TikTok Pasta Bake Recipe

This pasta bake, as seen in similar, viral TikTok videos, has it all—bold, flavorful, comforting, and carbohydrates!

An extra creamy, tomato-flavored dish,  baked pasta is the ideal autumn comfort meal. It’s arguably the easiest pasta meal you’ll prepare this month, and the payoff is enormous, considering how little work is required and all the ingredients are easily available in grocery stores.

Why the TikTok Pasta Recipe is so popular

It’s easy! One pan, and a few simple ingredients, and you have a flavorful dinner! Cherry tomatoes are mixed with olive oil and set in a baking pasta dish with a slab of feta; it couldn’t be easier. The tomatoes are roasted until they explode, releasing their delicious and jammy tastes. The feta melts and becomes oozy. You quickly combine everything into a meat sauce and add spaghetti, basil, crushed red pepper, and chopped garlic. Dinner is ready, presto!

What Makes This Pasta Recipe Different?

Our recipe uses boxed noodles, but feel free to use the pasta of your choice. It takes seven to eight minutes to cook packaged pasta until it is al dente in boiling water. After draining and adding it back to the saucepan, the ingredients combine quickly.

This recipe is appealing since it doesn’t require straining. Instead, everything is blended before the pot is heated on the burner.

How to Make This TikTok Pasta Bake Recipe

Ingredients

Make sure you have the necessary supplies available before you open that Kraft box:

• 1/4 cups of milk
• Feta cheese (or your choice of cheese: goat, mozzarella, etc.)
• Pasta of your choice (we are using prepackaged Kraft mac & cheese – sans the sauce packet)
• Butter, 4 tablespoons
• Water 
• Cherry tomatoes 

Check the instructions on the package for the required amounts of butter and milk (if using prepackaged pasta).

Directions

Pre-measure Ingredients

The first step is to measure the milk and butter before you begin. The quantity depends on how much pasta you’re preparing, but Kraft suggests using 1/4 cup of milk and 4 tablespoons of butter for one box.

Combine Ingredients

Put the dried pasta in a saucepan and add enough water to cover the noodles. Butter should then be added. Then the box’s supplied cheese powder packets. Save the milk addition until later. Before putting the saucepan on the heat, thoroughly whisk the pasta, water, parmesan cheese, fresh mozzarella cheese, and butter.

Heat the Pasta

The pasta mixture should be heated on the burner at medium heat with periodic stirring until the water comes to a rolling boil. Reduce the heat to low, toss the spaghetti occasionally, and allow it to boil softly. Don’t put a lid on the pot. As the ingredients and pasta boil together, you’ll notice the cheese sauce thickening and the noodles softening—precisely what you want. The majority of the liquid should evaporate in only a few minutes.

Add Milk, Mix & Serve

Add the milk when minimal liquid is left in the saucepan after the cheese sauce has thickened. You want the macaroni to boil as you mix it in, so keep the heat low. Keep an eye on it as you mix to prevent the bechamel sauce from becoming too thick and sticky. Turn off the heat and pour your pasta mixture into a baking dish. This is going to bake in the oven to finish cooking.

What Is Baked Pasta?

Due to how simple it is to prepare, how delicious it is, and how tasty it appears, baked feta spaghetti is now trending on TikTok. It takes inspiration from baked feta, a Greek snack. Finnish blogger Jenni Häyrinen first mentioned combining spaghetti with baked feta. Her name for it was baked feta pasta or uunifetapasta. Other bloggers also posted about feta pasta, indicating that it is very well-liked in Finland.

How to Make Oven-Baked Pasta

• Toss: Olive oil should be tossed with cherry tomatoes in a baking dish. Put a chunk of feta in the center and top with olive oil.
• Bake: Bake the feta cheese and tomatoes in the oven until the cheese is melted and the tomatoes burst.
• Cook: Prepare the noodles while the feta is baking.
• Stir: When the tomatoes and feta are finished cooking, add some minced fresh garlic, some red pepper flakes, and the pasta. If necessary, add extra pasta water to help the pasta combine. Lastly, add some fresh basil.
• Eat: All done! Time to enjoy your cheesy masterpiece!

Ingredients

• Cherry Tomatoes– sweeter is preferable! These days, small tomatoes come in many flavors, including strawberry, grape, on-the-vine, and heirloom. One box of traditional cherry tomatoes and one cherry tomato on the vine were utilized.
• Feta– Since the block of feta cheese makes up most of the dish’s flavor, you should get a nicer, higher-quality kind. Pick up a block of feta—not crumbles—that is packaged in a brine. French feta is less sour than Greek and has a gentler, creamier flavor.
• Olive Oil– The majority of the great recipes that I’ve seen call for 1/4 to 1/2 cups of olive oil. I chose 1/3 cup of olive oil because you want just enough oil to cover the tomatoes and feta and have some pool in the bottom of the baking dish, like tomato confit. Your tomatoes can dry out if you use too little olive oil.
• Pasta– You may use whatever shape you wish; the first and second times we used casarecce and rotini were excellent.
• Garlic– A few minced garlic cloves are added, and the tomato’s remaining high heat balances out the harshness while still providing you a powerful dose of garlicky pleasure.
• Basil– Tomatoes, fresh basil, and fresh herbs go along well. While keeping some extra leaves whole for decoration, slice some up to mix in.

Air Fryer Baked Pasta

Ensure that the baking dish will fit inside the air fryer. Set the baking dish with the contents inside the air fryer. For 30 minutes, air fry at 400°F, or until the cheese is brown and the tomatoes have burst. Pour the creamy sauce made from the tomatoes, cheese, garlic, and red pepper over the cooked pasta after stirring the ingredients together. Add basil to taste after seasoning.

Instant Pot Baked Pasta

Add 9 ounces of uncooked short pasta, 8 ounces of feta cheese, 2 pints of cherry tomatoes, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, and 1.5 cups of water or stock. 5 minutes of high-pressure cooking, followed by a rapid pressure release and cover removal. Activate the sauté setting and whisk to incorporate the feta and tomatoes into the creamy sauce that will cover the noodles. Add basil, stir, and season to taste.

Source

• Delish.com