Zacchary Bird
Zacchary Bird
The vegan butcher, the vegan baker and the vegan trouble maker.

SPANAKOPITA

GREEK SPINACH & FETA PIE

MADE DAIRY & EGG FREE

FOR VEGANS (OR LENT)

Spanakopita is a savoury shape-shifter.

I’ve been making it for a long time and over the years it’s taken form of big slab pies, slices with fancy phyllo crumples on top, folded into tiny individual triangles, rolled up as cigars, in massive spirals, or swirled up as the waves of green in the crinkled filo spanakopita pictured.

You’d be surprised at the vegan cooking tips you can get from the elderly Greeks of the extended family. When you’re someone who cooks for everyone you meet, you’re bound to have encountered a few dietary requirements along the way. After all, the Greeks are all about philoxenia - welcoming strangers as friends - so it’s a no brainer that my family already has tested and tried tricks for making this pie plant based.

This recipe’s filling uses a family favourite trick handed down from my great aunties - throwing in a handful of cooked rice to thicken the filling in lieu of eggs. Those aunties of my family have spent years in the trenches, bickering over what makes up the perfect filling for spanakopita – and it turns out they all do a pretty damn good job anyway. I offer this peace treaty of a recipe, with the best of all their ideas combined, then veganised. With three methods for pie building!

What’s inside?


A green abyss of spinach and feta that you’d love to fall into. The filling is traditionally made with spinach, feta, dill and eggs - but it’s often made vegan during the Greek fasting periods where animal products are avoided (uh, apart from fish which are considered a plant in Greece when it comes to fasting). But the beauty of this greens pie is that you can use whatever greens get you hot under the collar or are just lounging around your crisper and begging to be used up.



In addition to spinach, I like to use up leeks, kale, silverbeet, cauliflower greens, green beans and swiss chard to bulk out the greens portion of the filling. You should definitely still include spinach within the mix to qualify the ‘spanaki’ part of ‘spanakopita’. Either frozen or fresh spinach is fine but the key is to remove all the moisture from the greens before adding them. That means salting and squeezing fresh spinach, vigorously draining defrosted frozen spinach or pre-cooking leeks, kale, silverbeet, cauliflower greens, green beans or swiss chard. Skip this step and you’ll find all that moisture will release while the pie bakes and ruin your chance of crispy phyllo or a set filling.



On dill: a proper bunch of dill is huge, so if your local supermarket tries to pass off a measly shrub as a whole bunch, use two or three for this recipe, as dill is our star flavour!


How is it made vegan?

Greek cooking already naturally flirts with veganism through nistisima – food for Lent made without animal products. You can walk through a Greek supermarket and find dairy free cheeses and pies, all made for the fasting period. So you’ll need to track down vegan feta for this recipe (in Australia, they’re available at vegan supermarkets, greek supermarkets and all major supermarkets).



My Great Aunty Anne and Great Aunty Theresa sat down over a cup of tea one day with me to debate the best way to veganise a spanakopita filling. Cooked rice! I’d never thought of it before. It’s brilliant! A great way to use leftovers, the rice naturally thickens the filling and because vegan cheese can be oil based - it helps drink up the feta and lemon juice flavour while giving the firmness a traditional feta and egg filling would. I also add in a little chickpea flour to help increase the binding in the filling.



Phyllo/filo pastry should pretty much always be vegan and if you can somehow find one that is made with butter and not oil.. then they screwed up, you filo me? The fat used is olive oil so the remainder of this recipe is naturally vegan anyhow.


What form to make it in?

Spanakopita is wonderfully versatile and from a shaping perspective is pretty hard to fuck up. Make it as a pie, roll, swirl or triangle. For the love of Zeus, just make it! In Australia, I recommend using refrigerated Antoniou brand filo pastry for best results. Otherwise, classic frozen phyllo after an overnight fridge defrost is great. Here’s a few ways I do it..

Spanakopita with crumpled phyllo on top from Vegan Junk Food by Zacchary Bird (photographed by Pete Dillon).

As a large classic pie, scored into slices before baking like in Vegan Junk Food’s Spanakopita. You can leave the tops naked, or crumple up any remaining pastry to sit atop the slices to make a textural topping:

Use a pastry brush to cover the base of the lined baking tray with olive oil, then line the tray with three sheets of filo. Brush a little more oil over the pastry and place two sheets of filo next to each other on top (the ends will hang over the edges of the tray). Rotate the tray 90 degrees and repeat with another two sheets of filo. Keep going until you’ve used eight sheets of filo in total.

