Creamy Feta Dip.
I know what you’re thinking.
Boring title.
A bowl of white cheese.
Somewhat plain.
Kind of a snoozefest.
How crazy can this really be?
I was skeptical too. Trust me.
I didn’t make this recipe up. My cousin Lacy did. See… a restaurants in DC makes this stuff and calls it crazy feta. She was a huge fan. Then they started selling it at Whole Foods for an arm and a leg. And since she really likes her limbs, she checked out the ingredients and decided to try and make it herself. Best decision ever.
She first told me about it on one of our walks about a week before we headed to the beach. It sounded good. It didn’t knock my socks off, but I kept it in mind. I don’t love jalapenos, lemon or feta, let alone love it together. Then she talked about it more at the beach. And each time I got a little more intrigued.
By Sunday, it was the only thing on my mind. Monday morning I rushed to the grocery store to buy bricked feta, jalapenos and lemons. Because that is exactly where my priorities lie after a week away. Don’t even act like yours lie somewhere else.
I don’t even know where to start.
This is quite possible one of the best things I have ever tasted. The flavors – tangy feta, spicy jalapenos, bright lemon, caramely garlic – combine to create this delicious explosion of something or other in your mouth. It’s perfect. It has a little bite. It’s madly addicting. It’s fabulous on pita chips. Even better on warm bread. Can you even picture it? Fluffy, warm pita spread with crazy feta.
If that doesn’t sell you, I don’t know what will. You gotta promise me you’ll try this. Pleeeeeeeeease.
Creamy Feta Dip with Jalapenos
Ingredients
- 2 bricks of feta cheese, (8 ounces) each
- 3 whole jalapeno peppers
- 1/4 cup olive oil + 1 tablespoon
- 1 bulb garlic
- the juice of half a lemon
- the zest of half a lemon
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Chop the top off the garlic bulb and drizzle it with a teaspoon of olive oil. Wrap it in foil and roast for 25-30 minutes, or until garlic is golden in color. At the same time, brush the jalapenos with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Either grill or roast them – I stuck them in the oven with garlic and just watched until they were charred. Remove both from oven and let cool. Once jalapenos are cooled, remove skins, cut in half and discard the seeds. Chop into small pieces. Don’t touch your eyes!
- In a large bowl, crumble the feta bricks. [Crumbling the bricks yourself works best, but if you can only find crumbled feta that is fine.] Add chopped jalapenos, the zest of half a lemon, and the juice of half a lemon. Squeeze the roasted garlic out of the bulb directly into the feta. Add 1/4 cup of olive oil and mash with a fork. You want the feta to be a bit “wet” – I can best describe it as a cross between a spread and a dip. There is no right or wrong – make it however you’d like. Taste the feta and season with salt and pepper. Serve with pita chips, warm pita or naan, or spread it on sandwiches. Store it in the fridge for up to one week – I find that I like it best at room temperature, so allow it to sit out for about 30 minutes before serving. We also think it would be great with some kalamata olives.
Did you make this recipe?
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I appreciate you so much!
This is definitely my new party appetizer. Now you just need to invite me.
301 Comments on “Creamy Feta Dip.”
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So creativity runs in the family huh??? Beautiful photography Jessica!
I absolutely LOVE feta….and I love what you did with it. Genius!
i made this last night with pre-crumbled feta! it was delicious! some bites were tangy and some were spicy! it always kept us guessing. thanks for sharing this recipe!
So glad you liked it!
I’ve just bought all the ingredients.. but I bought a lime instead of the lemon! :/
I will try tonight!
I think lime could work!
This sounds dangerous! Like something you’d try a bite off and then before you know it the entire bowl is gone; I like it! Going to have to stick this on the list for party dishes. Btw, love the photos.
I will make this for my bday get together tomorrow. I am also using a trader joes BOXED mix for cupcakes (the pink box) dont judge. Do you have any ideas on how I can make this box mix better? I am pretty sure youve share a recipe using this mix but dont remember the name.
hmmm I don’t think I’ve ever bought cupcake mix from Trader Joe’s?? But the only thing I ever add to boxed mixes besides the ingredients called for is lots of vanilla extract!
Yiedy- to make a box mix taste a little more gourmet you can substitute butter for the oil, use milk instead of the water, add an extra egg, and like Jessica said, more vanilla!
I bet this is way better than Whole Foods version!!
I am so making this tonight. Yum!!! Thanks for the great idea!
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This looks so great! Can’t wait to spring this on my hubby! mmm feta!
This was fantastic! Thank you.
I totally love this recipe! I too love feta! Have a great weekend! :)
This looks amazing, can’t wait to make for “date night” with my hubby!!!
Cava is one of my favorite restaurants in DC too so I was very excited when I saw this recipe. Just made it for lunch for me and my husband. I drizzled a little honey over mine (inspired by another dish I had at Cava). Love! Thanks so much for sharing.
