Baked Feta with Tomatoes and Honey
A block of feta roasted until molten and creamy, surrounded by blistered tomatoes and finished with honey and herbs. This is a dish Greeks have made forever — the TikTok wave just introduced it to everyone else.
- 8 ozfeta cheese block(one block)
- 1 pintcherry tomatoes(halved)
- 3 tbspolive oil
- 2 tbsphoney
- 3 clovesgarlic(sliced)
- 4 sprigsfresh thyme
- 1/4 tspred pepper flakes
- 1/4 tspkosher salt
- 1/4 tspblack pepper
- 2 tbspfresh basil(torn, for serving)
- 1 loafcrusty bread(for serving)
Best served immediately while feta is still molten. Can be assembled ahead and baked just before serving.
- 1Preheat oven to 400°F
- 2Place feta block in center of a small baking dish
- 3Scatter tomatoes, garlic, and thyme around the feta
- 4Drizzle everything with olive oil and honey
- 5Season tomatoes with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes
- 6Bake 20-25 minutes until tomatoes are blistered and feta is soft and slightly golden
- 7Remove thyme sprigs, scatter with fresh basil
- 8Serve immediately with crusty bread for scooping
Use a good quality block feta, not pre-crumbled. The honey caramelizes beautifully - don't skip it.
Baking feta is a deeply traditional practice in Greek cuisine, not a trend that arrived with social media. Greeks have long roasted blocks of feta with olive oil, tomatoes, and chilli in preparations like bouyiourdi — a Thessaloniki taverna classic that predates TikTok by generations. Feta cheese itself is among the most ancient cheeses in the world: a cheese resembling feta is described in Homer's Odyssey, dating to the 8th century BCE, where the Cyclops Polyphemus is described keeping caves full of sheep and goat's milk cheese. Today feta holds Protected Designation of Origin status in the European Union, meaning only cheese made in specific regions of Greece from sheep's milk — or a mixture of sheep and goat's milk — may legally be called feta. The global wave of baked feta enthusiasm that erupted in 2021 actually began quietly in Finland in 2018-2019, when bloggers Tiiu Piret and Jenni Hayrinen posted versions of a baked feta pasta they called uunifetapasta. Food blogger MacKenzie Smith adapted it for American audiences in 2020, and once TikTok picked it up in early 2021 the hashtag reached over 52 million views, causing a temporary feta shortage in Finland. The viral version mixed the baked feta with pasta; this appetizer version — roasted feta with tomatoes, honey, and herbs — is closer in spirit to the original Greek tradition: simple, ancient ingredients, heat, and time.