Spanakopita Fritters
SA and I went to Mykonos this summer, which is one of my favourite places to go in the summer to spend a week relaxing on the beach. The ocean is a gorgeous color of turquoise, the beaches are beautiful and the restaurants are amazing. Fresh grilled fish, prawns, squid and meat, roasted vegetables and all sorts of amazing salads, it’s food heaven.
One of my absolute favourite greek dishes is spanakopita, a crispy phyllo pastry wrapped around a center of creamy feta and spinach. When I got back to London I decided to experiment with different ways to use spanakopita filling in a grain free dish. First up was a spinach pie which had great flavour but was lacking texture and to be perfectly honest, looked boring. Next up, was fritters, one of my favourite things to eat when I’m craving something fried because you can pack them full of veggies which results in a lot less guilt.
I am so excited with how these spanakopita fritters turned out, they are crisp on the outside with a creamy spinach and feta centre. You can make them larger in size and serve them as a main course or they are fantastic as finger food (I can never resist the opportunity to turn things into cute bite sized versions, it’s a weakness). These would be great to serve to guests as the mixture can be made a few hours ahead, formed into patties and then stored in the fridge on a baking sheet until right before lightly frying. If you want to make a healthier version, these can also be baked in the oven for 20 minutes but unfortunately the fritters will lose some of their crispiness if cooked this way.
If you make this recipe let me know in the comment section below, I would love to hear what you think or take a photo and tag me (@everylastbite_) on Instagram, I love seeing your photos!
Spanakopita Fritters
Ingredients
- 400 grams fresh spinach
- 3/4 cup green onions
- 3/4 cup feta
- 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup almond flour plus 1/4 cup for coating
- 1 tbsp olive oil for frying
Instructions
- Wash the spinach and place it in a pot on medium heat. Watch the spinach to ensure it doesn't burn. Once it has begun to wilt and forms into a ball, remove from the pot and place between paper towels. Try to squeeze as much water out as possible.
- In a food processor combine the wilted spinach, green onions, feta, lemon juice, eggs and almond flour. Pulse lightly until the mixture becomes smooth.
- Form the spinach mixture into patties and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Place 1/4 cup almond flour on a plate and coat each fritter in the flour
- Place 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan on medium heat and cook the fritters in batches. Cook each side until lightly golden and then flip (it should be approximately 2-3 minutes per side).
- Serve topped with whipped feta or SCD yogurt and sprinkle with chopped green onions
If your on scd and cannot have feta, what would be as good in its place?
Any trick to getting these to stay together? The mixture tastes phenomenal, but the fritters fell apart in the oil and made quite a mess. I stopped after two batches in the pan, put a little coconut flour in the mix and put it in the fridge to firm it up a bit more, and it still fell apart 🙁 There was no water left in the spinach so I’m stumped!
Im so sorry to hear that Theresa! My suggestions would be 1) start by making the patties smaller (approximately the size of a flattened golf ball) 2) leave them in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up and 3) make sure the pan is very hot when you cook them so that a crust is quickly formed, you can then turn down the temperature once the outside has been seared to ensure the middle is cooked. Hopefully that helps!