Baked Feta Pasta - One Dish

I'd be very surprised if you haven't heard of or seen the Baked Feta Pasta dish that went viral on TikTok about 3 yrs ago. It's been shared everywhere, on every social media site. I made it and absolutely love it. But if you watch the original video you'll see that I have experimented and tweaked it to my liking. 

 I make this gluten free and its just as good as the original if you use the right GF pasta. I buy this or this GF pasta brand

Baked Feta Pasta (with my own spin). I add
Sun Dried Tomatoes, (not in the original recipe) because cherry or grape tomatoes are not always sweet enough.

This is what it looks like before putting in the oven. Block Feta Cheese
I cut my tomatoes in
half but
you don't have to.

Feta Crumbles - Be sure to add Cream Cheese
 and extra pplOlive Oil
if all you can find are the crumbles

Baked Feta Pasta

I'm sure you've seen this recipe on TikTok or Instagram. The recipe originated from a lady in Norway around 2019 and it quickly went viral. I was curious about it and decided to make it myself, but to my surprise, not even one grocery store in the whole Dayton area had any of the block feta. I was disappointed but a lady at the grocery store told me I could use the feta crumbles, as long as I added cream cheese to the dish toward the end. Since then, I have made it 4 other times, but with the block feta.  I found it at Trader Joe's & Aldi has the best price. Really, I can't tell a big difference in using the crumbles with cream cheese verses the block feta, but the block is creamer. 

The first 3 times I made this, I cooked the pasta separately, but one time I decided to try cooking the dry pasta in the pan with the feta and tomatoes and I'm so glad I did! It turned out great & the pasta got done in the oven with the added water to the pan. That's one less pot to wash!

I have a little bit of a different take on this recipe. Sometimes supposedly "sweet" cherry (or grape) tomatoes are not sweet at all, so my secret ingredient is sun dried tomatoes. (I add in with the cherry tomatoes). Since they're sweet, it really adds to the dish. I've been buying the dried version but for what I'm fixing today (Dec 30, 2021)  I bought the soft sun dried tomatoes in a jar with oil. I crave this dish!

Gluten Free Pasta I Buy

Heat oven to 400º

Ingredients

8 oz block Feta cheese (the block is creamer than the feta crumbles, but if you can't find the block feta, you can use the feta crumbles. If you use the crumbles though, you'll need to add some cream cheese & maybe milk or Half and Half to it toward the end of it being done. It's just as good. I've had to make this with the crumbles twice before and it turned out great each time.

1 pint cherry or grape  tomatoes

4 large cloves garlic, chopped (I let this cook in the dish with everything but you may want to add a little more chopped fresh garlic after everything is done, if you like a lot of garlic like I do!)

½ - ¾ cup Sun Dried Tomatoes, chopped into small pieces (dry or in the jar)

Fresh mozzarella cheese or regular mozzarella (grated). Could add parmesan cheese if you like

8 - 12 oz dry pasta (3 cups dry - see note below)

½ cup extra Virgil olive oil (or more)

3½ - 4 cups water (or enough to cover the pasta) If you're cooking your pasta separate, ignore this step

Salt and pepper to taste

Fresh basil, chopped (if you dont have fresh, use dried but fresh is so much better

Red pepper flakes, optional

My other additions I haven't seen in other recipes - cut up fresh mushrooms and fresh onions and add to the tomato mixture before baking. I LOVE the addition of the mushrooms!

Note: any kind of pasta - spiral, penne, spaghetti, linguine, macaroni, etc, but I use gluten free pasta. See pictures below of my favorite brands.

My 2 Favorite
Gluten Free Pastas

Directions

Place the cherry tomatoes in a 13"x 9" dish. (Sometimes I cut them in half) Add the chopped garlic, olive oil, pasta, salt and pepper, sun dried tomatoes, basil and water. Mix that all together. You can add some mozzarella if you want and red pepper flakes if you like a little heat like I do. After everything is stirred together, place the feta cheese in the center making sure it touches the bottom of the dish. Pour a little olive oil on top. 

Cover with aluminum foil for the first 20 minutes so there'll be enough moisture to soften the pasta. After 20 mins take the aluminum foil off and bake 25-30 minutes more. (Note - this time I made it (January 2024) I decided to cook the pasta separate in a different pan & I decided I'd rather do it that way.

Bake at 400º for 45-50 minutes total or til the tomatoes have popped and the feta cheese is brown. If you need to, put it under the broiler to toast it a little.

You can either add the fresh chopped basil to the other ingredients or put it on the dish after everything is done. I've seen it done both ways. 

* If cooking the pasta with the feta and tomatoes in the oven, make sure the pasta is covered with water or it might turn out too dry. This happened the first time I cooked the dry pasta with the dish, so if this is your first time making it, you should probably com the pasta on top of the stove in a separate pan.

After it's done, add more mozzarella and stir. You can even add a little milk or cream if you want. After it's stirred, it's time to eat! I really, really love this dish! Let me know what you think of the added ingredients and if yours turned out ok cooking the dry pasta with the other ingredients.