• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
    • Press
  • Browse Categories
  • Work With Us
  • Subscribe
  • Contact

Give Recipe logo

menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Home
  • Browse Categories
  • Turkish
  • Desserts
  • About
  • Start Here
×

Home » Turkish » Turkish Potato Borek With Filo Pastry

Published: Mar 20, 2009 · Modified: Dec 18, 2020 by Zerrin & Yusuf

Turkish Potato Borek With Filo Pastry

Jump to Recipe·Print Recipe

Need an easy savory snack recipe that can even be served as a breakfast/lunch? Make this Potato Borek recipe! Filo dough sheets are filled with a simple homemade potato filling and baked until golden. They come out so tasty with a wonderful, crunchy texture. Plus, they are freezer friendly too!

A hand grabbing a roll of potato borek from a baking sheet.

Potato borek (patatesli börek as we say in Turkish) is one of the best Turkish pastries. It is as popular and loved in Turkey as the classic cheese and spinach borek. They are very similar indeed, except their fillings and shapes. 

You can make borek in several shapes with various fillings. In this potato borek recipe, we want to show you the spiral borek shape. It is called rose börek, gül boregi in Turkish. You can use this shaping method with whatever borek filling you like. Our favorites are potato, spinach, leek, cheese or a combination of all these.

Jump to:
  • Always A Hit!
  • Potato Borek Filling
  • Filo Dough For Borek
  • How To Make Potato Börek
  • Serving
  • How To Store
  • More Turkish Pastries
  • 📖 Recipe
  • 💬 Comments

Always A Hit!

If you are familiar with Turkish recipes, you already know about borek pastry. We haven't met a single person (including kids) who doesn't like it. 

Hands holding a plate with a roll of Turkish borek.

These are always a hit at Turkish brunch parties or tea parties in the afternoon. As you can make 10-12 boreks from one package of filo dough, they are perfect for gatherings. 

Potato boreks are like mini savory pies that make perfect breakfast, lunch or after school/work snack. They taste amazing both warm and cold (at room temperature). We often make them at the weekend and enjoy them for lunch when they are still warm, pairing with ayran (the tangy yogurt drink).

And the leftovers are life savers during the week. They make a great quick lunch for us, especially when it is a shooting day. And a wonderful school lunch for our son. 

You don't need to reheat them. Just bring them to room temperature (if they have been stored in the fridge) and enjoy.

Potato Borek Filling

This is one of the easiest fillings you can prepare with a few simple ingredients.

Chopped boiled potatoes in a bowl, parsley, olive oil, salt, pepper and paprika in separate bowls on a light background.

You will need boiled potatoes, spices (we use salt, black pepper and paprika), parsley and olive oil. If you like spicy food, you can add in crushed chili or red pepper flakes (pul biber) too. Combine all these in a bowl and your filling is ready.

We do love borek with this simple potato filling but you can always make your own twist.

If you are a cheese lover, you might want to make a potato and cheese borek recipe. So add some cheese in this filling mixture. We recommend crumbled feta cheese (Turkish white cheese), grated Turkish kasar cheese (similar to mozzarella) or cheddar cheese. 

If you are a meat lover, you can add Turkish pastırma or your favorite cold meat from the charcuterie section of markets. 

Another version of this potato filling needs a few more steps: Cook diced onion with olive oil. Add in 1 or 2 tablespoons tomato paste and cook for one minute. Add in boiled and chopped potatoes, spices and parsley. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let it cool completely before stuffing the filo sheets with it.

We love all these additions. Isn't it great that you can create your own borek with your favorite ingredients in the filling?

Plus, you can use all these fillings in gozleme as well. 

Filo Dough For Borek

Borek is originally made with yufka dough. You can easily find it at supermarkets if you are in Turkey but it may not be the easiest thing to find good yufka outside Turkey.  You can check it at online Turkish or Middle Eastern markets. 

Potato filling, filo pastry, egg, butter, sesame seeds and nigella seeds on a light background.

And if you can't find it, no problem. The best substitute for yufka is filo pastry dough, also known as phyllo dough. You can easily find it at markets. 

We should remind you that filo pastry is not the same as puff pastry, so don't get confused when buying filo (phyllo) pastry. We always use filo pastry sheets to make borek and we are quite happy with the result.

How To Make Potato Börek

It is really so easy to make this potato börek recipe. There are basically three folds:

Prepare the filling

Boil the potatoes until tender and drain. Let them sit in cold water for a few minutes. Then peel and chop them finely. In a large bowl, combine finely chopped potatoes, spices, oil and parsley. 

