When Mary Berg remembers that, as an adult human, she needs to consume things that contain vitamins, she tends to reach for something green. Luckily, this creamy spinach soup also happens to feature one of her favourite food groups: cheese.

Inspired by spanakopita, the soup gets plenty of brightness from lemon, dill and parsley before being topped with buttery shards of crisp phyllo, crumbled feta and sesame seeds. You get that familiar spinach-and-feta combination – and the all-important phyllo crunch – in every bowl.

Spanakopita Soup

Mary Berg

A creamy spinach soup with lemon, dill and parsley, topped with golden phyllo, feta and sesame seeds for all the flavours of spanakopita.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients

Crispy Feta Topper

4 sheets frozen phyllo thawed
1 to 2 tbsp butter melted
70 to 100 g crumbled feta
4 tsp sesame seeds

Soup

1 tbsp butter
8 green onions thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic thinly sliced
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
450 g cooking spinach or baby spinach
¼ to ½ tsp crushed hot pepper flakes
pinch freshly grated nutmeg
3½ cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 lemon zested
3 to 4 tbsp chopped fresh dill
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
½ cup cream

Instructions

Crispy Feta Topper

Preheat oven to 425°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Lay out each sheet of phyllo on work surface and brush with melted butter. Scatter crumbled feta and sesame seeds overtop, then lightly gather and bunch each sheet of phyllo into a rumpled pile.
Transfer phyllo piles to baking sheet, leaving an inch or so between each and bake until golden and crisp, about 15 minutes.

Soup

Meanwhile, place large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add butter, green onions and garlic, season with salt and pepper and cook until onions are lightly softened, 1 to 2 minutes.
Add spinach, hot pepper flakes, nutmeg and a bit more salt and pepper. Add broth and bring to a boil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until spinach is tender and bright green, 3 to 4 minutes if using cooking spinach or 1 to 2 minutes if using baby spinach.
Stir in lemon zest, dill and parsley. Working in batches if necessary, transfer soup to blender, remove vent cap, cover lid with kitchen towel to avoid splatter and blitz until smooth.
Return soup to pot, stir in cream and season to taste with salt and pepper.
To serve, divide soup into bowls and top with Crispy Feta Toppers.

Keyword feta cheese, feta cheese recipes, Mary Berg, Mary Berg recipes, soup recipes, spanakopita, Spinach, spinach recipes

ELLE Gourmet Tip

Cooking spinach is often sold in large bags near the bagged salad mixes at grocery stores. It is the grown-up version of baby spinach, which means it’s a bit heartier and will last longer. It’s worth looking out for, as it’s a fraction of the price of baby spinach, but if you can’t find it in a bag, you may be able to find bunches of spinach in the greens section of the produce aisle.

Recipes excerpted from Mary’s Comfort Classics by Mary Berg. Adapted for ELLE Gourmet. Copyright © 2026 Mary Berg. Photographs by Kyla Zanardi. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the publisher. All rights reserved