Best Baked Feta Pasta Recipe

My Best Baked Feta Pasta Recipe is inspired by the viral Feta Bakes on TikTok. I’ve come up with my own delicious version which includes cherry plum tomatoes, red bell pepper and capers which take it to the next level of deliciousness!

 I’m not a great fan of bandwagons but having joined TikTok recently (wanna see a cat video?), I became aware of the craze that is Baked Feta Pasta.

Even my kids were talking about this dish and how some shops had reportedly run dry of Feta due to the craze.

But not everyone has heard of this cheesy pasta bake! I did a straw poll of my Pilates class mates over Zoom and none had heard of it. So I think it’s almost a public service to share my version of this Feta pasta recipe!

We’ve now had my Best Feta Pasta Bake every week for the past 4 weeks as my family can’t get enough of it. Which is great news as it’s so ridiculously easy, it almost makes itself.

Best of all it’s a really easy recipe to remember!

What is Baked Feta Pasta?

It’s a block of Feta that’s baked (roasted) with cherry tomatoes, garlic, chilli, basil and olive oil. These are then mixed to form a sauce to which cooked pasta is added.

What is different about this Best Baked Feta Pasta Recipe?

I decided to create the Best Baked Feta Pasta by adding my own twist to it and including red bell pepper, capers and swapping out the cherry tomatoes to cherry plum tomatoes.

Feta cheese is quite acidic in taste so the sweetness of the red bell pepper and cherry plum tomatoes help to counteract this along with the garlic. The capers are also a wonderful addition and take this dish to a new level of awesomeness.

I add chilli by means of ground chilli and garlic flakes at the end of baking but you can add them before if you wish or leave out altogether if you’re not a fan. The original Finnish recipe from Liemessa calls for an increase in oven temp towards the end which I found unnecessary as it charred the ingredients.

You are meant to reserve some of the starchy pasta water to thin down the pasta sauce if necessary. However, with my addition of red pepper adding to the water content, I haven’t need to do this so far!

I researched many Baked Feta Pasta recipes and it became apparent that the amount of pasta that constituted a serving ranged between 45 – 125 grams.

Where pasta (and rice) are concerned 75 grams is usually considered a serving so there are 300 grams of pasta to serve 4 in my Feta pasta recipe.

What sort of pasta should you use?

I have used Farfalle Tricolore (bow tie pasta) and Fusilli (twists) in my Baked Feta Pasta dishes to date but you could also use Conchiglie, Spaghetti, Tagliatelle or any pasta you like!

Can you use Cherry Tomatoes or regular Tomatoes instead of Cherry Plum Tomatoes to make Feta Pasta Bake?

You can, but I’ve found they take longer to get to the pulpy stage so you may need to increase the baking time by 5 minutes, depending on their size.

I do prefer using baby plum tomatoes as they seem to have a better depth of flavour unless you’re using vine cherry tomatoes or ones you’ve grown yourself.

Also, if you find yourself short of cherry tomatoes I have been known to chop up a vine tomato and add to the mix.

You could probably just use vine tomatoes chopped to the size of cherry tomatoes in fact! Just don’t use regular salad tomatoes as they won’t have the depth of flavour needed.

Can you re-heat Baked Feta Pasta?

No, this is a dish you definitely want to eat freshly made.

What can you serve Best Baked Feta Pasta with?

It’s great served with garlic bread and/or a green salad.

Can you use another cheese?

I’ve seen people on TikTok rave about substituting Feta for Boursin so I’ll be trying that next. My family also want me to experiment with using Cheddar and Mozzarella (that will be a stringy affair)!

How do you make this Best Baked Feta Pasta?

