Turkish Borek with Spinach and Feta Cheese

You might have noticed that we’ve been posting our favorite dishes from Turkish cuisine. After sharing homemade Turkish meatballs and manti dumplings with you, it’s time to share a good Turkish borek recipe. Filled with a mixture of cheese and herbs, this Turkish dish makes a wonderful vegetarian appetizer too.

What Is Borek?

Borek as a Turkish food can be considered as a savory pie, but thanks to the thin phyllo sheets, it is much lighter.

Börek has several types and shapes. You can make it in layers like a lasagne as in this recipe, or stuff and roll each filo sheet and combine them in the pan to make a large spiral or smaller spirals known as rose borek (gül böregi). You can also cut each sheet in large strips, stuff and roll them into a cigar or cigarette shape to make Turkish sigara böreği.

No matter how you shape a borek, the method is basically the same: Phyllo sheets are stuffed with a filling mixture of your choice and then either fried or baked in the oven. It is even possible to cook it in a pan with a little melted butter, just like we do in our gozleme recipe.

Borek can be found in every pastry shop in Turkey, but we love the homemade version best. The bakeries are often popular with their water borek (boiled filo borek), known as su böreği. It is not as easy as this pre-made yufka borek. The phyllo dough is made from scratch and each of them is cooked in hot water after it is rolled out. So people often prefer buying su boregi from stores.

It is really common in Turkey to have breakfast at a borek bakery shop enjoying your borek with a glass of Turkish tea. Also, it makes a great lunch when paired with ayran, which is a super refreshing drink made from yogurt. 

Today, we'll be sharing the most common type of Turkish borek. It is layered with super thin phyllo sheets that are sticked one another with a mixture of yogurt, eggs and olive oil.

The spinach and cheese filling is spread on top of layers of phyllo sheets, covered with more sheets and the remaining yogurt mixture is generously spread over the top. Then we bake it until golden.

If you like vegetarian pastries like this one, you might want to see our vegetarian quiche recipe too.

About The Fillings

There are several options when it comes to borek fillings. Our favorite is the combination of spinach and Turkish white cheese (beyaz peynir) or feta cheese as in this recipe. There are a variety of borek fillings in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines.

You can see fillings with lentils, boiled potatoes as in our potato burek, shredded chicken, ground beef (minced meat) or even with vegetables like leeks, zucchini or eggplants. 

You can use these fillings alone or make combinations. Among all, spinach and cheese borek has a special place for everyone because it is the after-school snack of their childhood. 

What Are Phyllo Sheets?

Phyllo or filo pastry, known as yufka in Turkey, is a super thin pastry made with 3 ingredients: Flour, water and little oil. It is commonly used in Turkish, Greek, Armenian and Balkan cuisines. It is used when making savory or sweet pastries like börek, spanakopita and baklava.

You really need some patience and skill to make yufka sheets. So we prefer buying them. In Turkey, there are small shops where local women make and sell fresh phyllo sheets called yufka in Turkish. These shops are the best place to buy phyllo sheets as they are wonderfully thin and always fresh. 

You can also find phyllo sheets at supermarkets. they are sold fresh or frozen. If they are frozen, bring them to room temperature first and then start making your borek. On the other hand, if you are really interested in making it at home, check out the how to make phyllo recipe.

Phyllo (filo) pastry shouldn't be confused with puff pastry. Although they are both used to make pastries, they are not the same thing and can't be used interchangeably.

Puff pastry dough is a laminated dough that contains a good amount of butter. It has an airy texture with lots of flaky layers when baked. Phyllo pastry dough, on the other hand, is in the form of paper-thin sheets that contain little oil. And they are brushed with a yogurt (or milk) mixture, stacked together and then baked.

