We Tried The Viral Melted Feta Pasta From TikTok and OMG… It’s AMAZING!
The other day, I let TikTok tell me what to make for dinner and this feta pasta did not disappoint!
If you’re in the mood for a super EASY to make pasta-based dish that’s creamy, cheesy, and over-the-top comforting, you’ve come to the right place. This viral and insanely delicious recipe uses a block of feta cheese and tomatoes, making it the perfect addition to add to your easy and inexpensive quarantine meal rotation!
I was curious to try it for myself and my family LOVED how this pasta tasted alongside the tender pieces of roasted tomato, garlic, and creamy melted feta cheese. It’s all such a tasty combo I would have never thought of and is my new favorite meatless meal idea!
How did this trendy TikTok baked feta pasta come about?
According to HuffingtonPost.com, the idea called “Uuni Feta Pasta” originated in Finland by a few chefs, and was made popular by a few food bloggers there, like this Instagram and TikTok post from Jenni Hayrinen. The word “Uuni” translates to oven in Finland. Rumor has it, this popular idea even caused a feta shortage there in 2019. 😱
I appreciate the simple pantry staples used in this melted feta dish.
The star players here are feta cheese, olive oil, garlic, cherry tomatoes, and the pasta of choice to add-in after baking. You may even already have these at home! The beauty of this idea is that you can pretty much not really use a recipe and just “eyeball” ingredient amounts and create it according to taste by adding in any other seasonings and veggies you’d like.
I am using a box of bow-tie pasta here, but you can use any shape of pasta including spaghetti, penne, and rotini to name a few.
Tips for making the best TikTok melted feta pasta:
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- Eating low carb or keto? Consider making this and adding a keto-friendly pasta such as hearts of palm noodles, spaghetti squash, or make zucchini noodles to add-in with it instead of traditional pasta.
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- Can’t find a solid block of feta cheese in your store? No worries, I have also made this using feta crumbles because my store was sold out of the block, and it still tasted amazing!
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- In a rush? Try using the stove instead! I have read you can skip the oven and melt the ingredients on the stove using a saucepan for a faster version instead of roasting in the oven. I have not tested that method, but could see it working out too for a similar variation!
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- This idea is so versatile and can easily be adapted to taste. I seasoned mine with Italian seasoning, added chopped onion, bell pepper, and chili flakes. I think adding grilled chicken or shrimp would be awesome too!
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- Don’t love feta cheese? I was honestly surprised at how awesome the melted feta tasted, but feel free to use goat cheese, or maybe a combination of other favorite cheeses instead.
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- Have any leftovers? This can be stored in a covered container for up to 4 days, and I can vouch that it reheats well for a quick meal.
Bake Feta Cheese Pasta
yield: 5 SERVINGS
prep time: 10 MINUTES
cook time: 30 MINUTES
total time: 40 MINUTES
Fresh tomatoes, Greek feta cheese, garlic, and olive oil get baked in a casserole dish to make a creamy & flavorful sauce for pasta!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pints cherry tomatoes (15 oz.)
- 1 bell pepper, roughly chopped
- 1/2 a medium onion, chopped
- 4 cloves fresh garlic, sliced
- 1/4 cup olive oil, divided
- 7 oz. block of Greek feta cheese
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 12 ounces dried bow tie pasta, or pasta of choice
- garnish: fresh basil
Directions
1
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2
To a large casserole dish, add tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Drizzle with half of the olive oil and toss.
3
Add the feta cheese in the middle. Drizzle with remaining olive oil, and season the dish with Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes.
4
Bake in the oven for about 25-30 minutes until tomatoes are nicely roasted and the cheese is melted.
5
While the feta & tomatoes are in the oven, cook the noodles separately using the stove. Drain water.
6
Remove the baking pan from the oven. Mix the contents until creamy. Add in the cooked pasta, and stir. Serve with fresh basil.
This baked feta pasta is 100% worth the hype!
In fact, baked feta pasta may just be my favorite comforting quarantine meal yet! My family loves this idea and we’ve already made it several times. This could also be a yummy side dish for a larger family or crowd alongside a piece of fish, steak, or chicken. Really the options are endless, and I’d love to hear if you have made this for your family yet? Let us know in the comments!
