Spanakopita Pasta (Spanakopasta!)
This easy Spanakopita Pasta recipe (Spanakopasta!) comes together in only 20 minutes and is packed with yummy Greek flavor! Spinach, feta, dill, and lemon are the stars of this quick and easy recipe, with eggs stirred into the sauce like a carbonara. It’s got all the flavor you love about spanakopita with barely any effort, in a fraction of the time!
Spanakopita has to be one of my favorite Greek recipes, and I enjoyed it a lot throughout my childhood. But I rarely spend the time or effort to make it.
I prefer shortcut spanakopita recipes, like using puff pastry to make mini spinach feta pies in a muffin pan or putting all the flavors together in this DELICIOUS pasta recipe.
(For the real deal, check out this spanakopita recipe).
You guys- this is one of my favorite things I’ve ever cooked. Immediately after tasting it, I added all the ingredients to my grocery list so I can make it again. My kids gobbled it up. There were no leftovers. And it was SO easy to make.
You’re going to love this easy Greek pasta recipe with spinach and feta!
How to make spanakopita pasta
This spanakopita pasta is made similarly to a carbonara, since it uses eggs in the base of the sauce. Here’s how to do it.
- First, cook pasta in heavily salted water until just BEFORE it’s al dente. This is important, as it will finish cooking in the sauce, which will enhance the flavor as well as thicken the sauce a bit.
- While it’s cooking, mix together the base for the sauce. Eggs, feta, fresh dill (or other herbs), lemon zest, and black pepper. No salt needed here- the feta is salty enough.
- Sauté some green onions in butter. Cook them gently- you want to infuse the oniony flavor and soften the onions, rather than brown them completely. This will only take about a minute.
- Add frozen spinach to the skillet. No need to defrost it! It will thaw in the skillet. Just make sure to cook it so most of the liquid evaporates.
- Once the pasta is finished cooking, add it to the skillet, and reserve some pasta water.
- Add the egg and feta mixture to the skillet as well as a little of the pasta water, stirring everything together. The eggs will cook up and form a thick, delicious sauce.
- Let the pasta finish cooking in the sauce for a few minutes.
- If the pasta seems dry, or the sauce seems too thick, just add more pasta water until you get the right consistency.
- Once it’s done, turn off the heat and melt butter into everything and stir in some fresh lemon juice. Top with extra feta and herbs, and a drizzle of EVOO if you want, and you’re done!
Ingredient substitutions
- If you don’t have eggs, no worries. Just add the feta, dill, lemon zest, and juice directly to the skillet when you add the pasta, along with the pasta water. The sauce won’t be as thick or hearty but the feta will melt down and the starch from the water will give it a nice base.
- If you don’t have feta, use another salty farmers cheese. Goat cheese, queso fresco, and cotija cheese are all worthy substitutes for feta.
- If you don’t have dill, use other herbs, or a mix. Mint, oregano, and/or parsley would all be delicious!
- You can use olive oil in place of the butter if you prefer. Spanakopita is made with layers of buttered filo dough, so I love the butter in this recipe because it tastes more like the real thing. But olive oil works too!
What kind of pasta to use
I recommend spaghetti, but you can use any kind of pasta you want.
I actually ended up using angel hair pasta (capellini), because it’s all my grocery store had at the time. It was a little TOO thin. It tasted great, but the pasta was a little too delicate to stir aggressively with the heavy(ish) sauce with feta and spinach.
The good thing about using angel hair pasta? It cooked up SO quickly!
Keep in mind the time it takes to make this recipe will depend on how long it takes to cook the pasta you’re using.
Other Greek recipes
- Greek Spaghetti (with ground beef, cinnamon, and brown butter)
- Manestra (orzo with tomato and ground beef)
- Tzatziki sauce (cucumber yogurt sauce)
- Keftedes (Greek meatballs)
- Greek Lamb Tacos
- Greek Lentil Soup
- Greek Chicken Bites
Check out all my Greek recipes here! And if you’re looking for another easy pasta recipe, try this bruschetta pasta.
