Trader Joe’s Spanakopita

Best copycat Trader Joe’s spanakopita recipe is pretty fabulous. If you love spinach pie but can’t find it frozen at the store, make this.

Spanakopita Recipe

Frozen meals are great when you’re in a pinch, but from scratch is always best right? That way you know there are few to no preservatives in your dish and it’s fresh fresh. We used to live in a large city but now that we are in a smaller one in Idaho we don’t have all the things. That means no Trader Joes, unless I drive 45 minutes.

Boo hoooo, but that means I have to come up with a copycat Trader Joes recipe for the things I crave. This is one of them. I started with this creamed spinach recipe a while back, it reminded me of this, but needed a crust. Introduce puff pastry or phyllo dough and you’ll be set….almost.

Spanakopita with Puff Pastry Recipe

I will say the Costco spanakopita is pretty darn similar to this one if you ask me, it’s just bigger. I’ll say that yes store bought is the easiest since it is already put together and you’re just warming and crisping the outside but there’s a big but.

Seriously you can never get the crust as flaky and crispy as you can if you start from scratch (well semi-from scratch in this case). You can in fact make puff pastry at home as well which of course is even better but for me I won’t go quite that far. If it’s a must for you then by all means go right ahead.

Now when it comes to the outside you do have a few options to use. I think this refrigerated pastry dough is easiest and the texture is almost perfect. I do have a few 3 ingredient pie crust options too but bear in mind they won’t resemble what you’d buy at Trader Joe’s then.

Ingredients

To make it as close as possible to this grocery store’s version you’d need;

• Olive oil
• Onion and green onions diced
• Roasted garlic
• Spinach fresh leaves
  • this is how to cook frozen spinach
• 2 eggs
• You could chop up some bacon and throw that in
• Ricotta cheese, not low fat
  • you could use cottage cheese as an alternate which can be lower in saturated fat
• Feta
• Salt and pepper
• Fresh diced or from the jar, dill
• 2 sheets puff pastry

Many times it is easier to take the box out of your fridge like 30 minutes before rolling it out. That way it can thaw a bit and won’t break or crack in the center of it.

How to Make Spanakopita

You are going to use a 9×9 pan or pie dish for this so it is nice and thick, anything larger and there will be more crust to inside ratio. That’s a no go for us.

• Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 9 x 9 baking dish with parchment paper. Spritz with nonstick cooking spray. In an extra large skillet over medium heat, pour 3 tablespoons of olive oil and heat.
• Add the onion, green onions, and garlic, cooking until the onions are soft. Add the spinach in batches, cooking until it wilts. Remove from heat.
• In a large bowl, stir together room temperature eggs, ricotta cheese, feta cheese, salt, black pepper, and dill weed. Stir the cheese mixture into the spinach mixture until well blended.
• Place one sheet of puffs pastry in the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Add the spinach mixture and top with the remaining sheet of puff pastry. Brush with the remaining olive oil.

Slide it into your preheated oven for about 40 minutes until the top is nicely golden brown and flaky. Let it sit in the pan for 10 minutes or so to solidify before slicing so it stays together a bit better and serve.

What to Serve with Spanakopita

I mean think outside of the box when it comes to this spinach cheese pie recipe y’all. It isn’t like totally authentic Greek spanakopita but a more simple version so what you serve with it is up to you. A side salad is always an easy one of course.

• If you really want to serve another Greek recipe with it I would suggest our Mediterranean pasta salad here.
• You don’t really need a bread of any kind, and it’s already loaded with vegetables so meat could be paired like;
  • air fryer kabobs are great with seasoned beef or chicken really, and of course more veggies

If your kids are kinda’ like ehhhhhh if and when you serve this (mine were too) just require one bite every time. I called it cheese pie for years and eventually they loved this.