Whipped Goat Cheese Dip

Creamy goat cheese flavored with thyme and topped with honey, toasted walnuts, and sesame seeds. Served together with garlic baguette. A delicious and very easy-to-make whipped cheese appetizer perfect for any type of gathering!

Whipped honey goat cheese tastes so good. But when you pair it with the toasted nuts and serve it together with the grilled garlic baguette slices it tastes divine. There's a flavor explosion in your mouth of salty, sweet, nutty, and garlicky, one after the other!

Table Of Contents

• How To Whip Goat Cheese
• The Goat Cheese I Used
• Toppings
• Dippings Suggestions
• What To Make With Goat Cheese Dip
• How Long Will It Keep?
• Recipe

How To Whip Goat Cheese

To whip goat cheese you need:

1. Softened goat cheese
2. A small food processor or high-speed blender

And here's how to make goat cheese spreadable:

Break the goat cheese into chunky crumbles and add to either a small food processor or a high-speed blender. Add also some fresh thyme (or another herb of your preference) and a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil (to flavor and give a smoother and silkier texture).

Pulse until smooth and creamy. It's important to soften the goat cheese first though, to blend smoothly.

How to soften goat cheese? You just take it out of the fridge and leave it to soften at room temperature. About 30 minutes before using.

The Goat Cheese I Used

To make this whipped goat cheese spread I used goat cheese in brine. It's a soft goat cheese that's sold in Greece just like feta. In a small plastic container with salt brine. The flavor of the cheese is similar to feta and has a spiciness to it. It's also more ripe than fresh goat cheese and of course, has a stronger flavor.

If you can't find this type of goat cheese where you live but you want to try it, what you can do is buy feta cheese in brine and use its brine to ripen the goat cheese. To do this simply remove the feta and place the block of goat cheese in its place. Make sure it's submerged in the brine and leave it for about a week in the fridge to mature.

Is Goat Cheese Healthy?

Goat cheese is a healthy and nutritious cheese containing probiotics and various minerals that aid healthy bones. But is goat cheese healthier than regular cheese?

Yes, in some ways. For one, it has less saturated fat and cholesterol than cow cheese. For two, it contains more medium-chain fatty acids, aiding a healthy metabolism. And lastly, it's easier to digest than cow's milk because goat's milk has a different protein structure and is naturally lower in lactose. Hence why it's preferred by people that are allergic to cow's milk.

Toppings

Honey, Walnuts & Sesame Seeds

Whipped goat cheese dip with honey on top is the best flavor combination. Honey always goes great with cheese especially white types of cheese (you should also try this filo-wrapped feta with honey).

And when you add the honey to goat cheese, then some crunchy nuts or seeds are almost a must. For this recipe, I use walnuts and sesame seeds. You can use pecans instead though.

Toasting the nuts will make their flavor much stronger, and this goat cheese appetizer even more scrumptious. To toast the nuts add to a hot non-stick pan and cook for a minute tossing and flipping every few seconds because they burn very quickly.

Adding some salt when toasting the walnuts will make their flavor much stronger. Of course, there are also other delicious toppings for this whipped cheese spread. See below what goes well with goat cheese.

Other Toppings:

• Crispy bacon. Finely diced and then crisped either in the oven or in a non-stick pan.
• Crispy Prosciutto. See here how to make Prosciutto Crisps.
• Cranberry Jam. Or dried cranberries mixed with honey. You can heat the honey and soften the cranberries then serve warm over the cheese dip. In the same way, you can use raisins.
• Plum Jam is another great topping.
• Fig Jam. Whipped goat cheese with fig jam is top-notch if you happen to like figs. Some rosemary goes great here.
• Pomegranate molasses. You can use it instead of honey.
• Grape molasses again used instead of honey.
• Toasted Pine nuts.
• Toasted Pecans.

Dippings Suggestions

I used grilled baguette slices topped with marinated garlic oil. The aftertaste of garlic was one of the things I liked the most about this dip. So I highly recommend it. Other dipping suggestions for this whipped goat cheese recipe are Pita Chips, Beet Chips, Vegetable Sticks (cucumbers, carrots, sweet potato fries), and Crackers.

Whipped Goat Cheese will get thick and firm when refrigerated. You need to remove it from the fridge 45 minutes before serving it.

What To Make With Goat Cheese Dip

Other ways to use goat cheese dip:

• As a topping to salads. It will pair very well with this Orange Lettuce Salad With Walnuts and Sesame.
• Inside sandwiches, wraps, and burgers. For instance, you can use it instead of the feta cheese spread in these Healthy Spinach Wraps. Or instead of the feta sauce in this Greek Burger. Or even add it instead of Tzatziki to Chicken Gyros Wrap.
• It's great with all grilled meat dishes.
• Use it on a food board.

How Long Will It Keep?

This goat cheese recipe will keep for up to 5 days in the fridge. If you add the honey on top and then add it to the fridge, some water will show up on the surface. It's perfectly normal simply drain it. Make sure you place it in an airtight food container.

Recipe