Creamy Feta Dressing
Take your salad and veggie dip game up a notch with this Creamy Feta Dressing. With just a few simple ingredients, this tangy homemade dressing is healthier and tastier than anything you can buy in a bottle.
“Just made this dressing in 5 minutes and it’s absolutely delicious! What I really love is that I had all the ingredients in my fridge/pantry already. That’s always a huge plus finding a recipe with everyday ingredients. This will be a new staple for me!”
—Jessie
I believe that one of the easiest but most impactful ways to take your home cooking up a notch is to make homemade salad dressings.
While jarred salad dressings are certainly quick and easy, they’re also generally filled with quite a bit of preservatives (like sodium and sugar) and artificial ingredients. Same goes for bottled meat marinades and glazes, which is why I make my own flat iron steak marinade and balsamic vinegar reduction.
Additionally, the flavor can be really hit or miss, and you usually don’t know how it’s going to taste until you’ve already committed and purchased an entire bottle. There’s nothing worse than spending $6 or even more on a fancy bottled dressing and discovering that nobody in your family likes it.
That’s why I love to make homemade salad dressings like miso dressing and citrus salad dressing.
Today, allow me to show you how another homemade salad dressing with big flavor can come together quickly and easily, and wow your family and friends.
The combination of lemon and feta can’t be beat – I’ve already made sure of that with my Greek yogurt mashed potatoes.
This feta dressing recipe is inspired by the salad dressing at a local Lebanese restaurant. It’s an incredibly versatile recipe to have in your back pocket, especially to toss with greens and serve alongside Greek lasagna, lamb bolognese or meat sauce rigatoni.
The ingredients in creamy feta dressing are simple
- feta cheese – there’s probably a variety of feta options at your store, and you can’t really go wrong. More on this below!
- mayonnaise – this is the backbone of this creamy dressing. Want to use Greek yogurt instead? Go for it!
- milk – this is to thin out the mayonnaise and cheese mixture so it makes a pourable dressing. I use whole milk because that’s what I always have on hand, but any type of milk will work here.
- Worcestershire sauce – I love this for adding some umami and salty seasoning to this feta cheese salad dressing. It’s also key in making my mini shepherd’s pies taste great.
- lemon juice and zest – this makes the dressing nice and bright and acidic and tangy. Buy a whole bag of lemons and make lemon caper pasta and cake with lemon curd, too! Or a round of tequila lemon drops!
- garlic – just 1 clove goes a long way in adding a ton of flavor to this creamy feta dressing.
- parsley – I used dried parsley, but you can also use fresh (use twice the amount if using fresh).
- oregano – again, I used dried, but you can use twice the amount of fresh.
- salt and pepper – always season your homemade dressings!
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What kind of feta should I use for feta cheese dressing?
If you’re spending the time to make homemade feta salad dressing, it’s important to use great ingredients so the end result is as delicious and suited to your tastes as possible.
I find that widely available cow’s milk Mediterranean feta (such as Niko’s brand) is great for this feta dressing because it’s mild and not so salty that it would overpower delicate salad ingredients.
If you DO want something saltier (say to drizzle over watermelon) you could try Greek feta or Isaraeli feta, which are often made with sheep’s milk and are much saltier (and also so perfect for watermelon and mint salad).
Some feta cheeses contain rennet and are thus not vegetarian, but there are also plenty of widely available fetas that do not contain rennet, which is great news for our vegetarian friends.
No matter what variety you buy, buy a little extra and stir it into my breakfast muffins recipe and sprinkle it over lamb tacos.
How to make feta salad dressing
1. BLEND. Only one step here! Add all of the ingredients to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the knife blade attachment, or a blender, and process until smooth.
Home Chef Tips for Feta Cheese Dressing
- Either a blender or a food processor is necessary to achieve a feta cheese dressing with a mostly smooth texture with just a few small chunks.
- If you don’t have a food processor or blender, or desire a chunkier creamy feta dressing, you can also stir the ingredients together by hand with a whisk or wooden spoon.
Adjust the thickness based on how you want to serve it
While I most often use this creamy feta dressing as, well, a dressing, it also makes a phenomenal dip for veggies or pita chips, or spread for sandwiches like salmon sandwiches.
If you do choose to use it a dip or spread, you might want to make it thicker. This is super easy to achieve by simply adding less milk.
Start by reducing the milk to 2 tablespoons, and see if you like the consistency once it’s blended. You can always add a touch more milk if your dip is TOO thick.
