This is the best Easy Traditional Bulgarian Banitsa also known as Banitsa. Banitsa is a traditional Bulgarian Phyllo recipe that is a staple in our country. It’s flakey & buttery phyllo dough rolled with feta — or Bulgarian white cheese which we call Sirene. I will never forget waking up to the smell of fresh bread and homemade “Banitza”. It is simply the most delicious phyllo pastry dish, and the options for fillings are endless. My favorite filling was always with feta cheese or pumpkin, which my grandma and I would often make for dessert. She would roll handmade sheets of phyllo every single weekend for hours, and I watched and helped her for as long as I can remember. This dish is also known as Tiropita, Pita, or Burek in many European countries and households and everyone has a slightly different variation of it. As we reach a community of over 1.6 million on TikTok and Instagram I wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart and honour both of my grandma’s whom I lost not long ago, my culture, and you all with this incredibly delicious family recipe that is so near and dear to my heart and soul. This recipe and the vivid childhood memories associated with it mean everything to me.
Easy Traditional Bulgarian Banitsa
Ingredients
- 5 eggs
- 350 grams of Bulgarian white cheese Sirene or any feta
- 1.5 cups of plain yogurt — Bulgarian
- Balkan-Style or any you like 280 grams
- ½ teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 cup of butter which equals 2 sticks or 227 grams ( butter should be melted )
- 1 pack of Phyllo dough sheets — 454g or 16 sheets
Instructions
- Thaw the phyllo sheets as per the package directions and start preparing all of the ingredients before you unroll the thawed phyllo sheets. In a bowl break apart the feta with a fork, add the eggs and mix. Add the yogurt and baking soda and mix. Melt the butter and set it aside in a separate bowl.
- Unroll the thawed phyllo sheets and cover with a towel or a slightly damp towel as they dry quickly. Place one sheet on your work surface and brush with butter, place another sheet on top of the first sheet and butter it as well. You can now add a few big spoonfuls of the yogurt-feta mixture onto the buttered phyllo sheets and spread it around. You should have a thin layer of the yogurt-feta mixture.
- Tightly roll up the phyllo sheet long side up to form a long rope. Now roll that piece into a spiral shape and place it in the middle of your lined and buttered baking dish. I lined mine with parchment paper and buttered the top to prevent sticking. Repeat this exact step with the remaining phyllo sheets and wrap each one around the centre phyllo sheet to make a coiled pattern until the baking dish is full. You should have a total of 8 rolls that are filled with the feta-yogurt mixture since there are 16 phyllo sheets in a pack and we use 2 sheets per roll. Side note: you can also place the phyllo rolls side by side lengthwise in a baking dish instead of rolling them around one another if that’s easier on you as well.
- Once you have all the rolls wrapped around one another in the baking dish you can now lightly brush the top of the Banitsa with melted butter and bake at 400F until flakey and golden for about 45-50 minutes depending on the oven. It should be nice and light and golden on the top and bottom. I bake mine uncovered on the middle rack. Let it cool a it and enjoy.
8 Responses
Good recipe! I made it for a romantic celebratory dinner with my partner and he loved it! Highly recommended.
Hi Gabriela,
your feedback means so much to me. Thank you
My grandmother used to make pumpkin Banitsa. It was my favourite ! Do you have a recipe for this version? I would appreciate it so much!
I absolutely need to get one up as I do have a recipe:)
Yes, we would like you to post the pumpkin version!
Absolutely will
Thanks for the recipe. During “communism” there were basically two types of cheese available. The yellow hard-ish one called Sirene, to compare with Gouda but with and différent taste. Anf feta, Bulgarian state produced and super yummy, sold in huge cans. Because feta was on everything, from fries to salad to meatdishes…I don’t remember seeing any yoghurt while I watched it being made at home. We ate it with yoghurt though (real Bulgarian, the one that you can cut trough and has this amazing taste, not sure that still exists) but nobody would ever put Sirene in a Banitsa. Anyways, thanks again for the recipe, stirs up many memories.
Thank you so much for this message ❤️ I remember this all too well when I was little and the stories my grandma and my mom would tell me as well