Baked Feta Pasta - TikTok

• active time: 5 mins
• total time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

1 lb pasta (shells, bowtie, rotini, whatever)

1/2 cup olive oil + more for finishing

2 boxes cherry tomatoes (around 20-25 oz)

1 block feta about 8 oz

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

a few pinches red pepper flakes

1 handful fresh basil leaves

Spinach (optional)

Italian sausage (in casings)

salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 400. Add olive oil to a baking dish and toss with whole cherry tomatoes, salt and pepper until everything is coated.

Add the feta in the middle and top with a splash more of olive oil plus a few cranks of fresh pepper. Bake for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare pasta according to directions then strain. Save 1 cup of pasta water in case the sauce mix is too dry later.

If you're adding sausage, cook separately while the tomatoes and cheese are in the oven. Remove the casings from the sausage links and cook fully. set to the side, covered, when done.

_The timing works out where you can cook the sausage first and then use the same pot to cook the pasta._

After the 30 minutes has passed, crank the heat up to 450 and bake for another 5-10 minutes or until the feta and tomatoes have browned. _Broiling works well here too._

Remove the baking dish from the oven and add garlic and red pepper flakes and stir so the residual heat cooks the garlic and releases the flavors from the red pepper flakes.

if adding spinach, do not pre-cook. add with garlic and red pepper flakes and let the residual heat soften it up.

Toss in the pasta and stir one more time. If you're adding the sausage, toss it in now as well. Finish with fresh basil, another splash of olive oil (if needed) and season with salt and pepper.

Notes

The blog said to make the tomatoes swim in the olive oil and it worked out really well last time.

It works best if you use a small baking dish so the tomatoes are touching.

If it's dry after cooking, add 1/2 cup pasta water and stir. (not needed if you follow the swimming in olive oil note)