Name: Banitsa
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h
Ingredients: Filo (Phyllo) Dough – 6 sheets*; Feta – 300 grams (10.5 oz), crumbled; Butter – 100 grams (7 tbsp), cut into tiny cubes; Eggs – 4; Greek Yoghurt (10%) – 150 grams (5.2 oz or roughly 1/2 cup); Whole Milk – 200 ml (3/4 cups and 2 tbsp); Sunflower Oil (or Light Olive Oil or another neutral-tasting oil) – 30 ml (2 tbsp); Baking Soda – 1/2 tsp

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Our banitsa recipe, a beloved and iconic Bulgarian and Balkans pie, sings to the stomach with each and every wholesome, cheesy, and buttery soft mouthful. It’s ideal to serve at celebrations, parties, and big gatherings, and it is as filling as it is delicious.

Table of Contents

Banitsa Recipe

Embrace Bulgarian tradition and cuisine by preparing this wonderfully filling pastry dish, and treat your family, friends, and loved ones to a slice of pie (or several) that is loaded with flavor enveloped within a delightfully soft and buttery texture.

Banitsa slice on a plate with the rest of the banitsa in the background on a wooden board.

What is Banitsa?

Integral to Bulgarian cuisine, banitsa is a delicious baked pastry dish made of rolled filo pastry, commonly assembled in a spiral formation, with a cheese, egg, and yogurt-based filling.

The dish is an important symbol of Bulgarian cuisine and tradition and is always prepared on Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Often, lucky charms, similar to fortune cookies, are put into the dish before baking, which symbolizes good health and long life to those who find them.

While originating from Bulgaria, the dish, which can also be called banica or banitza, is also prominent in both North Macedonian cuisine and Serbian cuisine.

Our recipe closely follows the traditional preparation of this dish. However, there is plenty of room to adapt the recipe, and many variations exist. These include putting spinach or pumpkin into the filling or drizzling sunflower oil on the pastry layers before baking.

Ingredients

To make your very own banitsa, you’ll first need the following ingredients:

Filo (Phyllo) Dough – 6 sheets*
Feta – 300 grams (10.5 oz), crumbled
Butter – 100 grams (7 tbsp), cut into tiny cubes
Eggs – 4
Greek Yoghurt (10%) – 150 grams (5.2 oz or roughly 1/2 cup)
Whole Milk – 200 ml (3/4 cups and 2 tbsp)
Sunflower Oil (or Light Olive Oil or another neutral-tasting oil) – 30 ml (2 tbsp)
Baking Soda – 1/2 tsp

*Note: We used 6 sheets for our 9-inch round baking pan. Adjust accordingly if your pan is bigger.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1 – Mix 3 eggs, the oil, the baking soda, and the yogurt in a medium-sized bowl.

Banitsa Recipe Step by Step (mixing the eggs, oil, yogurt, and baking soda).

Give everything a rigorous mix, ideally with a whisk.

Banitsa Recipe Step by Step (mixing the eggs, oil, yogurt, and baking soda with a whisk).

Once mixed, you should have a smooth, yellow-colored mixture, as shown below.

Banitsa Recipe Step by Step (mixed the eggs, oil, yogurt, and baking soda).

Step 2 – Add the crumbled feta cheese to the egg-yogurt mixture. We prefer getting our feta whole and crumbling it with a fork rather than buying the cheese pre-crumbled.

Banitsa Recipe Step by Step (adding the feta cheese).

Banitsa Recipe Step by Step (the eggs, oil, yogurt, and baking soda mixture with feta cheese).

Step 3 – On each filo sheet, add some of the egg-cheese mixture. If using our measurements and a 9-inch pan, then use about 1/6 of the egg-cheese mixture on each filo dough sheet.

Step 4 – Add tiny cubes of butter on each filo dough sheet. Again, if using our measurements, you’ll be using 1/6 of the butter on each filo sheet. Take the short edge of the filo dough, and roll each sheet (as shown below).

