Egyptian Goulash (Meat & Spinach Pie)

Here’s an Egyptian classic that you’re all going to love! The favored dish – Egyptian Goulash also known as Meat and Spinach Pie. Made entirely of deliciously crispy phyllo dough, ground beef, veggies and spices. It’s a savory meal in one pan that’s easy to make and tastes incredible.

The meat and spinach filling is delicious enough on its own. But when paired with the phyllo pastry, slathered with a buttery sauce, it creates a flavor combo that’s hard to beat. I’ve yet to meet someone who hasn’t absolutely adored this Egyptian goulash.

4 Parts to Making Egyptian Goulash

There are 4 parts to this recipe:

1. The meat and spinach filling
2. The sauce
3. The phyllo sheets
4. The egg wash

Meat & Spinach Filling

You’ll start by making your meat and spinach filling, which consists of browning your ground beef in a large skillet. You’ll then add all the veggies (onions, spinach, tomatoes, garlic) and your spices. Mix it all up, creating a deliciously savory mixture that will be hard not eat right then and there. I give you permission to sneak a few spoonfuls though. 😉

Allow the meat and spinach filling to cool while you prepare your sauce, egg wash and phyllo layers.

The Sauce

The sauce consists of melted butter, egg whites, salt and warm milk. The reason I use warm milk is because it keeps the butter melted. If you add cold milk, it will harden the butter while you’re working and create annoying large chunks of butter in the mixture. You want the sauce as smooth as possible because the phyllo pastry is extremely delicate and can rip easily when you’re brushing on the sauce.

Assembling the Phyllo Sheets

When it’s time to assemble the phyllo sheets and brush on the sauce, there is one very important thing I need you to remember: Keep your unused phyllo dough covered while you work! Each phyllo sheet is extremely thin and will dry out quickly if left uncovered. Once the sheet is in the pan and the sauce has been brushed on, you don’t need to worry about it. But the phyllo sheets that are waiting to be added to the pan need to be covered with either plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel.

You’ll assemble the goulash sheet by sheet, brushing the buttery sauce onto each sheet for the best result. This is the most time-consuming part of the recipe. But once you get the hang of it, you’ll fly right through. The meat and spinach filling will be added halfway through assembling the phyllo sheets. Each phyllo dough package usually comes with about 20 sheets. So, I’ll usually add 10 layers of phyllo sheets, then pour in the filling, and add the remaining 10 layers on top. Some packages may vary in the number of sheets, so you can add more or less layers into your pie if necessary.

The egg wash is pretty straight forward. It’s a simple mixture of egg yolks and milk. The egg wash is used only on the top layer of the pie.

Once you have your pie assembled, you’ll slice it into 12 even squares, pop it in the oven, and bake it for about 35 minutes.

Since this goulash has it all including meat, vegetables and pastry, it’s pretty much a meal on its own! But it’s also amazing served with a cold salad such as this Mediterranean Orzo Salad or this savory Red Cabbage Salad.

I’m excited to be sharing another authentic Egyptian dish with you all. I hope you’ll all be brave enough to give it a try! I promise you; it will be worth it! Read on for the full recipe on how to make this delicious Egyptian Goulash.