The Feta Pasta That Went Viral on Tik Tok

Read Time:3 Minute, 28 Second

By Kaleigh Werner, EIC Lifestyle

Featured image courtesy of PureWow.

Disclaimer: Even if you aren’t addicted to Tik Tok, you will still be intrigued.

So, if you haven’t heard by now that putting feta in your pasta is the new thing, then there are two reasons for that: you either live under a rock or are not on Tik Tok. Either way come on now, get with it! Similar to the start of the pandemic, there have been outage reports at supermarkets. However, this time the shortage is just feta cheese and is only happening in Finland. After a recipe spread throughout the country, people were so quick to buy ingredients to make it for themselves. About a week and a half ago, the first video appeared on my feed. Now, that video has over 10 million views and has generated hundreds more videos just like it showcasing how to make the popular baked feta pasta.

At first, I was weary and unsure if feta could be used as a pasta sauce. The pairing seemed weird to me, but my For You Page wouldn’t give up until I tried it. Now, I can confidently say I am a chef that recreated this delicious dish. 10/10 recommend! Here’s some tips on how to make it because let me just say that it’s not as easy to make as the 15 second videos make it seem.

Do not use too many tomatoes!!!!

To begin the process of cooking this dish, you are going to need a few ingredients; you need any kind of pasta, a block of feta cheese, olive oil, salt/pepper, garlic, and cherry tomatoes. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and grab a baking dish, not a sheet. This is very important because you want a pan deep enough to mix the cooked pasta in with everything at the end. Then, you cut up some garlic, add the feta cheese, and a few tomatoes. Please please please listen to me when I tell you that if you want to avoid the doubts on your recipe following skills, only put in about half of the container of tomatoes. Next, you place the block of feta in the middle (yes, you use the whole thing) and sprinkle the seasonings, garlic, and olive oil on top. Use a good amount of olive oil, don’t be stingy. Finally, put the dish in the oven.

Bake for 40 minutes

A lot of the videos I was seeing on my page were telling me to bake the feta and tomatoes for 30 to 35 minutes. This is when I started being skeptical because I noticed that that was not a sufficient amount of time to perfectly brown the block of feta. Maybe my feta was a thick piece, buttttt that amount of time just still wouldn’t do it just right. Don’t let the videos deceive you and just start with the idea that you are cooking it for 40 to 45 minutes. After it is cooked to perfection, take the dish out to cool for a couple minutes.

Use a potato masher!

In order to make the sauce nice and smooth, use a potato masher to mash the feta in with the tomatoes. Then, mix the sauce together while your pasta is finishing cooking on the stove.

Do not use the extra pasta water if you already have a lot of tomato juice

The secret to this dish, I think, is the flavor from the tomatoes. If you use a good amount, but not too much, then the juice from them will be plenty to give the pasta more of a sauce. Adding some of the pasta water only makes the dish more watery. Take my advice and don’t add more liquid that’s not necessary, it will save you the stress of having to drain some of the excess out.