This deliciously salty and savoury whipped feta dip with roasted garlic, tomatoes, and Mediterranean herbs is an amazing complement to your favorite crusty bread, veggies sticks, or toasted pita / pita chips. Serve it as a dip (as the name suggests), or use it as a spread for toast and sandwiches.
Whenever we’ve spent time in the Balkans and Mediterranean (which lucky for me, is a fair bit of time), I have fully embraced the mezze lifestyle.
In my opinion, sitting down for a late afternoon or early evening mezze platter (essentially, an appetizer platter with lots of dips, spreads, and small bites – and this whipped feta dip is the perfect addition) with friends and a cold beer or crisp glass of white wine is an amazing way to cut through the heat of a hot day.
This creamy whipped feta dip with savoury herby tomatoes and garlic is my latest answer to mezze time (Black Bean Corn Feta Dip is also a good option for a North American twist!)
It’s salty, savoury and tangy, and is perfect to serve on a cheese and appetizer platter with toasted pita wedges, homemade baguette crisps, veggie sticks or slices, or plain ole crackers.
It’s also beautiful on crusty bread – either as a simple snack of toast and spread, or as part of a sandwich.
Drizzle it with olive oil, and top it with your baked tomatoes, and then dig in with friends or family.
Tomatoes and Feta are a classic combo, on feta fries, feta pasta or this whipped feta dip!
How to Make my Creamy Whipped Feta Dip with Garlic & Herbed TOmatoes
What You’ll Need
- 1 block of feta cheese (8 oz. or about 1 cup when broken up and crumbled). I recommend Greek feta for this recipe, because of course Greece is famous for feta!
- 1/4 cup to 3/4 cup of either sour cream or Greek yogurt. Less if you’re using sour cream (1/4 to 1/2 cup) and more if you’re using Greek yogurt (1/2 cup to 3/4 cup), as Greek yogurt is a bit thicker.
- 1 cup whole cherry tomatoes, washed
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon fresh herbs, minced (oregano is always good with feta, but anything you’d find in a Mediterranean blend works great. Try thyme, dill, even mint)
- 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- Kosher or sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
You’ll also need an oven safe baking dish, and a food processor, blender, or immersion blender.
How to Make it
This creamy whipped feta dip is really easy to make, making it a fantastic option when you’re in a hurry getting ready to entertain friends or family, or heading out to an event that you need to bring something to.
First, you need to bake the cherry tomatoes. Just pop them in an oven safe container, and drizzle with minced garlic and a Mediterranean herb mix, plus olive oil. Fresh herbs work best, but if all you have is dried (as was the case for me), don’t let it stop you!
Bake at 400F for around 15 minutes, until they’re all bubbly and roasted. If you’re worried about the cherry tomatoes bursting open, you can pierce them with a fork first, but I prefer to bake as is, and let them burst naturally, with all the juices flowing out at just the right time.
As the tomatoes bake and the garlic roasts, break up about 8 ounces feta (1 block) a bit, and combine with either sour cream or Greek yoghurt in a food processor or blender (1 cup cheese to 1/4 cup sour cream; more like 1 cup feta to 1/2 or 3/4 cup Greek yoghurt if going that route). Blend until combined and smooth, and transfer to a serving bowl.
Then pile the roasted garlic and tomato mixture on top of the whipped feta cheese. You can drizzle with fresh olive oil if you want, or pour the oil from the baking dish on top. Top with some freshly ground black pepper to taste, too!
If you plan on serving with toasted homemade pita chips, simply brush some pita with a light coating of olive oil on both sides, and season with salt (I sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt), and then toast in the still warm oven from baking the tomato mixture. Be careful about using too much salt, as the dip itself will have a delicious saltiness, which you don’t want to overpower.
If you want them to be crispier, toast right on the oven rack. I prefer to put them on a baking sheet lined with either parchment or a silimat, and toast for around 10 minutes at 350F.
Veggies and plain ole crackers also work great for this dip!
Substitutes and Upgrades
Greek Yogurt vs Sour Cream for a Whipped Feta Dip
You can use either sour cream for Greek yoghurt to whip the feta cheese with. Greek yogurt is a bit healthier, but it also is a bit more authentic to the Mediterranean.
Greek yogurt provides a smooth and creamy base for the feta, and has a flavor profile that supports the tangy cheese.
The smooth and creamy base of Greek yogurt is smooth and creamy, giving a great texture to the dip, and making it slightly thicker than what you’ll find with sour cream. It’s also a bit tangier, pairing well with the salty tanginess of the feta.
Go with whatever you think you’d like better, or whatever you have in your fridge. The main thing is to process until smooth, so you get the gorgeous whipped texture.
Note, there are a number of other recipes out there that use cream cheese as well (typically a mix of cream cheese and sour cream or Greek yoghurt). I haven’t tried this combo, so don’t cover it below, but it’s a great addition to experiment with!
