there are a lot of places with a version of this dish (although mostly using phyllo pastry)– In Albania, it’s called Byrek; in Kosovo it’s Burek; in Turkey it’s Borek or Bourek; in Greece, it’s Spanikopita.But I have also eaten savory spinach stuffed pastries in various cafe’s and coffee shops that use puff pastry too, which I have loved. So I thought why not try making them myself at home…and Voilà!
The wonderful part about making them at home (unlike when I’ve had them at cafe’s) was getting to eat them fresh out the oven when the puff pastry is at its flakiest and lightest. And seeing just how simple it was to make the filling of and these using pre made puff pastry, I know I’ll be making them again and again!
What’s even more appealing about this recipe is that using puff pastry and the filling (which you can make ahead of time) you can shape or cut these anyway and size you like…making them easy to prepare as a bite-sized appetizer, a mid day snack or as lunch!
So what are you waiting for?….go make these now!
- 4 sheets of Puff Pastry (thawed according to instructions on the packet)
- 2 1/2 cups Frozen Spinach
- 1/2 Onion, finely diced
- 1-2 cloves of Garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 cup Ricotta
- 1 cup Feta, crumbled
- Salt and pepper, according to taste
- 1 Egg + 1/2 tbsp water for an egg wash.
- Sesame seeds for sprinkling
- - Start by finely dicing half an onion and mincing 1-2 cloves of garlic.
- - Heat some olive oil in a pan on medium heat and sauté the diced onion until it turns soft and translucent. Then add the minced garlic and sauté for another minute or so.
- - Add the frozen spinach in the pan, mix it with the onion and garlic. Cover the pan and let the spinach thaw and heat through for 4-5 minutes. Take the lid off and sauté the spinach till there's no more liquid in the pan. Turn off the heat and set the spinach aside to cool.
- - While the spinach mixture is cooling, season the ricotta cheese generously with salt and pepper in a large bowl.
- - Add the cooked spinach mixture to the ricotta mix it all well. Also mix in the feta cheese to the spinach and ricotta.
- - Make an egg wash by whisking one egg and a little water together and set it aside for later.
- - Pre-heat your oven to 425F.
- - To assemble the spinach rolls. I cut the puff pastry sheets into three strips (they came folded that way, so I worked with it) and gently rolled them to widen them slightly.
- - Spoon the spinach mixture in the middle of the pastry dough leaving about 1/2 - 3/4 inch on all sides. Place another sheet on top of the spinach mixture and using your fingers press down and seal the edges around the spinach, removing big air bubbles. Then using a fork crimp the edges to seal it further and also...it just looks prettier.
- - Brush the top of the pastry with egg wash and lightly sprinkle the top with sesame seeds. Slash the rolls with a sharp knife to allow steam to escape while baking and cut the rolls however long you'd like them.
- - Bake the spinach puff pastry rolls at 425F for 18-22 minutes until they are golden and puffy!
- I simply cut each strip of puff pastry in halves making 12 {6" long} rolls out of 4 full sheets. You can easily cut them much smaller to make more for a crowd or shape them anyway you like. Halve the recipe for the filling to make less.
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These are gorgeous! I love spanakopita, but let’s be honest – puff pastry is about a gazillion times more delicious that filo. So great!
Thanks Joanne! And Yes I do have to agree that puff pastry is way better…what’s not to love about buttery flaky pastry, right? 🙂
I just made these and they are amazing!! I added a bit of shredded gruyere and topped it with Everything but the Bagel seasoning.
I am not a fan of spinach, but when I saw this I think that, maybe there’s no harm in trying. This looks beautiful and delicious, plus I believed it is healthy since spinach is full of vitamins, antioxidants and minerals. Spinach has an extremely high nutritional value and is rich in antioxidants. It is a good source of vitamins A, B2, C and K, and also contains magnesium, manganese, folate, iron, calcium and potassium. See, maybe I should give a try. Will just partnered it with some mixed drinks of my favorite cocktail bar in hong kong :p
This is such a great website. You make it so easy to follow along with the recipes and I keep coming back for more. I can’t wait to try this out 🙂
Hi, tried this today and they came out so good! I couldnot believe myself that I made these. Thank you so much for sharing your passion. The step-by-step pictures are the best thing with the recipe. Makes life easy!
