Baked Feta with Tomatoes and Herbs

Hello, welcome to Sunday Supper! Today’s recipe is a great light dinner, but it also makes a fantastic appetizer. It’s an easily customizable recipe, full of fresh, savory Mediterranean flavors. Serve it with slices of toasted rustic bread, like I am today, or mash up the feta a bit, stir it into the baked tomatoes, onions and peppers and mix it into a bowl of pasta. Baked Feta is a versatile dish, with an easy preparation. So let’s do it!

Tomatoes, Peppers, Onions and Herbs

Tomatoes are an easy choice to go along with Baked Feta, and I also have some sweet red peppers from my garden, a red onion, garlic cloves, and plenty of fresh herb sprigs. Quality feta counts in this recipe, as does good extra virgin olive oil.

The prep is simple no matter if you end up serving this on toast, or in pasta. Slice the peppers into bite size pieces, slice the half onion into thin half moons. Leave the cherry or grape tomatoes whole. I sliced the garlic cloves in half. Strip the fresh thyme leaves from their stems, but leave the fresh rosemary and oregano as sprigs. We can pluck them out after baking; they will have infused the olive oil and the natural vegetable juices with enough flavor.

Building the Baked Feta

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, an 8×8-inch baking dish works best for this. We will toss the veggies in the dish with some olive oil, Kosher salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes. Use your hands to mix everything, ensuring all the veggies are coated in olive oil.

Slice the block of feta in half and place each half, side by side, in the center of the baking dish, on top of the seasoned veggies.

Lay the herb sprigs along side the feta. Then drizzle olive oil over the feta and sprinkle the fresh thyme over the entire dish. Season the feta with more pepper and red pepper flakes.

Pop the dish in the preheated oven and bake on the center rack for 30 minutes. Then turn the oven to broil and transfer the dish to the top rack oven to broil for 1-2 minutes, until the top of the feta gets some nice browning.

When it comes out of the oven, discard the rosemary and oregano stems and let this sit for a few minutes. Meanwhile, with the oven still on broil, brush both sides of rustic bread slices with olive oil and broil the toast slices for about 30 seconds to one minute on each side, until they are nicely toasted.

Finishing Touches

To finish the Baked Feta, we will garnish with more fresh herbs, I have fresh mint and flat leaf parsley.

Feta is not a melting cheese, so it’s not going to be ooey-gooey like baked brie. It will still retain some of its crumbly texture, but will be warmed through and have a bouncy lightness to it.

This is such a simple dish, yet it is so satisfying, fresh and light. A perfect light supper for the end of summer. As I mentioned at the top, if you want to serve this as a pasta dish, hold off on adding the fresh herbs at the end; mash up the feta a bit and stir it together with the veggies. Then in a large mixing bowl add the Baked Feta mixture to the cooked and drained pasta shape of your choice, mix it all together, then top with the fresh herbs and that’s it!

If you’re serving on toasts, be sure to spoon some of the olive oil and vegetable juices from the baking dish over the top of your toasts for extra flavor.

I hope you try this recipe for Baked Feta; I know it took Instagram and TikTok by storm this spring and summer, so if you haven’t tried it yet, what are you waiting for? Consider changing it up a bit to suite what you have in the fridge, anything goes here… Looking for a similar tomato recipe that is simple and super rewarding? Try my Tomato Confit Toast with Whipped Ricotta. I will see you all here tomorrow with a delicious way to use smoked pork shoulder. Stay tuned; take care and be well, xo Kelly

Print Recipe

Baked Feta with Tomatoes and Herbs

(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Light Dinner, Main Course, Appetizer – Mediterranean

By Kelly Djalali – Serves: 2-4

Prep Time: 10-15 minutes – Cooking Time: 35 Minutes – Total Time: ~45 Minutes

Fresh Mediterranean flavors shine in this simple recipe for Baked Feta with Tomatoes and Herbs. It's a perfect light supper for the end of summer.

Ingredients

• 2 pints Cherry or Grape Tomatoes
• 1/2 Red Onion, sliced thinly
• 1 large Sweet Bell Pepper (any color), sliced into bite-size pieces
• 1 8-9-oz. Block of Sheep's milk Feta, sliced in half
• Fresh Herbs for Baked Feta: Sprigs of Rosemary, Oregano and Thyme (thyme leaves removed form stems and minced)
• Kosher salt, Black Pepper and Red Pepper Flakes to taste
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Fresh Herbs for Garnish: Mint and Parsley

Instructions

1

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2

In an 8x8-inch baking dish, combine the tomatoes, onion slices and sliced pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and season veggies with Kosher salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes. Mix to coat veggies in olive oil and seasoning.

3

Place the two halves of the feta in the center of the baking dish, on top of the veggies.

4

Lay the rosemary and oregano sprigs alongside the feta halves.

5

Drizzle olive oil over the feta and season the feta with red pepper flakes and black pepper.

6

Sprinkle the minced thyme over the feta and veggies.

7

Place the baking dish on the center rack in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.

8

Switch the oven to broil and transfer the baked feta to the top rack in the oven, broil for 1-3 minutes, until the top of the feta develops some spotty golden color.

9

Remove from oven, discard the rosemary and oregano stems and let sit 5 minutes before garnishing with fresh mint and parsley leaves. Serve with toasted rustic bread.