Turkish Potato Borek With Filo Pastry

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

2. Put some potato filling on the large side of the phyllo sheet, leaving a little space on both sides.
3. Roll it up.
4. Brush the end with a little more melted butter to seal. You will have a long sausage shape.
5. 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.
6. 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.

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.

More Turkish Pastries

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