Step 5 – In the round baking pan (which should be either lined with baking paper or greased with some oil or melted butter so the filo dough doesn’t stick to the bottom), add each rolled sheet (as shown below).

Repeat with each rolled filo dough sheet.

Step 6 – Mix the milk with the remaining egg with a whisk or fork.

Banitsa Recipe Step by Step (mixing the milk and egg).

Step 7 – Pour the egg and milk mixture over the banitsa.

Banitsa Recipe Step by Step (pouring the milk-egg mixture over the banitsa).

Step 8 – Poke holes with a fork so that the banitsa absorbs the milk better.

Step 9 – Preheat the oven to 180°C (360°F) and place the banitsa in the oven for about 50 minutes. Place it on a lower level so it doesn’t burn the top. Check on it from time to time.

Once ready, your banitsa should have a beautiful golden brown crusted exterior, and is ready to serve to your family or dinner guests.

Texturally, banitsa is such an eye-catching dish. While it can be baked in a square format, there is just something almost hypnotic about the authentic spiral bake, which draws you in with its golden brown and yellow hues and flaked, folded crust.

But then the real magic of this dish ignites when you cut through the pastry to reveal the moist, melt-in-mouth filling, with its weaving filo sheets and spots of white crumbled cheese, the edges and curves glistening against the light.

Take in that freshly baked aroma, and get ready for a moan or two when a piece of that buttery soft pie glides along your tastebuds. Bulgarians know how to do comforting food, that’s for sure!

Enjoy a slice or two of this pie either piping hot from the oven with a glass of ayran, a yogurt-based fermented drink, or a dollop of natural yogurt, or for a pick-me-up snack with a side of salad or vegetables once it’s cooled down, quiche-style.

However you eat it, you, your family, and dinner guests are truly in for a wholesome lunch or dinner from the heart of Bulgaria!

Banitsa Recipe Card

Banitsa

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Ingredients

Filo (Phyllo) Dough – 6 sheets*
Feta – 300 grams (10.5 oz), crumbled
Butter – 100 grams (7 tbsp), cut into tiny cubes
Eggs – 4
Greek Yoghurt (10%) – 150 grams (5.2 oz or roughly 1/2 cup)
Whole Milk – 200 ml (3/4 cups and 2 tbsp)
Sunflower Oil (or Light Olive Oil or another neutral-tasting oil) – 30 ml (2 tbsp)
Baking Soda – 1/2 tsp

Instructions

Using a whisk or a fork, mix 3 eggs, the oil, the baking soda, and the yogurt in a medium-sized bowl.
Add the crumbled feta cheese to the egg-yogurt mixture.
On each filo sheet, add some of the egg-cheese mixture. If using our measurements and a 9-inch pan, then use about 1/6 of the egg-cheese mixture on each filo dough sheet.
Add tiny cubes of butter on each filo dough sheet. Again, if using our measurements, you’ll be using 1/6 of the butter on each filo sheet. Take the short edge of the filo dough, and roll each sheet (as shown below).
In the round baking pan (which should be either lined with baking paper or greased with some oil or melted butter so the filo dough doesn’t stick to the bottom), add each rolled sheet like a spiral (as shown below). Repeat with each rolled filo dough sheet until the round pan is full (as shown below).
Mix the milk with the remaining egg with a whisk or fork.
Pour the egg and milk mixture over the banitsa.
Poke holes with a fork so that the banitsa absorbs the milk better.
Preheat the oven to 180°C (360°F) and place the banitsa in the oven for about 50 minutes. Place it on a lower level so it doesn’t burn the top. Once ready, your banitsa should have a beautiful golden brown crusted exterior, and is ready to serve to your family or dinner guests.

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Contributor: Efimia is a passionate home chef and teacher, from Moldova, who has been baking, cooking, and making a vast array of Eastern European and Balkans dishes from her humble home kitchen for over four decades.