Tiropitakia (Greek Cheese Pies)

a plate filled with tiropitakia on a white marble surface.

If you love phyllo and feta cheese, you’ll go crazy over these tiropitakia (Greek feta cheese pies, aka feta hand pies). In this post, we’ll explore the art of crafting these traditional Greek savoury pastries.

Course Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine Greek

Prep Time 50

Cook Time 20

Total Time 1 10

Servings pies

Calories 627kcal

Author Peter G

Ingredients

200 g feta cheese crumbled (note 1)
200 g ricotta cheese fresh (note 2)
50 g kefalotyri cheese grated (note 3)
2 eggs room temperature
15 sheets fillo pastry (note 4)
250 g butter melted (note 5)

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Before starting this recipe, preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F), grease, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, crumble the feta cheese and add the ricotta and kefalotyri cheeses, followed by the beaten eggs.
200 g feta cheese, 200 g ricotta cheese, 50 g kefalotyri cheese, 2 eggs
Combine the cheese and eggs until well combined.
Place one sheet of phyllo on a clean bench with the longer edge facing you, brush with melted butter, and layer another sheet on top. Proceed until you have a stack of 3 phyllo sheets brushed with butter.
15 sheets fillo pastry, 250 g butter
Cut out 5 vertical strips from the pastry (each should measure approximately 3 inches or 8 centimetres)
Place one heaped tablespoon of the cheese mixture at the base of the sheet, allowing a few cm of space and press down lightly. (note 6)
Fold diagonally to form a triangle, then continue folding, ensuring you keep a triangular shape. (Any excess pastry can be “tucked in” by brushing it with some extra butter). Continue with the remaining phyllo and filling until you end up with 25 pies.
Place the tiropitakia on a baking sheet, brush both sides with butter and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from the oven and allow them to cool before serving slightly warm or at room temperature.

Video

Notes

Use authentic Greek feta if you can get hold of it. It really does make a difference in this traditional recipe.
Use whole milk drained ricotta. It’s much firmer than some supermarket brands, often called “smooth ricotta”. You can sub with the more traditional “anthotiro”. Anthotiro is a soft cheese with a mild flavour (very similar to ricotta). Still, I can’t find any outside of Greece.
This is a hard, salty cheese with a slightly pungent aroma. You can easily substitute Pecorino Romano if you can’t get hold of this.
Chilled phyllo is best. If using frozen, thaw it in the fridge overnight. When working with phyllo pastry it's best to keep it covered with a piece of parchment paper and then place a kitchen towel on top of that. This will prevent the pastry drying out and also becoming "soggy".
Sub with extra virgin olive oil if preferred.
Don’t overfill the pies with the cheese and egg mixture. They will likely burst when they are baking in the oven.

Nutrition