Banitsa

History

Banitsa is a Bulgarian filo pastry made of thin, layered sheets filled with a mixture of sirene cheese (similar to feta) beaten with eggs, then rolled into a spiral or stacked flat before baking.

A Bulgarian breakfast staple, banitsa also has a festive New Year version: small folded paper notes bearing wishes (health, money, love, luck) are hidden inside, and each guest discovers their prediction for the coming year in their own slice — a tradition still very much alive in many Bulgarian families.

Ingredients — serves 6

• 400 g filo pastry
• 400 g sirene or feta cheese
• 4 eggs
• 150 ml plain yogurt
• 100 g melted butter
• Baking soda (optional)

Banitsa, step by step

1. Mash the cheese with a fork and mix it with the eggs and yogurt for an even filling.
2. Brush each sheet of filo with melted butter before using it.
3. Spread a thin layer of filling over each buttered sheet, then roll loosely into a log.
4. Coil the logs into a spiral in a round buttered pan, packing them close together.
5. Brush the top with melted butter and bake in a hot oven until deeply golden.
6. Let cool slightly for a few minutes before slicing and serving.

Cooking method

Technique: thin buttered filo sheets layered and coiled into a spiral rather than stacked flat, for an airy, flaky result.
Traditional equipment: round metal baking pan, traditional Bulgarian hearth oven.
Signs it’s ready: the spiral sounds hollow when tapped and the top is evenly golden, with no pale patch at the center.

Nutrition, per serving

Calculated from the raw ingredient quantities above, divided by six servings.

Sirene cheese and butter between the layers of filo drive both the protein and the saturated fat figures — 20 g of saturated fat per serving is high relative to most daily reference values, a direct result of the butter brushed onto every single sheet.

Economic context

Filo, cheese, eggs and yogurt are all everyday staples in Bulgaria, which is exactly why banitsa works as a breakfast food eaten several times a week rather than a rare treat — its New Year fortune-paper version is the exception, not the rule, for an otherwise routine dish.

Source: World Bank / FAO, Food Prices for Nutrition database (Cost and Affordability of a Healthy Diet) v4.0, 2024 data, CC BY 4.0, DOI 10.57966/41AN-KY81. Retrieved 29 July 2026. This figure describes the cost of a healthy diet in Bulgaria generally — it is not a costing of this specific recipe.

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