By now you’ve probably seen the internet raving about the TikTok Baked Feta Pasta dish. It is because of this video that you cannot find a brick of Feta cheese anywhere – even in rural Minnesota. Here’s a link to the original recipe from 2019.

Pasta dishes are perfect for this time of year when the temps get below zero. Looking for other easy and tasty dishes to cook during the cold snap? Try my Authentic Minnesota Tater Tot Hot Dish, Instant Pot Shrimp Alfredo (takes 7 minutes) and one of the all time favorites Big Mac Hot Dish.

This recipe is incredibly easy, makes the house smell wonderful and can be easily altered to fit your taste.

Here’s the basic TikTok recipe:

Add grape or cherry tomatoes to a baking dish, drizzle olive oil and add a block of feta cheese right in the middle of the baking dish. Bake at 400°F for 30 minutes. While the tomatoes and feta are baking cook some pasta and reserve about 1/4 to 1/2 a cup of the pasta water. Remove the tomatoes and feta from the oven, add pasta and stir together.  Add some fresh basil, garlic and salt and pepper to taste. Serve and enjoy!

The thing I love about this recipe is that you don’t need to measure anything. It can scale up or down and you can add other ingredients as you see fit. I added olives and artichokes to my recipe and it was absolutely amazing.

baked feta pasta with artichoke hearts

** Note**

When I decided to try this I couldn’t find any feta cheese so I thought “what the hell, I’ll try it with a ball of mozzarella (half a ball actually and thankfully). Mozzarella is the worst choice for very seemingly obvious reasons now that I think about it. It looked beautiful when I pulled it out of the oven, smelled amazing, but the cheese turned into one big slightly stringy gob of goo that stuck to the spoon and practically nothing else. I removed the cheese and added the pasta and tomatoes, olives and artichokes to the pan with feta (I found some at a neighborhood grocery store).

I suspect you could use cream cheese with better results, but it wouldn’t have that tangy bite you get with the feta that pairs so well with the tomatoes, artichokes and olives. It might be more kid friendly with cream cheese.

It’s a beautiful dish before the pasta is added, the colors are bright and vibrant, add the pasta and it looks not quite so bright. Still, it is delicious, easy to do and relatively healthy. Use whole wheat pasta or eliminate the pasta for a healthier option.

Anyway, let me know what you think. If you’ve tried it did you add other ingredients? How did you like it?