Baked Spinach and Feta Pasta
When you want comfort food without babysitting a pot.
This is the kind of dinner to make when you’re tired, hungry, and want something warm that doesn’t ask much of you. You toss everything into one baking dish, let the oven do the work, and end up with creamy, tangy pasta that feels cozier than takeout but costs far less. The feta melts into the tomatoes and olive oil, making a sauce that tastes richer than the ingredient list suggests. It’s not fancy, and that’s the point: straightforward, filling, and good with a bagged salad or nothing at all. Best on nights when you want dinner to solve itself with minimal cleanup.
Ingredients
- 12 oz short pasta — Such as penne, rotini, or rigatoni
- 8 oz feta cheese — Crumbled or block feta
- 4 cup baby spinach — Packed lightly
- 28 oz crushed tomatoes — One standard can
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 unit garlic cloves — Minced
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 0.5 tsp red pepper flakes — Optional
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 0.5 tsp black pepper
- 2 cup hot water — For baking the pasta
- 2 tbsp chopped parsley — Optional, for serving
Method
- 1 Heat the oven to 400°F. In a 9x13-inch baking dish, add the crushed tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes if using, salt, and black pepper. Stir well.
- 2 Nestle the feta into the center of the dish. Add the dry pasta and hot water, then stir so the pasta is mostly submerged. Scatter the spinach over the top.
- 3 Cover tightly with foil and bake for 20 minutes.
- 4 Uncover, stir everything well, and bake 8 to 10 minutes more until the pasta is tender and the sauce looks creamy. If it seems dry, splash in a little hot water.
- 5 Let it rest 5 minutes, then top with parsley and serve warm.
Variations
- Faster swap — Use small pasta like shells or rotini and check at 25 minutes total so dinner lands sooner.
- Vegetarian boost — Stir in a can of drained chickpeas with the pasta for extra staying power.
- Substitutions — Swap spinach for chopped kale, or use dried basil instead of oregano if that’s what you have.
Notes
Use a block of feta if you want a creamier melt, but crumbled feta works too. Different pasta shapes may need an extra few minutes; stir once near the end and add a little hot water if needed.
Equipment that helps
- 9x13-inch baking dish — It gives the pasta enough room to cook evenly without boiling over.
- Aluminum foil — It traps steam so the pasta softens while the sauce comes together.
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