Prepare the potato borek

Important Tip: Remove the filo sheets from the package. Cover them with a damp paper towel so that they don’t dry out while making the rolls. This is a very important tip, so please don't skip it! 

  1. As the filo sheets are paper thin, we put one on another to make it thicker. So place a filo sheet on the counter, brush it with melted butter and line another sheet onto this one. They should overlap. You can press on it gently with your hands so that the two sheets stick to each other.
A collage of images showing how to make borek from filo pastry.
  1. Put some potato filling on the large side of the phyllo sheet, leaving a little space on both sides.
  2. Roll it up.
  3. Brush the end with a little more melted butter to seal. You will have a long sausage shape.
  4. Swirl it around itself and give it a swirl shape. Gently tighten the end with your hand to seal. You might use a little melted butter or just water when doing this. Place it on the baking sheet and immediately brush with melted butter.
  5. Repeat with all the filo sheets and put them all on the baking sheet.

Note: This method of shaping potato borek is not a must. If you want, you can shape them like sigara boregi as well.

A collage of two images showing how to top borek rolls with melted butter and seeds.

Bake them:

Beat the egg yolk and brush the top of each borek with it. Sprinkle nigella seeds and sesame seeds over them and bake until golden, about 20 minutes.

Serving

Any type of börek could be served at any meal. It is a perfect lunch/dinner on its own. Just serve a bowl of simple green salad or white bean salad. It makes a satisfying side when paired with a bowl of warming soup like red lentil soup.

It is often served as a part of afternoon tea party. Other dishes served with this borek could be mercimek köftesi (lentil balls), mücver (zucchini fritters) and yaprak sarma (stuffed grape leaves).

The leftovers make a wonderful breakfast on-the-go, picnic food or packed lunch.

How To Store

You can keep these potato boreks in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. You can let them sit on the counter for about 30 minutes and enjoy without reheating.

If you want to reheat, you can do so in a pan over medium low heat or in a preheated oven for 5 minutes.

You can freeze potato borek either cooked or uncooked.

To freeze, place the boreks on a parchment lined sheet in a single layer. Let them sit in the freezer for 40 minutes. Then put them in a freezer bag and keep in the freezer for up to 4 months. 

You don't need to defrost the uncooked ones when you are ready to bake. Likewise, no need to defrost before reheating the cooked borek. You can reheat them in a preheated oven for 10-15 minutes.

Hands holding halved potato borek on a white plate.

More Turkish Pastries

  • Su Boregi
  • Pogaca
  • Simit
  • Lavash Bread
  • Bazlama

As always: If you make this recipe, let us know what you think by rating it and leaving a comment below. And post a pic on Instagram too—tag @give_recipe so we can see!

Sign up for the FREE GiveRecipe Newsletter to get the new recipes into your inbox! And stay in touch with us on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube and Instagram for all the latest updates.

Print

📖 Recipe

Turkish Potato Borek With Filo Pastry

Turkish borek rolls on a baking sheet and a hand is taking one.
Print Recipe

Potato borek with filo dough pastry. It is tasty, crunchy and super easy to make. Great to have leftovers for the next day.

  • Author: Zerrin & Yusuf
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 50 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
  • Yield: 10 1x
  • Category: pastry
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: Turkish

Ingredients

Scale

Filling:

  • 4 large potatoes
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • ½ cup chopped parsley

For Borek:

  • 20 sheets phyllo (filo) dough
  • ½ stick (70g) butter, melted
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • ½ tablespoon nigella seeds
  • ½ tablespoon sesame seeds

Instructions

Prepare the filling: 

  1. Put the potatoes in a pan. Pour water into the pan until it covers the potatoes. Bring it to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce the heat to medium low and let it simmer until the potatoes get tender. You can check their doneness by inserting a knife into a potato. If it is soft enough, remove the pan from the heat. Drain it and fill the pan with cold water to help the potatoes cool down. Peel them and chop finely or just grate them into a bowl. 
  2. Add in salt, paprika, black pepper, olive oil and parsley. Give it a good stir and set it aside.

