Copycat Recipes

Ina Garten Spinach Pie

Claire By
Claire
Passionate about food and pastries since always, Claire spends most of her time in the kitchen to develop new recipes. She is French but lived many years abroad.
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Updated June 20, 2023

This Ina Garten spinach pie will quickly become a family favorite!

Ina Garten Spinach Pie Main 1-min

This gourmet recipe has a rich spinach feta parmesan filling topped with a perfectly golden crust. Every bite of this flavorful pie is a delight to your taste buds.

It also includes a pinch of nutmeg to boost the taste and add a nutty touch.

Plus, it’s very easy to make. All you have to do is to mix the stuffing ingredients that you seal into 6 phyllo dough sheets. Then you let the oven do the rest!

Ina Garten got her inspiration from the famous greek spanakopita, literally meaning spinach pie in Greek.

Serve this copycat recipe with other famous Ina Garten dishes, such as scalloped potatoes or a fresh Farro salad.

What I Changed

  • Since I had issues finding prepared phyllo dough in local stores, I made my own phyllo dough version. The texture is not as thin as the store-bought version, but it has a more natural, buttery taste. If you also have issues, you can also use frozen puff pastry. It won’t create different layers of dough but will taste equally delicious!
  • I don’t like when savory dishes have a filling with too many eggs as I find it gives a strong eggy taste. The purpose of the eggs here is to solidify and set the filling. 4 eggs are enough for this purpose, so I reduced the number of eggs to 4 (instead of 6).
  • Pine nuts are also difficult to find, so I substituted them with chopped walnuts.
  • For a variety of flavors, I reduced the number of onions by 2 and added 2 shallots.

The Barefoot Contessa Ina Garten Spinach Pie Recipe

  • Prep Time15 min
  • Cook Time 1 hour
  • Total Time1 hr 15 min
  • Servings6
  • Yield9-inch baking dish

Level: Easy

Ingredients

Ina Garten Spinach Pie Ingredients-min















Equipment





How To Make Ina Garten Spinach Pie

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Preparing The Filling

Heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Sauté the onions and shallots for 5 minutes, until they’re translucent and slightly browned (about 10 minutes).

Ina Garten Spinach Pie Step 1-min

Drain the spinach and squeeze as much liquid as possible.

Add the spinach, eggs, feta, parmesan, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, walnuts, and nutmeg in a large separate mixing bowl.

Ina Garten Spinach Pie Step 2-min

Mix all the ingredients until well combined.

Ina Garten Spinach Pie Step 3-min

Combining With The Phyllo Sheets

Brush a 9-inch baking dish with melted butter. Place 6 stacked sheets of phyllo dough by letting the edges hang over the sides. Brush each sheet with melted butter.

Ina Garten Spinach Pie Step 4-min

Pour the spinach mixture into the pie dish and smooth the top.

Ina Garten Spinach Pie Step 5-min

Fold the overhanging phyllo dough over the filling to seal it in. Brush the top of the pie with melted butter.

Ina Garten Spinach Pie Step 6-min

Baking

Bake for 1 hour or until the top gets golden brown and the filling is set. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool.

Ina Garten Spinach Pie Step 7-min

Serve at room temperature.

Ina Garten Spinach Pie Step 8-min

Pro Tips

  • Toast the walnuts to add more crunch. To do this, preheat your oven to 300°F, then spread the walnuts on a baking sheet. Grill for 10-12 minutes. Make sure to avoid burning them by keeping an eye on them. Don’t grill for more than the indicated time or you’ll get a bitter taste.
  • Drain the water from the spinach with a pasta strainer and a fork or a spoon. You can also use a potato ricer. It will extract much liquid quickly and is easy to clean afterward.
  • Use olive oil instead of butter to brush the phyllo dough sheets to give your spinach pie a more authentic spanakopita taste. Brush a very generous amount.
  • Ina Garten uses a baking dish, but purists recommend using a pan with a thin bottom for a well-baked spinach pie. A thick bottom will prevent the pie from cooking evenly, running the risk of having an underbaked bottom.
  • If you use fresh spinach instead of frozen, cook them beforehand. Then drain them, and let them cool completely before adding them to the filling mixture.

More Spinach-Based Recipes

Ina Garten Spinach Pie Pinterest-min

Have You Tried This Recipe?

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