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Spanakopita Pasta (Spinach and Feta Pasta)
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Equipment
- Large Skillet
Ingredients
- 8 oz. spaghetti or any other pasta shape, regular or whole wheat
- 4 tablespoons butter divided
- 3 green onions white and green parts, thinly sliced
- 12-16 oz. frozen spinach or fresh- see notes
- 2 eggs
- 6 oz. feta cheese crumbled
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill and/or other herbs, such as mint, oregano, or parsley
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- juice and zest of one lemon
- kosher salt
- extra-virgin olive oil and extra herbs for serving, optional
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to directions in heavily salted water until one minute BEFORE it's al dente.
- Meanwhile, melt two tablespoons of the butter in a large deep skillet or pot.
- Add the three sliced green onions (white and green parts) and sauté over medium heat in the melted butter until softened (about 1 minute)
- Add the frozen spinach to the skillet with the onions. Sauté until completely defrosted and most of the liquid has completely evaporated (about 3 minutes)
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together the chopped fresh dill or other herbs (1/4 cup), the eggs (2), lemon zest, about half of the crumbled feta, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper.
- When the pasta has finished cooking to almost al dente, reserve 2 cups of the cooking water and add the pasta to the skillet with the spinach.
- Continuing to cook over medium heat, add the feta, egg, and dill mixture to the skillet, as well as 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Stir to coat, and continue stirring, until the egg has cooked and covered every part of the pasta. If the sauce seems too thick or the pasta seems too dry, add it more pasta water 1/4 cup at a time (you'll probably need about 1 cup pasta water total). The pasta will finish cooking in this liquid and the sauce will thicken up- this will likely take about 3-5 minutes.
- When the sauce has thickened and the pasta has completely finished cooking, turn off the heat and stir in the remaining two tablespoons of butter and the lemon juice until butter has melted. Top with remaining crumbled feta, extra fresh dill, olive oil, and season to taste.
Notes
- To use fresh spinach, add it to the skillet according to the directions and cook until wilted and most of the liquid has evaporated. You can use whole baby spinach leaves or chopped mature spinach for this.
- You can use other greens, such as kale, instead of spinach. Chop it up really finely and cook it for a bit longer so it's very tender. Arugula would work nicely as well.
- I found this recipe didn't need any added salt, since the feta is salty and the cooking water from the pasta is as well.
- If you don't have eggs, just leave them out. Add the pasta water to the skillet as directed, and add the feta, lemon zest, pepper, and dill directly to the pasta, stirring to melt all together.
- You can use olive oil instead of butter, if you prefer.
- Feta substitutions: goat cheese, queso fresco, and cotija cheese are similar to feta and can be used as a substitute.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and reflects one serving of the recipe (total servings indicated at top of recipe card). It does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
This was delicious! Super creamy from the feta and dill and lemon adds an extra hint of flavor! Had to stop myself from eating the whole pot!
So glad you liked it!
Nice and easy recipe! I made it with broken lasagna noodles.
If I were to make it again I think I would try to add garlic or something a bit savory? It’s quite a sour/sharp taste with all the lemon and feta :) I think it’s a good recipe for breakfast! It will wake you up!
Glad you liked it! What a great way to use leftover lasagna noodles. Could be your lemon was just extra juicy! Maybe cut back on the lemon juice next time. Spanakopita is usually not made with garlic, but that doesn’t mean it won’t taste good in here, so feel free to add if you want! Also, to cut back on acidity, you can add some extra butter if you want. Just add a pat of it and melt it right into the pasta – that should help :-)
This was delicious!
I used red onion, no egg, added some chilli and only had dried basil but wow, loads of flavour, really creamy and so quick and easy to make!
Big thanks for the recipe
Glad you liked it! One of my absolute favorites!
Loved this easy dish! I wanted something fast to go as a side for a hot rotisserie chicken and we REALLY enjoyed this pasta. Thank you so much for the recipe.
So glad you liked it! What a great idea to have as a side for rotisserie chicken.
I literally never post comments on websites, however, when I tried this recipe last night I knew I had to speak up. This recipe is soooo incredibly delicious!!! I did leave out the egg just because I wanted something a little lighter to go with my fish dinner, but I can’t wait to make this again with the egg. Also, I used a corkscrew type chickpea pasta, just because it’s what I had. And the leftovers next day are even better!!! With the leftovers today I added some chicken broth and turned it basically into a soup. Phenomenal!! As I started poking around the site at other recipes, I found numerous ones I am so excited to try soon! Thank you, Elizabeth for the awesome recipes!
