Baked Feta with Honey and Roasted Grapes
on Dec 21, 2024
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If cheese appetizers had a season fall through the holidays would be it, and feta might be the best kind to create something incredible and shareable. This baked feta with honey and roasted grapes has the most magical combination of flavors. First off, it’s a savory dish, but then it has subtle sweet, salty and tart moments. It’s the kind of appetizer recipe that’s easy to make and will be an instant favorite.
For another fantastic feta appetizer recipe, try this classic version with feta, roasted tomatoes and olives.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Baked feta is a simple appetizer that’s pretty much a guaranteed crowd pleaser. If there was a season for baking cheese, it would be September/October when fall really hits through New Years. Perfect for a dinner party or holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, this recipe is a total showstopper that’s quick to assemble.
This ingredient combination is everything: salty feta, sweet grapes and aromatic garlic and shallots. And it all works beautifully together. I love a savory recipe that layers in sweet accents along with something acidic. Here it’s grapes and a splash of balsamic vinegar.
There are so many reasons why feta is the perfect cheese for baking. It has a high moisture content, so it holds its shape when you heat it unlike mozzarella and cheddar that melt and get gooey. You can scoop and/or spread feta after you bake it.
The Ingredients
This is what you need:
- Feta is a Greek cheese made from sheep’s milk. It is pleasantly briny and salty. When you bake it, the feta loses some of it’s naturally crumbly consistency and the flavor gets more complex and interesting. You need to use a block of feta for this recipe and not crumbled feta.
- Grapes: Use seedless grapes, either red grapes, green grapes or a combination of both. Pick them from the bunch, rinse them with cold water and pat them dry.
- Honey adds sweetness. I wait to drizzle it on the cheese until after it bakes and before I broil it to brown the cheese.
- Balsamic vinegar gives the feta and grapes something tart and acidic. You can substitute with red wine vinegar.
- Thyme: I add fresh thyme sprigs before putting the baking dish in the oven. You can substitute with a pinch of dried thyme. Dried seasonings are more intense than fresh, so that’s why you don’t need as much.
- Garlic: I slice a garlic clove and stir that in with the grapes and the rest of the ingredients.
- Shallots are a more refined version of an onion. Their onion flavor is mild in comparison to red onions. Just take a small shallot and thinly slice it.
- Walnuts are the final crunchy topping for this appetizer. Make sure to toast the nuts on a baking sheet in a 350-degree F oven for 5-7 minutes to bring out their flavor. I add the walnuts after broiling the cheese and grapes because I don’t want the nuts to burn.
- Olive oil: Use extra virgin olive oil for the best taste.
- Kosher salt and black pepper season the overall dish.
- Bread, crackers or pita chips: You can serve the feta and grapes with bread or crackers. If you do go with bread, I recommend slicing a baguette, drizzling it with olive oil and toasting it in the oven. Then you end up with roasted grape crostini.
How To Make Baked Feta with Honey and Roasted Grapes
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F with a rack in the center of the oven and another one 4-6 inches from the broiler.
1. Stir the grapes, garlic, shallots, salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar in a baking dish. You can use a square, round or oval one. In these photos, I used a 7-inch square dish.
2. Break the feta into pieces and stir it into the grape mixture. Then tuck the cheese between the grapes. They should all fit snuggly next to each other. Then scatter the thyme sprigs over the feta and grapes.
3. Bake the feta and grapes. Give them 18-20 minutes. The cheese will start to brown a little on the edges and the grape skins will start to wrinkle.
Turn the broiler on high.
4. Drizzle the honey on the feta and broil the cheese. Move around the baking dish as needed when you broil it. This should take 2-3 minutes. I like to push it and really brown the cheese. It adds an element of smoky flavor. Sprinkle with walnuts and serve with bread, crackers or pita chips.
Serving
This is wonderful for a fall-winter appetizer. Make it for a dinner party or holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Eve. One other thing I love about it is that it is easy to assemble and bake, so it’s simple to time it around your guests.
Leftovers & Storage
If you have leftovers of this baked feta recipe you can keep them in an airtight container in the fridge up to 3 days. If you cover the baking dish with foil to store it, let it sit out at room temperature, so you don’t put a cold dish in a hot oven. You can reheat leftovers in a 350-degree F oven. Besides eating them as an appetizer again, I will toss them with pasta. I know the Tiktok famous feta pasta is with tomatoes, but you can do it with this grape version too.
I also like these leftovers cold. Treat them like salad mix-ins. Start with baby arugula or spinach. Then chop the feta into smaller pieces and add the grapes, shallots and walnuts. You can drizzle in the oil-vinegar mixture to act like the dressing.
Recipe Tips
- Adjust the amount of grapes as needed. This will depend on the shape and size of your baking dish. The recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups, but you may need to increase or decrease that slightly.
- I prefer splitting the feta into pieces instead of leaving it in a block. That’s because it’s more efficient to get the grapes into the dish with the cheese. Also, all those jagged, uneven edges have a better opportunity to brown.
- Keep an eye on the feta under the broiler. Browning can happen pretty quickly. I like it a smidge charred for that good smokiness.
More Baked Appetizer Recipes
Baked Goat Cheese Tomato Dip
Parmesan Hasselback Potato Bites
Sheet Pan Nachos
Sriracha Lime Chickpeas
Everything Crackers
Burrata with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
Baked Feta with Honey and Roasted Grapes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups seedless grapes, (red, green or both)
- 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
- 1 shallot, thinly sliced
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 8 ounce block of feta cheese, patted dry if in brine
- 4-6 fresh thyme sprigs
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1/4 cup chopped toasted walnuts
- Toasted baguette slices, crackers or pita chips for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Arrange the top rack in the oven 4-6 inches from the broiler and another rack in the middle.
- In a square, round or oval baking dish, combine the grapes, garlic, shallots, salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
- Break the block of feta into 1-inch to 1-1/2-inch pieces. Stir the cheese with the grapes. Then arrange the feta and grapes, so they are mostly in a single layer packed tightly against each other. Put the thyme sprigs on top.
- Bake the feta for 18-20 minutes, until it starts browning at the edges and the grape skins starts to wrinkle.
- Turn the broiler on high. Drizzle the honey over the feta. Then broil the cheese until it’s nicely browned, about 2-3 minutes. Rotate the baking dish as needed.
- Sprinkle the feta and grapes with walnuts before serving with toasted baguette slices, crackers or pita chips.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