Prepare And Bake Borek:

  1. Brush a baking sheet with oil. Preheat the oven at 180C/350F.
  2. Remove the filo sheets from the package. Cover them with a damp paper towel so that they don’t dry out while making the rolls.
  3. Place a filo sheet on the counter, brush it with melted butter. Line another one onto it. They should overlap.
  4. Place about 3 tablespoons of potato filling on the large side of the phyllo sheet, leaving a little space on the sides. Roll it up. Brush the end with a little more melted butter to seal. You will have a long sausage shape. Swirl it around itself and give it a swirl shape. Gently tighten the end with your hand to seal. You might use a little melted butter or just water when doing this. Place it on the baking sheet and immediately brush with melted butter.
  5. Repeat with all the filo sheets and put them all on the baking sheet.
  6. Beat the egg yolk and brush the top of each borek with it.
  7. Sprinkle nigella seeds and sesame seeds over each borek and bake until golden, about 20 minutes.
  8. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes

Storing:

Keep these potato boreks in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. You can let them sit on the counter for about 30 minutes and enjoy without reheating.

If you want to reheat, you can do so in a pan over medium low heat or in a preheated oven for 5 minutes.

You can freeze potato borek either cooked or uncooked.

To freeze, place the boreks on a parchment lined sheet in a single layer. Let them sit in the freezer for 40 minutes. Then put them in a freezer bag and keep in the freezer for up to 4 months. 

You don't need to defrost the uncooked ones when you are ready to bake. Likewise, no need to defrost before reheating the cooked borek. You can reheat them in a preheated oven for 10-15 minutes.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size:
  • Calories: 295
  • Sugar: 1.8 g
  • Sodium: 443.5 mg
  • Fat: 11.1 g
  • Carbohydrates: 43.8 g
  • Protein: 5.7 g
  • Cholesterol: 30.6 mg

Keywords: potato borek, Turkish potato borek

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @give_recipe on Instagram and hashtag it #giverecipe

You might also like:

  • Turkish Gozleme Recipe
  • Turkish Borek with Spinach and Feta Cheese
  • Sigara Boregi Recipe (Turkish Sigara Börek)
  • Lahmacun - Turkish Pizza
« Turkish Red Pepper Bread
Yellow Cherry Jam Recipe »

Reader Interactions

Comments

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe rating ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

  1. asma says

    November 18, 2022 at 9:04 pm

    Thanx a million for detailed recipe. Love it.

    Reply
    • Zerrin & Yusuf says

      November 18, 2022 at 9:06 pm

      Hi Asma,
      Glad you liked it. Would love to hear what you think if you have a chance to try the recipe!

      Reply
  2. Angela says

    January 25, 2021 at 2:10 am

    Absolutely wonderful, and I enjoyed the story about sharing with colleagues. When things open up again I can’t wait to share.

    Reply
  3. Emma says

    December 22, 2019 at 11:38 am

    Please check your instructions to make! It says lay another sheet but I cant see anywhere that it says lay the first sheet? Have you missed something out? Thankyou

    Reply
    • Yusuf says

      December 22, 2019 at 5:06 pm

      Hi Emma! The number of instructions are somehow messed up. I've corrected them now. Thanks for the heads up!

      Reply
  4. Hulya says

    July 20, 2012 at 10:34 am

    Hi

    This looks good, I wish I was like my mum and be able to make my own pastry but I know I am not.....Anyway, I like the simple way you have made the dish and I love Filo pastry extra but I have a question what is Yellow Cheese? You can say it in Turkish and I am sure I can translate it then myself.

    Reply
  5. Maggie says

    March 24, 2009 at 1:59 am

    This looks so good! I have to try making one for my parents. They found a place that sells borek and fell in love with them but I don't think they've had a vegetarian one yet. I really love the nigella seeds on top. They have a great flavor that goes so well with potato.

    Reply
« Older Comments

Primary Sidebar

Zerrin & Yusuf

Meet Zerrin and Yusuf Gunaydin: The couple behind this blog. We bring Turkish food into your kitchen! From kebabs to desserts, everything you crave is here.

More about us→

POPULAR

  • Traditional Turkish Breakfast Foods
  • Air Fryer Chicken Wings Baking Powder
  • Baking Powder Chicken Wings Baked In The Oven
  • Adana Kebab (Turkish Ground Lamb Kebab)
  • Healthy Greek Yogurt Coleslaw with Low Fat Dressing
  • Turkish Chicken Kebab Recipe (Tavuk Şiş)

Footer

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Pinterest

All content, recipes and photographs are copyrighted and the property of Give Recipe. They may not be republished in part or whole without proper credit and permission.

Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 GIVE RECIPE

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Privacy PolicyACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT