Phyllo

Flaky and delicious, phyllo (also spelled filo or fillo) is delicate pastry dough used for appetizer and dessert recipes. It's composed of many tissue-thin sheets of dough that, unlike puff pastry, have very little fat. Try our wide range of phyllo recipes and get tips on working with phyllo dough from the experts at Martha Stewart.

Staff Picks

Mushroom-and-Goat-Cheese Purses

These tasty phyllo tarts are filled with goat cheese and lots of cooked mushrooms.

Skillet Spinach Pie

Rating: 3.07 stars
7
Opa! This spanakopita-inspired dish is a great vegetarian main or a hearty side for meat or chicken.

Kadaif

Rating: 3.91 stars
1
This classic Albanian dessert of shredded phyllo dough is dusted with vanilla sugar and walnuts and baked until golden brown.

Lighter Chicken Potpie

Rating: 3.14 stars
11
A handful of tweaks turn this comfort food into a smarter choice: white-meat chicken (not dark), extra veggies, low-fat milk in the filling, and a lighter crust. Brushing the phyllo with just a small amount of oil instead of butter makes it just as tasty.

Walnut-and-Honey Baklava

The many buttered layers of phyllo dough, walnut filling, and sweet syrup make baklava the ultimate special-occasion dessert in Greece.

Eggplant-Feta Phyllo Pies

Rating: 3.19 stars
4
Eggplant turns silky when baked until tender. Served with lightly dressed greens or assorted vegetables and hummus, these little pies make a tasty vegetarian dinner.

Phyllo Cups with Cappuccino Cream

Rating: 3.39 stars
1
Try adding a tablespoon of liqueur, like Kahlua or Baileys, to the filling for a more adult treat.

Baklava With Lemon-Honey Syrup

Flaky, sticky, and sweet, this delectable baklava from baker Umber Ahmad of Mah-Ze-Dahr is studded with cloves to anchor the pastry layers and infuse them with warm flavor. Lemon is mixed into the traditional honey syrup for a deliciously fresh twist.

Spinach Pie

Rating: 3.24 stars
17
This Greek-style dish can be assembled and then frozen for up to three months. When you're ready to bake, it can go straight from the freezer into the oven.

Honey-Ricotta Turnovers

Rating: 3.9 stars
6
Recreating your favorite ethnic pastry at home is easy with this easy recipe -- you can even fill, shape, and freeze the turnovers for up to a month, then bake them from frozen.

Chocolate Mousse Pie with Phyllo Crust

Rating: 3.8 stars
4
The crust is most crisp the day it's made, but the pie without the whipped-cream topping and chocolate shavings can be made up to a day ahead and stored in the refrigerator. To cut the pie into neat slices, use a serrated knife.

Rainbow-Chard Quiche

Chard leaves turn rich and tender when cooked; here, the mild stems provide a vivid topping for a brunch quiche. To ensure that the phyllo dough does not become dry and brittle, thaw it completely in the refrigerator; keep it covered with a towel as you work.
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Inspiration and Ideas

Rolled Baklava

Rolled Baklava
Rating: Unrated
1
For perfectly flaky phyllo dough, we go to Lili Fable, whose family-owned Poseidon Greek Bakery has made about 75 pounds of it a day since the '20s. This rolled baklava recipe is a must-make for a delicious sweet treat.
Spinach Phyllo Pie

Spinach Phyllo Pie
Rating: Unrated
2
Serve this savory Greek pastry as part of an appetizer table at a gathering.
Quick Spanakopita

Quick Spanakopita
Rating: Unrated
4
Ruffled Milk Pie

Ruffled Milk Pie
Pear and Apple Phyllo Crisp

Pear and Apple Phyllo Crisp
Rating: Unrated
3
Five-Spice Pumpkin Pie with Phyllo Crust

Five-Spice Pumpkin Pie with Phyllo Crust

Greek Spanakopita

Rating: 3.15 stars
1

This classic spinach pie is made with phyllo dough.

All Phyllo

Salmon-and-Spinach Rolls

Rating: 3.53 stars
2
Look for salmon fillets that are the same size. We found that 6-inch-long fillets work well, leaving the perfect amount of phyllo to wrap the fish on all sides.

Mushroom Wellington Cups

Rating: 3.64 stars
5
These mushroom cups can be frozen for up to one month and popped directly into the oven from the freezer (add two minutes to the cooking time). If you put them in while the meat is resting, they'll be ready just in time for dinner.

