My Big Fat Greek Appetizer | Feta Dip

What You’ll Like About This Recipe

• No cooking or heating the kitchen on a hot day!
• It’s easy to prep. Just a little chopping and slicing, and you’re good to go.
• It’s a communal dish shared from a single platter, so there’s just one plate to wash.

Ingredient Notes

This post contains affiliate links. Lana’s Cooking is reader-supported and earns a tiny commission at no extra cost to you when you shop from our links.

• Pitas – Serve with either pita bread or pita chips (or both!) for dipping and scooping the dip.
• Olive Oil – Choose a good quality extra virgin olive oil. I recommend California Olive Ranch brand.
• Feta Cheese – Purchase either crumbled feta or a block of feta cheese and crumble it yourself.
• Cucumber – I like English cucumbers. They have almost no seeds so there’s less waste.
• Onion – You can use any onion you have on hand; green onions, red onions, mild yellow onions all work.
• Tomatoes – I prefer Roma tomatoes because they’re lower in moisture and won’t water down the finished dip.
• Kalamata Olives – I love these salty, sharp olives! Substitute another variety if you like.
• Fresh Lemon Juice – Use freshly squeezed lemon juice.
• Ground Black Pepper – Black pepper lends its own touch of background heat and brightens the other flavors. Salt isn’t needed in this recipe because of the other salty ingredients.
• Pepperoncini – I use Mazzetta brand. Delallo is also great.

How to Make Layered Feta Dip

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Put the pita bread in the oven to warm while you prepare the rest of the recipe. I just put the pitas right on the oven rack. No pan to wash!

2. On a large, shallow plate or platter, pour olive oil to cover the bottom.

👉 PRO TIP: Measurements aren’t really important, but I did check and noted that I used about 1/3 cup of olive oil. Because it’s eaten raw and is a major flavor component, you do want to use a very good, extra virgin olive oil for this.

3. Scatter over the crumbled Feta cheese. I just crumble it with my fingers, but you could cut it into cubes if you like that better.
4. Add the diced cucumber and green onion.
5. Next, add the diced tomatoes and Kalamata olives.

👉 PRO TIP: I always like plum tomatoes for this recipe because they have less moisture than other tomatoes. That keeps them from watering down the recipe. You could also use halved grape or cherry tomatoes. If you’re using regular tomatoes, be sure to remove the seeds before you dice them.

6. Sprinkle over the lemon juice and freshly ground black pepper. You probably won’t need any salt since the Feta is usually pretty salty but taste to see what you think.
7. Serve with warm pita bread torn into pieces and pickled Pepperoncini.

☝️ Just for fun, I thought I’d show you what it looks like around here after the photo shoot is finished. It took us about 5 minutes to nearly destroy the whole platter. Then again, it was about 3:00 in the afternoon and neither of us had had lunch :-)

Recipe Variations

• Very lightly sprinkle the feta layer with crushed red pepper flakes. You only need a few!
• Before juicing the lemon, remove the lemon zest and sprinkle it over as well for a pronounced lemon flavor.
• Add a tiny bit of chopped fresh dill.
• Sprinkle a small amount of crushed dried oregano over top of the dip.
• Add a few chopped sun-dried tomatoes to the mixture.

Make Ahead and Storage Information

This layered feta dip can be made about 30 minutes before serving. As with most recipes using fresh vegetables, they begin to exude their juices fairly quickly and can cause the dip to become watery if left to sit too long. My recommendation is to serve and enjoy the dip fairly quickly after making it.

Think of storing a fresh salad with cut tomatoes and cucumbers. It just wilts in the fridge, right? You’ll get the same results from storing this dip.