I love air fryers; they are so much fun! This healthy air fryer spanakopita recipe uses 1% cottage cheese filling, and it is delicious. Don’t knock it ’til you try it! Cottage cheese-as-a-filling is one of my favorite heart-healthy cheese hacks.
I know we’re supposed to be using feta cheese here, but I have a kindergartener who won’t eat it. Mozzarella always works in a pinch.
The filling is super-easy to make. Phyllo pastry can be a little tricky to work with because it dries so fast, but these are easy to put together; you’re just folding the pastry over itself again and again to create triangles.
I wouldn’t say air fryers are a must-have kitchen tool, but they’re certainly fun to play with! They make everything so crispy, without much added fat. I have this exact air fryer and it’s a lot of fun.
Mini Spanakopita
Equipment
- 1 air fryer
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 onion (chopped)
- 2 garlic cloves (finely minced)
- 1 10oz package frozen spinach (thawed, excess water squeezed out)
- ½ cup cottage cheese
- 1 ounce shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup liquid egg white
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dillweed (or 1 teaspoon dried)
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 12 sheets phyllo pastry
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.
- Cook the chopped onion and minced garlic for about 3 to 4 minutes, until soft.
- Transfer the onion/garlic mixture to a bowl. Stir in the cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese, thawed spinach, egg, egg white, flour, dill, and black pepper.
- Cut the 12 sheets of phyllo pastry into thirds (36 ⅓-sized sheets). Cover with plastic wrap and a damp towel, as phyllo pastry dries very quickly!
- Take 1 piece of phyllo pastry, spritz it lightly with nonstick spray, and top with a second piece.
- Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the filling mixture into the bottom corner of the phyllo rectangle. Fold the end of the rectangle over the filling to form a triangle. Keep folding the triangle over itself until all the pastry has been folded in.
- Repeat 18 times. You have 36 ⅓-size rectangles of phyllo pastry. Spray 1 rectangle with nonstick, lay another on top (2 pastry rectangles per serving), spoon in a bit of filling, and fold end end of the rectangle over. You should end up with 18 little spanakopita triangles.
- Preheat the air fryer to 375 °F
- Spray both sides of the spanakopita triangles lightly with nonstick spray.
- Air fry for about 6 minutes: 3 minutes on one side, and 3 minutes on the other side. The spanakopita triangles are done when they are lightly golden-brown.