Leek Spanakopita

Crisp phyllo tops this traditional-with-a-twist savory Greek pie that boasts sharp feta, delicate spinach, and mild leeks. Cut into small squares and served at room temperature, this Spanakopita makes a terrific hors d'oeuvre.

Green-Curry Chicken Potpie

Rating: 3.52 stars
3
This recipe makes enough curry paste for three potpies, so you'll have some extra. It can be frozen for up to three months. Keep it on hand to use in meat, seafood, or noodle dishes for a quick meal.

Phyllo Nests

Rating: Unrated
1
Speckled jelly-bean "eggs" in a crispy phyllo nest make for a sweetly seasonal dessert. Use kataifi, pre-shredded phyllo, which is sold frozen at Greek grocers and large supermarkets.

Phyllo Squares with Baked Egg, Spinach, and Cheese

These savory pastries from the Martha Stewart Living digital magazine for iPad make a showstopping first course or brunch dish. Serve them with salad greens, and dinner's on.

Roasted-Carrot-and-Beet Tart

The cilantro here is fragrant even after cooking, and the vegetables' sweetness is offset by the toasted spices. Roasting beets provides more intense flavor but requires peeling them raw, which can leave hands red; consider wearing gloves.

Almond-Pear Tart

Instead of using pastry dough as the base of this tart, we stacked sheets of phyllo to create a crisp crust that is still sturdy enough to support a nut-and-fruit topping. For a different flavor profile, use skinned toasted hazelnuts in place of almonds, and apples instead of pears.

Curried Chicken-and-Potato Pie

Rating: 3.59 stars
1
This is a delicious and filling dinner pie; use mild curry powder if you're afraid of too much heat.

Mini Chicken B'Steeyas

B'steeya, a Moroccan specialty, is usually baked as one large "pie." Here, individual ones make delicious finger food.

Summer Squash Tart with Olives

Rating: 2.88 stars
1
Vibrant slices of zucchini and yellowsquash, plus Greekolives, are arrangedover flaky store-bought phyllo doughfor an easy seasonaltart.

Banana and Chocolate Triangles

Crisp triangles of phyllo dough stuffed with a sweet filling of bananas and chocolate are delicious for dessert or as a snack.

Spinach-Dill Pie

Layers of phyllo dough make a quick crust for this savory pie. For the filling, fresh spinach is sauteed with onion and garlic, then stirred into a combination of ricotta and Parmesan cheeses, fresh dill, parsley, cumin, and eggs.

Phyllo Purses

Frozen phyllo dough is available in most supermarkets. To keep it from drying out while you work, cover the dough you're not using with a damp kitchen towel.

Ground-Beef Pie

Prepare this savory pie of ground beef in phyllo dough ahead of time, and refrigerate overnight. Bake the next day and have an impressive main course or an excellent addition to a buffet table.

Apple Custard Pie

Don't be intimidated by the kataifi (shredded phyllo); it's easy to find and comes in a big bunch that you simply need to pull apart before baking.

Pistachio Baklava

Rating: 3.67 stars
1
In the traditional baklava, nuts are layered between buttered paper-thin sheets of phyllo. Instead, to save time, we rolled up the sheets and cut them crosswise into ribbons, which we then tossed with nuts and butter.

Martha's Baklava

Martha made this recipe on Martha Bakes episode 407.

Lighter Rolled Baklava

This lighter version of the classic Greek dessert—phyllo dough layered with honey, apricots, and pistachios—is rolled to make it easier to prepare and serve.

Roasted Plum Strudel

This simple strudel is made of roasted plums wrapped in a phyllo crust layered with pistachios.

Sweet Potato Souffle Pie

Rating: 3.82 stars
9
Layers of paper-thin buttery phyllo overlap to form a delicate base for a sweet potato souffle.

Spinach-and-Turkey Hand Pies

Greek-Style Turkey Meatloaf stars as the savory filling in these flaky phyllo-dough hand pies.

Ratatouille Phyllo Wraps

These crisp phyllo bundles are great as hors d'oeuvres or served with roasted chicken or fish.

Spanakopita

An updated take on a classic Spanakopita recipe, this cheese-free version is sure to please. With loads of spinach, clarified butter, and a flaky crust, it's an instant winner. Martha made this recipe on Martha Bakes episode 407.
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