Easy Shakshuka with Feta Cheese for Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner

This easy shakshuka with feta is a cinch to prepare and is perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Shakshuka is eggs poached in a seasoned tomato sauce with or without additional vegetables. Its origin is believed to be in North Africa from where it was brought to the Middle East and ultimately across the globe. Because it is so easy to prepare, infinitely changeable, filling, delicious and affordable, shakshuka has been adopted and adapted throughout the world.

I love tasty recipes where I can easily use up whatever is in the fridge. Whether it’s leftover potatoes, dark leafy greens, roasted vegetables, chickpeas, half a jar of salsa or leftover corn or peas, they’re all possible additions. The only must have ingredients for us are eggs, tomato sauce of some sort, seasoning and feta cheese. The salty, tangy flavour of the feta is perfect with the tomatoes and eggs. Especially when you have a high quality feta like Chaeban Artisan Feta.

If you’re in Winnipeg, you’ve got to try Chaeban Artisan Feta – you’re going to love it! There’s a soft creamy style feta and a firm feta. For this recipe, I like using the firm feta. Of course, the soft feta will work too, it’s just so deliciously creamy it’s a little trickier to get off the fork as crumbly bits.

Oven Baked Shakshuka for a Crowd

Can you make shakshuka in the oven? Yes, you can! It’s ideal for when you want to serve a crowd and your skillet is too small to hold more eggs.

Here are the changes I made to serve 8 people and oven bake the shakshuka:

• increase the sauce by 1 1/2
• make sauce as normal, on top of stove
• preheat oven to 375°F/190°C
• transfer sauce into a 9×13 casserole dish
• make 8 divots or small nests and crack an egg into each
• cover with foil (to prevent top of egg from drying out and to trap steam)
• bake for 15 minutes, check and cook until whites are cooked through and yolk is to your desired doneness
• remove from oven and garnish with greens and feta

Note: I used a heavy, cold stoneware casserole dish that takes a while to heat up. If you’re using something like that instead of an aluminum or glass casserole dish, your bake time may take a little longer.

Egg Notes

The great thing about shakshuka is that you decide how many and how hard to cook your eggs. Make a large pan with six eggs or a little pan with one or two eggs. Make them soft and runny or cook them all the way through – you get to choose every time you make this dish.

To get the eggs just the way you like them, remember they will continue to cook once you remove the pan from the heat, so take the pan off a minute before they’re done the way you like them. I find that somewhere between 5-8 minutes is ideal.

Cover the pan while the eggs cook to get opaque egg whites. Cook 5 minutes or less if you like your eggs runny and cook 8 minutes or longer if you like them hard cooked.

How Long Does Feta Last?

For best quality and longest shelf life, always buy feta in brine. The brine not only extends shelf life, but it also maintains the flavour and creamy texture of feta. Feta sold in packages without brine will have a much shorter shelf life and must be used with 5-7 days once opened.

Unopened Feta in Brine: One to two weeks past Best Before Date. And that Best Before Date gives you lots of time to eat your feta. My current package of Chaeban Feta has a Best Before Date of March 2022 and it’s April 2021!

Opened Feta in Brine: Once opened, keep remaining feta in the brine, covered, in the fridge for 4-6 weeks.

How to Store or Freeze Feta

Store Feta

As you saw in the above, feta in brine has a long shelf life as long as it is handled and stored well.

Always use a clean utensil when dipping into the feta container to prevent contamination. As much as you’d like to, avoid dipping the cracker right into the container! And please, don’t reach in with your fingers.

Store in the original container, fully submerged in the brine with the lid on in the fridge.

If you bought feta without the brine or for some reason, you don’t have enough brine to cover the feta, you can make your own. Simply dissolve 1 tsp kosher salt in 1 cup water. Make enough to fully submerge the feta in a sealed container.

Freeze Feta

Did you know that you can freeze feta? Just remove from the brine, pat dry, wrap really well in plastic wrap and place in freezer bag and store in the freezer for up to six months. The texture will be a little less firm, but it will still taste great in your favourite recipes.

Enjoy your shakshuka with great tasting feta.

Have you tried making shakshuka? What are your favourite additions and sides? I’d love to hear from you, please leave a comment below or tag me on Instagram @getgettys and Facebook @GettyStewart.HomeEconomist.

This recipe was written in paid partnership with Chaeban Artisan. As always, opinions are my own and a sincere reflection of life in my home.

Getty Stewart is a Professional Home Economist,  speaker, frequent media guest and writer dedicated to putting good food on tables and agendas.  She is the author of several recipe books on enjoying and preserving fruit, Founder of Fruit Share, a mom and veggie gardener. Sign up to get articles by Getty delivered to your inbox. You’ll get recipes, practical tips and great food information like this.