When you have a husband who loves Lebanese food, you gotta know how to cook it. The end! Since we can have Lebanese dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (on repeat). One of my favorites is the Lebanese Spinach Fatayer. Which are lemon-y savory spinach hand pies!
What is A Fatayer?
Fatayer (read fa-tie-yaa), or fatayer bi sabanekh, is a perfect snack for any day. These savory pies have a delicious, lemony spinach filling wrapped artistically (well, it's simply a triangle, but def takes skill) in dough and baked to an irresistible golden brown hue!
Recently, fatayers have been a part of my menu as a light breakfast or appetizer for parties, and they always receive rave reviews. The best part? They're super easy to make! You can even double or triple the batch and save extras for future cravings. I do it, and it's a brilliant approach.
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If you're serving fatayers as the main dish, pair them with my ever-so-tempting Za'atar Roasted Golden Beet Salad or Baked Falafel Kebabs and labneh.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Perfect for Meal Prep. Don't we all love recipes that can be made in advance and stored in the fridge a day (better, two) before serving day? Well, this one not only stays edible but gets better with time. Woot, Woot!
Simple Ingredients. Lebanese spinach fatayers won't give you a tough time when it comes to ingredients. They're all pretty basic and easy to find. There's a good chance you won't even have to make a trip to the grocery store.
Simple and Straightforward! If you look at the whole picture, there are only three main steps: make the dough, fill it, and bake! It's a simple process. Really!
Pleasantly Versatile. The good thing about fatayers is that you can make them in a few different ways. You can fold the dough to close the whole thing or leave the filling uncovered. You can make veggie fatayer, cheese fatayer, or meat fatayer - choose your filling!
Ingredients
Homemade Dough: It's a simple dough recipe - nothing fancy. If you've made your own dough for pizza before, you can pull this off, too! You'll need instant yeast, sugar, warm water, flour, salt, and olive oil. Just make sure you let the dough rest as required so it fluffs up like we want it to.
Frozen Spinach: We're using frozen spinach for the recipe because it's easier to work with, and the work gets done much faster. But if you like (and have a whole lot of) fresh spinach, you can use that, too. If you're using fresh spinach, you'll have to wash it, cook it till it wilts, and then drain it to make it work in the filling. Nah!
Fresh Lemon Juice: Go crazy! The spinach mixture might taste too tart and peppery when you taste it on its own. But when you pair it with the dough, it all balances out pretty well. So, don't be afraid of squeezing some extra lemon juice.
Salt and Black Pepper: Of course!
Canola Oil: You'll need this to grease the prepared baking sheets so the fatayers cook well from the bottom.
Onion: Chop it finely before adding it to the spinach mixture. We don't want big onion pieces sticking out of the fatayers. Too many onions in one bite can be pretty overwhelming.
Optional Ingredients
Pomegranate Molasses: Now, this is that secret ingredient that makes all the difference in the filling! It's tangy and sweet - perfect for balancing out the tartness from lemon juice and bitterness from black pepper.
Sumac: Not everyone has sumac lying around in their pantry. So, don't worry if you don't have it. But if you do, add a pinch of sumac to the filling for an extra layer of flavor.
Pine Nuts: A crunchy bite hurt no one. If you have pine nuts, toast them and add them to the filling for some texture.
Step By Step Instructions
Step 1: In a mixing bowl add the warm water, sugar, and yeast. Set for 5 minutes until yeast is activated and bubbly.
Step 2: In the bowl of a stand mixer whisk together the flour, salt, and olive oil.
Step 3: Pour the yeast mixture into the flour mixture.
Step 4: Add the dough hook attachment to the stand mixer and turn on medium low. Pour the additional 1 cup of warm water in and allow to mix until the dough forms,. (You may need to stop the mixer and scrape down the sides). Let knead for 5-6 minutes.
Step 5: Cover the dough and set in a warm place and allow to rise until doubled in size. About 1 hour.
Step 6: While the dough rises, take the frozen thawed spinach and remove the excess water. I like to do this in a salad spinner.
Step 7: Combine the spinach, onion, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and canola oil. Place in the fridge until ready to assemble the Lebanese fatayers.
Step 8: When the dough is risen, punch down the dough and cut in half. Cut in half again to get 4 equal size balls. Cut in half again to get 8 equal size dough balls. Cut in half one final time to end up with 16 dough balls. Pro tip: Set aside on a cutting board or sheet tray. and cover with a wet paper towel so they don't dry out.
Step 9: Roll out one ball of dough into a 4 inch round. Place 2 tablespoon of filling in the middle and pinch together one half. Bring the other sides together to form a triangle shape.
Step 10: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and pour 2 tablespoon of canola oil in a sheet pan. You can use a paper towel to help spread it over the whole pan.
Step 11: Place 6-8 fatayers on a sheet tray and bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.
Step 12: Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes.
Tips and Tricks
There are certainly tricks I've learned after making these fatayers dozens of times! Like most Lebanese recipes, the techniques are lovingly passed down from Sitti's, Aunts, and other close friends and family members.
Here's what I've learned along the way...
- Get rid of excess water in the spinach: When you thaw frozen spinach, it gets watery. The water needs to go! At. All. Costs! So, squeeze out as much as you can, use paper towels, and keep your pies from turning soggy.
Pro Tip: Use a salad spinner to spin ALL the water out of the spinach! - Let the Spinach Filling Rest! I often make my filling a day or two in advance to let all the flavors marinate. The result is an insanely delicious filling! If you're in a hurry, at least let it rest for half an hour.
- Don't Roll Your Dough Too Thin. Roll the dough the way you like, just not too thin! I think hands work the best for me when it comes to rolling dough. I get better control over how thick I want the dough to be.