Spoon the filling into the baking tray and use a spatula to spread until flat and smooth. Fold the overhanging filo sheets over the mixture, drizzling and brushing the pastry with a little more oil as you go. Place two more sheets of filo over one half of the filling, then brush with oil and tuck the ends under the filled bottom of the pastry. Repeat with two more filo sheets on the other side.

Loosely crumple the remaining filo sheets to create as much texture as possible and position the sheets on top of each portion. Brush the remaining oil over the top before baking.

Probably the easiest way to build Spanakopita! I take half a pack of phyllo pastry and fold each sheet into strips then swirl them on the bottom. Once the filling goes in, you crinkle the remaining phyllo sheets on top in a swirl and dump over olive oil.

As a crinkle spanakopita:

Preheat the oven to 180c FF. Use a pastry brush to cover the base of the lined baking tray with olive oil. Fold a sheet of phyllo ‘accordion style’ by folding it back and forth until you make a thin strip. Repeat until you’ve used half the packet, then spread these across the bottom of the tray side-by-side to fill the whole thing. Shuffle them around so they fill the whole thing then brush the phyllo with olive oil. Blind bake for about 10 minutes until the pastry firms up.

Spread the majority of the filling over the top then repeat the crinkle step with the remaining pastry. Begin from one side and fill the tray in a swirling pattern, shuffling the crinkles around to make texture. Dollop the remaining filling into any major gaps around the top, pressing it in to give the appearance that it’s bubbling out of the spanakopita. Brush the top heartily with olive oil before baking.

Spiral Spanakopita from The Vegan Baker cookbook by Zacchary Bird (photographed by Emily Weaving).

As a spiral spanakopita:

Use a pastry brush to cover your biggest baking tray lightly with olive oil. On a bench top, lay three sheets of filo on top of each other, long ends facing you. Generously splatter and brush oil over the top pastry sheet.

Spoon a generously heaped strip of filling along the long end of the filo sheets, aiming for an even tube around 3.5 cm (11⁄2 in) thick. Not too tightly, roll the filling up to form a long cylinder. Coil the pastry into a spiral.

Either repeat the above step to create individual coiled portions, or place the first swirl in the centre of the baking tray and coil more filled pastry portions around the first swirl to create a large, grand spanakopita. Evenly brush the remaining oil over the top before baking.

Photo 5-08-2017, 7 52 01 PM.jpg

A very early serving of spanakopita from me, from back in the day when nobody knew how to get vegan cheese to melt into any shape bar the one it came in the packet in.

60600299_10158395319310130_157269410183118848_o.jpg

Spanakopita triangles from my Mothers Day treat box from when I provided catering for Edgar’s Mission Mothers Day Brunch a few years ago!

@zaccharybird

making dad’s school lunches day 5: spanakopita

♬ Sirtaki (Zorba) - Orchestra Mesogios
@zaccharybird

spanakopita is usually my most popular cooking class recipe + now you can make it too! ##spanakopita ##dairyfree ##veganjunkfood ##homechef ##tiktokrecipe

♬ Sirtaki - Paraskévas GREKIS
Ultimate Vegan Spanakopita

Ultimate Vegan Spanakopita

Yield: 8
Author: Zacchary Bird
Prep time: 30 MinCook time: 60 MinTotal time: 1 H & 30 M

Ingredients

Filling
  • 1 kg (2 lb 3 oz) fresh or frozen spinach
  • ..or spinach and a mix of prepared leeks, kale, silverbeet, cauliflower greens, green beans or swiss chard
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 large red onion, roughly chopped
  • 4 spring onions (scallions), roughly chopped
  • 6 fat garlic cloves, crushed
  • sea salt and cracked black pepper
  • lemon juice and zest (1 to 4 depending on tanginess of your feta)
  • 1 - 2 large bunches of fresh dill, roughly chopped
  • 3 tablespoons chickpea flour (besan)
  • 200 g (7 oz) cooked white rice
  • 200 g (7 oz) vegan feta, crumbled
Pastry
  • 375 g (13 oz) refrigerated filo pastry (about 20 sheets)
  • 60 - 100ml olive oil

