Thank you to Foster Farms® for sponsoring this yummy dip!
This recipe for chicken, feta and dried tomato dip uses Foster Farms® chicken, the chicken I’ve been loyal to for years since I know it is delivered fresh from local ranches. This is not just a one-time thing for a blog post, though, I really do only buy Foster Farms® chicken and it has been a part of our family’s meals – and traditions – for years, so I’m happy to have a chance to talk about their chicken and create a delicious, easy appetizer for you!
Easy, flavorful appetizer recipes are so great to have around the holidays, since they work for so many casual situations, whether it’s to eat while decorating the tree or have available for a caroling party. In our extended family, we actually have a traditional appetizer dinner when we gather the evening before our day-long celebration. Our celebration has always included a brunch before opening gifts and then a big meal with our favorite dishes, so we decided on a lighter meal of easy-to-make appetizers for anyone who’s available to come the night before.
And this meal of finger foods, dips, and vegetables has become as much a tradition as our other meals. If you’ve never had a whole meal of appetizers, I urge to to try it, and soon. It’s SO fun to be able to eat all the foods that you usually try to take only bites of to save room for the meal – it is the meal!
When thinking about the appetizers I want to bring for this event, though, I do always make sure to include protein and vegetables and not just a lot of chips, salsa, or cheese plates. I like to provide some hearty choices and chicken is my go-to protein choice. BBQ wings, cranberry feta chicken salad served in lettuce cups, chicken skewers with peanut sauce – the list goes on and Foster Farms chicken has starred in all of them!
For this year’s hearty appetizer I again started with chicken – this time Foster Farms Simply Raised chicken, which is fed a 100% vegetarian diet and contains no added antibiotics, hormones or steroids ever – and chose to make a dip that I could serve with crackers and slices of homemade easy artisan bread.
Feta is one of our favorite cheeses and I combined this with cream cheese, sour cream, some of our home-dried tomatoes packed in oil, garlic and thyme as well as salt and pepper. All easy-to-find, simple, real food ingredients. Love.
This dip really has a fabulous flavor, but what makes it even more appealing is that after cooking the chicken (which you can do days or even weeks in advance, refrigerating or freezing until needed), it’s just a matter of throwing ingredients in a food processor, whirring until mixed and then folding in the chicken. Done.
Perfection, right? And while this tastes great right away, it actually gets better after a few hours in the fridge, so it’s easy to make ahead.
I love, love, love how this dip turned out since the combination of feta and dried tomatoes is one of my favorites. I also like the color, especially when garnished with green since it makes it seem more festive.
My family ate up the test batches, too, oohing and aahing over how good it was – I know it will make the perfect addition to our appetizer meal and will be making regular appearances whenever I want a filling, flavorful dip.
Chicken, Feta & Dried Tomato Dip
Ingredients
- 4 ounces cream cheese cubed
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese plus more for topping.
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes if using dry tomatoes, soak in boiling water for 10 minutes
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup cooked chopped chicken
Instructions
- Place all ingredients, except chopped chicken,* in the bowl of a food processor. Whir until completely mixed with a few larger pieces of tomato remaining.
- Transfer to a small bowl and fold in the chicken.
- Top with a bit more crumbled feta. Garnish with fresh thyme sprigs (or parsley) if desired.
- Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight. Bring to room temperature before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
This post is sponsored by Foster Farms®, the opinions expressed are my own. Thank you for supporting the companies that support this site!
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