Whipped feta

"The Best Whipped Feta Contains Feta and Nothing Else"

Claire Lower/ Lifehacker Australia

I'm not a member/subscriber to TikTok, Facebook, Instagram et al. and so I am not immediately aware of foodie trends. Only when they filter into recipe books and newsletters. So I'm always behind. This one seems to have begun around 2019 - but a recent 2025 study by Datassential maintains that it's only at the Adoption stage - the other stages being Inception - then Adoption - Proliferation and Ubiquity. They do say however, that it has risen in popularity by 106% in the past four years - in the US that is. I have no idea about here.

Anyway I was dimly aware of this trend - and also considering what to do with a half packet of feta cheese that needs using in my fridge, and so I decided to see what I could find about it. Not a lot is the answer. Other than, I suppose, that just about every cook, blog, website, TikToker et al. has a recipe for whipped feta.

So here is Nagi Maehashi of Recipe Tin Eats with her version of Whipped feta dip and like just about everyone's other than my Lifehacker Australia lady, Claire Lower, who provided my opening quote, Nagi has added things to hers to make it easier to work with, and I guess her attitude is what most people have to this wonderful kind of dip:

"If you’re ever in need of something quick but homemade to break out at a gathering, this Creamy Feta Dip will save the day. All you do is blend feta, cream cheese or yogurt, a smidge of garlic, lemon zest and olive oil in a food processor, then spread it on a plate and sprinkle/drizzle with toppings."

Which is in direct opposition to Claire Lower who says:

"After eating many different combinations of feta-and-some-other-dairy, I discovered that adding another dairy to the feta did make it a little silkier, but it also toned down the feta’s flavor. This might make it more accessible to those with easily overwhelmed palates, but as someone who loves feta, I’m mildly offended. I want my whipped feta to be airy, spreadable, and feta-forward. I also like not having to measure anything. ... A cherry tomato dipped in whipped feta is a perfect two-ingredient snack; I don’t see any reason to get other flavors involved."

And by a 'cherry tomato dipped in whipped feta' she doesn't mean something like this Whipped fetta with roasted cherry tomatoes from Sandra Valvassori - a variation on Ottolenghi's roasted tomatoes on cold yoghurt.

I chose to show this here, because I could not find a single picture of one cherry tomato being dipped in whipped feta - with or without anything else in the mix - well I suppose in a way it's more the kind of thing you might eat by yourself at home or with your family. It's not as classy looking as this - or even Nagi's dip 'to break out at a gathering'. My opening photograph is Claire Lower's and the closest you get to absolutely plain. There are many moee like this one.

Feta is white. If whipped it looks like cream, or yoghurt, but is tastier. I cannot resist the taste of feta. It must be the salt. So if you decorate the white with something contrasting - even a drizzle of oil and a sprinkle of nuts, seeds or herbs, it will make it look sort of wow. As in this version - Creamy whipped feta dip from The Mediterranean Dish - one of the most popular websites for Mediterranean food. Its maker Suzy Karadsheh tells us it takes a mere 5 minutes to prepare and I'm sure it does. The kind of dish that makes me angry when people say they can't cook.

In America you can even buy it in your local supermarket made by Trader Joe's and I gather very successful. It seems to have gone off market for a while which caused a bit of a storm on all those reddit like forums.

So I thought you could probably buy whipped feta here at Coles and Woolworths - but apparently not. So go buy a block of your favourite feta, throw it in a food processor with nothing else, or whatever you fancy and in a minute or so you will have something with which to do a myriad of different things.

The most popular way of using it is like the tomatoes - putting stuff on top of it - like these Roasted Spring Vegetables with Whipped Feta and Chimichurri from a website calle We Ate Well - or these cucumbers in a Creamy whipped feta and cucumber salad from Gran Turismo - well I couldn't resist that after my post on searching for a cucumber salad. And incidentally - I did make Jamie's Simple cucumber salad last night to go with a chicken curry - and it was pretty nice and pretty quick. I had no dill, so gathered a few of the last fennel fronds in the garden.

On bread or toast - Again the possibilities are endless - from the relatively humble from Sami Tamimi:

"For breakfast this morning we had it spooned on warmed flat bread with tomatoes, Palestinian za’atar, a few herbs from the garden (oregano & mint) and a good drizzle of olive oil to finish."

to the relatively 'posh' Bruschetta with whipped feta, jamón and cherries from Maxwell Adey of Gourmet Traveller. And does Pizza count? Well it is bread - and here is Whipped feta and sausage pizza from Thomas Bateman/Gozney - one of the most original ways to use it I thought.

There were just two more that I thought recording because they were a little bit different - one from delicious. Deep-fried olives stuffed with vermouth-whipped feta and on a website called Retro Food Modern Times based on a recipe from Girl Dinner book - is a kind of Prawn Saganaki The author tells us that:

"I used the whipped feta as a base, swirled in some tomato paste, some roasted and roughly ground fennel seeds, some prawns, chilli flakes and some chopped tomato and red onion.  Ten to fifteen minutes in the oven and voila!

I have to say that the concept of whipped feta is an enticing one, because of it's ease and almost infinitely variable uses. Whether you go virgin feta or add something to smooth it out a bit is entirely up to you. But next time you have a crowd over you could at least try the dip option.

YEARS GONE BY

April 18

2025 - Nothing

2024 - Day for it - a sign from below

2023 - How I learnt to shop for food

2022 - Is there such a thing as mulligatawny soup?

2021 - Missing

2020 - Missing

2019 - Cooking for a crowd

2019 - Resorting to quick and easy

2017 - Over the top with chocolate