Marinated Feta Greek Salad

A traditional Greek salad gets a facelift! This marinated feta greek salad packs a flavor punch! Start by grabbing a hunk of feta and marinating it with olive oil, garlic, and herbs until it’s extra flavorful. Then, we’ll use the feta in the salad and the oil in the dressing! So delicious and so easy!

dressed and prepared Greek salad topped with marinated feta cheese

So fresh and so colorful!

Greek salads are nothing new. They’ve been done again and again, but not like this.

This one here is a marinated feta greek salad. As if we take a hunk of feta, dice it up, and throw it into a jar with olive oil, red pepper flakes, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, herbs (basically anything you like) and let it hang around for a few days or up to two weeks and allow the flavors to really seep into the feta cheese. And once the feta soaks up all that goodness, we’ll drain it. And don’t you worry, we aren’t wasting a drop of that precious EVOO! We’ll save the oil for an amazing red wine vinaigrette that you can make with just four simple ingredients.

I’m telling you, once you make a marinated feta Greek salad, you’re never making it the regular old way again.

clos dup of greek olives, feta cheese, bell peppers, chickpeas, and lemon dressing

Fruity olive oil and summery herbs are where this salad all begins. Now, of course, you can make an even bigger batch of marinated feta and serve it as an appetizer or as part of a summer cheeseboard too. Marinating feta is a beautiful little way of making it taste even better, and there isn’t just one way of serving this.

The best part is, the marinated feta demands that you make it in advance, making it ideal for prepping ahead of time for dinner parties and such. And trust me, a marinated feta Greek salad will definitely wow those dinner guests for sure.

Marinated-anything just makes it sound super fancy!

ingredients for greek salad in a white bowl

What do you need to make marinated feta greek salad?

cherry tomatoes
cucumbers (Persian or hothouse)
green bell pepper
red onions
kalamata olives
garbanzo beans
marinated feta
dressing

What do you need to marinate the feta cheese?

fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme, oregano, etc.)
extra virgin olive oil
greek-style feta cheese
crushed red pepper flakes

pouring oil into a glass jar with herbs and cubed feta cheese

What other ignredients would add flavor to marinate feta cheese?

whole cloves of garlic
sun-dried tomatoes
peppercorns
bay leaves
kalamata olives

What’s in the marinated feta greek salad dressing?

olive oil from the marinated feta
dried oregano
Dijon mustard
salt and pepper
red wine vinegar

ingredients for greek salad dressing in glass jar before shaking

How to make the marinated feta for this greek salad:

Making the marinated feta for this Greek salad is really easy!

dice the feta into small cubes
add the feta to an airtight container (preferably glass) with a tight-fitting lid
the add-ins (herbs, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, red pepper flakes, etc.)
Pour the olive oil on top
Cover and store

How do you store the feta cheese while it’s marinating?

I’ve read up on this quite a bit, and though lots of sources say that it will be fine to store at room temperature for 24 hours if all of the feta is completely submerged in the olive oil, I still recommend refrigerating as the feta marinates. For this reason, the flavors to take a little longer to develop because of the cooler temperatures. Marinated feta on day four will most definitely taste much better than marinated feta from day two.
TIP: You’ll want to remove the marinated feta from the refrigerated about 30 minutes-2 hours before using it in a salad. You want the olive oil to come back to a liquid state. It solidifies when it sits in the refrigerator at such a cold temperature.

side shot of prepared marinated feta salad in bowl on white marble surface

What do I do with the leftover olive oil?

Make tons of salad dressing! You can pretty much use it anywhere where you’d use extra virgin olive oil – make vinaigrettes, toss with pasta, or in a bean salad.

What can I serve with this marinated feta Greek salad?

Other ways to use chickpeas:

close up of marinated feta in a bowl full of greek salad

Yield: 6 servings