This baked feta and tomatoes is a handful of lovely ingredients combined and baked until the feta is softened and creamy. It’s a rich yet light starter and so simple to make.

  • Creamy, salty and slightly sweet.
  • Mediterranean flavours.
  • 8 ingredients (4 of which are pantry staples everyone will have).
  • So easy to make.
  • Easy and delicious starter.

I love a good appetiser and I love a good share dish and this one is both. It’s vegetarian and gluten-free too so it can keep a crowd with different dietary requirements happy.

If you love this, you’re going to love this feta saganaki recipe.

Close up of roasted tomatoes and feta in a cast iron skillet.

Table of contents

Ingredients you’ll need

You’ll need 8 ingredients in total but that includes the pantry staples of salt, pepper, sugar and oil.

Ingredients for baked feta and tomatoes on a metal tray.

Detailed quantities and instructions in the recipe card below.

  • Feta: A smooth Greek feta is best here – not the crumbly kind. Danish feta works well too. Feta stored in brine works best and has a great flavour. Don’t use low-fat or reduced-fat feta.
  • Tomatoes: Use your favourite cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes. You can use larger tomatoes but you’ll need to cut them into smaller pieces.
  • Olives: You can use a combination of pitted olives – whichever you like best. I use black olives and sicilian green olives here but you can use kalamata olives, green olives or even stuffed olives.
  • Basil: Fresh basil leaves give a lovely herbal freshness to this recipe. You could also just use a little dried oregano or dried basil in it’s place – maybe ½ a teaspoon.
  • Pantry staples: The seasonings are made up of sea salt flakes, freshly cracked black pepper, a touch of white sugar and extra virgin olive oil. The oil is in keeping with the Mediterranean flavours but you can use another vegetable oil too.

Other flavours you could add

You could add a little spice with a pinch of dried chilli flakes / red pepper flakes. Try a couple of thinly sliced or minced cloves of garlic.

How to make roasted tomatoes and feta (step-by-step)

2 images showing how to make roasted tomatoes and feta.

Detailed quantities and instructions in the recipe card below.

  1. Prepare the tomatoes: It couldn’t be simpler. If you have very large tomatoes chop them in half but cherry or grape tomatoes are best used whole to limit the amount of juice they release.
  2. Add other flavours: Now add the olives, basil leaves, salt, pepper, sugar and oil and give it all a mix together.
  3. Add the feta: I like to break the feta up into chunks so you get more golden edges but you can just leave it in a block and place it on top. Drizzle a touch of oil over the top.
  4. Bake: Baking feta is incredible easy. Just transfer it to a hot oven and bake until it starts turning golden.
  5. Serve: Serve the dish immediately with some nice crusty bread or crostini. You can use a fork to mush some of the feta into the tomato juices if you like to make it even easier to scoop up with bread or onto your bread.

Tips and tricks

  • The feta will firm up as it cools: Since the feta will firm up fairly quickly, it’s a great idea to mash some of it into the tomatoes and their juice and push it down into them. This keeps it softer for longer and makes it even easier to scoop with or onto your bread.
Tomatoes and feta spread on crostini.

Storage

This baked feta and tomatoes recipe needs to be served fresh. Luckily, the oven does all the work for you, so you can place it in the oven as soon as your guests arrive and have it on the table ready to share in half an hour.

Is this the TikTok feta tomato pasta trend?

No but it can be. This is not that baked feta pasta recipe that went viral on TikTok but you can certainly serve it that way if you like.

While the feta is baking, cook some pasta, in a large pot, according to packet instructions, then drain (reserve some of the pasta water). Once the feta comes out of the oven, mash it all together well into a creamy tomato pasta sauce and stir through the al dente pasta.  Add a little pasta water if you want to adjust the consistency.

A small skillet filled with roasted tomatoes and feta.

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A cast iron skillet filled with baked feta and tomatoes.

Baked Feta and Tomatoes

Yield: 4 serves
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
0 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
5 from 3 ratings
Creamy baked feta and tomatoes is a simply delicious appetiser. Serve it up hot with loads of crusty bread for a gorgeous, summery vegetarian starter.
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Ingredients

  • 2 cups mixed cherry or grape tomatoes (notes 1)
  • ⅓ cup pitted olives, cut in half (notes 3)
  • ¼ cup basil leaves, torn if large
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt flakes
  • ¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon sugar
  • 1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 250 g smooth feta cheese, (the type that comes in brine if possible) (notes 2)

For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided

Equipment

  • small skillet or baking dish

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan) / 400F.
  • In an 8 inch cast iron skillet or small baking dish, add the tomatoes, olives, most of the basil leaves (keep a few nice leaves for decorating the top), salt, pepper and sugar into a small dish. Pour over 1 tablespoon of oil and mix well.
  • Break the block of feta cheese up into large chunks and distribute on top. Pour the remaining oil over the feta.
  • Bake 30 minutes or until the feta is nice and golden on the edges.
  • As soon as you remove it from the oven, you can use a fork to mash some of the feta into the tomato juices which keeps it softer longer and makes it easy to scoop up with some crusty bread.
  • You can also mash it together entirely into a tomato feta sauce and stir it through cooked pasta.
  • Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.

Notes

  1. Tomatoes: Some tomatoes will release more liquid than others. Some burst while others don’t. That juice is great for mopping up with bread but feel free to scoop some away if you like.
  2. Feta: A smooth Greek feta is best here – not the crumbly kind. Danish feta works well too. Feta stored in brine works best and has a great flavour. Don’t use low-fat or reduced-fat feta.
  3. Olives: Use your favourites – I use black olives and Sicilian green olives here but you can use kalamata olives or regular green olives or even stuffed olives.
  4. Spice it up: Feel free to sprinkle over some dried chilli flakes / red pepper flakes for a little spicy kick.
MORE APPETISERS AND SNACKS!
Calories: 254kcal
Author: Marie Roffey
Course: Appetizer, Starter
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Have you tried this recipe?Don’t forget to leave a rating and comment below and let me know how it was! I love hearing from you. Nutrition information is approximate and derived from an online calculator. The brands you use may cause variations.