- Avoid Overstuffing! As tempting as it may be to stuff more filling into your fatayer, remember that the dough needs to seal properly. If you overstuff them, they might burst open while baking and your filling will be everywhere. You don't want that!
- Avoid getting any oil on the edges of the fatayer dough when filling them. Getting oil on the edges will pretty much guarantee that they won't stick closed and just burst open while baking. Not pretty!
Just be sure to keep clean hands while folding up the fatayer and your should be fine! - Get That Nice Golden Color. It matters! That is why we prep the sheet pan with a little canola oil, so the bottoms get just as browned as the tops! Also, either give your fatayers an egg wash or brush them with a bit of olive oil on top for the perfect color.
Variations
Try Readymade Pizza Dough. Save more time, chefs! I cheat at times, and it's no big deal! So, grab your favorite readymade pizza or bread dough and use that instead. It'll cut down the cooking time by half!
Different Fillings. If spinach is not your thing, you can try different fillings like cheese, zaatar (a mix of herbs and spices), or meat filling. Personally, I love a cheesy meat mixture! I once made Lebanese meat pies with ground lamb, feta cheese, and mozzarella cheese. Yum!
Experiment with Shapes! You don't always have to close the fatayer into triangles. You can leave the spinach filling uncovered in the center and pinch both ends to make it boat-shaped. If you want to get creative and make squares instead, that works, too. They'll all still be as tasty! Or fold in half like an empanada!
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course! Please save every last bit of these yummy pies. Since they are all plant-based, they'll stay edible for up to seven days when kept in an airtight container in the fridge.
Yes, yes, yes! Whether you freeze the fatayers before or after baking them, they'll last a good time. Just make sure you bring the baked one to room temperature first. Then, you can wrap them in a plastic wrap and put them in a freezer bag to prevent them from sticking together. When you're ready to eat, let the fatayers thaw in the fridge overnight and reheat them in a preheated oven.
Sumac works great for me. Or you can always try some lemon zest! Ideally, it's best to use lemon juice generously and let the fatayers rest for some time, so they soak in all that tangy goodness.
Lebanese hand pie dough is made of flour, water, yeast, sugar, olive oil, and salt. Just like a pizza dough!
Related Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Lebanese Fatayer Recipe (Spinach Hand Pies!)
Equipment
- 1 stand mixer
- 1 mixing bowl
- 1 sheet pan
Ingredients
Fatayer Dough
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
- 2 teaspoon sugar
- ½ cup warm water
- 3 cups flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup warm water Use up to 1 ½ cups of water depending on if the dough doesn't come together with the 1 cup.
Spinach Fatayer Filling
- 16 oz frozen spinach
- juice of 2 lemons
- 2 teaspoon of salt
- ½ tablespoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 onion finely chopped
- ¼ cup canola oil for prepping the sheet tray
Instructions
- In a small mixing bowl combine the yeast, ½ cup warm water, and sugar. Set in a warm place for 5 minutes until it gets bubbly.
- While that is starting to bubble, in your stand mixer whisk together the flour, olive oil, and salt.
- Attach the dough hook to the stand mixer and turn on medium low, add in the yeast mixture to the bowl.
- Pour in the additional 1 cup warm water and mix on medium until the dough starts to form a ball. Add up to another ½ cup of warm water if your dough is not coming together.
- Let it go in the stand mixer for 3-5 minutes to knead the dough.
- Cover the bowl with a towel and set in a warm place to let it rise for 1 hour. Or until it doubles in size.
- While that rises, defrost the frozen spinach in a bowl of warm water for 20 minutes.
- Squeeze the excess water from the spinach. I like to add it to a salad spinner and spin the water out.
- In a mixing bowl add the spinach, lemon juice, salt, pepper, onion, and canola oil. (This will be very lemon-y and salty but it will balance out once the dough is wrapped around it.)
- Once the dough has risen for 1 hour, punch it down and cut it in half. Cut in half again for 4 equal pieces. Cut in half again to get 8 pieces. Then once more until you have16 equal pieces of dough.
- Roll out 1 small ball of dough into a circle. It should be about 4 inches in diameter. You can do this with a rolling pin or press with your hands and a small bit of flour.
- Add 1.5-2 tablespoons of the spinach (or meat or cheese) into the center.
- To fold, we want to pinch the circle together to create a triangle. Avoid getting oil on the edges of the dough or they will not close.
- Pinch 2 sides of the circle together, followed by taking the opposite side of the circle and matching it to the center creating 2 sides of the triangle.
- Pinch together the last 2 sides and form your "pyramid" shape.
- Preheat your oven to 425F and prepare 2 sheet trays by pouring 2 tablespoon of canola oil in the bottom of each pan until it fully covers the sheet (this will help cook the bottom of the pies)
- Place 6-8 fatayers on each sheet pan and bake for 12 minutes until slightly golden brown on the top.
- Serve with hummus or laban! (strained greek yogurt)
Notes
- Get Rid of Excess Water: When you thaw frozen spinach, it gets watery. The water needs to go! At. All. Costs! So, squeeze out as much as you can, use paper towels, and keep your pies from turning soggy.
- Let the Spinach Filling Rest! I often make my filling a day or two in advance to let all the flavors marinate. The result is an insanely delicious filling! If you're in a hurry, at least let it rest for half an hour.
- Don't Roll Your Dough Too Thin. Roll the dough the way you like, just not too thin! I think hands work the best for me when it comes to rolling dough. I get better control over how thick I want the dough to be.
- Avoid Overstuffing! As tempting as it may be to stuff more filling into your fatayer, remember that the dough needs to seal properly. If you overstuff them, they might burst open while baking and your filling will be everywhere. You don't want that!
- Get That Nice Golden Color. It matters! So, either give your fatayers an egg wash or brush them with a bit of olive oil.
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