Aw this comment made my day! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment, and glad you liked it!
This was good but my husband and I felt it needed a little bit more flavor. I sprinkled some Parmesan on top and that helped. My husband is Greek and we eat a lot of Greek food but this wasn’t quite what we were hoping for. If I made it again I would serve it as a side dish
The parmesan likely added some saltiness to the dish – for next time, I suggest salting the pasta water a bit more (I usually grab a literal fistful of kosher salt to season my pasta water!). I’ve always not used a lot of garlic, if any, in a lot of my Greek recipes, but some people really like added garlic to recipes like this, so that might also help. Hope that helps and better luck next time!
This recipe looks really good. I am so excited to try this! I bet my family will like it. Thank you so much for this!
Hope you and your family like it! Mine goes crazy for it every time I make it :-)
Made this tonight with fresh spinach that needed to be used. It was delicious! My husband ate two huge portions. We didn’t have dill so I used a teaspoon of dried parsley, 1/2 teaspoon of dried mint, and 1/2 teaspoon of oregano.
So glad you liked it!
Absolutely something I will make again and again! It was really delicious. I didn’t have dill so used parsley and I omitted butter at the end ( not keen) but other than that I followed the recipe. Such a great combination of flavours and so easy to make . Believe me I’m no cook!!
So glad you liked it!
I’ve made this several times and anyone who tries it is not disappointed. I’ve added freshly grated nutmeg and more dill to our liking. Great easy dish. Thank you for the inspiration!
So glad you liked it!
Sounds quick and easy. I can’t wait to try it. Should be delish! Spanokopita is one of my favorite Greek dishes.
Thank you for the recipe!
Hope you like it!
This was so good! We will definitely be making this again. Thank you for sharing this easy & light recipe :)
Thanks! So glad you liked it :-)
Thoughts on using spaghetti squash instead of pasta? I’m reducing carbs and loading up on my veggies these days.
I think that would definitely work! Just cook the spaghetti squash and add the noodles in the pan when you would add the pasta and proceed with the directions. Yum, what a great idea for veggie-loading and making it lower carb!
This was so so good! I wasn’t sure I could pull it off but it was much easier than I thought. Your video and side note comments really helped me get it right. I used whole wheat spaghetti but otherwise same stuff as you. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much Crystal! For anyone else reading, the video for this can be found on the highlights on my instagram profile (www.instagram.com/bowlofdelicious). I bet it worked really well with whole wheat spaghetti- I’ll add a note to the recipe suggesting it can be used!
Can I use dried dill instead!? If so how much would I use?
Yes you can! I recommend 1 tablespoon dried dill. Hope you like it!
I have fresh spinach. How much should I use?
Fresh spinach cooks down so much that I’d opt for a lot, if you have it- 16 oz. should be good! That said, if you have less, I wouldn’t let that stop you from making the recipe. Just add the fresh spinach to the green onions and butter after the onions have softened a bit and sauté until it’s wilted and there’s no liquid left in the pan. Hope you like it!
Oh, and you can always add it a few handfuls at a time to the skillet if there isn’t enough room at first.
This is a wonderful recipe!! It was so flavorful and I loved that eggs were used for the sauce rather than heavy cream. I will make this again and again.
Thanks so much! Really glad you liked it and that the egg sauce was a success :-)
Yum. I was looking for a recipe that would use up our spinach and dill and found this. It was delicious! Thanks!
Yay! So glad you liked it :-)
Such a great take on spanakopita. Mine didn’t look nearly as pretty, but it tasted good!
So glad you liked it!
I love your recipes. I have made many for my family and I love that you offer so many substitutions, especially at this time when we can’t always go to the store. Makes my life much easier.
Thank you!
You are so nice to leave this comment, and I’m happy to hear my recipes have been helpful for you and your family! And I appreciate the feedback on ingredient substitutions- it’s something I added based on the current situation for this post, but I think I’ll continue adding them as a regular feature of my recipes when applicable.
I don’t have green onions. Can I use regular onion? Also, only have dried dill – about how much of that do I need?
This recipe sounds delicious!!
Yes! Yellow or red onions work. You don’t need a lot- maybe half an onion, and cook them gently until they’re soft rather than browning. Use about 1 tablespoon dried dill for this. Hope you like it!!