Recipes with filo pastry

10 recipes that use filo pastry, with photos, step-by-step instructions and cook times. The quickest, Kallaj, takes 60 minutes. It is most often cooked with butter, pistachios and whole milk.

Got a few things in the fridge? Search by everything you have

Ouzi

Ouzi is the showpiece of Jordanian and Damascene wedding buffets and Eid lunches: golden filo bundles that break open to spiced rice, minced lamb, peas and toasted nuts. The name comes from the whole roast lamb once served on a mountain of rice; the parcels are the neat, home-sized version, made ahead and baked as guests arrive. Serve with plain yoghurt or a cucumber-yoghurt salad. The common mistake is filling the filo with wet rice, which turns the bottoms soggy, so cook the rice until just tender and spread it out to steam dry. Chef's tip: lay a few nuts and peas in the bowl first, then the filo, then the filling, so each parcel comes out with a pretty top.

100 min

Jordanian Meat

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Laz böreği

Ask for something sweet in a Rize pastry shop and you are likely to be handed a square of Laz böreği, a crisp filo pie layered with butter and filled with a thick, vanilla-scented milk custard, then drenched in cool syrup as it leaves the oven. It is a wedding and holiday dessert in Laz villages, and an everyday treat with tea in town. The top shatters, the middle is soft and creamy, and the syrup keeps it fresh for a couple of days. Common mistake: pouring hot syrup on a hot pie, which makes the pastry soggy; one of the two must be cool. Chef's tip: cook the custard until it holds a trail for a few seconds, then cover the surface with cling film so no skin forms before you layer it.

90 min

Turkish Desserts

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Kremidopita

Mykonian grandmothers made kremidopita long before the island filled with beach clubs: a pie of slowly softened onions, tangy fresh cheese, eggs and dill between sheets of filo, baked for name days and family Sundays. The onions go sweet and jammy, the cheese keeps it creamy and sharp, and it is eaten warm or cold with a tomato salad. Feta is usually made with animal rennet, so pick a vegetarian feta if you need to. Common mistake: frying the onions hard and fast; they must sweat gently until soft, or the filling turns bitter and crunchy. Chef's tip: cool the onions completely before mixing in the eggs and cheese, so the filling doesn't start to set before baking.

100 min

Greek Snacks & Starters

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Trigona Panoramatos

Up in Panorama, the hillside suburb above Thessaloniki, pastry shops fill crisp filo triangles to order, and people carry boxes of them down to the city for Sunday visits and name days. Each cone is baked until it shatters, dunked for a second in lemony syrup, then piped full of a cold, light custard cream. The contrast is the point: brittle, buttery shell against soft, barely sweet filling, best within a couple of hours. Common mistake: filling the cones while the syrup is still warm, which melts the cream and turns the pastry limp. Chef's tip: roll each cone around a cone-shaped metal mould or a twist of foil so it keeps a wide, open mouth for piping.

90 min

Greek Desserts

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Prasopita

In the villages around Kozani and Kastoria, winter leeks pulled from frozen ground go into this pie, made on Sundays and taken to the fields in slabs wrapped in paper. The leeks are sweated slowly in butter and olive oil until silky and sweet, bound with eggs, feta and a little semolina, then baked between buttery sheets of filo. It is softer and gentler than spinach pie, and just as good cold the next day. Feta and kefalotyri usually use animal rennet; choose vegetarian versions if needed. Common mistake: leaving grit in the leeks — split and wash them under the tap before slicing. Chef's tip: cook the leeks until all their liquid has gone, or the bottom pastry turns soggy.

95 min

Greek Snacks & Starters

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Kotopita

Epirus is Greece's pie country, and kotopita is the one served at Sunday lunch and family celebrations in Ioannina, cut into deep golden squares. Chicken is poached until tender, shredded and folded into a filling of soft leeks, peppers, eggs and two cheeses, then baked between layers of buttered filo. A salad is all you need alongside. Common mistake: adding the eggs to hot filling, which scrambles them — cool it first. Chef's tip: cook the poaching stock down by half and stir a few spoons into the filling; it keeps the chicken moist without making the pastry wet.

140 min

Greek Chicken

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Znoud el sit

Lebanese sweet shops in Tripoli and Saida fry trays of znoud el sit every evening during Ramadan, and families queue for them after iftar. Filo is rolled around a thick, set milk cream (a home version of ashta), baked or fried until shatteringly crisp, then dipped in cold syrup and dusted with ground pistachios. The contrast of crackling pastry and cool, fragrant cream is the whole point, so eat them within an hour or two of filling. Common mistake: filling with warm cream; it leaks and makes the pastry soggy, so chill it until firm. Chef's tip: brush with clarified butter rather than whole butter — it browns evenly without burning and keeps the rolls crisp longer.

70 min

Lebanese Desserts

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Kallaj

Kallaj appears in the sweet shops of Beirut and Tripoli only during Ramadan, when bakers sell paper-thin starch sheets to wrap around cream or cheese and fry for after iftar. Home cooks recreate it with filo: square parcels of thick milk cream, baked until they crackle, then soaked briefly in rose and orange-blossom syrup and finished with pistachios. Serve them warm, a few minutes after the syrup goes on, while the outside is still crisp. Common mistake: drowning them in syrup and leaving them to sit; spoon it over just before serving. Chef's tip: a cheese version — fill with half mozzarella, half unsalted ricotta — is just as traditional; choose a vegetarian-rennet mozzarella if you need it.

60 min

Lebanese Desserts

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Shaabiyat

Shaabiyat is one of the jewels of Aleppo's pastry shops, made in huge trays for weddings and for Eid visits: buttery filo folded into triangles around a cool, thick milk cream, baked until golden and shatteringly crisp, then splashed with syrup and topped with ground pistachio. The cream stays cool and soft inside the crackling layers. Serve within a few hours of baking. Common mistake: letting the filo dry out while you work — keep the sheets under a damp tea towel. Chef's tip: syrup must be cold and the pastry hot when they meet, so it soaks in without making the layers soggy.

65 min

Syrian Desserts

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Banitsa

Banitsa is the Bulgarian breakfast pie, bought warm in paper from corner bakeries in Sofia and Plovdiv with a bottle of ayran or boza, and baked at home on New Year's Eve with lucky charms (kasmeti) tucked inside. Crumpled sheets of filo are layered with crumbled sirene and a custard of yogurt and eggs, then baked until the top is shatteringly crisp and the inside soft and tangy. It is not boiled like Turkish su böreği: the yogurt custard is what makes it Bulgarian. Chef's tip: crumple the filo loosely rather than laying it flat; flat, tightly packed sheets are the usual mistake and give a dense, doughy pie.

70 min

Bulgarian Breakfast & Brunch

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Goes well with filo pastry