Baked Goat Cheese & Tomato Pasta

Baked Goat Cheese & Tomato Pasta features ALDI’s garlic herb goat cheese & fresh grape tomatoes in a flavorful vegetarian weeknight dinner.

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How about a simple vegetarian pasta dish tonight? Baked Goat Cheese & Tomato Pasta makes its own flavorful sauce from garlic herb goat cheese, tomatoes, and a bit of olive oil.

The inspiration for this pasta was not my original idea, so here’s the backstory on this one. Some of you may have seen or tried the viral TikTok recipe for baked feta pasta that’s been spreading like wildfire lately — and you can read about the origin of this pasta and its creator(s) in the article linked. Well, I wanted to give it a try, but my local ALDI only carries block feta seasonally. Plus — this being winter — I didn’t have any fresh garden herbs to add.

So, I gave baked cheesy pasta a go over here with ALDI’s garlic & herb goat cheese, and also threw in some lovely sauteed onions. This helped punch up the flavor more in the dead of winter.

Baked Goat Cheese & Tomato Pasta

Ingredients

1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
2 pints grape or cherry tomatoes
4 oz log of garlic & herb goat cheese
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
8 oz dry shaped pasta (I used rotini)
1 large or two small onions, thinly sliced into half moons
2 tsp minced garlic (about 4 cloves)
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Add 1/4 cup olive oil to an 8×11 casserole dish. Stir in the tomatoes, until they are nicely coated with oil.

Make room in the center to place the goat cheese in the baking dish. Flip the cheese over gently a couple of times, so that it also gets coated with the oil, then season everything with sea salt, black pepper, oregano, basil, and crushed red pepper.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, then broil for 2 minutes to brown.

While the tomatoes and cheese are baking, cook pasta al dente according to package instructions and drain. Also, saute the onions over medium heat in 1 Tbsp olive oil, stirring occasionally, until very soft and browned.

Remove the baking dish from the oven. Immediately throw in the minced garlic, and stir the tomatoes and cheese together until melted and nicely combined. Stir in the Parmesan and sauted onion, then add and stir in the cooked pasta.

Serve your goat cheese & tomato pasta topped with additional Parmesan and parsley, if desired.

Note: The tomatoes will be crowded in the casserole dish, but that’s fine — you want them to stay juicy, because you’re using them as the basis for the sauce here.

Variations on a theme

This pasta made for a fresh & easy weeknight dinner, and was delicious with garlic bread. But, when I make it again, I’d jazz it up even more. I’d suggest one of the following:

• Wilting in some fresh spinach at the end for flavor and visual interest
• Browning chicken sausage to throw in your pasta for texture and smoky flavor
• Adding sauteed mushrooms, because, well, mushrooms.

Yes, baked cheese pasta was nice & flavorful as is and worked well with goat cheese. But, you could definitely kick the base recipe up a notch.

Baked Goat Cheese & Tomato Pasta, printable recipe

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Baked Goat Cheese & Tomato Pasta

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Baked Goat Cheese & Tomato Pasta features ALDI’s garlic herb goat cheese & fresh grape tomatoes in a flavorful vegetarian weeknight dinner.

Course dinner

Cuisine vegetarian

Keyword goat cheese, goat cheese pasta, grape tomatoes, meatless monday, pasta, tomatoes, vegetarian, vegetarian pasta

Prep Time 13 minutes minutes

Cook Time 32 minutes minutes

Total Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Rachel Singer

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil divided
• 2 pints grape or cherry tomatoes
• 4 oz log of garlic & herb goat cheese
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp basil
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
• Sea salt to taste
• Black pepper to taste
• 8 oz dry shaped pasta I used rotini
• 1 large or two small onions thinly sliced into half moons
• 2 tsp minced garlic about 4 cloves
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Add 1/4 cup olive oil to an 8×11 casserole dish. Stir in the tomatoes, until they are nicely coated with oil.
• Make room in the center to place the goat cheese in the baking dish. Flip the cheese over gently a couple of times, so that it also gets coated with the oil, then season everything with sea salt, black pepper, oregano, basil, and crushed red pepper.
• Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, then broil for 2 minutes to brown.
• While the tomatoes and cheese are baking, cook pasta al dente according to package instructions and drain. Also, saute the onions over medium heat in 1 Tbsp olive oil, stirring occasionally, until very soft and browned.
• Remove the baking dish from the oven. Immediately throw in the minced garlic, and stir the tomatoes and cheese together until melted and nicely combined. Stir in the Parmesan and sauted onion, then add and stir in the cooked pasta.
• Serve your goat cheese & tomato pasta topped with additional Parmesan and parsley, if desired.

Notes

The tomatoes will be crowded in the casserole dish, but that’s fine — you want them to stay juicy, because you’re using them as the basis for the sauce here.

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Be sure not to miss the free ALDI meal plans, which show you how to use these easy family recipes to meal plan affordably and realistically for your family. Or, find more recipe ideas with the Recipe Search!