Just came out of the oven. They’re beautiful! Can’t wait to sink my teeth into them. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
My son insisted I make these and I was not sure how they would turn out. It’s important to slash the pastry otherwise the flaky pastry won’t cook through. I cooked them on a lower heat for longer as I’ve been having problems with burning on the bottom of the pastry. They were delicious! Just had a slice warmed up from last night and still as delicious! Will make these again.
Can these yummies be frozen uncooked and if so how to do so. Will cooking time be longer.
Yvonne, I have never actually frozen these before but I can’t see why not. It may take a little longer to cook (not sure how much exactly), but it’s fairly easy to keep an eye on them to see when they turn golden brown.
Hi, I’m curious if you actually froze these in the end and if so how were they, any special instructions if you did? Thanks 🙂
OH. MY. SWEET. GOODNESS. The crispness! The fluffiness! Thank you much for sharing this recipe. I think the amount of spinach I am eating I might just become Pop-eye.
PS: I poured in a can of plain O’ sweetcorn to the spinachy perfection and oh I am just drooling thinking about give it try if you want Lass
Made this recipe for dinner and we all licked our fingers!
I ended up throwing them away =(
i dont know what went wrong
You didn’t mention that we had to defreze the spinach.. my spinach tasted like a freezer. Also, the bottom part was a bit burned.
Sorry You missed that part and they didn’t turn out good for you, however in the recipe I very clearly (in the pictures too) not just thaw, but cook the frozen spinach and then cool it before stuffing the pastry. You might want to re-read the whole recipe.
Can these be frozen and reheated?
Can you use fresh spinach
What is the shelf life on one of these pastry rolls completely finished? And how would you store it?
I love how easy and straight forward this recipe is! I don’t usually read people’s blogs but this one drew me in and made me wanna check your other recipes out 🙂
Can u use fresh spinach?
Also can we omit the egg part and other substitute for it?
Yes you can use fresh spinach! Brush the pastry with some butter or oil if you don’t want to use egg. It will help brown the pastry.
this is so so good! and so easy with the puff pastry, I am definitely giving this a try.
These were very good… the kids didn’t believe me that I made them, thought I bought them. The touch of sesame seeds give the appearance of a pro. Followed the recipe exactly as is, just made them smaller pies, about 3″ squares, which made a nice big batch and allowed me to freeze some. To re-heat the frozen pies, we just popped them in the toaster over for about 15 mins… perfect!
Johanna,
Did you bake them and then freeze leftovers, or freeze the unbaked pastries? I am thinking of making this and want to know if I can freeze them and bake them later this week. Thanks in advance!
Yep I wanna know the answer to these questions too before making them. And how long can i freeze them uncooked. It’s only me and my son gonna consume it so I’m sure we cannot eat all of it at once ?
To earlier comments, I reread the recipe above a few times and the instructions suggest placing the frozen spinach into the pan with the cooking onions to thaw and then cool and add to the cheese. Can you please clarify, do we add frozen spinach to the pan or thaw the spinach then cook with the onions? Thanks. And what is best, to make then freeze or bake then freeze once cooled. Thanks.
The way I am reading it (step 3) is is to add the frozen spinach to the pan and cover (this would allow the heat from the pan to thaw the spinach). Then, removing the lid and sauteeing the spinach “until there is no liquid left” would allow any extra water from the thawing to be removed.
At the top it says “gluten free”, but that can’t be true, can it?
Where did you see Gluten Free?? This recipe is NOT Gluten Free, nor have I said it was. Puff Pastry is made of Flour and butter.
Great recipe and easy to follow. Thank for the step-by-step photos!
Thank you jusf yummy very easy and to what size you want to make them.
I am making this for a party on the 25/05/19. Can I make them smaller and freeze them till that date. Do I bake them frozen. I will also sprinkle some Parmesan cheese on it when baking
Could you give another measurement please for the puff pastry sheets- either weight or centimeters- as it’s not sold in sheets where I live. Thanks
Thank you for this recipe. Your final product looks amazing. I’m making these tomorrow for a party but based on your photos it looks like you baked these on parchment paper. I don’t have parchment paper and won’t have time to get some tomorrow. I’ll be baking these in a non-stick baking pan. Would you suggest that I bake them in the non-stick baking pan as is, grease the pan, grease and flour? I will greatly appreciate your help. I’ve never baked puff pastry before and not sure which of these options would be best in order to get the best results for the puff pastry (especially the bottom).
Thank you.
can I decrease the ricotta to spinach ratio