My teammate Jenna had this reaction after making this baked feta dish:
“This turned out WONDERFUL! What a fun and easy recipe. I love how you bake everything together then mix the pasta in – the flavor is fantastic! I couldn’t find a block of feta so I used crumbled and it worked great!”
Consider making Million Dollar Baked Spaghetti as another yummy pasta dish!
Its our go to meal when we are in a time crunch or I am too tired to cook. My kids love it!
That’s awesome 👏 thanks for sharing!
We made this and it was a huge hit. We added cremini mushrooms at the beginning and about five minutes before taking out of the oven added two large handfuls of fresh spinach. Make sure to save your pasta cooking water and you may need to add a few tablespoons to your dish to make it more creamy. Any way you make it, it’s foolproof and delish!
Great tips -thanks Bunny!
Yum! Thank you, Lina! I’m adding this to my meal list for next week.
Yay! Let us know your thoughts! Thanks so much.
Do you think ricotta cheese would work?
It won’t taste the same but I think it would be good. I’d just make sure I seasoned the ricotta since it isn’t very salty like feta and might seem bland.
Thank you!
I thought the feta was too strong anyway. I would probably cut the feta in half and use cream cheese.
I did half feta and half cream cheese and it worked great!
My family should have loved this, but nope! No one really enjoyed it, which is weird since we love pasta sauces made with fresh tomatoes and we also love feta. I didn’t care for the cherry tomato skins and the sauce just wasn’t all that flavorful. Of course, I didn’t use my go-to feta but rather just a random block I wanted to use up. That said, it was so easy I’d consider trying again with maybe Roma tomato chunks and good feta, though not for a long, long time. I am the only one eating the leftovers and I am so sick of it!
Oh darn! Thanks for sharing Erin!
I wanted to love this easy peasy pasta. I thought it was awful.
I’m not a fan of feta, so maybe that’s why. But it was quick and easy to make.
I made this vegan and it was freaking amazing….
Oh thats neat! Thanks for sharing!
Yay! I have a block of vegan feta cheese and I was wondering how it would turn out!
What do you think about using fresh mozzarella?
Ya I’m here for that idea! Maybe add salt and more seasonings for flavor. I like fresh mozz on pizza so yum!
I have heard that fresh mozzarella does not work because of how stringy the mozzarella is when it is melted.
We made this as is and love it but you can also blend the sauce if you like it creamier or don’t like the tomato bits.
Yes so true! Great tip!
Burata cheese is fantastic. Also fresh spinach at the end and some rotisserie chicken too!
Yes! We added spinach and chicken to ours. So so good
We made this and used spaghetti squash instead of the pasta. It was very good.
We also love spaghetti squash in place of traditional pasta!
I love that idea! Yum!
Anyone try with a can of crushed tomatoes?
I saw a video of someone using canned tomatoes and they said it was good.
I make this as a dip by swapping the bell peppers for capers and serve with pita wedges
Love capers! Great idea!
made it the other night sooo good now you must keep us updated when cherry tomatoes and feta is on sale 🙂
So I made this again actually and bought thise two things from Costco which I thought was a great value.
Yes!! One of my new favorites . I love how easy it is but but tastes so good!
Great! Yes, you can so so many variations too. Thanks Debra!
i was planning to make this tonight, but my Walmart pick up order substituted crumbled goat cheese instead of a block of feta ….i just don’t think it would be the same. I guess off to the grocery store I go.
I saw another keto user make this and serve it over chicken. Tried it myself and it was so good.
Yum! My sister in law said she roasted smoked sausage with hers and loved it.
My 11 year old daughter has made this for dinner twice 🙂 Its very good and the recipe gives her confidence to make dinner for the family!
I LOVE THAT! How awesome 👏
My 17 year old made this for us last week! It was delicious. Next time we would at rotisserie chicken or something but it was tasty. We used crumbled feta and it was not problem. I wouldn’t do it if you don’t like feta though.
Thanks Karen!