Instructions

  1. If using fresh spinach, chop it up then toss it into a colander. Heartily sprinkle over table salt. Let sit for a few minutes then use your hands to squeeze out liquid until it quite dry. If using frozen spinach, microwave the spinach as per the packet instructions, then allow to cool. Place it in a sieve and squeeze out as much liquid as you can with your hands. If you think you’re done, you’re not. Keep squeezing until the spinach is just about dry, as any liquid will turn into steam and ruin the crispness of the pastry. If using other greens listed, pre-cook them in a splash of oil in a saucepan to reduce their moisture content before proceeding.
  2. In a large wide saucepan or wok, fry the onion in 1 tablespoon of olive oil with a pinch of salt over medium heat for 5–6 minutes. Add the garlic, spring onion, lemon zest and juice. Cook briefly until fragrant. Transfer the mixture to a food processor with the prepared spinach and greens, dill, rice, chickpea flour and a hearty crack of salt and pepper. Blitz to a smooth, vibrant-green paste then stir through the feta.
  3. Either proceed quickly, or cover the filo pastry with a scarcely damp tea towel to buy time before it dries out. Use a pastry brush to cover your biggest baking tray lightly with olive oil.
  4. To make a spiral: Preheat the oven to 180°C FF. On a benchtop, lay three sheets of filo on top of each other, long ends facing you. Generously splatter and brush oil over the top pastry sheet. Spoon a generously heaped strip of filling along the long end of the filo sheets, aiming for an even tube around 3.5 cm (11⁄2 in) thick. Not too tightly, roll the filling up to form a long cylinder. Coil the pastry into a spiral. Either repeat the above step to create individual coiled portions, or place the first swirl in the centre of the baking tray and coil more filled pastry portions around the first swirl to create a large, grand spanakopita.
  5. To make a large pie: Preheat the oven to 225°C FF. Use a pastry brush to cover the base of the lined baking tray with olive oil, then line the tray with three sheets of filo. Brush a little more oil over the pastry and place two sheets of filo next to each other on top (the ends will hang over the edges of the tray). Rotate the tray 90 degrees and repeat with another two sheets of filo. Keep going until you’ve used eight sheets of filo in total. Spoon the filling into the baking tray and use a spatula to spread until flat and smooth. Fold the overhanging filo sheets over the mixture, drizzling and brushing the pastry with a little more oil as you go. Place two more sheets of filo over one half of the filling, then brush with oil and tuck the ends under the filled bottom of the pastry. Repeat with two more filo sheets on the other side. Loosely crumple the remaining filo sheets to create as much texture as possible and position the sheets on top of each portion.
  6. To make crinkle spanakopita: Preheat the oven to 180°C FF. Use a pastry brush to cover the base of the lined baking tray with olive oil. Fold a sheet of phyllo ‘accordion style’ by folding it back and forth until you make a thin strip. Repeat until you’ve used half the packet, then spread these across the bottom of the tray side-by-side to fill the whole thing. Shuffle them around so they fill the whole thing then brush the phyllo with olive oil. Blind bake for about 10 minutes until the pastry firms up. Spread the majority of the filling over the top then repeat the crinkle step with the remaining pastry. Begin from one side and fill the tray in a swirling pattern, shuffling the crinkles around to make texture. Dollop the remaining filling into any major gaps around the top, pressing it in to give the appearance that it’s bubbling out of the spanakopita. Brush the top heartily with olive oil before baking.
  7. To bake: Reduce the oven heat to 180°C FF if needed. Evenly brush the remaining oil over the top, then transfer to the oven and bake for about 1 hour or until all the pastry is totally golden and crisp. Allow to cool for 20 minutes, then either slice as desired or cut through the pre-scored lines to complete the pie. If stored in the fridge, you’ve got 3 days to power through leftovers before the pastry becomes irredeemable. Use a hot oven or air fryer to re-crisp the slices when reheating.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

395.61

Fat

20.08 g

Sat. Fat

5.62 g

Carbs

42.65 g

Fiber

5.56 g

Net carbs

37.1 g

Sugar

2.23 g

Protein

13.27 g

Sodium

632.82 mg

Cholesterol

22.25 mg
vegan spanakopita, vegan spanakopita recipe, plant based spanakopita, dairy free spanakopita recipe, dairy free spanakopita, nistisima spanakopita, nistisimo spanakopita, no egg spanakopita, no dairy spanakopita, cheese free spanakopita recipe, vegan greek recipe, vegan greek recipes,
Dinner, Greek
Greek

Zacchary Bird’s vegan Spiral Spanakopita for The Vegan Baker cookbook photographed by Emily Weaving.

Zacchary Bird’s crumpled Spanakopita for Vegan Junk Food cookbook photographed by Pete Dillon.