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I need this in my life so badly. Must create occasion that calls for awesome appetizer so I don’t just consume the whole bowl alone…
I made this on Sunday for a BBQ I was hosting. I served it as a dip, but people were slathering it on their roasted lamb and exclaiming about it’s deliciousness. Thanks for the recipe!
This looks GREAT. Gotta love an easy appetizer recipe.
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First of all, I’d like to preface that I have NEVER written a review in reference to a recipe regardless of how good it has been. This one got my attention, and you have the first ever review!
As I live in Switzerland, and jalapenos are hard to come by, I only had 2 small ones plucked from my plant … I ended up adding some crushed red pepper but the kick is minimal. I need more of the green guys!
This recipe MUST be against the law! I served this with some fresh grilled lamb, with a side of home made orange/red pepper pasta … simply decadent. I will certainly be sharing this with my friends. Thanks bunches for posting!
Thank you for coming out to comment Maya! So glad you like it!
I would have never put those flavors together. But I trust you girl!!! I love the thought of adding kalamata olives – yum!
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I just had to share…
You know what’s better than crazy feta? Crazy feta after a brief stint in the microwave. When it comes out all bubbling and melty, you’re kitchen smells like Mexico and a really good pizza place. And the flavors really shine through in all of its garlickly, lemony, pepperry, CHEESY glory. Ma-jes-tic.
LOVE!
WOW. I expected this to be good when I first read the recipe and it was EXCELLENT! So good :) the only chips I had were cucumber dill lentil because I forgot to pick up pita and it was veeerrrry good :) I’m so excited to tell everyone!
Oh my goodness! I read this last week and finally broke down to make it tonight. So, so good! Thanks for sharing this!
I have been obsessed with this recipe…and I haven’t made it yet. I roasted the garlic and jalapenos last night and can’t wait to try it. That is, if I don’t eat all of the ingredients before mixing them together.
Give me an update once you make it!
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Looks amazing!! Going to try this today with your Greek salad. Thank you.
Oh my, what goodness! I just made this for a party tomorrow….DEVINE. All of my favs in one recipe and I did add some chopped kalamata olives. I hope I don’t eat it all before tomorrow! Thank you so much for your site and recipes. My sister and I follow you religiously. She loves sugar and has made many of your wonderful desserts, this was my first attempt at one of your recipes and I am so glad I did! Keep up the good work and the delicious recipes!!! Thank You! :)
This was too yummy! Thanks!!
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Ok…so I made this for a little Independence Day Soiree this weekend, and everyone LOVED it. My brother-in-law loved it so much, he put it on his hot dog AND his hamburger. Thanks for the recipe! :)
Just made this for a 4th of July BBQ. It is amazing! Next time, I’ll roast the garlic longer — I was only able to use about half of the cloves. But still very good!
This was great! Everyone enjoyed it this weekend. It was SO easy. I roasted the garlic and peppers the night before because we had the oven on for another recipe so the next day it was truly the easiest dip ever. Thanks for a new great recipe!
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Sounds pretty fantastic to me! I love anything with feta – so far from boring!
Oh my god! I must make this. I’ve seen the Cava Crazy Feta at Whole Foods before, but I never got the reason to get it (never look at ingredients) because it was so expensive and I just thought “why wouldn’t I just buy plain feta?” –now I can make your version and save money! Very excited about this one :)
I’m really not a fan of spicy food, and the idea of jalapenos scares me into not making this.. has anyone tried it without them in there?
If you just try it with one jalapeno finely diced it should not be too spicy because the seeds are removed. Not sure how it would be without them since they are a major flavor in the dip.
The girls in the group I made this for do not like spicy food and they loved it as is. The roasting and removing of the seeds and veins totally takes the spice level down a ton. Even the 8 year old enjoyed it!
Okay, after reading about this I am so gonna make it this weekend. I bought a big block of it at Sams club today. Just need the jalapeno and garlic!!!
I added siracha to mine. spiced it up and it was DELISH
This is such a great dip and holds up wonderfully as a make-ahead! So my one mistake, I LOVE lemon and decided to add juice and zest from the whole lemon instead of the half. It tasted great immediately but the next day the lemon was a little overpowering. Next time I’ll be following the recipe as written :-) Served it with the whole grain pita chips from TJ’s. So good! Thanks for the yumminess!
On a whim I hit that “Stumble” button on the top of my screen and it brought me to you.
Score! What a surprise to find such a fabulous recipe and a great blog. I’m printing the recipe and can’t wait to make it to share with my friends at our next “Happy Hour”!
Best,
Jenn/Rook No. 17
Yum! Made it tonight just for me and hubby — we can’t stop eating it! So delicious and so different!
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