• Start by preheating oven to 200C and gathering the ingredients: pasta shapes (I used Farfalle Tricolore – bow tie pasta), cherry plum tomatoes, red bell pepper, garlic, mixed Italian herbs, capers, extra virgin olive oil, chilli & garlic flakes, sea salt flakes and freshly ground pepper.
• Chop the red pepper and garlic.
• Put the Feta in a dish along with the cherry plum tomatoes, red bell pepper, garlic, mixed Italian herbs, sea salt flakes, freshly ground pepper and drizzle over extra virgin olive oil.
• Mix tomatoes/peppers well with a spoon and leave Feta uncovered before placing in oven to bake for 40 minutes.
• Meanwhile cook pasta according to instructions in plenty of salted boiling water (to coincide with end of baking time).

• Remove Feta Bake from oven once the cherry plum tomatoes have burst and are soft and pulpy.
• Break up and mix the Feta with a spoon.
• Mix into the tomatoes etc to form a sauce.
• Drain the pasta (reserving a cup of starchy boiling water, a little of which might be needed to thin down the sauce.) Add pasta to the sauce in the dish.
• Mix the pasta thoroughly with a large spoon to coat in the sauce. Add a grinding of chilli/garlic.  Serve immediately with garlic bread and/or a green salad.

More simple pasta dishes

Easy pasta dishes are perfect for a delicious midweek family meal so here are some more recipes for you to try!

• Cheesy Tuna Pasta – from my childhood! 
• Quick Leftover Pork Pesto Pasta 
• 10 Minute Mushroom Pasta 
• Salmon, Dill & Caper Linguine 
• Italian Tomato Spaghetti 
• Tenderstem Broccoli, Chilli & Garlic Spaghetti 
• Chicken & Leek Pasta Bake
• Lumaconi alla Vodka 
• Lemon & Thyme Chicken Penne 
• Mushroom & Chard Pasta 
• Gargano Pasta with Spinach & Blue Cheese 
• Simple Pasta with Peas

Italian Tomato Spaghetti

When you make my Baked Feta Pasta Recipe do leave a comment and rating below as it really helps other readers. You can also share a snap with me by tagging @FabFood4All on social media, I love seeing my recipes come to life!

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Best Baked Feta Pasta Recipe

Best Baked Feta Pasta is a super easy midweek meal. Feta, cherry plum tomatoes, red bell pepper, garlic, capers, Italian herbs and olive oil are baked together, mixed with pasta shapes then seasoned with ground chilli and garlic flakes.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Keyword easy, Feta, Pasta

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Servings 4 people

Author Camilla Hawkins

Equipment

• Kitchen knife
• Chopping Board
• Large oven proof dish
• Large metal spoon
• Large saucepan

Ingredients

• 300 g pasta shapes
• 1 200 g block Feta
• 500 g cherry plum tomatoes
• 1 red bell pepper, diced (2cm)
• 4 large garlic cloves sliced
• 1 heaped tbsp capers
• 1 tsp dried mixed Italian herbs
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt flakes & freshly ground pepper
• Good grinding of Chilli Garlic Flakes

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 200C.
• Place Feta in centre of large oven-proof dish.
• Surround Feta with cherry plum tomatoes, diced red pepper, sliced garlic, capers, mixed Italian herbs, sea salt flakes, freshly ground pepper and finish off by drizzling (including the Feta) with 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil.
• Give the tomato mixture a good mix with a spoon and then make sure that the Feta is fully exposed again.
• Place in oven for 40 minutes or until tomatoes have burst and gone squishy.
• Meanwhile cook pasta shapes according to their instructions (to coincide with the finish time of the Feta bake).
• Reserve a cup of pasta water before draining (you may or may not need this to thin down the sauce).
• Once Feta bake has finished cooking, break the Feta up with a large spoon and mix into the tomato mixture (you can add a little of the pasta water now if you think it’s needed). So far, I haven’t needed it.
• Add the pasta shapes to the Feta and tomatoes and mix thoroughly.
• Finish off with a good grinding of chilli and garlic flakes.
• Serve immediately in bowls with garlic bread and or a green salad.

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