While most of us are not TikTok users, we have noticed the food trends that pop up every now and then. The internet has been cooking this Baked Feta Pasta dish non-stop, and we were excited to give it a try.
The idea is that you bake a block of feta in a dish of tomatoes and olive oil. There are many iterations and lots of opinions about this particular dish on the internet, and we appreciated these tips to make the best version of the viral dish.
- Don’t Over Do It On the Pasta
- Short Pasta Is Preferred
- Save Your Pasta Water
- Get Good-Quality Feta
- Don’t be Afraid of the Amount of Oil
- Get Creative with Seasoning
- Don’t Forget to Season with Salt
We used a fun fusilli corti col buco as our noodle, but 8-10 oz. of your favorite short cut pasta will do great.
Pasta water is the secret ingredient in most great pasta dishes. The starchy water helps to bring the sauce together. Just scoop out some water using a coffee cup before you drain the noodles. Bonus points if it’s a cheese-themed cup.
Using a sheep’s milk feta is the best choice for this dish. It is creamy, a bit salty, and not too acidic or sour. Our favorite is the Hidden Springs Feta, coming from Wisconsin.
To add some Aperitivo flair, we threw in some ‘nduja. Because if we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a million times before, ‘nduja makes everything better. If you are looking to keep this recipe vegetarian, opt for some chopped Calabrian peppers or crushed red pepper flakes.
Most recipes call for baking the tomatoes and feta at 400, then broiling or increasing the temperature for the last 10 minutes to achieve some golden color and caramelization. We found that the dish was still able to take on some color without the broiling step. Since the Aperitivo Test Kitchen is now home to a little baby, and the fire alarm is known to go off anytime the oven is above 400, it wasn’t worth the risk. And it still turned out great. If you do not have a sensitive firm alarm or a sleeping baby, go for the broil!
Lastly, tomatoes on the vine make for a great photo, but are by no means necessary to make this dish. Loose tomatoes are the preferred option. 🍅
Jump on the train and make this!
Baked Feta, Tomato, & ‘Nduja Pasta
Ingredients
- 2 pints cherry tomatoes
- ½ cup EVOO
- .5 lbs Hidden Springs Feta – drained
- 2 oz 'nduja – room temperature
- 10 oz short cut pasta – penne, rigatoni, fusilli
- 1 garlic clove – finely chopped
- ¼ cup fresh basil leaves – chopped
- Salt and pepper
- Flaky sea salt – for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Toss the tomatoes and EVOO with salt and pepper in a medium bowl until well coated. Add tomatoes to a 2-3 qt. baking dish. Smush the 'nduja between your fingers and scatter the pieces around the baking dish.
- Bake for 30 minutes, until the tomatoes have started to burst and the feta is soft and slightly golden. Increase the heat to 450F, and continue to cook until everything is caramalized, 10 to 15 minutes more.
- While the tomatoes bake, cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Just before draining, grab a coffee cup and use it to reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water.
- After 40-45 minutes, remove the baking dish from the oven and add in the chopped garlic. Stir and smush the tomatoes and feta around until a sauce begins to form. Add in the pasta, half of the chopped basil, and a splash of pasta water. Continue to stir until the sauce coats the noodles. Add more water if the sauce becomes too thick.
- Dish up the pasta onto plates, top with remaining chopped basil and flaky salt.
