Spinach jibn is a traditional Syrian way to prepare vegetables, akin to a crustless quiche. It’s most common to find it with spinach, but you can also make it with zucchini or other vegetables you may have around. It’s healthy and kid-friendly, though I assure you that adults enjoy it just as much. I learned to make this from my mom and grandmas and it’s very near and dear to my heart.
Jibn is adaptable. It’s freezable. It’s make-aheadable! I am sharing the recipe in its most basic form, but feel free to experiment from here: Mix it up by grating an onion into the spinach, or adding cumin and garlic powder, or topping with sesame seeds before baking. Bake it in a pie crust or muffin tins, or even in a thin layer on top of pizza dough.
It may not be the prettiest dish or the fanciest, but it’s the kind of dish you will make again and again.
Jibn (Syrian Frittata)
Adaptable Syrian jibn is a quick and easy egg dish that can be made ahead of time and frozen for an easy breakfast.
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 6
Ingredients
- 2 lb frozen chopped spinach, thawed
- 6 eggs
- 1 16–oz container cottage cheese
- 2 cups shredded Muenster or mozzarella cheese
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF and grease a 9×13-inch pan or two 9-inch pie pans.
- Squeeze as much water as possible out of the spinach.
- In a large bowl, mix spinach, eggs, cheese and salt.
- Transfer the mixture into the prepared baking dish(es) and bake for 45 minutes-1 hour, until the top is golden brown and the inside is cooked through.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 45-60 minutes
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Vegetarian
This has to be a kissing cousin of Greek spanokopita! Looks delicious!
Except that spanakopita is made with filo dough and different seasonings. My parents had friends, and the wife was Greek, and she made this for us all the time. Yum! This recipe will be great for Pesach!!
Can’t wait to try it sounds delish!
Make this all the time DELICIOUS!!! (And very easy!).
Great frittata, I made it several weeks ago and making it again but going to try it with feta cheese instead of the cheese in the original recipe.
Made this for potluck, many people asked for the recipe! My modifications
1. I cut the spinach in 1/2, just used 1 package
2. I sautéed some onion, mushrooms and ½ red bell pepper and added. Maybe about ¼ onion and about six or so mushrooms, all chopped fine. That is what I had- I think you could use more
3. I used Monterey jack cheese
4. I used 5-6 healthy shakes of “Greek seasoning” spice mix.
That sounds delicious!!
Great for Pesach!
Delicious. Thank you. ^^
We grew up eating this Jeben every Thursday night usually accompanied by rice and lentils. It’s so easy to make, I usually fry onions first and add it to the mixture. It’s the easiest thing to make, more cheese, less cheese, more egg, doesn’t matter. Never fails!! Enjoy, it will be one of your go favorites!
Very similar to my passed down family recipe. We use Parmesan cheese instead of the mozzarella
Great idea!
Excellent!
My wife had been making this for many years, but using feta instead of Muenster of mozzarella.
It’s a great recipe and I have made it again and again!
Fantastically reliable recipe that makes enough breakfast food for the week. No taste difference to me after I froze it for a couple of days. Was able to bring it to oneg and use the leftovers for breakfast sandwich filling the next few days.
I used fresh spinach instead of frozen, and after wrestling the leaves under the egg and cheese mix in the pan, I think it turned out better than frozen spinach.
Note if someone else wants to try fresh spinach and would find instructions helpful: scramble the eggs in a large bowl, then add the cheeses, and the spinach leaves come last. Pour into the pan and then spend some time spreading the inevitable clump of leaves across the pan and sorting the egg and cheese mix over.
Will definitely add it to my ‘cheap and premade bulk breakfast for the week’ recipe list.
I’ll try sauteed fresh spinach and cumin is great spice for slimming the waist
We love this having first seen it here. We sometimes add a bit of feta to punch up the taste. It’s a great dinner with a salad, really lovely for break-fast, and leftovers for quick breakfast or lunch or snack.
I have made this recipe many times after seeing it in the Austin Tx Jewish news
Haven’t made this yet, but this recipe recalls the delicious jibns we had at a Syrian friend’s table many years ago. It was a recipe she learned from her mother. This recipe omits the garlic she added which was key, imo. In addition to spinach, she made one with artichoke hearts that was our favorite. We served the artichoke jibn at our wedding. Thanks for bringing me back, and giving me a nudge to start making it again.
My grandmother who came from turkey used to make this. She would make a small one just for me. Any combo of cheeses will do.