About The Ingredients

We can put the borek ingredients into 4 categories:

Yogurt Sauce

• Yogurt: We use homemade yogurt, but any plain yogurt (like natural yogurt or Greek yogurt) works fine. And you can even substitute milk for yogurt. About 1 cup of milk would be enough. Yogurt gives a nice tenderness while milk makes it flakier.
• Eggs: We use 3 medium eggs. The combination of yogurt and eggs gives the stack of phyllo sheets extra thickness.
• Olive oil: We use light olive oil. Vegetable oil is fine too.

Filling

• Spinach:  You can use washed and packed spinach. We don't need to cook it for the filling. Just chop it finely. 
• Herbs: We use fresh dill, parsley and green onions (scallions). They all give an amazing flavor to the final result. But if you don't have one or more of these, no problem. It will still be tasty thanks to the combination of spinach and cheese.
• Cheese: We use a combination of grated mozzarella (or Turkish kasar cheese) and feta cheese (Turkish white cheese) because we love them together. If you want, you can leave mozzarella out and go with feta cheese only.
• Oil: A little olive oil helps everything combine well together. 
• Salt: If the feta cheese you use is too salty, don't add any salt to the filling mixture.
• Black pepper: For extra flavor.

Borek

• Phyllo Pastry Sheets: We use 12 sheets in total. If the brand you use contains 10 sheets in a pack, no problem. Your borek will become a little thinner, but still tasty.

Topping

• Seeds: We use nigella seeds here, but sometimes we use a combination of nigella and sesame seeds (black or white).

How To Make 

This is a really easy borek recipe as you don't have to make phyllo sheets at home. The recipe has 5 folds:

1. Make the yogurt sauce:  Whisk together the yogurt, eggs and oil together until smooth.

2. Prepare the filling: In a large mixing bowl, combine finely chopped spinach, herbs, cheeses, olive oil, salt and pepper. 

3. Prepare the phyllo sheets: Cut the phyllo sheets if needed so that they fit in your baking pan or baking tray if needed. Then, cover the stack of phyllo sheets with a damp kitchen towel. Keep the remaining filo sheets under it every time you take one. This will prevent the sheets from drying out.

4. Assemble: Line the first phyllo sheet in a greased pan. Using a brush, spread 2-3 tablespoons of yogurt egg wash on it. Place the second phyllo and brush it with the wet mixture as well.

Repeat this for 6 phyllo sheets. After spreading yogurt sauce on the 6th sheet, put the filling evenly on its top. Continue placing the remaining sheets, spreading yogurt sauce on each one. After placing the last sheet, spread the remaining wet mixture over the top. 

5. Bake: Using a sharp knife, cut it into squares. Sprinkle nigella seeds or sesame seeds and bake until golden.

Expert Tips

• If you use frozen phyllo pastry, thaw overnight keeping it in the fridge.
• Keep the following in mind when working with the phyllo pastry sheets: They are paper-thin, so handle them gently. They are likely to dry out fast, so keep them covered with a damp kitchen towel to prevent this. 
• You can cut the phyllo sheets so that they fit in your baking pan.
• If the filo pastry brand you use contains 10 sheets in a pack, no problem. Your borek will become just a little thinner, which is fine.
• The consistency of the yogurt egg sauce doesn't matter at all. We use it just to stick the phyllo sheets together. So don't worry if it is too thick or too thin. 

Make Ahead and Storage

You can assemble börek overnight, keep it in the refrigerator and bake it in the morning. Also, you can freeze it in the baking pan uncooked. When you are ready to bake, thaw it overnight and then bake as described in the recipe.

You can store the leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Bring to room temperature before serving or reheat in the oven (180C/350F) for 5-10 minutes.

Serving Suggestions

So what do you eat with borek? Traditionally, it is paired either with tea or ayran in Turkey.

If you want to serve it as a lunch or dinner meal, you can serve it with Turkish coban salad or white bean salad piyaz. And a bowl of red lentil soup would be a nice match too.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Turkish Pastry Recipes

• Pogaca
• Simit
• Pide Recipe
• Lavash
• Lahmacun

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