Hearty Borek Recipe (Rich and Buttery Savory Pie from Turkey and the Balkans)

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Bake a real stomach pleaser for you, friends, and family come breakfast, lunch or dinnertime with our borek recipe, and succumb to the magic of this sumptuously soft, wonderfully cheesy, and gloriously buttery pie.

Borek Recipe

There’s a reason this mouthwatering pastry is so popular across Eastern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Its rich, buttery, and melt-in-mouth pastry casing provides the perfect foundation on which you can add a huge array of different fillings.

A real favorite at breakfast for so many Turks, there’s no reason you can’t enjoy this renowned pastry at any time of the day, either as a slice on its own, or with a range of sides and salads.

What is Borek?

Originating from Turkey and the Ottoman Empire, borek is a savory pie made from pastry (commonly filo/phyllo) with a filling that varies from country to country. Cheese, egg, potato, and meat are just some of the many types of borek you can try.

Renowned in many countries for its weaving pastry exterior due to the twisting and crumpling of the pastry before baking, borek or burek, while a staple breakfast dish of Turkish cuisine, is widely popular in many other cuisines.

In the Balkans, you’ll find it in the likes of Bosnian cuisine, Serbian cuisine, North Macedonian cuisine, Croatian cuisine, and Montenegrin cuisine, among many others, while the dish can also be found in North Africa in the likes of Algerian cuisine, all the way over to the Levant and the Middle East, in the likes of Israeli cuisine.

Our recipe takes close influence from borek you’ll most likely find in the Balkans countries, so prepare yourself for plenty of flaky, cheesy, and buttery goodness!

Borek Ingredients

To make borek, you’ll need the following ingredients:

• Phyllo / Filo – 12 sheets (~250 grams or 8.8 oz)
• Feta – 300 grams (10.5 oz)
• Butter – 100 grams (7 tablespoons), melted
• Sour Cream – 200 grams (7 oz)
• Eggs – 3
• Milk – 100 ml (1/2 cup)
• Egg Yolk – 1
• Nigella Seeds – 2 tsp, optional

Step-by-Step Instructions (with Photos)

Step 1 – Crumble the feta cheese.

Step 2 – Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl.

Step 3 – Add the eggs and sour cream to the feta cheese and mix everything.

Step 4 – Add the milk and once again, mix everything together.

Step 5 – Melt the butter in a small microwaveable bowl or in a pan on low heat on the stove.

Note: If choosing to microwave the butter, heat it up in 10-second increments so that the butter doesn’t splatter in the microwave. After every 10 seconds, pull the bowl out of the microwave and stir. Some microwaves may also have a melt-butter function, which should make things easier.

Step 6 – Using a pastry brush, butter a baking dish.

Step 7 – Put two filo sheets on the bottom and add melted butter with a pastry brush on each.

Step 8 – Now, we’ll take 4 filo sheets and bunch them up on the long side and add them to the baking dish, side by side, sprinkling melted butter on top of them with a pastry brush or spoon.

Step 9 – Add half the cheese-sour-cream-milk mixture.

Step 10 – Add 4 ruffled/bunched-up filo sheets on top, and add melted butter.

Step 11 – Pour the second half of the cheese-sour-cream-milk mixture.

Step 12 – Add 2 sheets on top and add melted butter with a pastry brush on each.

Step 13 – Mix the egg yolk with 2 tbsp of milk, and top the borek with this mixture.

Step 14 – Sprinkle the nigella seeds.

Step 15 – Bake the borek in the preheated oven at 360°F or 180°C for 50-60 minutes until golden (as shown below).

Once it’s ready, leave it to rest for 5-10 minutes. Cut yourself a square slice and enjoy it warm. That melt-in-mouth pastry will have your eyes rolling into the back of your head, and paired with the cheese, egg, and sour cream filling truly is a marriage of textural perfection.

The beauty of borek is also in its versatility. You can take a grab-and-go slice to work or pair it with potatoes, roasted greens, or a side salad for a hearty lunch or dinner if you have a little more time to spare.

From the lively bakeries in the alleys of Istanbul to the humble home kitchens of villages in the Albanian mountains, this incredible pastry dish to this day remains a favorite in so many cuisines. You simply have to try it!

Borek Recipe Card

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Contributor: Efimia is a passionate home cook and retired teacher who has been feeding friends and family with homecooked Balkans and Eastern European favorites for the best party of forty years.