Spinach Puff Pastries in a Toaster Oven

Jeff the Chef
"Spinach Puff Pastries," from Make It Like a Man!

Cream cheese and sour cream become the luscious base for a savory spinach filling, which is wrapped in rich, flaky puff pastry. Although you can make these pastries in a conventional oven, I find that making these spinach puff pastries in a toaster oven is perfect in terms of ease and efficiency.

Spinach Puff Pastries in a Toaster Oven
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Spinach Puff Pastries in a Toaster Oven

Recipe by Make It Like a Man!
Makes

4

4.5-in. x 2.5-in. pastries

These pastries make a nice breakfast, or a delicious mid-day snack. One pastry is a more-than-reasonable serving, but you can easily cut them in half after baking, and serve twice as many, smaller pastries.

Ingredients

  • For the filling

  • 4 oz. cream cheese

  • 1/4 cup sour cream

  • 1/4 cup mayo

  • 1/2 tsp lemon juice

  • 1/2 cup (packed) shredded Italian cheese blend

  • 3/4 cup (packed) spinach leaves, finely chopped

  • 2 green onions, thinly sliced (1/4 cup), or 1 tsp chopped chives

  • 1 clove garlic, grated

  • 1/4 tsp lemon zest (from 1/8 of a medium lemon), optional

  • 1/2 tsp basil

  • 1/4 tsp oregano

  • 1/4 tsp thyme

  • 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, or 1-2 tsp hot sauce

  • 1/4 tsp chili powder, optional

  • 1/4 tsp salt

  • Pinch black pepper

  • For the pastries

  • 1 egg

  • 1 tsp water

  • 1 frozen puff pastry sheet, thawed according to package directions and refrigerated

  • Flour for work surface

  • 1/4 cup (loosely packed) shredded Parmesan

Directions

  • Make the filling
  • Beat the cream cheese, ramping up to medium speed (4 out of 7), until it’s smooth and creamy, 2 minutes. Scrape down the side of the bowl and beat in the sour cream, mayo, and juice on low speed (speed 2) until well combined, 20 seconds. Add remaining filling ingredients and mix on lowest speed until well combined, 1 minute, stopping once to scrape down the side of the bowl. Set aside.
  • Make the pastries
  • Cut a piece of parchment to fit the toaster oven’s drip (or baking) tray; set aside. Using a fork, whisk egg with water; set aside.
  • Roll out pastry sheet on a lightly floured work surface until it is 12″ x 9″. Cut the pastry into fourths by making one cut north-to-south down the middle, and another cut east-to-west across the middle.
  • Placing a generous 1/2-cup of filling into the center of each rectangle. (Don’t overfill. You may have a small amount of leftover filling.) Use a small spatula to smooth it out, pushing it to about 1 inch from the edge of the pastry. Brush circumference of each pastry rectangle with egg – from the edge all the way to the filling – and fold each one up like a book (see notes). Seal edges with your fingers, by applying moderate, downward pressure. Place pastries onto prepared tray.
  • Brush tops of pastries with egg wash, and slide the tray into the fridge for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat toaster oven to bake at 400°F, with the rack in the middle position (see notes).
  • Bake the pastries until golden-brown, crispy, and puffy, 15-17 minutes. Rotate the tray half-way through, and as you do, sprinkle each pastry with Parmesan. Once out of the oven, transfer the pastries (perhaps while still on the parchment) to a rack to cool for at least 10 minutes, if not 20. Note that the filling may be alarmingly hot even though the outside of the pastry seems cool enough to handle! Serve pastries when they feel barely warm, or when they’ve reached room temperature.

Notes

  • To fold the pastries, consider using a thin, long, straight utensil – like an offset, metal spatula. Dust it with flour, slide it under one edge of the pastry, and use it to flip that edge over. Dust spatula with more flour before each use. You can also use this same tool to transfer the pastries to the parchment.
  • I use a Cuisinart Exact Heat Convection Toaster Oven Broiler, and for me, the middle rack position is called “Rack Position B.” It’s the position you’d use to bake cookies, or pizza. Consult your oven’s manual.
"Spinach Puff Pastries," from Make It Like a Man!

You can’t beat puff pastry for its rich, buttery tenderness and delicate, flaky crunch. The filling is substantial and deeply flavorful. Even though the amount of the Parmesan garnish is negligible, its flavor adds the perfect accent. The amount of red pepper flakes I’ve recommended gives the filling an unexpected zing that I would not describe as “spicy.”

Social Learning

Difficulty

If there’s anything difficult about these pastries, it’s the part where you flip them closed like a book and press the edges to seal.

