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Bulgarian Banitsa with Ground Meat, Spinach & Feta

Name: Bulgarian Banitsa with Ground Meat, Spinach & Feta
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 2 h
Cuisine: Bulgarian
Ingredients: 400 ml lukewarm water, about 1⅔ cups; 1 packet instant yeast; 1 tablespoon honey or sugar — I usually use honey; 1 tablespoon oil; About 600 g all-purpose flour, added gradually; Salt, to taste; Extra oil, for generously brushing the dough disks; About 250–300 g ground meat — use more if you prefer a meatier filling; Spinach, chopped; 1 bunch fresh green onions, chopped; Crumbled feta cheese, to taste; A little butter; A little oil; Seasonings for the ground meat, to your taste

Hand-stretched yeast dough filled with seasoned ground meat, spinach, fresh green onions, and feta, coiled into one big spiral and baked in my Dutch oven.

Cook

45–50 min

Total

2 hrs

Bulgarian Banitsa with Ground Meat, Spinach & Feta

This is a homemade Bulgarian banitsa made completely from scratch, with soft yeast dough stretched into thin sheets and filled with seasoned ground meat, spinach, fresh green onions, and crumbled feta cheese. Where I'm from in Bulgaria, banitsa is most often made with feta cheese, and that is the kind my grandmother made. She never made it with meat. Years later, when my children were little, an older friend of mine who was helping watch them — basically our nanny at the time — taught me how to make this version with meat. I loved it, and over the years I made it my own by adding spinach, fresh green onions, feta cheese, and my modern Dutch oven twist. In Bulgaria, we traditionally love eating banitsa with plain yogurt, and this version is especially good that way.

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More photos

Pouring the activated yeast, water, and oil mixture into a bowl of flour

Shaping the soft kneaded dough into a smooth ball on a floured board

Cutting the kneaded dough into portions with a knife

Holding a smooth, rounded portion of dough in floured hands

Brushing melted butter over the stacked dough disks with a pastry brush

Oiled dough disks stacked on a glass plate, resting before stretching

Adding chopped fresh spinach to the browned ground meat in the skillet

The spinach and ground meat filling cooking down in the skillet

The cooked meat and spinach filling in a bowl with crumbled feta mixed in

Stretching a risen dough disk by hand into a large, thin sheet

Spooning the meat, spinach, and feta filling onto the stretched dough

Coiling the filled dough rope into a spiral inside the baking pan

The assembled raw banitsa spiral in the pan, ready for the oven

The baked banitsa spiral, glossy and deeply golden

The finished banitsa spiral in its round pan on a wooden board

The baked banitsa seen from the side, showing its golden crust

A piece pulled from the warm banitsa, showing the meat, spinach, and feta filling

An individual spiral banitsa on printed parchment paper

Instructions

Activate the Yeast

1
In a bowl or large measuring cup, combine the lukewarm water, yeast, honey or sugar, and 1 tablespoon oil.
2
Stir well and let the mixture sit until the yeast begins to activate and becomes slightly foamy.

Prepare the Flour

1
Sift part of the flour into a large mixing bowl.
2
Add the salt directly to the flour and mix.
3
Do not add all 600 g of flour at once. The amount can vary depending on the brand of flour.

Make the Dough

1
Pour the activated yeast mixture into the bowl with the sifted flour and salt.
2
Begin mixing and gradually add more flour until a soft dough forms.
3
Knead until smooth and workable.
4
The dough should stay soft. Do not make it hard by adding too much flour.

Divide the Dough Before Rising

1
As soon as the dough is kneaded, divide it into about 6 pieces. Do not let the whole dough rise first.
2
Shape each piece into a ball, then gently flatten each ball into a thick round disk.
3
Brush every disk generously with oil.

Let the Dough Rise

1
Arrange the oiled dough disks and let them rise for about 30 minutes, until soft and puffy.
2
You can use my warm-oven method if you like, but make sure the oven is only gently warm and turned off before the dough goes inside. You want the dough to rise, not begin baking.
3
While the dough is rising, prepare the filling.

Make the Filling

1
Heat a little butter and oil in a large skillet.
2
Add the ground meat and season it according to your own taste. Cook until the meat is well browned.
3
Add the chopped spinach and the entire bunch of chopped green onions. Continue cooking until the spinach and onions soften and the meat is fully cooked.
4
The spinach, onions, and meat can release liquid, so once the filling is ready, drain off any excess fat or liquid. You do not want the filling to be watery.
5
Let it cool slightly, then crumble feta cheese into the mixture and stir everything together.

Stretch the Dough

1
Take one risen dough disk at a time. Using your hands, gently stretch it from the center toward the edges until it becomes a large, very thin sheet.
2
The dough can become almost translucent. It does not need to be perfectly round, and a few small holes are completely fine.
3
If you prefer, you can also use a rolling pin, but I find hand-stretching easier.

Add the Filling

1
Spread some of the meat, spinach, green onion, and feta filling over the stretched dough. Do not overload it.

Roll

1
Gently roll the filled dough into a long log.
2
Repeat with the remaining dough disks and filling.

Shape It

1
One large spiral: place the first filled log into your baking pan and begin forming a spiral. Continue adding the remaining logs around it until you have one large spiral banitsa.
2
Individual banitsa: you can also coil each filled log into its own smaller spiral and bake individual pieces.
3
Both ways work beautifully.

My Dutch Oven Twist

1
Traditionally, banitsa is baked in a regular baking pan. My modern twist is to bake mine in a Dutch oven — I love the way it holds the shape and gives the banitsa a beautiful finish.
2
If using a Dutch oven, grease it well before arranging the spiral inside.
3
You can absolutely use a regular round baking pan, deep baking dish, or any oven-safe dish you prefer.

Bake

1
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2
Arrange the shaped banitsa in your Dutch oven or baking pan.
3
Bake for about 45 to 50 minutes, until the dough is fully baked and beautifully golden. Every oven bakes differently, so it can be a little less than 50 minutes.
4
Serve warm.

Toti’s Tips

✓Activate the yeast in lukewarm water with honey or sugar and 1 tablespoon oil before adding it to the flour.
✓Sift the flour and mix the salt into it first.
✓Add the flour gradually because different flour brands absorb liquid differently.
✓Keep the dough soft, not stiff.
✓Divide and flatten the dough before the first rise.
✓Brush the flattened disks generously with oil before letting them rise.
✓About 30 minutes of rising makes the dough much easier to stretch.
✓Stretch gently from the center toward the edges.
✓A few small holes are completely fine.
✓Drain the filling well before adding the feta.
✓Use more ground meat or feta if that is what your family prefers.
✓You can season the meat however you like.
✓Make one large spiral or smaller individual banitsa pieces.
✓A Dutch oven is my favorite modern way to bake it, but a regular baking pan works perfectly too.
✓Bake at 350°F for about 45 to 50 minutes — every oven bakes differently, so it can be a little less.
✓In Bulgaria, banitsa and yogurt just belong together. Serve this warm with a bowl or glass of plain Bulgarian yogurt on the side.

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