Ratios
Feel free to adjust the proportion of feta to yogurt/sour cream, based on how it all comes together in your blender or food processor. I like to start with a smaller quantity, and then add as I blend to get the consistency I want.
If you add more feta or more yogurt/sour cream, you’ll get a thicker spread, more like a hummus consistency. If you add less of either as a ratio, you’ll get a thinner product.
Note, if you don’t plan on eating it all in one go, and store it in the fridge after making, it will thicken up a bit.
Think about how you want to use this recipe – as a dip, as a spread for toast, or as a “dollop” for an omelette or cold soup – and figure out your consistency that way!
Roasted Garlic
If you have roasted garlic in your fridge, or have a bit more time, another fab upgrade to this dish is to pre-roast a head of garlic, and then add in a few bulbs when blending up your feta and yogurt (instead of adding minced garlic to the tomato mixture, or simply topping the blend with a few cloves.
Lemon Juice
Most whipped feta recipes include lemon juice or lemon zest for a bit of tang. I have left it out on this recipe, as the tomatoes give a nice tang, but a very light addition of a few grates of lemon zest and black pepper could be a nice addition to this dip!
Honey
Like the lemon juice, I haven’t added honey to this dish, because the roasted garlic and tomatoes speak for themselves. However, if you want a but of sweetness, an alternative recipe would be drizzling honey on the whipped dip, instead of piling it high with the garlic, herb and tomatoes mixture. Honey adds a gorgeous sweetness to the feta, and feta-honey are common pairs in some countries throughout the Mediterranean, such as Greece.
One of the things I love about this recipe is once you get the basics (whipping the mixture), it’s easy to experiment with the other flavors, such as herbs, adding honey, toasted sesame seeds, etc. Feel free to get creative to discover your favorite delicious combo!
Serving and Storing this Whipped Cheese Dip
Accompaniments and Serving
This dip can be eaten as a condiment-like spread on toast or sandwiches, or served as a dip with veggies, pita, and crackers.
Storing
This dip will last around 5 days in the fridge, in an airtight container. It will thicken up considerably in the fridge as compared to room temperature, and you may need to whip it up a bit more before serving.
Also, it’s best served at room temperature, so let it sit a bit to warm to the room before serving.
Creamy Whipped Feta Dip with Roasted Garlic and Tomatoes
This salty, savoury whipped feta dip with roasted garlic, tomatoes, and Mediterranean herbs is an amazing complement to your favorite crusty bread, veggies sticks, or toasted pita / pita chips. Serve it as a dip (as the name suggests), or use it as a spread for toasts and sandwiches.
Ingredients
- 1 block feta cheese (8 oz. or about 1 cup when broken up and crumbled)
- 1/4 cup to 3/4 cup of either sour cream or Greek yogurt.
- 1 cup whole cherry tomatoes, washed
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon fresh Mediterranean herbs, minced
- 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- Kosher or sea salt, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Fresh pita bread and veggies for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- Wash cherry tomatoes, and add to an oven-safe baking dish. Add minced garlic, fresh herbs and olive oil, and bake for 15 minutes, until tomatoes are soft and juices are spilling out. Remove from oven once baked, and reduce heat to 350F.
- As tomatoes and garlic bake, break up 8 ounces feta cheese (1 block) with your hands or a fork into a blender or food processor. Add Greek yogurt or sour cream (see note) and process until smooth. Slowly increase the amount of sour cream or yogurt until you get your preferred consistency. Transfer to a serving bowl.
- Pile the roasted garlic, herb and tomato mixture on top of the whipped cheese dip. Drizzle with a bit more fresh olive oil, and season with freshly ground black pepper.
- Toast fresh pita bread by brushing on both sides with olive oil, and sprinkling a bit of sea salt on one side. Cut into wedges and bake on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat for 10 minutes, until golden.
- Wash and chop some fresh veggies for serving - red peppers, baby carrots, cucumber sticks, broccoli florets, and sugar snap peas work great!
Notes
When combining the feta cheese and sour cream or Greek yoghurt in your food processor/blender, start with a smaller amount of sour cream or yogurt, and add as you go until you get the desired consistency and creaminess. I find you need less if you're using sour cream (between 1/4 to 1/2 cup) and more if you're using Greek yogurt (between 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup). Keep in mind it will thicken up further if you plan to store it in the fridge.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 221Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 34mgSodium: 333mgCarbohydrates: 17gFiber: 2gSugar: 5gProtein: 9g
CheeseandSuch.com offers estimations of nutritional information for recipes contained on this site. This information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators via a third-party plugin, and may be inaccurate. It is meant as a best guess, and not intended to provide dietary advice of any kind. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information obtained is accurate.