This Baked Goats Cheese Pasta recipe is simple to make and creates the perfect sauce combination that provides a sweet, salty creamy pasta.
The Baked Feta Pasta is continuing to be on fire all over social media and has been one of the most popular food trends this year to date!
There are many new versions being made, I also shared a Baked Feta Pasta with Mushrooms myself for a different flavour which was also a big hit.
I received a tonne of messages from my community asking for different cheese options as they weren’t a fan of feta cheese themselves which got me thinking….
I've now put another spin on the popular trending dish and have made this Baked Goats Cheese Pasta, filled with colourful veggies which is on a whole new level!
Goats cheese has a quite soft and creamy texture even before it has been baked, so imagine after it has been in the oven baking with a range of beautiful veggies coated in extra virgin olive oil. You are left with a luscious creamy sauce which is much lighter in taste and paired with pasta is a match made in heaven!
Video Tutorial
Ingredients
- Pasta, I’ve chosen to use spaghetti for this dish as I found it pairs well with the light creamy sauce and the shape of the broccolini in long pieces. Bucatini or any preferred long pasta would also be great too.
- Goats cheese is the star of this recipe so be sure to use a good quality goats cheese preferably in one piece.
- Tomatoes, I’ve used a range of mixed cherry and roma tomatoes for this recipe with different pops of colour and sizes from orange, yellow, and red. I’ve also sliced the larger tomatoes in half so they are all approximately the same size
- Broccolini is also known as baby broccoli, it's a great vegetable to use for this dish as it's not only packed with nutrients, its shape suits the spaghetti. If you’re not a fan of broccolini, you can substitute with asparagus
- Olives, I've used kalamata olives for it's saltiness as goats cheese is quite mild in taste. I find it blends well with the other ingredients
- Garlic, I love using purple garlic as I find them juicier and milder in flavour
- Extra virgin olive oil is my favourite oil to use, especially in this recipe. It plays a huge part in the sauce and pairs well with all the flavours
- Herbs, I’ve added a mixture of fresh thyme leaves along with dried oregano. They both work well together and marry all the flavours
- Chili, I've used a good sprinkle of chili flakes for some spice.
Important Tips
- As goats cheese is already a naturally soft cheese, its best for it not to be in pieces so it doesn’t get dried out and still creates a light creamy sauce
- When tossing the veggies in olive oil, make sure the broccolini is well coated as the florets can burn quickly otherwise
- It’s best to leave the cherry tomatoes whole as they will shrink and blister in the oven once cooked. If they are cut they will overcook and become too mushy. I've only sliced the larger roma tomatoes in this recipe
- Garlic cloves are best to be left whole in their skins. Once roasted, they bring out the most beautiful subtle flavour and creaminess. If they are peeled or cut, they can burn in the oven and won’t be creamy
- Mix in the pasta fairly quickly as soon as the dish is out of the oven while the cheese is still warm. This will ensure the creaminess will then come together with the pasta, as once the cheese cools down, the cheese will start to thicken.
- If the sauce has thickened up too much or isn’t as creamy, not to stress, a good splash of pasta water will save the day and bring the sauciness back
More Pasta Recipes
I love seeing your creations and remakes, so be sure to tag @cookingwithayeh and share a photo on Instagram so I can share the love.
Recipe
Baked Goats Cheese Pasta
Ingredients
- 400 g pasta (I’ve used spaghetti)
- 400 g cherry tomatoes (I’ve used mixed tomatoes)
- 150 g goats cheese
- 80 g pitted kalamata olives
- 1 bunch brocollini
- 8 garlic cloves
- 6 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon chilli flakes (more/less as preferred)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Handful fresh basil leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F
- Place cherry tomatoes and garlic in an oven dish, slice in half if using larger tomatoes in the mix
- Slice kalamata olives in half and add to the dish
- Cut brocollini in half in width on an angle and if stalks are thick, slice in half lengthways before adding to the dish
- Pour over olive oil, add thyme leaves, season with salt and pepper and give it all a mix with your hands to ensure all the veggies are nicely coated
- Make space in the middle of the oven dish and place the goats cheese in the gap so that the vegetables are surrounding the cheese
- Season the cheese with salt, chilli flakes, oregano and a drizzle of olive oil
- Place in the oven for 20 minutes
- When the veggies have 10 minutes remaining, start to cook the pasta in heavily salted water. As always, don’t forget to save some of the pasta water on the side.
- Remove oven dish and gently peel the garlic cloves. Mash them with a fork in the same dish.
- With a spoon, break up the goats cheese, it should be extremely creamy and just fall apart. Mix all the ingredients together to a lovely creamy and saucy mixture.
- Add the cooked spaghetti straight into the oven dish and mix altogether. Add a splash of pasta water to help it all come together to a silky creamy pasta and enjoy!
Lauren
Omg so good!! Better then the famous feta pasta. I added asparagus, it was sooo yummy
Ayeh
I love this version too and love the addition of asparagus xx
Hilaire
Making this tonight but going to use asparagus and some summer squash noodles trying to be low carb
Ayeh
Oh nice! Hope it turned out great 🙂
Vince
A couple of points. The instructions say to add garlic with the tomatoes, but the garlic isn't on the ingredients list. How much garlic? I added four large cloves and it seemed ok.
Secondly, a weird thing happened with my goats cheese. I roasted it as a block with the rest, as instructed. When I took the tin out of the oven, a skin had formed over the goats cheese. I peeled that off and left the creamy insides (like the garlic). At first I thought it was some kind of packaging I was meant to take off, but I tasted it and yep it was goats cheese. It was too hard to mix in to make sauce. Is there a way to avoid this?
Ayeh
Hi Vince, Thank you for bringing that to my attention, Ive just corrected my recipe to include the garlic. Im not too sure about the coating on the goats cheese but to make the creamy sauce, you add a splash of the pasta water to the baking dish and this helps create a sauce texture from the cheese and all the veggies xxx
Kelly
I see the recipe calls for a handful of basil but it doesn’t specify when to add it. Just at the end?
Ayeh
Sorry lovely I'll update it now. Yes right before serving mix it in xx