“Internet Famous” Baked Feta Pasta

“Internet Famous” Baked Feta Pasta : If you haven’t tried this yet, there’s no time like the present!

If you like feta, tomatoes, garlic, pasta, and lots of fresh basil, you’ll absolutely love this easy and fabulously adaptable recipe! In fact, there are so many ways of making this, I’m classifying it as a no-recipe recipe. It’s that flexible.

Here’s what I used (this time):

• A block of Feta cheese
• Olive Oil
• Grape Tomatoes
• Fresh Garlic
• Dried Basil and Oregano
• Red Pepper Flakes
• Cavatappi Pasta
• Sea Salt & Freshly Ground Pepper
• LOTS of incredibly fresh Basil

Other popular variations of this Baked Feta Pasta recipe use Goat Cheese, Cream Cheese, or Boursin. Some people add onions or spinach. I’ve even seen “one pot” versions where the pasta is cooked in water along with everything else. Frankly, I prefer the nicely-roasted flavors and the caramelization that happens with this method, so this is my go-to.

WHAT ELSE CAN BE ADDED TO BAKED FETA PASTA?

MEATS: While this is a marvelous Meatless Monday dish, go ahead and add your favorite meats! Bacon, ham, prosciutto, salami, pancetta… If you like it, it’ll work well in this kind of dish!

GREENS: Spinach is wonderful in dishes like this. Stir in fresh spinach leaves (whole or chopped – it’s up to you) when you combine the pasta and baked feta and tomatoes mixture. It’ll cook down, but still retain its fresh flavor.

VEGGIES: I’ll happily add more veggies to anything, and baked/roasted veggies lend themselves beautifully here! Add chopped broccoli or broccolini, cauliflower, zucchini, peppers, mushrooms… Use up refrigerator odds-and-ends. Just chop everything into similar size pieces so they cook evenly.

FRESH HERBS: Go crazy with fresh herbs! Basil is a clear choice for me because I love it so much, but you can mix things up with different herb combinations! Again, use whatever you have in your refrigerator or garden.

Just look at all that roasted, caramelized deliciousness! Where did all of this deliciousness come from? Hard to say but here’s how I stumbled upon it.

I don’t actively post on TicTok, but I enjoy watching other people’s content now and then. Naturally, cooking content is my favorite. While I don’t recall when I first began seeing baked feta pasta, I do recall thinking of course, that “baked cheese and pasta is a no-brainer!” And then – like everyone else – I was suddenly seeing it EVERYWHERE.

With regard to most trends and “viral” ideas – many of which are not unique, but they just happen to hit the right algorithm at the right time, and then the rest is history – I’m generally not interested. If everyone else is doing it, I’m usually running away from (versus jumping on) the bandwagon.

But I’m only human, and this is baked cheese and pasta, guys! We’ve all done it in different ways without thinking much about it. But now that it’s “A Thing”, let’s just thank out lucky stars that it’s super easy so we can make it over and over again.

I love giving credit where credit is due whenever possible, so here’s some Baked Feta Pasta History from Chef MacKenzie Smith’s ‘Grilled Cheese Social’ Instagram post, also referenced in a Fox5NY story.

Excerpt from Chef Mackenzie Smith: “Back in 2019, I shared my adaptation of @liemessa’s #uunifeta after hearing about its magicalness from a Finnish friend @millalasola. Bc she was the one who inspired my version of the recipe… Last year, at the start of all the 2020 craziness, my blog post went viral and BLEW UP here in the states!  …  Since then, i received quite a few dm’s from people informing me that @tiiupiret was actually the OG creator in 2018 so i shared bc i want everyone involved to get credit!”

That’s how it should be. The best thing about food and cooking and recipes is that it has a way of bringing people together. It’s really all just one, big collaborative effort.

And the rest, as they say, is delicious! Er… history!

By the way… If you’re as much of a fresh basil fan as I am, here are a few more recipes that you might like!

• ROASTED CHERRY TOMATOES AND GOAT CHEESE SPREAD WITH FRESH BASIL AND BALSAMIC DRIZZLE
• BAKED WHITEFISH WITH LEMON AND BASIL
• LEMON BASIL VERDE SAUCE

ENJOY!

MAKING THIS (OR A SIMILAR) BAKED FETA PASTA RECIPE?

I’d love to see it! Tag #baconfatte and tag @baconfatte in your social posts!