Easy Baked Feta Appetizer
This baked feta appetizer comes together in just minutes with only a handful of ingredients – olives, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh garlic, olive oil, and dried herbs. Bake it all together with a block of feta cheese until it’s warm and creamy, then serve with crispy crostini!
This baked feta is ridiculously good.
- It’s so quick and easy! The only prep work required for this baked feta is thinly slicing the garlic! Other than that, it’s pretty much just throw everything in a baking dish and bake. Which is what makes it one of our family’s favorites.
- It’s feta like you’ve never had it before! We all watched as baked feta pasta took over the internet, but this baked feta is a warm, decadent way to enjoy feta cheese in a whole new way! It’s got roasted olives, garlic, and sun-dried tomatoes in an olive oil marinade. The flavors are amazing, the texture is indulgent, and the way it all comes together will make this your go-to appetizer recipe, too!
Here’s how it all comes together.
Add feta to a small baking dish or rimmed sheet pan. Add olives and sun-dried tomatoes to the baking dish around the block of feta.
In a small dish, combine olive oil, sliced garlic, oregano, thyme, rosemary, and a couple pinches of salt and pepper. Drizzle over the feta, olives, and sun-dried tomatoes.
Bake for 20 minutes. Broil for 1-2 minutes. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley and sliced French bread, crostini, crackers, or pita chips.
Things I learned while testing this recipe.
- My favorite feta to use for this recipe is the kind that comes as a block in a brine liquid. Being stored in brine gives the feta cheese a lot of extra moisture, which helps to increase the creaminess in this baked feta. Just make sure you drain the brine off before baking!
- If you can’t find a block in brine, just a regular block of feta will work as well. It will give you a very similar taste and texture to the feta that comes in brine. Honestly, crumbled feta would likely work too; the presentation will just be slightly different, and you may need to bake it for less time.
- If you’re not into olives, try roasting the feta with grape tomatoes instead! Keep everything the same, just replace the olives with tomatoes! The tomatoes will become tender, roasted, and delicious! You could also just skip the olives altogether and enjoy this baked feta with the sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, and herbs!
Use this recipe as a blueprint.
This recipe is super forgiving, so feel free to switch up the ingredients to suit the season or your family’s taste. Some of our favorite variations include:
- a squeeze of lemon juice
- lemon zest
- a drizzle of honey
- capers
- sliced red onion
- sliced shallot
- red pepper flakes
- fresh thyme
- fresh basil leaves
Try the viral feta pasta.
- If you’re looking to switch things up a bit and take this dish from an appetizer to the main course, add your favorite al dente pasta!
- I like to add rotini, penne, or rigatoni, but a longer cut of pasta like spaghetti, linguine, or fettuccine would work as well.
- Cook your pasta, reserve 1/2 a cup of pasta water, and add the cooked pasta directly to the baked feta after it’s come out of the oven. Mix the pasta and cheese together and add splashes of pasta water as needed to help the feta fully coat the pasta noodles in the creamy baked sauce.
- Season to taste with Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper, and enjoy!
Here’s what I’d serve with this baked feta.
- coconut curry chicken skewers
- Greek marinated chicken
- Greek fries with dill yogurt sauce
- crispy Mediterranean flatbread
- easy Greek pasta salad
A little make-ahead magic.
- This baked feta appetizer can be prepped a couple hours in advance, which makes it one of my favorite foods to make for a party.
- Prep the feta according to the recipe instructions, cover it, and pop it in the fridge.
- About an hour before you want to bake it, remove it from the fridge and let it sit out on the counter to come to room temperature.
- When your guests arrive, pop it in the oven for a warm appetizer that everyone will love!
Just in case you have leftovers.
- Storing: If this tasty appetizer doesn’t get gobbled up immediately, storage is simple and easy. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- Reheating: Whether you made this cheesy appetizer ahead of time or are going in for your leftovers, the instructions are the same. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F, ensure your feta is in an oven-safe dish, and gently heat until warmed throughout. This usually takes somewhere around 20 minutes.
More easy appetizers for your eating pleasure.
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Baked Feta
This Baked Feta Appetizer comes together in just minutes with only a handful of ingredients – olives, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh garlic, olive oil, and herbs. Bake it all together with a block of feta cheese until it’s warm and creamy then serve with crispy crostini!
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 8-ounce block feta
- 1 cup pitted olives, drained
- 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
- Kosher salt
- fresh cracked pepper
For serving:
- fresh chopped parsley
- sliced French bread or crostini
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Add an 8-ounce block of feta to a small baking dish.
- Add 1 cup olives and 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes to the baking dish around the feta.
