Tik Tok Baked Feta Pasta
Prep Time – 5 minutes Cook Time – 40 minutes
Ingredients
- 18 oz cherry or grape tomatoes
- 4 cloves garlic (or more if your heart desires)
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil (divided)
- 1 block (7 oz) Greek feta cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Kosher salt
- Fresh basil leaves
Step 1
- Preheat to 400 degrees.
Step 2
- In a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, mix your tomatoes, garlic and half (1/4 cup) the olive oil. Sprinkle with some salt and toss to coat.
- Place the feta cheese in the center of the baking dish and top with the remaining olive oil (1/4 cup). You can sprinkle the entire dish with red pepper flakes (I did not because I’m not a fan) and a little black pepper.
- Bake for about 40 minutes, until the tomatoes have burst their skins.
Step 3
- About 20 minutes into the baking, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- Cook the pasta according to package directions, usually about 10-12 minutes.
-Save 1 cup of the pasta water and then drain the pasta.
Step 4
- Mash the feta and tomatoes with a fork and mix until evenly combined. Add your cooked pasta to the baking dish.
Step 5
- Stir the pasta into the cheese tomato mix. If your pasta looks a little dry add the saved pasta water.
- Taste and season with additional salt and pepper, if desired.
- Top with plenty of fresh chopped basil and serve.
My Thoughts
- The recipe - While looking into this "Viral" pasta I found a few different recipes. The one I went with (and is listed above) seems to be the most common. Some of the others added things like cream. So if you are feeling a little more adventurous just google "Tik Tok Pasta" and those recipes will some up as well.
- Difficulty - 1 out of 5 - This is super easy to make. The hardest part is boiling the noodles.
- Taste - 3 out of 5 - Don't get me wrong this is very good but I had very high expectations. I mean this recipe went viral. There were whole countries reporting feta cheese shortages because of this. Had I not been expecting a mind blowing first bite I would have enjoyed it more.
Will I make this again?? Absolutely. For how easy it was to make and the cost of the ingredients, it is a keeper. I won't make it every week but maybe once a month.