Easy Lebanese Spinach Pies

If you love the taste of Lebanese spinach pies but want an easier option, try this recipe. It uses the same filling mixture but is more of an open faced spinach pie and you don’t need to make any dough! Great for a quick Middle Eastern lunch or light dinner on a busy weeknight. They also make a delicious snack.

You might also like these easy Lebanese pizzas!

I grew up with a Lebanese grandma who was the best cook! Even luckier my mom learned how to cook her recipes and master them. So for many years I took for granted all that delicious Middle eastern food in my life.

My grandma passed away when I was 18 and my mother when I was 30 and I never did learn how to master those dishes but I’ve learned to make do with my easier versions that have all the flavor but not all the mastery skills. I learned to make do so to speak.

Today’s challenge was these easy Lebanese spinach pies (spinach fatayer). I found my mom’s recipe and made the spinach filling the same as her but I didn’t make the homemade dough. I used small naan bread I buy at Aldi and they were great! The spinach filling is mix of spinach, caramelized onions and lemon. It’s super flavorful and the naan has the same flavor as her homemade dough.

The only problem was that I had to make these open faced instead of the traditional triangular shape pie. But it was easy because no dough means no flour, yeast, kneading nor raising. And they were very tasty so I’m ok with that.

Fatayer is a Middle Eastern meat pie that is can also be filled with spinach or feta cheese. When my mother made these it was time consuming. She used to make her own dough mixture, cut small flat circles, add the filling and fold up the sides.

Then she’d pinch them shut to form triangle shape and bake them. This recipe has the same taste but takes less than 30 minutes because we are using already made naan bread.

Recipe ingredients I used.

I only used a few simple ingredients to make these spinach pies – fresh spinach, yellow onion, green onion, salt, black pepper, ground sumac, fresh lemon juice and olive oil. My mom used to use frozen spinach but I only had fresh baby spinach on hand so used that.

If you want to use frozen spinach substitute ½ of a 10 ounce package for the fresh. Thaw first then place it in a clean kitchen towel and wring out the excess water. The makes the spinach dry and you can then add it to the pan.

Sumac is an usual spice and may be hard to find. It’s made from dark red sumac berries. It’s bright, tart and lemony and often used in Middle Eastern cooking. If you can find it and like Lebanese dishes it is worth getting but if not you can substitute with maybe a teaspoon of vinegar. (Learn more about sumac substitutes.)

The mini naan bread can be found at Aldi for sure and I have also seen even smaller naan bread at Costco. This is an important ingredient because it definitely has the same flavor and texture as my mom’s bread dough. Ready made pizza dough or bread dough just doesn’t have the same flavor as the naan.

How to make this easy version of Lebanese spinach pies.

The filling takes just about 5-10 minutes to make and you bake the pies for about 15 minutes so you can be done in 20-25 minutes!

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Get out a large baking sheet and take 1 tablespoon olive oil and brush over the entire surface and set aside. You could use parchment paper to cover the baking tray but the olive oil gives the naan extra flavor so that is why I use that instead.
2. Get out a large saute pan and heat to medium high heat. Add the olive oil and let heat up then turn down to medium heat. Add the onion, green onion, salt, black pepper and sumac. Mix well and cook until the onions are browned. This should take a couple of minutes to brown the onions.
3. Next add in the fresh spinach. You want to add as much as you can and let it wilt, then add more. A 12 ounce bag ended up barely filling the pan when it wilted (see below picture). I didn’t chop my spinach but I would suggest you do. Turn off the heat and set aside to cool.
4. Get out the prepared baking sheet and place the mini naan bread. Spray the edges with nonstick cooking spray first so they don’t burn. You can also brush olive oil on the edges instead if you wish.
5. Spoon the sautéed spinach mix onto the naan bread and evenly spread around but keep it ¼ inch from the edge. This recipe made 6 mini spinach pies.
6. Place the baking sheet in the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes until the edges are golden brown then take them out and let cool.

When you get them out of the oven they should look like they do below. They would be better if they were in the little triangle shape pies to keep the filling in but as I mentioned above the flavor is spot on and much easier.

My husband loved these and I was surprised to be honest. You want to store leftovers in an airtight container or cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator. Just heat up for a 30 seconds in the microwave to reheat.

Please scroll down to view the recipe card.

Another variation of the filling.

My mother played around with add raisins in the filling. It gives it a bit of sweetness to counterbalance the tartness of the lemony spinach. If you wanted to try that, start with just ¼ cup of raisins and add them when you are cooking the onions. They will get soft and taste better.

I’ve also heard of adding pomegranate seeds though I have never tried them. They would look pretty though!

More easy Middle Eastern recipes to try!

As I mentioned above these are my easier options of my mom’s Middle Eastern recipes but they are all really tasty so give them a try! Note some of them are low carb because I mostly cook low carb recipes.

• eggplant beef stew or green bean beef stew
• meat stuffed zucchini
• chicken and couscous soup (similar to moghrabieh)
• chicken and rice skillet (similar to the flavors of moghrabieh)
• low carb meatballs (similar taste to a low carb kibbeh)
• easy Lebanese pizzas
• Middle Eastern chicken salad (similar to fattoush)
• low carb tabouili
• lamb burgers

I’m not going to lie. I was super pleased with these Lebanese spinach pies. It’s the perfect snack or light meal when I’m craving Middle Eastern food. Next up grape leaves and kibbeh! Hope you like these as much as I did.