Spiced Vegetable Phyllo Pie Recipe (2024)

Lay each layer/leaf of phyllo individually (bottom and top) and brush with melted butter before placing the next layer. Keep the unrolled phyllo from drying by covering with slightly moist clean kitchen towel when each layer is removed. This is a trick from my Greek mother, who made what was universally acclaimed as the best spanakopita. Use this for any recipe that calls for phyllo.

I often find it helpful to read the accompanying column (linked below the header photo) when questions come up - Melissa explains how poking holes and pouring the butter in means skipping the fussiness of buttering each sheet individually. The photos also clarify how the phyllo should cradle the thin layer of stew. Looks gorgeous!

Would butternut squash get along with the other flavors here if I wanted to sub it for sweet potato?

Can I use olive oil instead of the butter?

What size sheet pan is used for this recipe?

Wonder if this can be made w puff pastry?

Add currants to the veg mix

Miyoko's butter is plant based butter. We buy it from Costco as it's much cheaper than anywhere else.

In the accompanying article, Melissa explains: "I use a trick I learned several years ago while making a feta torte. After assembling everything in the pan, I poke holes in the dough and just pour the melted butter on top. It seeps between the layers beautifully and bakes up burnished, crisp and shiny. And using a sheet pan means that this pie can wow a crowd and feed it, too."

The pan is 1/4 sheet. It accommodates the phyllo sheets nicely

We're travelling over Christmas. I will make the recipe, cook the mixture and freeze, then start with step 4 at the cabin--will let you know how it goes. Any adivce?

I always score the top of phyllo dishes before baking so that it cuts neatly.

The phyllo sheets are 18” x 14”, so this will tell you the size pan you should use - a half-sheet pan, which is 18” x 13”. With a 1” rim on the pan, you needn’t worry that the phyllo will hang over the edge.

BetterThanBouillon makes an AMAZING vegetarian bouillon that I love to use for everything, and would be perfect for this recipe.Also Earth Balance Coconut Oil vegan butter is a great substitute. I am making this tonight but omitting the Persian spices and making it flavourful but not spiced. My audience is less of a fan of the Indian and Mediterranean styled menu items but would love to eat meatless and this is a great option

The point of this recipe is to NOT brush each layer with melted butter.

I've made this several times now and I will say more time to reduce and a russet potato or two perfectly rounds out the flavors in this dish. Just take the time to brush each sheet individually, just be sure to cover the rest with a damp towel when brushing each layer.

Does anyone have any guidance on how many holes to poke, or how to drizzle in a way that works? I made this over the weekend and while the filling was lovely, we tried the poke and drizzle method and ended up with loads of pale white phyllo sheets. The only ones that crisped up properly were the top two layers, the rest looked more like Casper the ghost. Doesn't sound like other people had this problem though!

I made this last night, and it was wonderful. I roasted the sweet potatoes, cauliflower, and zucchini in the oven. I sautéed the onion, red pepper, tomato paste, and spices as instructed, added lemon but no broth. Then I assembled in a 13"x9" pan using Smitten Kitchen's super fun spanakopita technique: https://smittenkitchen.com/2022/01/spanakopita/ with the roasted veggies in the bottom layer of filling and the onion/pepper/tomato mixture, chickpeas, and cheese in the top filling layer.

Very yummy, even though my filo sheets were only 12x12, so I had a lot of leftover filling for the freezer. I did swap in my deeply freezer-burned freezer veggies, which turned out fine. Overall it was maybe a little heavy on the sweet potato for my tastes, but it's not my favorite.

I enjoyed this dish- nice enough looking and tasting for guests, and I'm looking forward to the leftovers. Took the advice of some other posters and increased the spices, and I'm glad I did. Was wary of the sogginess problem with too much liquid, so I pureed some of the solids with the "sauce" to thicken it, and that worked well- no one likes a soggy bottom ;) @Jamie, I used some roasted B-nut squash in place of some of the sweet potato- tasted great.

Fabulous filling. Not so happy with filo outcome. Next time will make my own pastry dough and make baked pierogis.

This will absolutely be in the rotation. Very forgiving and flexible recipe. I added more spice and heat to it to great effect. I also brush each layer of phyllo after it's added on, making sure to keep a damp towel on the rest so they do not dry out while I'm working. The mix also makes a lot - so I froze some of it.

I made this as a side dish subbing green peas for the chick peas and adding carrots. The only problem I had was cutting through the bottom layer for serving. If I can ever find more phyllo (stores have been out since the holidays) I’ll try it again by buttering each bottom layer of phyllo to make it more crunchy and hopefully easier to cut. Also I used a colander to drain the veggies before filling, and brushed the top with the broth as some have suggested.

I loved this recipe. Just one issue was that the bottom phyllo was soggy the way I did it. I removed the soggy on my slice. Any suggestions?

Didn't have mint so subbed cilantro. Worked well.

Superb. I love the fact that this recipe has the option to prepare in advance. Really delicious and so versatile.

BEWARE: There appear to be two sizes for different brands of frozen phyllo, 9x13 and 14x18. This recipe clearly works better with the larger sheets. The smaller size requires some rejiggering (or a smaller pan).

I made this in a 10x15 Pyrex pan using 4 sheets of phyllo on the bottom and 5 sheets of on top. I brushed each sheet with olive oil and folded over the edges. Delicious!

It turned out great without cauliflower as well, added an extra yellow bell pepper instead.

I cooked according to recipe but found the flavor to be just so-so. I don't actually like phyllo; if I made it again, I would likely just put a puff pastry on top. (And my phyllo sheets did not fit any pan in my kitchen, lol.)