Rotini with Baked Feta

Published April 4, 2021

If you’ve been on Instagram the past few weeks, you’ve probably seen reels of the viral baked Feta pasta recipe.

Some foodies make the recipe with just the Feta and tomato, while others use fresh greens and roasted vegetables.

For this week’s blog, I decided to make my own version of the baked Feta pasta recipe by adding extra spices for flavor and using Rotini spiral pasta.

Ingredients for Rotini with Baked Feta

I went to the store for the cherry tomatoes and Feta. I used the dried herbs from my garden and a box of Barilla Rotini pasta that I keep in the pantry for spontaneous recipes.

When this recipe first went viral, stores ran out of Feta. By now, I think the baked Feta pasta craze has died down, so you should be able to find a block of Feta at your local grocery store.

I made sure to pick a traditional flavored Feta cheese, as some can be infused or brined and I didn’t want that to impact the flavor of my dish.

How to Make Rotini with Baked Feta

Tools for this Dish

• Oven-safe dish (I used a deep CorningWare dish)

• Measuring spoons for spices

• Spoon for stirring

• Tongs for flipping the Feta

• Pot and strainer (for pasta)

• Grater for fresh cheese

Cooking Notes

Adding Whole Tomatoes

As you can see with my recipe, I use both cherry tomatoes and fresh tomatoes. I realized after I bought a small container of cherry tomatoes, that I didn’t have enough for an even ratio of pasta-to-tomato.

I happened to have whole fresh tomatoes in my refrigerator, so I cubed 2-3 of them into chunks and added them to my cherry tomatoes. The cubed tomatoes softened and broke down more than the cherry tomatoes when baking, but their flavor and sweetness mixed well with the baked Feta.

Pasta Seasoning and Order of Ingredients

When researching how to make this recipe, I saw that most cooks add their fresh garlic, basil, or seasoning at the end of the recipe, once everything is cooked.

I would imagine that the raw garlic — even when minced — would have a bold flavor when added raw at the end of the dish. So I decided to put my garlic in at the beginning and let it break down with the tomatoes.

I didn’t have fresh basil on hand, but I did have dried basil and parsley from my home garden. I sprinkled a generous amount with my garlic and tomatoes, so that my Rotini would have good flavor.

If you have spices that you enjoy — such as red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning, etc, you could add your own favorites to this step in the recipe.

Olive Oil and Pasta Water

As I combined the tomatoes and spices, I was concerned that there was too much olive oil for the amount of tomatoes. In fact, it was a good amount because the olive oil is part of the “sauce” that is going to help coat your pasta. If you didn’t have the 1/2 cup of oil, there wouldn’t be anything to assist with coating the pasta and Feta.

Similarly, you can add some of the pasta water to help combine the baked Feta and pasta into a sauce. The starchy cooking water also helps add flavor to your dish.

The Final Product

I can see why the baked Feta pasta recipe became viral! This one-pot recipe is easy to prepare since it uses whole ingredients.

My final dish was light and flavorful. The Rotini pasta spirals held the Feta sauce well. Even if you don’t normally eat Feta cheese, this dish is not overpowering with Feta flavor. As the Feta bakes, it becomes creamy and mixes well with the olive oil and tomatoes to create a “sauce” for your pasta.

The cherry tomatoes were bright and bursting with flavor. The ratio of tomatoes to pasta was good, even with the extra cubed tomatoes I added. Since I enjoyed the sweet flavor they added to the pasta, I wouldn’t mind adding an extra handful to the dish.

Recipe Score

I would give Rotini with Baked Feta a 9/10. This is a tasty, easy entree to pull together. I’d like to innovate with this recipe even more to see what flavors could be developed.

• Recipe Level

  • Easy: Since all the ingredients are combined and baked within the same dish, you don’t have to have cooking experience to make this dish. Even if you switch around the order of ingredients, your dish will still turn out well!

• Ingredients

  • This recipe has a short ingredient list. You can find all of these ingredients at your local store — and depending on your taste — may already be a staple ingredient in your kitchen.

• Prep

  • The only prep required is to preheat your oven before baking.

• Flavor

  • 9/10: I enjoyed the additional flavor that the dried spices brought to my Rotini with baked Feta. I would like to test the recipe again using fresh herbs and homegrown tomatoes, to see if it makes an even better flavor.

K. Martinelli Makes Rotini with Baked Feta

Looking for More Dinner Recipes?

Have you made the baked Feta pasta dish already? What did you think?

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