I’ve always found that even though New Year’s Day is when so many people resolve they’re going to eat better, I always feel this uncontrollable urge to start the day after Christmas. Between Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the entire month of gluttonous cookie binging merriment that is December, I’m beyond ready to change my ways. Even my husband who mocks the idea of salad for dinner was telling me after Christmas that he was ready for a major detox.
“But what about New Year’s Eve?!” you ask. “The parties! The appetizers! Can’t this wait?”
It can…or you can make this dip and start now! It’s full of things that are good (or at least not bad!) for you–hummus, light cream cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, chopped Kalamata olives, green onions, feta cheese, and a sprinkling of parsley. Plus, you can either scoop it up with whole-wheat pita chips or even vegetables. It’s a great variation of the classic Mexican 7-layer Dip minus the sour cream and cheddar cheese.
You want to use a pie plate or a small baking dish–the one I’m using here is a shallow loaf pan and it’s 9 1/2″x 5 1/2″. You’ll start out with a layer of cream cheese (light cream cheese works great!) whipped together with lemon juice, garlic, and Italian (or Greek) seasonings.
Then you’ll add a layer of hummus. You can use your favorite recipe or store- or restaurant-bought hummus. I’m using one that’s going to be in our book, so I can’t ruin the surprise! :)
Then you’ll add a layer of diced, seeded cucumbers:
and diced, seeded tomatoes:
Top that off with a layer of chopped Kalamata olives (which, by the way, are my favorite olives. If you’re not familiar with them, they’re milder than green olives but have a slightly more complex, grown-up flavor than black olives).
Top the olives off with some chopped green onions…
and then sprinkle some crumbled Feta cheese and a little chopped parsley on top:
Wrap it up and let it chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Then just serve it with pita chips (another recipe and tutorial you can find in our cook book! But you can find them in the chip aisle of the grocery store–Sara and I both love Stacey’s brand), fresh vegetables, or chunks of freshly baked flatbread.
7-Layer Greek Dip
Adapted by Our Best Bites from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook
1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened (I used low-fat)
1 tsp. dill weed or Greek seasoning (salt free–go for a mix that just has herbs)
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 1/2 c. hummus
1 c. seeded, diced cucumbers
1 c. seeded, diced tomatoes
1/2 c. chopped Kalamata olives
1/3 c. chopped green onions (about 3 green onions completely chopped)
1/2 c. crumbled Feta cheese
1/8-1/4 c. minced fresh parsley
With an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese, seasoning, garlic, and lemon juice until light and fluffy. Spread in the bottom of a pie plate or a small, shallow baking dish. Then spread a layer of hummus. In order, create layers by sprinkling the cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, onions, Feta cheese, and parsley. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours. Serve with pita chips, fresh vegetables, and/or flatbread
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Love this dip. Actually it is a whole meal! Bookmarked for when the fresh tomatoes come!
yum! i love the idea of a greek layer dip, never seen one before.
I see 7 layer Greek dip every time I go to Costco and I've always wanted to make it at home. That looks so good!
Holy cow – this looks incredible. SO delicious, light and healthy, after all the sugar we've been eating! Yay! THANK YOU!
wow, that looks so good. Would love to hear some more detox recipes. Had way to much sugar this holiday season and it is very hard to go cold turkey. I just found your blog, so when does your cookbook come out? Happy detox!
Oh my gosh! This looks so so yummy! Definitely throwing it onto the menu for our New Years Eve party!
~ B.
That would be perfect on a pizzacrust.. can't wait to make this. i love greek food.
Oh, I LOVE Greek salads, and this looks delicious. I also love the idea of spreading it on a pizza crust, as someone else suggested. When I make my own Greek salad, I use the Seeds of Change feta vinaigrette; it might be yummy to mix the veggies with a bit of that before topping on this. It has a really nice flavor with a bit of sweetness, which is particularly nice if your tomatoes aren't as sweet as you'd like.
I am so sweeted out right now, this looks amazing. And I pretty much love anything with feta cheese.
Debbie- glad you found us! Check out the links on our side bar for info on our book!
What a great idea! I have a great hummus recipe on my blog that I want to use for this! Thanks so much for sharing!
