Tomato
Feta Pasta
A viral recipe for a reason. A block of feta roasts with cherry tomatoes and olive oil until it melts into a sauce, finished with crushed tomatoes, pecorino, and basil. One critical rule: the feta must be goat's or sheep's milk. Cow's milk feta goes grainy in the oven.
Active time
20 min
Total time
40 min
Serves
2 + sauce
Oven temp
400°F
Sources
Inspiration
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt — Tomato Feta Pasta
youtube.com ↗
Original
Liemessa — Baked Feta Pasta (Finnish original)
liemessa.fi ↗
Ingredients
What you need
Bake
~1/2 cup
EVOO
— enough to coat the bottom of a 9×13 dish
6–8 oz
feta, block
— goat's or sheep's milk only, not cow's
drizzle
EVOO
— to drizzle over the feta block
to taste
red pepper flakes
to taste
freshly ground black pepper
~1 lb
grape or cherry tomatoes
a handful
garlic cloves, roughly smashed
— not minced, not through a press; mostly whole
14 oz can
crushed tomatoes
— added mid-bake
Pasta & finish
2 servings
rigatoni or mezzi rigatoni
— cook only what you'll eat now; sauce keeps, pasta doesn't
~2 oz
pecorino romano, freshly grated
a handful
fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
Method
How to make it
Oven setup
Preheat to 400°F.
Arrange the dish. Pour enough EVOO to coat the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish — roughly half a cup. Place the feta block in the center. Drizzle it with a little more olive oil, then sprinkle with red pepper flakes and freshly ground black pepper.
Add tomatoes and garlic. Scatter the grape or cherry tomatoes around the feta. Shake the dish so they pick up some of the olive oil. Nestle the smashed garlic cloves throughout.
First bake: 8–10 minutes. Put the dish in the oven until the tomato skins have cracked and there's visible browning on the feta.
Sauce
Add the crushed tomatoes. Open the oven and pour the can of crushed tomatoes around the feta — not over it. You want the top of the block exposed so it can keep browning. Return to the oven for another 5–8 minutes.
Pasta & finish
Cook the pasta in well-salted water while the sauce finishes. Grate the pecorino.
Finish the sauce. Remove the dish from the oven. Top with the sliced basil. Transfer the sauce components — feta, tomatoes, garlic, and all the pan juices — to a large metal bowl. Add the pecorino romano. Whisk to emulsify — the olive oil, melted feta, tomato sauce, and cheese should come together into a cohesive sauce. Don't overmix: you want most of the grape tomatoes to remain intact.
Toss and serve. Ladle enough sauce from the bowl into a separate pan or serving bowl for however many portions you're making right now — not all of it. Add the cooked pasta, toss, and serve immediately. Store the remaining sauce in the fridge; it keeps well and reheats easily.
Don't cook more pasta than you'll eat right now. The sauce reheats well — store leftovers in the fridge or freezer. Cooked pasta sitting in sauce overnight does not.
Notes
The feta type is non-negotiable. Cow's milk feta goes grainy and chalky when baked. Goat's or sheep's milk feta melts into the sauce the way it's supposed to. Check the label.
Smash the garlic, don't mince it. A rough smash — enough to crack the clove and release the flavor — keeps the garlic mostly intact through the bake. Minced or pressed garlic would burn.
Rigatoni or mezzi rigatoni. The tubes catch the sauce. Short pasta with ridges works; long pasta less so.