Vegan Baked Feta Pasta with Under Ten Ingredients

For the past few months, TikTok has been dominated by this easy one-pan baked feta pasta. It's creamy, salty, quick, easy and cheap. What more could you ask for? 

I watched countless TikToks with many variations yet none of them were vegan. After weeks of seeing these TikToks, I decided I would wait no longer and make a vegan version of this popular dish.

The key to achieving the creamy yet salty funk of feta was the Violife Just Like Feta Block. It was relatively affordable at $5.53 and available at most supermarkets like Publix.

Vegan Baked Feta Pasta

• Prep Time:10 mins
• Cook Time:25 mins
• Total Time:35 mins
• Servings:4
• Easy

Ingredients

• 6 oz about 3/4 cups fresh cherry or grape tomatoes
• One 7 oz block Violife Just Like Feta
• 2 large sprigs basil
• One 12 oz box orecchiette pasta
• 5 cloves fresh garlic
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons vegan cream cheese optional
• Freshly ground black pepper

• Step 1

  Preheat the oven to 400° Fahrenheit. While the oven is preheating, prepare the baking dish for the creamy sauce. Place the block of vegan feta in the center of a glass or ceramic baking dish and surround it with the washed tomatoes and peeled whole garlic. Drizzle the entire dish with olive oil and top with a generous sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes and freshly ground black pepper.

  

• Step 2

  Place the dish into the preheated oven and bake for about 25 minutes until the feta is melted and creamy, and the tomatoes are wrinkly and soft enough to mash with a fork.

  

• Step 3

  Boil the orecchiette pasta in heavily salted water for 12 minutes or until al dente (slightly firm but cooked completely).

  

• Step 4

  Mash the tomatoes and garlic into the melted feta cheese and combine to form a sauce. Add in the thinly sliced basil and season with more black pepper or pepper flakes to taste.
  
  Optional: If the sauce is not as creamy as you would like at this point, you can add about two tablespoons of a mild vegan cream cheese. I used Miyoko's Vegan Cream Cheese.

  

• Step 5

  Serve a heaping portion into a bowl and top with more fresh basil, chili flakes and black pepper. Enjoy the salty and creamy pasta and try not to eat the entire dish.

  

Fantastic Feta

After making this pasta, I finally understand what all the hype was about. It is creamy, salty, tart, spicy and comforting. It took me about 35 minutes to make and about five minutes to clean up afterward. This is the perfect comfort food for finals week as it fills your belly and takes almost no effort. The vegan feta was rich and funky, just like real feta, but even creamier and easier to melt. I highly recommend this for anyone that is considering adding more vegan foods to their diet as it's filling, comforting and extremely easy.