Can't Find Feta Anywhere? It's Because Everyone on Earth Is Cooking This Viral Cheesy Pasta—Here's How

Another day, another delicious-looking, totally over-the-top indulgent TikTok hack. And while many of TikTok's finest food trends involve a laundry list of saccharine-sweet ingredients or require professional pastry chef-level decorating skills, this week's viral recipe is as easy as they come. Meet #bakedfetapasta, a fuss-free feta and noodle dish that's likely responsible for the absence of full blocks of feta cheese available in your grocery store right now. (The cult-worthy recipe tag has garnered nearly 30 million views on TikTok, after all.)

To make baked feta pasta, simply roast fresh cherry tomatoes with an entire block of feta cheese and herbs, then stir it with your favorite type of pasta. "The dish is pretty much hands-off, and all the magic happens in the oven," says Yumna Jawad, the genius food blogger behind Feel Good Foodie. "Made with just a handful of ingredients, it's no wonder this dish went viral in Finland!" Jawad created her own viral video for baking feta pasta, then walked us through her genius method step by step.

How to Make Baked Feta Pasta

First, gather your ingredients—and hope that you can still find feta at the supermarket!

• Tomatoes: "Opt for cherry or grape tomatoes for this recipe," suggests Jawad. "Their small size means optimal flavor, and the presentation of the tomatoes when they burst is just stunning."
• Feta Cheese: Use a block of feta cheese for best results. "The block is less processed and will give a more melty consistency when baked," Jawad explains. Yes, it will still work with crumbled feta; just make sure to keep the feta stacked in the middle so that it creates a melty consistency together. Jawad adds that she's tried the recipe with goat cheese (swoon) and that it made a creamy perfect texture, but the cooking time may be less depending on how large the block of cheese you use is. "I've also heard success using high-quality full-fat ricotta," she adds.
• Pasta: You can use any pasta you'd like, or try it with gluten-free pasta like Banza uses. "I have seen this made with penne, spaghetti, bow-tie noodles, and the works. I really don't think there's a wrong shape of pasta to use. However, I do like something with curves or edges so that the sauce can cling on to more of the pasta."
• Fresh Herbs and Seasonings: You'll definitely need olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, and fresh basil. But beyond that, zhuzh as much as you'd like. "Try adding some fresh oregano, fresh thyme, or switching the fresh garlic for roasted garlic," she recommends.

The Method, Step-by-Step

1. Using an oven-safe baking dish, toss in your cherry or grape tomatoes, and shower them with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Then mix to combine.
2. Add a whole block of feta cheese to the center of the baking dish. Jawad explains that it's key to either flip it around a couple of times to get coated with the olive oil and seasoning, "or just add a touch more olive oil and a couple of fresh black pepper cracks on top."
3. Bake it in the oven until the tomatoes burst and the feta looks melted. "And your house smells heavenly!" Jawad adds.
4. As soon as it comes out of the oven, add some fresh minced garlic and fresh basil leaves.
5. Mix it around immediately so that the garlic softens from the heat in the dish.
6. Add cooked pasta on top and give everything a good stir. The melty feta and burst tomatoes will essentially create a sauce for the pasta. Serve right out of the baking dish.

Tips for Making Baked Feta Pasta