This baked Feta Cherry Tomato Pasta (aka TikTok Feta Pasta) took the internet by storm. And for a good reason – it’s freaking delicious and super easy.
I’m a little behind on the trend, but it’s definitely better late than never. It’s perfect for a weeknight dinner when you really don’t want to fuss with much. The basis for the TikTok Feta Pasta is a block of feta cheese, 2 pints of cherry tomatoes, and olive oil. I made a slight variation by using garlic, honey, lemon zest and juice, and a few handfuls of chopped fresh spinach.
Ingredients
Pasta: You’ll want to use a short-shaped pasta like rotini, penne, shells, cavatappi, or elbows. It mixes into the dish well. I wouldn’t use long kinds of pasta like spaghetti or fettuccine.
Feta cheese: Make sure that you get the block of feta, which tends to be higher quality than the pre-crumbled kind.
Cherry tomatoes: You’ll need two pints, but if your grocery store is out of cherry tomatoes, you can sub in grape tomatoes. This recipe roasts the tomatoes in the oven, which brings out a lot of favor and is really great if you’re making this in the wintertime when tomatoes are out of season. Roasting off-season tomatoes is a great way to increase their flavor.
Garlic cloves: Fresh is best when it comes to garlic. I thought two cloves were perfect, but if you really want to keep the vampires away, you can always use a little more.
Honey: Sometimes tomatoes can be a little acidic, and I knew I wanted to add some lemon zest and juice to make the dish a little brighter, so I also knew that I needed to balance this with a drizzle of honey. It was probably about 1 teaspoon or so – the honey will also help the tomatoes caramelize.
Olive oil: Olive oil is an excellent pairing for tomatoes, but I didn’t have any on hand, so I subbed avocado oil, which worked great too.
Lemon: I mainly used the zest with just a touch of the juice to brighten the flavor a little bit, and it was outstanding in the dish.
Spinach: You’ll definitely want to opt for fresh spinach as frozen will have too much water. You can use baby spinach for smaller leaves, but you’ll want to give it a rough chop before adding it to the tomatoes if you use regular-sized fresh spinach.
Basil: Tomatoes and basil go together like PB&J. Fresh is way better in this case, but if you’re in a pinch, you could use dried, but you’ll only want to use about 1 tbsp. of the dried.
Extra toppings: These are entirely optional, but I really enjoyed putting chopped kalamata olives, more chopped fresh basil, and red pepper flake on top. The dish will be delicious whatever you choose.
How to Make Feta Cherry Tomato Pasta (aka TikTok Feta Pasta)
One of the reasons that this recipe went viral on TikTok is how easy this is to make. First, you’ll cook your pasta to the package’s directions. Then you’ll place the block of cheese in the middle of a large baking dish and arrange all the tomatoes around the cheese. You’ll then season the cheese and tomatoes with garlic, honey, olive oil, lemon, salt, and pepper. After it bakes for about 35 minutes, you mix the cheese and tomatoes together. The tomatoes kind of fall apart, and the cheese melts into the tomato juices to make this super delicious sauce.
I rounded it out with chopped spinach for a little more veggies. I chopped the spinach fine so that I didn’t get a big, stringy piece of spinach when I was eating it. The chopped spinach will wilt more evenly into the pasta. You’ll add in some fresh basil at this point as well. Then you’ll mix all of this with the cooked pasta and top with your favorite pasta toppings. I used chopped kalamata olives, extra fresh basil, and red pepper flake.
What to Serve with Feta Cherry Tomato Pasta
You can certainly serve this all on its own, but if you want some extra protein, I’d recommend making my Air Fryer Turkey Meatballs. They’re easy and will cook up fast in the air fryer while the feta and tomatoes bake.
Additionally, if you’re looking for a wine pairing, you’re definitely going to want to check out my guide on How to Choose Wine for Italian Food.
Feta Cherry Tomato Pasta (TikTok Feta Pasta)
Ingredients
- 8 oz. of short pasta like penne, cavatappi, rotini, etc.
- 8 oz. block of feta cheese
- 2 pint containers of cherry tomatoes
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- Zest of 1 lemon + 1 tsp. of lemon juice
- Drizzle of honey about 1 tsp.
- ¼ cup of olive oil or avocado oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 large handfuls of fresh spinach chopped
- ¼ cup of fresh basil chopped
- Extra toppings optional: chopped kalamata olives, extra chopped basil, red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook pasta to package’s instructions, drain, and set aside. While the pasta cooks, place the block of feta cheese in the center of a large baking dish. Arrange the cherry tomatoes around the cheese block. Sprinkle the minced garlic cloves and lemon zest, and then drizzle honey, oil, and lemon juice all over the cheese and tomatoes. Season everything with salt and pepper to taste.
- Bake dish uncovered for about 35-40 minutes. When the dish comes out of the oven, mix the cheese and tomatoes together until evenly mixed. Then add the chopped fresh spinach and basil and mix again until the spinach and basil are wilted and evenly distributed.
- Toss the mixture with the warm pasta and serve immediately. Top with your favorite pasta toppings if desired.
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