These Vegan Spanakopita Cheese and Spinach Triangles are a vegan version of that favourite Greek recipe, Spanakopita. You will love these yummy, crunchy cheesy triangles of deliciousness. Stuffed with spinach (or chard) and a hit of dill, and lots of feta and ricotta style filling, but made vegan. Perfect for sharing with friends for summer appetizers and snacks.
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Why these are great!
Spanakopita is a classic Greek dish that literally translates to Spinach Pie (Spanaki = Spinach or Greens and Pita= Pie). Traditionally made with feta cheese and lots of layers of filo pastry, it was one of my favourite dishes, so I had to make it vegan! This recipe is actually one of my OG Recipes from WAY back in 2017, originally called vegan cheese and spinach triangles, but it's so good it needed some more love, plus the addition of air frying time! If you love this recipe, of course you should also try my classic full version Vegan Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie), which I like to make for dinner parties.
🌱Ingredients
There are three main elements which make this vegan Spinach and Cheese triangle recipe successful:
The Vegan Cheese Mixture
This mixture is my tried and tested cheesy mixture that I make to fill all kinds of things. It even has it's own dip version that's just made with tofu Vegan Whipped Tofu Feta
- Cashews: Soaked overnight or boiled to soften.
- Firm Tofu: Very firm tofu (not silken tofu!) This creates a bouncy, ricotta cheese-like effect.
- Nutritional Yeast: For depth and cheesy flavour
- Lemon Juice: Essential for the tangy flavour.
- Green Olives: Good green olives (Big ones from a jar or the deli) have a salty depth that is very similar to feta cheese.
- Salt: Feta is famously salty so sea salt is essential.
- Dill: I add the fresh dill to the cheese mixture which gives an extra 'Greek' flavour profile.
The Spinach
- Frozen OR Fresh spinach: Choose either blocks of frozen spinach, or cook down fresh spinach. *You will need lots if you use fresh spinach!
- Garlic: Cooked a little before adding the spinach in.
The Filo Pastry Layers
- A packet of frozen or fresh filo pastry: This is usually vegan as it's only made with water and flour. Check the ingredients though! Use a sheet at a time an put a damp cloth over the rest to keep it from drying out.
- Olive Oil: Essential for layering up the dough!
👩🍳 How-To
Follow these step by step instructions for the perfect vegan spanakopita triangles!
- Blend the tofu with the drained and soaked cashews. Also add the nutritional yeast, dill, olives and lemon juice.
Wilt the spinach with the garlic and drain off any excess liquid as this will make the triangles too soggy.
Chop the spinach finely.
Mix the spinach and cheese mixture together and combine well. Taste and add more salt or lemon juice if needed.
Take your filo pastry and cut a single sheet into thirds lengthways so you have long skinny pieces.
Brush the pastry with olive oil.
Place a tablespoon of the mixture in the bottom corner in a triangle shape.
Fold the single piece of pastry over in a triangle and keep going until you run out of pastry.
TOP TIP! If you have any leftover filling, add some mayo and extra lemon juice and it makes a GREAT dip!
🔥To Bake or Air Fry
To bake the vegan Spanakopita Triangles, put onto a lined baking tray and bake at 180C/356F for 25 minutes or until crunchy.
To Air Fry the Spankaopita Triangles: Preheat your air fryer to 180C/356F. Put as many as you can in a single layer in your air fryer. Bake for 7-8 minutes or until golden. Remove and repeat with the rest!
🥫Storage
If you have cooked leftover spanakopita triangles, you can freeze up to 3 months or chill and reheat as needed. THey can be reheated from frozen.
To make these cheese and spinach triangles ahead of time, you can make to the point where you need to cook them, then chill or freeze in between layers of paper. Cook from cold or frozen. They might need an extra minute or two.
🌶Substitutions and Variations
- No Nuts: To make this recipe nut-free, omit the cashews and double the tofu!
