A buttery, tender almond flour dough stuffed with spinach and feta. This low carb keto spanakopita will have your tastebuds dancing!
How many times have you said a word you’ve used any number of times, only to find out you’ve been pronouncing it incorrectly for years? Possibly even decades. My husband just informed me the other day that I’ve been saying “detritus” all wrong, all this time. And he only knew because he said it at work and someone corrected him. Apparently, instead of DET-tritus, it is actually duh-TRITE-us. Strong emphasis on the second syllable, and a long i in that syllable. You could have knocked me over with a feather. It sounded so strange to my ears and it seemed like it couldn’t be true. But a little Googling proved that weird, formal sounding pronunciation to be correct. Damn, I hate it when I am wrong.
But we all do it at times. Many of us see words written before we ever say them aloud, especially longer, more formal words that don’t enter normal speech very often. When my sister was little, she thought that the word “briefly” was said “Bry-fly” and imagined it was some sort of briefcase. When I was teaching Kaplan SAT Prep, I asked one of my students to read a paragraph aloud and she read the word “epitome” as Epi-Tome. When I corrected her, she was flabbergasted. Of course she knew what an epitome was but had never seen it written and hadn’t made the connection. And I remember my husband (back in the day, when he was still my boyfriend) snorting with laughter when I first pronounced the word Episcopalian. I had all the em-PHA-sis on the wrong syl-LA-ble.
And then there come unfamiliar words from other languages. I am not sure when I first tried spanakopita but I’ve always loved it. I do know that I absolutely slaughtered the poor word upon my first few times saying it out loud. I was familiar with pita bread so I somehow emphasized those last two syllables at the end. Never mind, someone corrected me along the way and I happily ate the spinach, feta, and phyllo pie ever chance I got. It’s tasty stuff but I haven’t had it in years since phyllo and my blood sugar aren’t exactly friends anymore.
But I was working with the dough from my garlic knots a few weeks back, and it struck me how delicious it would be filled with spanakopita-type fillings. So I rolled my dough really thin and cut it into 16 squares, then mounded the spinach and feta goodness inside. The dough did crack at times, but it’s stretchy and malleable enough that I could pinch it back together and shape it into cute little triangles. And so low carb Spanakopita Hand Pies were born. No matter how you pronounce it, it is delicious!
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Spanakopita Hand Pies
Ingredients
- 6 ounces frozen spinach thawed
- 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup finely chopped onion
- 1 clove garlic minced
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 Magic Mozzarella Dough from Garlic Knots
- Additional almond flour for rolling out.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Place the spinach in a tea towel and squeeze out the excess moisture. Transfer to a large bowl. Add the feta, egg, onion, garlic, salt, and pepper and mix until well combined.
- Sprinkle a work surface with about 2 or 3 tablespoons of almond flour. Roll the dough out into a large square about 16 inches by 16 inches. Using a very sharp knife or a pizza wheel, cut into 16 even squares.
- Mound about 1 tablespoons of the spinach mixture into the center of each square. Fold the dough square over diagonally to make a triangle shaped pie. If the dough breaks or cracks when folding, simply pinch back together and shape around the filling.
- Place the triangles on the prepared baking sheet and make a small slit in the top of each to allow the steam to escape. Bake 20 minutes, until golden brown. Remove and let cool on the pan.
Bryanne says
Hi Carolyn, this recipe looks amazing! Do you think they would freeze well?
Carolyn says
After baking, yes.
Toni says
How do I avoid cake becoming dark green when cooking with sunflower seed flour?
Carolyn says
A tablespoon of acid (lemon juice or vinegar).
Marsha Frankel says
I have a problem eating feta cheese …it just doesn’t agree with me even thought I Love it!! Can’t do blue cheese either. What else could I use? or maybe just a little feta mixed with something else? Thank you, Carolyn..
Carolyn says
Maybe just parmesan?
Marsha Frankel says
Thank you, I’ll try that..
Tammy says
They will be a definite have to make. Just a tip on squeezing out the excess water in spinach or similar foods, I use my potato ricer and fill about half full. Works like a charm and no more stained towels or fabric softener flavoured foods lol.
Scott says
Just made them. The house smells great and they taste delish! Thanks for the great recipe.
Joy says
Just tried these tonight….delicious! I never did well with rolling these doughs between paper so I bought me a cast iron tortilla press and now so easy! I divided into four balls then cut each circle into four pie shape pieces and they still are triangle shaped.
Carolyn says
Very cool!
Naomi says
Just doubled the recipe and made it into a huge log. Added a nice pinch of crushed red pepper flake and an egg white wash. It’s in the oven and smells insane!
Tracy says
The dough came together so well! I did end up adding additional almond flour in the kneading stage. I think I may have rolled it too thick, because I ended up with a lot of extra filling. Next time I’ll roll it thinner because I won’t be so nervous about it holding together. It worked like a charm.
janine says
I tried to make the mozzarella dough but failed miserably – it wouldnt stick together.
