No-Boil Feta Pasta Bake

TikTok Feta Pasta gets a no-boil makeover with this one-pan method. The dry pasta cooks with the feta, and it’s delicious!

For busy moms, like me, dinners have a short, but important list of must-haves: they have to be quick, they have to be easy, they have to leave my kids (and me) wanting more. So I really like to take things like the now infamous TikTok Baked Feta Pasta by Liemessa and make it even easier! Doing it all in one pot in the oven without needing to pre-boil the pasta was what I needed to try. And it worked!

I’ve perfected the no-boil pasta method with other recipes, so I figured I’d try the same for the feta pasta sensation. The recipe that I’ve come up with makes it even easier, and dare I say creamier and more tasty? You (1) don’t have to keep an eye on the pasta while it cooks, and (2) you only have one casserole dish to wash in the end!

This no-boil method worked so well that it’s now a weekly dinner request in our house. Here’s how quickly this comes together:

Dump 95% of the ingredients into the casserole dish (including the dry uncooked pasta!). Top with grape or cherry tomatoes. Place a block of feta on top of the tomatoes. Put the casserole dish in a very hot oven. Set a timer for 50 minutes, and walk away. Seriously. Go do something else for the next (almost) hour.

Video: Making The Feta Pasta Bake

How Can Dry Pasta Possibly Cook In An Oven?

The round 1 and ½ quart casserole dish is the quarterback in this recipe. You could get away with a 2 quart as well, but in order for the pasta to cook in the oven, it has to be submerged in the liquid called for in the recipe. A larger pan will disperse the ingredients, leaving too much of the pasta exposed to the dry oven air, which will in turn, result in crunchy, uncooked pasta.

Can I Substitute Milk For Heavy Cream?

High heat and acidic tomatoes will often cause milk to separate into tiny curds that look like cottage cheese. It still tastes great, but the sauce will be noticeably thinner with milk, and you’ll have more curds.

Half and half is a better alternative, but milk will do the trick if it’s all that you have on hand. Or, you can make it using stock or broth in place of the cream (so then, it’s 2 cups stock total for the recipe). It won’t be as creamy but it’s still pretty great.

Feta Pasta Is Always An Oily Mess. How Is This Different?

I hear you, I agree with you, and my recipe fixes this. In the original recipe, the sauce never emulsifies, leaving separated pools of oil throughout the dish. No thank you. The heavy cream in my recipe helps the juice from the tomatoes and the cheese turn into a creamy, saucy dream, without puddles of oil, and without separating.

How Can I Jazz Up My Pasta?

After the pasta comes out of the oven, it’s the perfect time to stir in anything you’d like. Our family favorites are cooked sausage, spinach and artichokes (it tastes just like the dip!), or shredded chicken. I’d love to hear your favorite add-ons too!