~Heather from Snacktive
ok, I tried store bought hummus once and thought it was totally gross, I'll try it again when I buy your cookbook and see if I still think its gross after that!! lol…can't wait to get your cookbook!!
Oh YUM! I love seven layer dip and I LOVE greek salad. I think you are my new favourite person. Will definitely have to try this… STAT!
This looks awesome, I love Greek salad! What a great idea!
Mmm, this sounds like a seriously delicious way to start eating healthy again!
Great flavours in this dip and I like that it is a bit on the healthier side!
Completely delicious and a huge hit. Homemade hummus is a must and homemade pita is a wonderful thing. You ladies have heard of "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day", right? It has changed my life…
Everyone loved it. Thanks!
So refreshing to see a different variety of a layer dip rather than the normal mexican-dip version. Sounds delish, I'll have to try it.
sounds fabulous! I love the idea of a 7 layer dip that doesn't make you completely guilty. doesn't hurt that I adore hummus and feta. yummy!
My family went crazy over this!!So yummy!
Made this over the weekend! Holy yummo! Thanks for sharing! =)
I made this for a party last week and it was a hit! I made my own hummus using the recipe on the can of garbanzos but I can't wait to see yours in the cookbook!
This dip keeps really well. I made it last Saturday and it's now Friday and the leftovers are still good and taste fresh.
This recipe turned out fabulous for us! Thank you so much for posting it!!!
Delicious! Was a huge hit tonight.
I may just be blind, but I can't seem to find this recipe in your recipe index. It was a huge hit at book club last night. Thanks so much!
Made this for a party this week and it was delicious! I like how fresh it is with all the veggies… The cream cheese spread that makes up the bottom layer is a winner all by itself, too! :)
I love this recipe and I have made it for several occasions. It’s classy looking, easy to make, healthy and tastes great!!! THANK YOU
Made this for a BBQ and it was a huge hit! Everyone agreed this was a definite keeper. Thanks!
LOVE LOVE LOVE this dip!! WE love using plain Greek yogurt in place of the cream cheese and it is SOOOO yummy!! Thanks for the recipe!
looks really good. Can’t wait to try!
HELP! My printer is out of order ao I could not print the recipe for 7 Layer Greek Dip. If I don’t get it soon, I’ll be losing sleep over it!! :-)
Love your website and all your great ideas. Keep up the good work. Many thank, Joan
Joan, I just email the recipes to myself and save to my computer
I LOVE this dip and want to make it for dinner tonight (having the parents over). But, I need an idea of what to serve along side it. It’s more of a side dish. What would be a good main dish to go along with this? I thought of Greek tacos but those seemed too similar since you’d top them with all the same things. Any ideas? I’m at a loss! Thanks!
Honestly, I eat this as a main dish all the time, hahaha! Just on flatbread or fresh pitas. But I know that’s weird. :) You could still marinade some chicken in the Greek Dressing and grill it, or just do burgers or a salad or something. Clearly I’m not overly inspired right now, haha!
Grilled chicken was a great idea. Thank you!
[...] Hummos dip -It’s red, green and Mediterranean. Every party needs some food that isn’t going to [...]
I’m 13 years old and I love this dip my mom makes it for parties and for football games and everyone loves it!!!
Made this last night – everyone loved it! It was totally gone by the end of the party! YUM!
Made this last night for our New Year’s Eve Party. It was the first appetizer that was devoured!!! DEEEELISH! Used whipped cream cheese and did not use parsley as we didn’t have it. Recipe is a keeper! Thanks…
I love this twist on the typical seven layer dip. This is on my Super Bowl menu!
I shared this recipe with my wife this morning, and she loved what she saw! I hinted that it would be nice to have something special this evening while watching the news coverage of the Republican Primary election results in Florida. Voila ~ we had this delicious 7-layer Greek Dip served to us with Pita Chips! It made a meal for my son ~ my wife and I enjoyed our portion, too!
This dip is so great. I’ve used a variation of the recipe before that omits the cream cheese/garlic/greek seasoning layer, which was still great, but this version is so much more flavorful and addicitve!