- Without Tofu: to make this recipe without tofu, omit the tofu and double the cashews.
- Gluten Free: Choose a gluten-free filo pastry. Just Roll has a version available.
🔪Equipment
The cheese part of this recipe requires a food processor. I love using my Kenwood processor. It's very old now, but you can find a similar one on Amazon.
To oven bake you will need a sheet tray, or to air fry, choose your favourite air fryer. I love my Ninja Foodie Grill and Air fryer, so can personally recommend that!
📖Serving Ideas
Make loads of these yummy Vegan Cheesy Spinach Spanakopita Triangles for a party, and chill, ready to reheat and crisp up again in the oven to serve to guests. Or just keep some in the freezer ready to heat up for snacks!
Why not try some of these other snacky ideas to get your party started!
📖 Recipe
Vegan Cheese and Spinach Spanakopita Triangles (Air Fried or Oven Baked)
Equipment
Ingredients Note:
For accuracy, I measure all ingredients in metric as standard, then convert and test the recipe for American cup measurements etc.
(Heads up Aussie and UK readers- your measurements in cups are sometimes different, so please use metric or check you have the correct cup and spoon type!!)
Ingredients
For the Cheezy Mix
- 125 grams (¾ cup) raw cashews
- 150 grams (¾ cup) firm tofu
- 6 green olives (without pits)
- 4 teaspoon nutritional yeast
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
- 60 ml (¼ cups) lemon juice (about half a lemon)
For the Spinach Filling
- 250 grams (8⅓ cups) spinach or chard with stems removed (1 standard packet OR frozen spinach)
- 2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
- ½ teaspoon olive oil
For the Crunchy pastry
- 1 packet filo pastry
- 3 tablespoon olive oil (approx)
Instructions
For the Cheezy Filling
- Soak the cashews for at least 1 hour in some warm water. You want them to be quite softened.125 grams raw cashews
- Add the tofu, cashews, lemon juice, olives, nutritional yeast, dill and salt and blend until a fluffy but smooth mixture.150 grams firm tofu, 6 green olives, 4 teaspoon nutritional yeast, 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill, 60 ml lemon juice
- Taste for cheezyness and add more olives or nutritional yeast to taste.
For the Spinach Filling
- Gently sautee the garlic in a deep frying pan until slightly translucent.250 grams spinach or chard with stems removed, 2 cloves garlic, ½ teaspoon olive oil
- Add all the spinach (you might need to add it in bits if your pan is small). Don't worry, spinach pretty much disappears when heated!
- Drain off any liquid to avoid soggy pastry!
- Once cool, chop the spinach up and mix into the cheezy filling mix along with the dill.
To assemble the Cheezy Triangles
- Take one sheet of filo and brush olive oil all over it. Keep the other sheets covered so they don't dry out!1 packet filo pastry, 3 tablespoon olive oil
- Cut it into3 long pieces length ways so you have long skinny pieces.
- On one short edge, add a heaped teaspoon of filling in a sort of triangle shape in the corner.
- Fold the filled side over, so it makes a triangle shaped parcel. Keep folding over until you run out of pastry. Put it on a greased oven proof tray
- Repeat with all the other pieces of filo pastry (there are usually around 10 in each packet) until you run out of filling or pastry. You should be able to make between 18 and 20, depending on how generous you are with the filling.
- Bake in the oven on 180℃/ 356℉ for around 10-15 minutes until golden and crispy. Serve warm!
- Alternatively heat your air fryer to 180℃/ 356℉ and cook for 6-8 minutes. You may need to cook in batches.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Monique Haggar says
Thanks
Monique Haggar says
Vegan Spanakopita: please clarify the "third lemon juice".
Meaning: third cup or 3 TB of lemon juice? Thanks
Louise-Claire Cayzer says
Updated! Should have been 1/3 cup lemon juice, (which depending on the size of your lemon, would be about half a lemon)