Marie says
I just made these and they are so delicious! I used fresh spinach, cooked down and squeezed dry. Onion and garlic powders. I rolled the crust out to approx 11×17″, cut into 16 rectangles, and had maybe 1/3 cup filling left over. I was worried that my imperfect rectangles would not hold the filling and I would have a mess after baking, but that didn’t happen at all – the dough doesn’t really move at all and if the filling is dry enough it won’t leak. Great recipe!
tim says
What happened to the recipe? I saw this for the spanakopita and the low carb pecan bars, went to town to get the ingredients it need, and now it’s gone??
Carolyn says
It’s not you. My site is having issues and we are trying to get it fixed ASAP
eva says
Made these last night. Wow are they delicious. My carb-loving husband called them spectacular! Thanks for a new favorite recipe
Rebecca says
You are just beautiful ! And I believe that you should keep making videos! People love videos!…. I think more than they like to read.
Anne Dalin says
When making the spanikopita, I need to count the carbs separately for the dough and filling. Is that correct? I cannot wait to try this recipe!!!
Carolyn says
I don’t count these carbs separately, not sure why you would need to?
Coco says
So I’ve just found out that I could do MY OWN low carb phyllo and I’m thrilled! But the link in the ingredients doesn’t open 🙁 Carolyn, thanks a bunch for the recipe, but could you write the recipe for the dough or give me a link that opens. I saw in the comments that it contains mozzarella, but could I sub it for something else to make the dough taste neutral and use it for desserts? Thanks in advance for the recipe of the dough! 🙂
Carolyn says
It does open. Are you on mobile? that may be the problem. Here is the direct link: https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/2015/12/low-carb-garlic-parmesan-knots.html
And yes, it can be made sweet, here’s the link for that (it still contains mozzarella but I promise you won’t know it) https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/2015/12/low-carb-chocolate-walnut-swirls.html
Coco says
Thank you! These links works properly. I was wondering if I could use cheese other than mozzarella – here we have kashakaval which is similar to mozzarella – it melts wonderfully and is more affordable, but it’s salty. There are some slightly sweet tasting cheeses that would probably work for sweet goodies like your choco swirls or baklava … what do you think? Or it has to be exactly mozzarella? And why part skim, wouldn’t the whole milk type do the trick? Oh, and how thin could it be rolled out – I’m thinking of making low carb banitza (phyllo filled with butter, eggs and similar to feta cheese nom nom nom!) but it requires really thin phyllo sheets. And last question (phew!) – could this dough be used for making puff pastry if rolled out, spreaded with butter, than folded and you know the rest – would the layers separate or probably everything would simply melt because it would be basically just cheese and butter…
Carolyn says
I really can’t say, I’ve never used those cheeses.
Sara says
I’m not sure why the Dough link doesn’t open for you, maybe try another browser? It works for me even on my phone. I just tried it now.
Jennifer says
The original link for the knots would not open for me on my mobile, either. Never had that happen with a link, I could only copy it, not open it. Second link worked ?
Cici says
I’m having a little Fathead dilemma I’m hoping you can help me with. My dough never comes out as manageable as it’s supposed to.
My daughter and I made the spanakopita recently. Dhile I have struggled with the dough in the past, she never has. I know this dough originated from your garlic knots, but when I make this dough, there’s no way I could twist it into a knot. It’s just to fragile. My daughter, on the other hand never has a problem with it. So thinking it’s either my cheese, or my eggs. I am using pre-shredded low moisture mozzarella. I am also using fresh eggs from my chickens. Do you think either of those is the culprit? Other than that, o use Honeyville & Bob’s coconut flour. Thoughts?
Carolyn says
Hmmmm. I can’t see why fresh eggs would be an issue, unless they are smaller or larger than regular eggs. That could be it, I guess? Are you weighing out the mozzarella?
Virginia says
My Greek friends have made Spanakopita for years, always generously sharing with me, because they know how much I love it. Breaks my heart to not be able to eat the gluten, and now switching to entirely low carb as well. Didn’t stop me; I often ate some although I paid for it later! So now…to have discovered your gluten-free, low carb Spanakopita is a dream come true! I can’t wait to make this, but as my Greek friends when they make Spanakopita, I’ll add a pinch of nutmeg and a little lemon zest plus a squeeze of fresh lemon juice to the spinach mixture. Can’t wait to make this recipe, Carolyn, as well as “play” with the different uses for the Magic Mozzarella Dough!
micheles says
for non greeks, it is perfectly acceptable to refer to spanakopita (spa-na-KO-pee-ta) as just plain ol’ spinach pie. it is nearly impossible to property pronounce the word without a proper greek accent, so there’s no point even trying. my cousin’s wife, a non greek, has learned to make a damn good spanakopita but her pronunciation of the classic is nothing short of abysmal. i haven’t the heart to tell her though, bless her heart.