Greek Fava - Yellow Split Peas Dip (2024)

Greek Fava Dip is a thick, creamy dip that's naturally sweet and slightly lemon-sour (similar to hummus in texture). It's amongst the most popular Greek dips. And apart from its flavor, it's very healthy and packed with protein!

What Is Fava?

In Greece, when we say Fava we refer to either the yellow split peas or the split pea dip itself (made of mashed fava beans). The most popular variety of Greek Fava is from Santorini if you ever visited Greece or stumbled upon it online, you may know about Santorinian Fava. If not let me tell you about it.

Santorini is a beautiful island in the Aegean Sea. Historically, Greek Fava has been cultivated in Santorini and a few other islands in the Aegean Sea. Because of the volcanic soil that produces one of the best, most flavorful varieties of fava beans.

Here are two varieties of Authentic Greek Fava:

• Santorini Fava Beans (PDO)
• Arosis Fava Beans (from small family farms)

How To Make

The original Greek Fava recipe is very simplistic and minimal.

To make it slowly simmer the fava beans on the stovetop along with an onion, a carrot, a bay leaf, and a little salt. Then when the fava beans are completely soft, remove the onion, carrot, and bay leaf and mash the split peas.

When mashing the fava, also mix in some extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice. And that's it. That's the popular Fava Santorini recipe.

In modern restaurants though chefs like to make it using vegetable stock instead of water. And this you can certainly do if you like to add more flavor. I don't find it necessary though. If you make it with a quality Fava the split peas are very tasty on their own.

Cooking Fava

To cook Fava, for making Fava spread you need to coat it with water and simmer at the lowest heat covered. Also, you should never stir Fava while it cooks. Because it will start to release starch and will stick at the bottom.

Don't worry about stirring it won't stick as long as the heat is very low and there's still water in the pot.

Fava is cooked when almost all of the water is drained from within the pot. You can taste some of the fava beans and check if they are completely soft. Otherwise, you can always add a splash of water and cook a little longer.

Mashing + Texture

Traditionally to make this split pea puree (aka Fava dip) people would use a spoon or in some cases a pestle and mortar. If you cook the Fava properly, then you will be able to mash it with a spoon. It becomes very soft and you'll only have to mix it and will start to break and cream up.

The texture of course won't be as smooth, but if you don't mind this, then opt for this method. The second option (how it's mostly done nowadays) is to mash split peas with an immersion blender. The texture will be smooth this way.

Eat As A Soup

You can enjoy this Fava recipe even as a thick soup by adding some more water or stock to it. Then blend with the immersion blender. It's so tasty, served with some hot red pepper and pita bread.

Garnish

The original Greek Fava Meze Dip is topped with very thinly sliced onions and salty baby capers. Some people add diced tomatoes and some don't. I'm in the first group because tomatoes go extremely well with fava.

In modern restaurant versions, you may see Fava topped with caramelized onions. A cozier version which is great to serve in wintertime. You may also garnish with some thinly sliced sun-dried tomatoes (the ones preserved in oil) or some pickled cucumbers if you don't fancy capers.

TIPS

• Never stir Fava while it cooks.
• The water that's left in the pot when fava is cooked, determines how thick or creamy the dip will be.
• Fava is cooked when small pits form, but there is still a slight amount of water left in the pot.
• Keep in mind that as Fava cools it thickens. So if the water has drained a lot from within the pot you can add a tiny splash of hot water as you blend the fava.
• Fava is best enjoyed at room temperature.

Serve With

Greek Fava bean dip is mostly served with some bread or pita bread for dipping. But it's also a favorite side dish mainly for seafood. For example Grilled Octopus, Pan-Seared Shrimp, or Squid In Tomato Sauce.

Recipe

More Greek Appetizers And Sides