This simple yet flavorful eggplant and feta dip embraces the pure flavors of typical Greek ingredients: eggplant, garlic, lemon juice, feta, and good-quality extra-virgin olive oil. The thick, smooth texture and rich — slightly tangy — taste makes it a perfect dip. Grab your keto crackers and dig in!
Tips for making the Fabulous Eggplant and Feta Dip
I developed this eggplant and feta dip recipe in honor of my trip to Athens, Greece — where I currently am when publishing this post here on my blog. This recipe is really back to the basics: It has nothing extra but all the needed ingredients to create a full-bodied flavor and a thick, smooth texture that takes your munch moment to the next level.
This is an easy recipe to make, though roasting the eggplant and letting it cool down naturally takes some time. Other than that, you just throw all the stuff into a blender and let it run. That’s it!
But let’s take a look at how to prepare this easy dip:
First, halve a large eggplant lengthwise.
Slather altogether 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil evenly on the cut surfaces.
Place the eggplant halves into a baking dish so that the cut sides are facing down.
Roast in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes, or until the flesh is completely soft.
Remove from the oven.
Let cool until room temperature.
Scoop out the eggplant flesh. Discard the skin.
Place the flesh into a blender jar.
Add the remaining ingredients, that is, the feta…
…the remaining olive oil…
…garlic…
…and the lemon juice. Well, the order doesn’t matter, just throw all the ingredients in!
Blend until smooth.
Here we go.
Transfer into a serving bowl.
I strongly recommend decorating the dip with an ample amount of chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley to make it look gorgeous — and you’ll get some herby flavor, too.
Dig (and dip!) in!
My Eggplant and Feta Dip experiments
By the time I’m posting this recipe, I’m in Athens, Greece. And that’s why I wanted to create a Greece-inspired recipe. I’ve wanted to make something with eggplant and feta for a very long time. And now my trip to Greece made me a good excuse for that.
I have to confess that I’m not a big fan of eggplant as such. Maybe because I’m not that keen on the little bit slimy and chewy texture, and it has a bit strange flavor as well to my taste buds. But, when eggplant is baked and blended smooth — and mixed with other ingredients — it makes one of the best dips ever. I’ve seen some eggplant and feta dip recipes out there that are not smooth but really chunky. Pardon me, but for me they look like a dog’s vomit, so they don’t look too appetizing. And because of the extra chunkiness, they don’t work that well as a dip. Therefore, I wanted to make a very smooth-textured dip with eggplant and feta that tasted divine as well.
Obviously, I needed also some other ingredients than eggplant and feta. Good extra-virgin olive oil was a must — Greek olive oil, naturally. Personally, I use one from Crete. It has a very powerful, almost peppery taste.
I thought garlic was also a necessary ingredient in the dip. It’s also very Greek (I think). Anyway, In my opinion, the mild eggplant really benefits from the flavor of garlic. And it’s a perfect match with feta, too.
So, now I’ve got four ingredients: eggplant, feta, olive oil, and garlic. I still had room for another ingredient to reach my 5-ingredient goal. Maybe a herb like oregano or flat-leaf parsley blended in to provide some more flavor? Then, I thought I want to make the dip slightly tangier and fresher tasting, and add some freshly squeezed lemon juice. I decided to use the herb, flat-leaf parsley, as decoration — it would make the otherwise bland-colored dip look gorgeous.
Next, I naturally had to think of the amounts. I decided to take one large eggplant and roast it in the oven until completely soft. To prevent the cut surfaces from drying or getting leathery, I spread some olive oil on them. After roasting the eggplant, I let it cool down to room temperature.
Now what? How much other ingredients do I need? I decided to go easy on feta as it’s quite strong tasting, and I didn’t want it to overpower my dip. I thought 2 oz (60 g) is just right. I also crushed two garlic cloves. One clove sounded pathetic, and three would have made the dip too garlicky, so two sounded like a sound choice to me. For the lemon juice, I indiscriminately took 1 tablespoon as it just felt right. Oh yes, since I wanted to make this dip really keto, I needed to add a substantial amount of olive oil. On the other hand, I didn’t want to make the dip too oily. Therefore, I considered two tablespoons will give just enough fat but not make the dip swimming in grease (or Greece. Sorry, couldn’t help myself!).