Thanks! I was looking for this question.
We did this with brie cheese. Just sliced the top off and cooked as directed. Was amazing! We added some extra pancetta because it was on hand.
OHHHH YASSS! Great idea!
Our girls saw this a few wks ago on Tik tok and made it. Unimpressed. Way too cheesy, and feta you wanna go light on in general.
why go light on feta? also they made a hue pot with only 7 oz of feta
Because it has a reputation for being salty? But the good stuff really isn’t salty! In any case, I didn’t use the good stuff when I made it and it was pretty flavorless. Very blah.
Hearts of palm noodles?!! I can’t have gluten so I’m going to give these a try. Thanks for the heads up!
Yes, those are actually becoming popular option with our keto readers on Hip2Keto.com! 🙂
I actually made this for dinner yesterday. It was good, but my husband said he thought it was “missing something”. Maybe I’ll try adding the bell pepper next time. Or meat. He probably wouldn’t have said that if I added meat.
Ya we are trying it with some smoked sausage next time actually. Yum! Thanks for sharing!
I made this for dinner tonight and my family LOVED it! Thanks for posting this recipe!
Oh yay! Thanks Heather!
It’s better served as a hot dip with crusty bread!
Made this last night in instapot with goat cheese!! It was delicious but didn’t put in enough broth so had some raw pasta too.. doh!
We have made this multiple times, in fact we had it for lunch today. It’s our favorite!!! We’ve also added kalamata olives to it… it just gives it a bit more salt.
Ohhhh yes. Love that idea! Thanks Celia.
We did this tonight after seeing your post! Our store only had the crumbled feta, so I got a herby version. I paired it with some chicken tenderloins pan fried and a crusty bread. 10/10 will do again! Also the crumbled feta did not change cooking time, still took 30 min at 400 for the tomato to do its thing.
Nice! That sounds like a great combo!!
I made it tonight but keto friendly version!!! Used spaghetti squash in place of the pasta. And my Italian stallion BF even approved!!! We added chicken to ours and we’re going to try it next time we spicy Italian sausage.
Awesome!! Yes!! I bet that will be yummy!
Yum, will try this. Great recipe to use up the tomatoes from my garden this summer.
Ya it’s perfect! Thanks Dianna!
Tried it tonight with Boursin and it was fabulous
Yay i am so glad! Thanks Kelly!
Looks yummy! Ingredients added to my list! 👍
Awesome 👏 Enjoy!
We made this last night and it was so good! I did have to make a few adjustments though. I didn’t do the onions or peppers (used onion powder) since my kids don’t like either. I also could not find a block of feta at any of my local grocery stores and ended up with a large, 16 ounce container of crumbled feta. I also added sweet Italian sausage and used all of the feta lol. My kids and husband loved it and want it to be added to the weekly dinner list.
OHH YAY!!! That is so awesome and sounds so YUM Stephanie.
I’m not a huge fan of feta. Would mozarella or provolone work?
I have heard Goat cheese, ricotta, Boursin, are good. Soft cheeses will make a great creamy “sauce” with the tomatoes.
Even though someone mentioned it…would be neat to also see Hip2Keto site tackle the recipe and various alternatives. I don’t do any pasta at all…it’s proven to be evil to me🤭
Yes I have made it there too, so look for that post coming soon! ❤️🙌 thanks!
trying today but using zoodles for my noodles…lol
Hooray!!! Enjoy. 🙂
It was so delicious my husband and I ate the whole casserole dish.
Yay! I am so glad! Thanks for sharing Wendy!
I have been making the baked feta recipe for years but never had it with pasta. Always ate it with fresh bread, dipped in that yummy sauce 🙂 I like to add some roasted zucchini to it too. The flavors go great together.
Oh wow love those ideas! Thanks!
I thought this was scrumptious but I detest tomato peels. I’m going to try this with canned PEELED tomatoes. I think it will still be delicious. Wish me luck.
Good luck that sounds like a great plan!
Hi there, has anyone made this and then froze it? I cook for one and I don’t want to eat this day after day so my thought was to eat half and freeze the other half, but only if it defrosts well.