Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (2024)

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Our banitsa recipe, a beloved and iconic Bulgarian and Balkans pie, sings to the stomach with each and every wholesome, cheesy, and buttery soft mouthful. It’s ideal to serve at celebrations, parties, and big gatherings, and it is as filling as it is delicious.

Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (1)

Banitsa Recipe

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Embrace Bulgarian tradition and cuisine by preparing this wonderfully filling pastry dish, and treat your family, friends, and loved ones to a slice of pie (or several) that is loaded with flavor enveloped within a delightfully soft and buttery texture.

Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (2)

What is Banitsa?

Integral to Bulgarian cuisine, banitsa is a delicious baked pastry dish made of rolled filo pastry, commonly assembled in a spiral formation, with a cheese, egg, and yogurt-based filling.

The dish is an important symbol of Bulgarian cuisine and tradition and is always prepared on Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Often, lucky charms, similar to fortune cookies, are put into the dish before baking, which symbolizes good health and long life to those who find them.

While originating from Bulgaria, the dish, which can also be called banica or banitza, is also prominent in both North Macedonian cuisine and Serbian cuisine.

Our recipe closely follows the traditional preparation of this dish. However, there is plenty of room to adapt the recipe, and many variations exist. These include putting spinach or pumpkin into the filling or drizzling sunflower oil on the pastry layers before baking.

Recipe Ingredients

To make your very own banitsa, you’ll first need the following ingredients:

Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (3)
  • Filo (Phyllo) Dough – 6 sheets*
  • Feta – 300 grams (10.5 oz), crumbled
  • Butter – 100 grams (7 tbsp), cut into tiny cubes
  • Eggs – 4
  • Greek Yoghurt (10%) – 150 grams (5.2 oz or roughly 1/2 cup)
  • Whole Milk – 200 ml (3/4 cups and 2 tbsp)
  • Sunflower Oil (or Light Olive Oil or another neutral-tasting oil) – 30 ml (2 tbsp)
  • Baking Soda – 1/2 tsp

*Note: We used 6 sheets for our 9-inch round baking pan. Adjust accordingly if your pan is bigger.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1 – Mix 3 eggs, the oil, the baking soda, and the yogurt in a medium-sized bowl.

Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (4)

Give everything a rigorous mix, ideally with a whisk.

Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (5)

Once mixed, you should have a smooth, yellow-colored mixture, as shown below.

Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (6)

Step 2 – Add the crumbled feta cheese to the egg-yogurt mixture. We prefer getting our feta whole and crumbling it with a fork rather than buying the cheese pre-crumbled.

Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (7)
Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (8)

Step 3 – On each filo sheet, add some of the egg-cheese mixture. If using our measurements and a 9-inch pan, then use about 1/6 of the egg-cheese mixture on each filo dough sheet.

Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (9)

Step 4 – Add tiny cubes of butter on each filo dough sheet. Again, if using our measurements, you’ll be using 1/6 of the butter on each filo sheet. Take the short edge of the filo dough, and roll each sheet (as shown below).

Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (10)

Step 5 – In the round baking pan (which should be either lined with baking paper or greased with some oil or melted butter so the filo dough doesn’t stick to the bottom), add each rolled sheet (as shown below).

Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (11)

Repeat with each rolled filo dough sheet.

Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (12)

Step 6 – Mix the milk with the remaining egg with a whisk or fork.

Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (13)

Step 7 – Pour the egg and milk mixture over the banitsa.

Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (14)

Step 8 – Poke holes with a fork so that the banitsa absorbs the milk better.

Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (15)

Step 9 – Preheat the oven to 180°C (360°F) and place the banitsa in the oven for about 50 minutes. Place it on a lower level so it doesn’t burn the top. Check on it from time to time.

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Once ready, your banitsa should have a beautiful golden brown crusted exterior, and is ready to serve to your family or dinner guests.

Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (17)

Texturally, banitsa is such an eye-catching dish. While it can be baked in a square format, there is just something almost hypnotic about the authentic spiral bake, which draws you in with its golden brown and yellow hues and flaked, folded crust.

Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (18)

But then the real magic of this dish ignites when you cut through the pastry to reveal the moist, melt-in-mouth filling, with its weaving filo sheets and spots of white crumbled cheese, the edges and curves glistening against the light.

Take in that freshly baked aroma, and get ready for a moan or two when a piece of that buttery soft pie glides along your tastebuds. Bulgarians know how to do comforting food, that’s for sure!

Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (19)

What to Serve with Banitsa

Ayran – Enjoy a slice or two of this pie either piping hot from the oven with a glass of ayran, a yogurt-based fermented drink.

Natural or Plain Yogurt – Can’t find ayran? Try it with a dollop of natural yogurt, plain yogurt, or Greek yogurt, for a cool side to the pastry.

Side Salad/Vegetables – For a pick-me-up snack, have a slice of banitsa with a side of salad or vegetables once it’s cooled down, quiche-style.

However you eat it, you, your family, and dinner guests are truly in for a wholesome lunch or dinner from the heart of Bulgaria!