I blended all ingredients in the blender until very smooth. My casual calculations turned out to be just right. The consistency was perfect, and the flavor was just what I was after: rich, tangy, and no ingredient was overpowering the other. With my keto crackers, the dip tasted just heavenly! Mission accomplished!
Here’s the recipe for you to enjoy:
Fabulous Eggplant and Feta Dip
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 oz = 60 ml crumbled feta cheese
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- (fresh flat-leaf parsley for decorating)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 °F (200 °C).
- Halve the eggplant lengthwise. Spread 1 tablespoon olive oil on the cut surfaces, using 1/2 tablespoon olive oil per eggplant half.
- Place the eggplant halves into a baking dish so that the cut sides are facing down.
- Roast the eggplant in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes, or until the flesh is completely soft.
- Remove from the oven and let cool until room temperature.
- Scoop out the eggplant flesh. Discard the skin. Place the flesh into a blender jar.
- Add the remaining ingredients: 2 tablespoons olive oil, feta, garlic, and the lemon juice. Blend until smooth.
- Transfer into a serving bowl. Sprinkle an ample amount of chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley on top for a nice presentation.
| Nutrition information | In total | Per 1/4 cup (60 ml) |
| Protein | 12.8 g | 1.6 g |
| Fat | 55.8 g | 7.0 g |
| Net carbs | 12.5 g | 1.6 g |
| kcal | 618 kcal | 77 kcal |
Tips for variation
This dip is perfect as is, but if you really would like to revamp it, there are some things to try. First of all, you can omit the lemon juice if you don’t like too tangy flavors. Instead of decorating the dip with flat-leaf parsley, you can use another herb — for example oregano, that is also very Greek. Naturally, you can also blend in the herb. Please use fresh herbs and not dried ones — dried herbs would just make the dip awkward.
If you cannot get feta, use another sharp, rather soft cheese made from goat or lamb milk. However, real Greek feta tastes best.
General prattling
Like said, at the time of posting this recipe, I’m in Athens, Greece. I traveled there to write my next book (in Finnish). It really helps to get somewhere else where you can concentrate only on writing. The book is about an easy keto diet for the whole family. I’ll break some keto myths, tell the story of our keto family, and naturally include some easy recipes as well.
I have to say it was a great decision to come to Athens. People are super-friendly, they do speak English (as my Greek skills are extremely limited) and the food is excellent here. Well, as always when traveling, I prefer to buy food from local stores and prepare it in my hotel room. This is my 5-ingredient keto dinner from a couple of days ago, including iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, goat cheese, olives, and lots of extra-virgin olive oil:
Yesterday, I did some shopping for Greek delicacies. There was a marvelous food store, or actually a Greek Gastronomy Center, that had a wide variety of Greek foods: everything from olives and olive oil to cheese, wine, meat, fish, etc. We actually got some samples to taste. The owner was an elderly gentleman — a real character who knew his stuff and all the science behind olive oil. He had been lecturing about that as well, for example to cancer doctors.
So, I ended up in buying lots of olive oil, olives, and cheese that I happily enjoyed in my hotel room (though not all at once! I took some to Finland as well):
And naturally, since I’m in Athens, I had to visit Acropolis. Believe or not, it took me 42 years to visit the place again. I was here for the first time when I was four years old, but as you might expect, I remember hardly anything for the trip. Doesn’t it just look stunning!
Thank you for this winter cheer, Elvira! I really enjoyed your sharing of some of your Greece adventures, and you’ve inspired me to roast some eggplants this winter – as the other ingredients are usually around in my kitchen anyway.
I usually love eating eggplant dip with endive or romaine lettuce scoops – but in winter, prefer the eggplant at room temp with crackers!
Hi Mary, awesome! Glad to hear you liked my musings!