Spinach and feta is a fabulous flavour combination that I enjoy in various forms with my current favourite being in a creamy sauce! This spinach and feta cheese tortellini is basically mac and cheese with spinach and feta added to the sauce, along with plenty of fresh herbs. The sauce is a basic white sauce starting with butter and flour to make a roux before adding milk to form a lusciously thick sauce. Cheese is melted into the sauce before adding the spinach and crumbled feta along with fresh parsley, dill and green onions. You can use this sauce for pretty much anything and it’s perfect when combined with pasta sauce as macaroni or tortellini. I like to finish everything off by topping with even more cheese and baking it until the cheese has melted all over the top! Yum!
The flavours of this dish are inspired by crispy spanakopita (aka Greek spinach pies)!
Spinach and Feta Cheese Tortellini
Tortellini in a spinach and feta sauce with plenty of fresh herbs! (aka Spanakopita mac and cheese)
ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 4 tablespoons flour (rice flour for gluten-free)
- 3 cups milk
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano (parmesan), grated
- 1 cup mozzarella, shredded
- 10 ounces spinach (thawed frozen or wilted fresh)
- 1 cup feta, crumbled
- 1 tablespoon dill, chopped
- 1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
- 3 green onions, thinly sliced
- 1 pound cheese tortellini, cooked (gluten-free for gluten-free)
- 1 cup mozzarella, shredded
directions
- Melt the butter in a large, oven safe, saucepan over medium heat until it foams and starts to brown a little.
- Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Sprinkle in the flour and cook until it starts to brown a little, about a minute.
- Add the milk and cook until it thickens, about 2 minutes.
- Mix in the nutmeg, salt and pepper.
- Add the parmesan and mozzarella and cook until it melts into the sauce.
- Mix in the spinach, feta, dill, parsley, green onions.
- Mix in the tortellini, sprinkle on the mozzarella and bake in a preheated 350F/180C oven until the cheese has melted and the sides are bubbling, about 15 minutes.
Option: Top with panko bread crumbs, optionally mixed with melted butter, before baking for a crunchy topping!
Tip: Cook the tortellini while you make the sauce.
Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie)
Spinach and Feta Quesadillas
Spinach Pesto Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Spinach and Feta Lasagna (aka Spanakopita Lasagna)
Spinach and Feta Chicken Burgers (aka Spanakopita Burgers) with Grilled Halloumi, Roasted Red Peppers and a Spinach and Feta Sauce
Spinach Pesto, Feta and Shrimp Tortellini
Chili Mac and Cheese
Asparagus and Ramp Pesto Mac n Cheese
Goat Cheese, Roasted Red Pepper and Kalamata Olive Mac n Cheese
One Pan 20 Minute Chicken Alfredo Tortellini
One Pan 20 Minute Buffalo Chicken Tortellini
Roasted Butternut Squash and Sausage Tortellini
Cheesy Beef Enchilada Tortellini Skillet
Any of your recipes that I’ve tried have never disappointed me and I’ve used many. This spinach and feta is next on my list. Thanks for giving us such basic but delicious recipes.
Nice job on your time-lapsed photo montage for the Spinach and Feta cheese Tortellini! I am looking forward to trying this recipe.
Made it – absolutely perfect, 10/10. Spinach was JUST RIGHT. Leftovers heated up great.
Grocery stores in Dover, DE are terrible, so I subbed the following: proper Parmigiano Reggiano was subbed with Stella-brand shaved parmesan (same volume) which is made by a similar process, and 3 green onions were subbed with 1/3c of those freeze-dried chives that almost every store sells because the store was out of green onions (again). I also didn’t do the nutmeg, but that’s only because my wife doesn’t like nutmeg very much for some reason.
This recipe uses roughly half of the ingredients from most of the common-sized ingredients it calls for, so it’s also very easy to make a second batch (half a stick of butter, almost half of a half-gallon of milk, 1/3 of one of the costco-sized containers of crumbled feta, the tortellini was a sams club 2-part pack, etc). I already had a big 2lb bag of mozzarella in the fridge from walmart for doing pizzas with, and it worked perfectly using some of it here. I would NOT double it – making a second separate batch is a better option to maintain the consistency of the final product. Once all ingredients are combined into a pan, since the final step is to basically melt the cheese on top in the oven, you could easily transfer this to a 1/2 size foil serving pan to heat up if you’re planning on using it for a party.
The recipes I find here are known-good recipes (important to me as someone in IT – we love known-good things) and I will continue to make your delicious creations in my spare time for my wife and toddler.