My favorite types of salads to pair with this feta dressing recipe
I think this feta salad dressing is so versatile that it can be used on just about any type of salad, but it pairs particularly well with greens like spinach, arugula and butter lettuce. To make it a heartier salad, add tomatoes, cucumbers, onion and thinly sliced lemon.
I also love feta dressing with a sweeter salad, perhaps one with strawberries, blueberries and toasted almonds. If you love strawberries, don’t miss my fried goat cheese salad.
Feta cheese dressing is great with my beet tomato salad, or even as a dressing for pasta salad (think goat cheese pasta salad but with feta instead).
What to do with feta cheese salad dressing, beyond the salad
Not only is this feta dressing recipe great on salads, but I’ve found lots of other uses for it, too, including:
- drizzling on sliced watermelon
- using as a dip for mini Hasselback potatoes or Greek chicken meatballs
- drizzling over grilled chicken or my beef kafta recipe
- as a spread for ham and turkey sliders or grilled chicken shawarma
- tossing with air fryer Brussels sprouts
- serving as a dip for vegetables or crackers
- using as a dipping sauce for lamb lollipops (my roasted garlic dip is also great for that)
- use in place of the pesto mayo on my lamb sliders
- use instead of ranch for buttermilk chicken strips or pistachio crusted chicken
More Foxes Love Lemons Favorites
Creamy Feta Dressing
Ingredients
- Juice and zest of 1 lemon
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1 cup crumbled feta cheese 4 ounces
- ½ cup milk
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to bowl of food processor fitted with knife blade attachment, or blender, and process until smooth.
- Dressing can be served immediately, or, for best flavor and texture, cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 5 days.
Notes
- Home Chef Tip: To make a thicker dressing to use as a dip for or spread, reduce milk to 2 tablespoons.
YUMMY! This was my first time making this dressing, but it won’t be the last. It is so easy to make, delicious and fresh tasting with the addition of the lemon.
I’m so glad to hear you loved it, Janice!
I’ve made this so many times. Sooo good! My husband likes sweet stuff so sometimes I add a little honey. Delicious as is though!! Thanks so much.
Love the addition of honey. I fully support that! So glad this is a hit for you and your husband, Jessie.
Looking at this recipe again, I realize that it would be a great substitute for ranch dressing. I like a thicker dressing at times, and this one works with a keto or very low carb diet. I recently made a batch of keto ranch dressing, and the only thing I could taste in it was the mayonnaise (even after sitting for a week). So I thank you for helping my sanity by mentioning this recipe again.
I hope this dressing is what you are looking for, Susan!
I just made this dressing. And how good it is !! I had sweet potato fries and the dressing served with it, a salad of arugula with tomatoes and added some dressing. With a chicken cordon blue and it was delicious!
Just made this dressing in 5 minutes and it’s absolutely delicious! I was looking for a dressing to go on grilled chicken pitas with cucumber, tomatoes and arugula. It’s a perfect addition. What I really love is that I had all the ingredients in my fridge/pantry already. That’s always a huge plus finding a recipe that is used with everyday ingredients.
This will be a new staple for me! Thanks for sharing!
I am so happy to hear that, Jessie. Your grilled chicken pitas sound delicious!
I made this today. It’s great. I did add a good pinch of salt. Excellent recipe. Thanks for sharing
I’m so glad you liked it, Penny!
Your idea of creamy lemon feta dressing is looking amazing and I love it. Thank you for posting it. I will try it next weekend.
Awesome, Rosamonde. Thanks for stopping by!
Girl! Why aren’t we friends, cooking, drinking and eating while the Hubby’s watch TV?
Lol … this looks amazing and I’m making it soon ?
Girl, I DON’T KNOW. Because that sounds like an ideal evening!
YUM!!!!!!!! I love feta cheese, including feta made from either sheep’s milk or goat’s milk. My usual salad dressing is just pouring olive oil and balsamic vinegar directly on my salad. The only dressing I make with some frequency is a mole dressing that I was able to recreate from a video my husband took when we had dinner at a dinner theater in Mexico. That said, I just looked at my menu for the week, which was missing the veggies for several meals, and realized that your feta dressing should go very nicely with the Moroccan Lamb Couscous we’ll be eating three evenings this week. Thank you for filling in a blank in my menu for me.
Oh believe me, there’s plenty of days (especially at lunchtime) where “dressing” is just oil and vinegar poured directly on my salad. LOL! Moroccan Lamb Couscous sounds delicious – enjoy it!