It helps if you slightly overshoot the fold. In other words, you don’t want to have to stretch the top in order to have it meet up with the bottom. If you slightly overshoot, it’s easier to roll the top back a bit to meet the bottom.

When it comes to sealing, be diligent about keeping the filling away from the edges with plenty of room. Flipping the top is going to push the filling toward the edges, and if your margin isn’t large enough, the filling will wind up in the part you’re intending to seal. If you do get filling in the seal, go ahead and continue to press and seal, and squeeze the filling out of the seal in the process. Be generous about using a lot of flour on your fingers and your flipping utensil.

Flavor

In terms of the filling’s overall flavor, the lemon juice provides an important component. It’s subtle, blending beautifully into the cheese, seems to enhance the herbs, and brings out a comfort-foody vibe in the pastry.

Options

You do have some flavor options.

The lemon zest, for instance, remains independent in the flavor mix. It balances rather than blends with the other flavors. It doesn’t take much zest to strike the perfect balance, so you might want to ease your way into the called-for amount. However, I could imagine thinking of the zest as a distraction and might want to opt out on it. I like it both ways.

If you add the chili powder, you’ll make the filling savorier. Even though it’s already savory, you’ll push it deeper into the savory woods in as much as it seems to emphasize the onion and garlic. The chili flavor per se, however, blends so fully that you won’t taste it at all. It does disguise the lemon juice, though. So, pro: I do like the increased savory flavor, but con: I also love the subtlety of the lemon juice. Once again, I like it both ways.

Baking

If you bake the pastries to the point that they begin to turn dark brown, they may burn – but that’s a secondary concern. What’s worse, you’ll overheat the filling, and it will burst out of the pastry. I’d describe it as an explosion, but I think that description goes just a tad too far … but just a tad. On the other hand, underbake them and they’ll be soggy. You want a perfect, golden brown.

Of course, you can make these in a big-boy oven, with the rack in the same position you’d use for baking cookies. If you do, you can double the recipe and fit all eight pastries on a standard-size cookie sheet. Added bonus: you won’t have that second sheet of puff pastry and half-carton of cream cheese lingering around.

"Spinach Puff Pastries," from Make It Like a Man!
Spinach Puff Pastries in a Toaster Oven

Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! unless otherwise credited. This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. Thank you, Kesor. References: Eat Well 101, Epicuricloud, The Cozy Apron. Ranked by Feedspot as #15 in the Top 30 Men’s Cooking Blogs.

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31 thoughts on “Spinach Puff Pastries in a Toaster Oven”

  3. We used to have a toaster oven which I used almost all the time for smaller things, but my oven is double with a low top oven which heats up in an instant so I don’t need a toaster oven any more. Love these types of recipes, the buttery puff pastry looks incredible and that stuffing is literally making my mouth water. What a lovely lunch this would make with a small side salad.
    Eva Taylor recently posted…Sautéed Peppers with Pine Nuts

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  4. I love this combo of flavours, wrapped in buttery flaky pastry. Yum. I am thinking of buying a small oven to make life easier and more energy efficient , but I’m tossing up between that or an Air Fryer. I don’t need both, and I think I could cook these in an air fryer as well. Big decision. Great recipe, thanks Jeff.
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    • I don’t have an air fryer, but my guess is that you could do this in one.

      Reply

    • Oh, I’ve made harder things. I actually think they were fun to make.

      Reply

    • You know what, I have to tell you: I only have this toaster oven because a friend no longer wanted it. I use it mainly when it’s hot out and I don’t feel like heating up the house. I blogged about making brats in it, thinking it was probably not especially blogworthy, but I had nothing else on my mind at the time … and that post is far and away the most popular post on my site! So now, whenever I use it, I always talk about it. I guess there are a lot of people out there who want to understand how to do things in their toaster ovens! But there’s nothing you can do in a toaster oven that can’t probably also be done in an air fryer or a regular oven … except maybe make toast. But I have to confess, the toaster oven doesn’t do that especially well. Weird.

      Reply

    • Well, I very much enjoyed these, and hope you will, too, Easy Foodsmilth.

      Reply

    • What do you MEAN, they’re not fancy looking? Hahaha. I’m not the fancy-looking type, and I’m all about flavor, so you’ve totally nailed me, John. Wait, that didn’t sound right…

      Reply

  13. These sound delicious, Jeff. I think toaster ovens are so handy. I grew up with one and my mom used it for everything when she was cooing something small or for just a couple of people. I’d love these for any meal of the day! 🙂 ~Valentina

    Reply
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