Banitsa Recipe Card

Banitsa

Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (20)

Prep Time10 minutes

Cook Time50 minutes

Total Time1 hour

Ingredients

  • Filo (Phyllo) Dough – 6 sheets*
  • Feta – 300 grams (10.5 oz), crumbled
  • Butter – 100 grams (7 tbsp), cut into tiny cubes
  • Eggs – 4
  • Greek Yoghurt (10%) – 150 grams (5.2 oz or roughly 1/2 cup)
  • Whole Milk – 200 ml (3/4 cups and 2 tbsp)
  • Sunflower Oil (or Light Olive Oil or another neutral-tasting oil) – 30 ml (2 tbsp)
  • Baking Soda – 1/2 tsp

Instructions

  1. Using a whisk or a fork, mix 3 eggs, the oil, the baking soda, and the yogurt in a medium-sized bowl.
  2. Add the crumbled feta cheese to the egg-yogurt mixture.
  3. On each filo sheet, add some of the egg-cheese mixture. If using our measurements and a 9-inch pan, then use about 1/6 of the egg-cheese mixture on each filo dough sheet.Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (21)
  4. Add tiny cubes of butter on each filo dough sheet. Again, if using our measurements, you’ll be using 1/6 of the butter on each filo sheet. Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (22) Take the short edge of the filo dough, and roll each sheet (as shown below).
  5. In the round baking pan (which should be either lined with baking paper or greased with some oil or melted butter so the filo dough doesn’t stick to the bottom), add each rolled sheet like a spiral (as shown below). Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (23) Repeat with each rolled filo dough sheet until the round pan is full (as shown below). Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (24)
  6. Mix the milk with the remaining egg with a whisk or fork.
  7. Pour the egg and milk mixture over the banitsa.
  8. Poke holes with a fork so that the banitsa absorbs the milk better.Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (25)
  9. Preheat the oven to 180°C (360°F) and place the banitsa in the oven for about 50 minutes. Place it on a lower level so it doesn’t burn the top. Once ready, your banitsa should have a beautiful golden brown crusted exterior, and is ready to serve to your family or dinner guests.Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (26)

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Contributor: Efimia is a passionate home chef and teacher, from Moldova, who has been baking, cooking, and making a vast array of Eastern European and Balkans dishes from her humble home kitchen for over four decades.

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Banitsa Recipe (A Cheesy and Buttery Soft Pastry Dish from Bulgaria with Love) (2024)

FAQs

What is banitsa made of? ›

Banitsa is prepared by layering a mixture of whisked eggs, plain yogurt, and pieces of white brined cheese between filo pastry and then baking it in an oven. Traditionally in Bulgaria, lucky charms are put into the pastry on certain occasions, particularly on New Year's Eve.

How to prepare Bulgarian banitsa? ›

directions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, ( glass pyrex pan works great for this recipe) brush melted butter all over bottom amd sides of baking pan.
  2. Mix salt, cheese and milk and eggsin a bowl , combine and stir ingredients well.
  3. Put down 5 sheets of phyllo dough down in buttered pan and brush over with melted butter.

What is the crust for banitsa? ›

Banitsa is made with homemade or commercially made pastry sheets that are prepared from a baker's hard dough including flour, eggs, and water. You can find pastry sheets in every Bulgarian shop, just ask for “kori za Banitsa”. The filling is made of white cheese (Bulgarian “sirene”), yogurt and eggs.

What is the difference between Burek and banitsa? ›

While banitsa is usually made with cheese, burek can be made with other fillings such as spinach or meat.

What is the national cheese of Bulgaria? ›

The traditional Bulgarian White Brined Cheese is a fermented dairy product made from full-fat cow's, sheep's, goat's, buffalo's or mixed milk with added yeasts containing Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis and Lactobacillus casei, and symbiotic yeasts from Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp.

What food is Bulgaria known for? ›

Traditional Bulgarian foods
  • Banitsa – baked pastry made of layered stuffing and phyllo. ...
  • Börek – a filled pastry made with layers of filo dough.
  • Tutmanik – similar to pita, made with yeast dough and milk, but with white cheese.
  • Milinki (singular: milinka) – bread roll type pastry with eggs and sirene.

What is the most popular dish in Bulgaria? ›

Shopska salad

One of the most popular Bulgarian dishes, this salad is made out of chopped tomatoes and cucumbers, sliced peppers and onion as well as white cheese and a dressing with sunflower or olive oil and optionally some vinegar and salt.

What are the different types of banitsa? ›

Photo: We have 4 different types of banitsa (typical Bulgarian pastry): - with cheese; - with lentils; - with spinach and cheese; - with ham.

What is banitsa in English? ›

Banitsa is a traditional Bulgarian cheese pie made with cheese, yogurt and eggs. It's perfect for breakfast or as a snack and it's best enjoyed warm!

What is so special about Bulgarian yogurt? ›

So what makes Bulgarian yogurt so special? It lies in the tiny microorganisms, bacterial cultures, which occur naturally in milk and which are native, and specific, to Bulgaria. In 1905, Bulgarian scientist Stamen Grigorov analyzed the composition of yogurt from his home country.

What is Bulgarian feta cheese called? ›

Bulgarian Feta simply does not exist. Bulgarians call their Bulgarian-style Feta 'Sirene', which means simply 'a cheese', it is still correct, in English, to call it 'Bulgarian Feta' even though it is a different subtype of Feta than the Greek one.

Do you eat burek hot or cold? ›

Both! Some people like to eat burek hot, just as it comes out of the oven. Others love it best the following day when it's cold. And then there are those that like it in between.

What does burek mean in English? ›

burek (plural bureks) A type of baked or fried filled pastry of the former Ottoman Empire.

When should I eat burek? ›

Seriously, whether you're eating it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or when you're trying to sober up after you've had one too many, burek will jump-start your body and give you all the energy you need. Bonus points for tasting delicious!

What is the origin of banitsa? ›

Banitsa's origins can be traced back to the Ottoman Empire, where it was known as "borek." The dish made its way to Bulgaria in the 15th century and quickly became a favorite among the locals. Over time, the recipe for Banitsa evolved, with each region in Bulgaria adding its unique twist to the dish.

Is banitsa vegan? ›

We ate the banitsas with vegan fillings – apple, raisins and brown sugar, and potato and mushroom – but only when eating them did it occur to us that maybe that pastry wasn't all vegan (as the filo pastry is traditionally made with egg and probably butter).

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