- In a small dish combine 1/3 cup olive oil, 3 cloves sliced garlic, 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, and a couple pinches of salt and pepper.
- Pour over the block of feta, olives, and sun-dried tomatoes.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Broil for 1-2 minutes.
- Garnish with fresh chopped parsley and crispy crostini.
- If you loved this recipe, leave a 5-star rating and review!
Notes
- My favorite feta to use for this recipe is the kind that comes as a block in a brine liquid. Being stored in brine gives the feta cheese a lot of extra moisture which helps to increase the creaminess in this baked feta. Just make sure you drain the brine off before baking!
- If you can’t find a block in brine, just a regular block of feta will work as well. It will give you a very similar taste and texture as the feta that comes in brine. Honestly, crumbled feta would likely work too, the presentation will just be slightly different and you may need to bake it for less time.
- If you’re not into olives, try roasting the feta with grape tomatoes instead! Keep everything the same, just replace the olives with tomatoes! The tomatoes will become tender, roasted, and delicious! You could also just skip the olives altogether and enjoy this baked feta with the sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, and herbs!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Greek/American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/8 of recipe
- Calories: 134
- Sugar: 1 g
- Sodium: 177.9 mg
- Fat: 13.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 1.6 g
- Fiber: 0.2 g
- Protein: 2.8 g
- Cholesterol: 16.7 mg
For your fans in Atlanta, the International Bakery on Cheshire Bridge has the BEST Greek Feta in the world! Ask for Tom, the owner.
I definitely will next time I’m in the area! Thanks Carol!
Can this be used with goat cheese?
This would be great with goat cheese! Might not need to bake it quite as long but goat cheese would taste great!
This was delicious. I didn’t have sundried tomato so I just used a regular tomato. So flavorful. Will definitely make this one again. And will.put it on the menu for get together.
Great substitution! I am so glad to hear that you enjoyed the recipe. Thank you for leaving a review, Charmaine!
So delicious. I will make this again. I crumbled the feta in the baking dish instead of leaving it in a block. I wouldn’t add olive oil next time as my sun dried tomatoes were in oil and it was very oily…the package of tomatoes was very oily. I added the olives for the last few minutes. We enjoyed this with a variety of crackers. Thanks for sharing!
I am so glad that you enjoyed this recipe, Deanne! And that you were able to make some adjustments to suit your taste. Thank you for leaving a review – I really appreciate it 🙂
This recipe was easy and delicious! Next time I will skip the salt, found it a little salty for my taste.
I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Renee!! Feta can be quite salty and I think the saltiness can really differ from brand to brand as well so that’s a great idea. Thank you for leaving a review – I really appreciate it! 🙂
So simple and outrageously delicious!
I am so glad that you enjoyed this recipe, Pam! Thank you for leaving a review!
I added a leaf of fresh basil to each slice of bread. Created the perfect balance. Thank you for the great fast impressive recipe!
YUM! Fresh basil would be a delicious addition to this appetizer. Great idea, Bridget!
When you say sun dried tomatoes, do you mean the ones in a jar of olive oil?
I have a jar of sun dried tomatoes, nothing additional. I have both types and don’t know which one to use.
Hi Sue! Either would work well for this recipe!! I prefer the oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, but the ones that are not packed in oil would also work just fine as there is olive oil in the recipe itself. Great question. I hope that helps 🙂
Hi. Love your blog. I’m starting a blog and wonder if you wouldn’t mind telling me which recipe add on you are using? Thank you.
Yes! I am using Tasty Recipes and I love it!
Excellent. Can’t make it often enough…
Yes!!! I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Joe! Thank you for leaving a review 🙂
It was a hit!
Woohoo! I am so glad that you enjoyed this recipe, Lily! Thanks so much for leaving a review!
OMG, i so wanted to eat the whole thing! My hubs isn’t really an olive fan, but he liked it as well.
I am so glad this one was a hit, Teri!! Thanks for leaving a review – I really appreciate it!
Hello, I waa gping to combine cherry tomatoes and olives? Ehat do you think?
Thank you
George
Sounds DELICIOUS! I think that would work out great, George! Great question 🙂
Made this with fresh herbs and kalamata olives. It was over the top delicious and easy.
Yayyyy! I am so glad you hear that Jill. I’m glad you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you for leaving a review!!
So easy, and wonderfully delicious. I wasn’t able to find block feta in brine so I mounded feta crumbles and smushed it together in the middle of my dish and it worked just fine ? 10/10 will be making again and again!!
I am so glad that liked this recipe! Way to go using what you had!! Thanks so much for leaving a review – I really appreciate it.