This speedy cherry tomato feta pasta recipe makes a fast pasta dish of fusilli with a light sauce of sweet vine-ripened cherry tomatoes, melt-in-the-mouth Persian feta cheese, and fresh fragrant basil leaves. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, shower with more fresh basil, grind on some black pepper, and sprinkle on some chilli flakes. Pasta perfection.
You’re going to love this quick and easy cherry tomato feta pasta recipe inspired by the Caprese salad. Yes, I’m dreaming of Italy again. A classic Caprese is made with big tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and fresh basil, but I recently shared my tweaked recipe with cherry tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. It’s one of my favourite recipes with tomatoes.
While that Caprese salad was the inspiration for this cherry tomato feta pasta recipe, I swapped out the bocconcini for Persian feta during recipe testing. While the bocconcini was delish, I loved the additional saltiness that the feta cheese brought to the dish, and I found that Persian feta in oil is softer and melts faster.
If you’ve been cooking and enjoying our Italian pasta recipes from our recent series on quick and easy pastas, such as this canned tuna pasta with scallions, capers and fresh herbs, asparagus, mushrooms and bacon gnocchi, this creamy tomato pasta sauce with gnocchi, my penne Bolognese recipe for a ‘cheat’s Bol’, this canned sardine pasta with gremolata and pangrattato, a bacon and mushroom pasta, and fusilli with creamy pumpkin pasta sauce, you’ll love this speedy cherry tomato feta pasta.
Cherry Tomato Feta Pasta Recipe for a Caprese Inspired Fusilli Pasta
Nothing screams summer like vibrant red, sweet and juicy vine-ripened tomatoes that smell just-picked. So if I spot them while I’m down here in Australia, where we’re currently experiencing a brutal winter, then I’m going to buy them and pretend I’m back home with Terence in sultry Siem Reap.
We’ve mostly been living on pastas here in Australia, as pastas are just so hearty and warming, and are such a wonderful comfort food. But I’ve also been making tomato side salads to serve with them, so I won’t be rolling back to Cambodia. Pasta and salad is the perfect meal, winter or summer.
As you probably don’t want to be eating a Caprese salad with a Caprese inspired pasta, try this cherry tomato salad recipe for a taste of summer of the Mediterranean. The key to this salad is o use the best quality ingredients you can source: the sweetest tomatoes, crunchiest cucumbers, a grassy extra virgin olive oil, briny capers, Ortiz salted anchovies, aromatic Italian basil, and juicy Kalamata olives.
Tips to Making this Cherry Tomato Feta Pasta Recipe
I only have a few tips to making this cherry tomato feta pasta recipe as it really is a very easy recipe to make, but I’ll also share a few tips to making this recipe come together even more quickly.
I use fusilli as I love the way the seasoning, cheese and sauce cloaks the coils, but any spiral pasta will work, and, frankly, penne is fantastic as well. I really love a dried pasta with some shape for this sauce.
While I recommend fresh garlic cloves, you could speed things up with garlic powder or garlic salt if it’s the end of a long day or you’re really in a hurry.
Big fresh vine-ripened cherry tomatoes are the star of the show here, but you can certainly used canned cherry tomatoes if you can’t source them or to save even more time and you have a tin in the pantry.
I’ve been able to buy the most beautiful, sweet, juicy, truss cherry tomatoes recently, and they’re wonderful when they break down in this sauce and really hold their flavour – and those tomatoes are the reason I began making this pasta and Caprese salads in the first place, but by all means reach for a can.
The Persian feta is the other star of this pasta, but it’s grated Parmigiano Reggiano (or Pecorino Romano) and a little cooking water that makes the sauce. If you don’t want to use a whole cup of Parmesan, use less or skip it entirely. This pasta still tastes delicious with olive oil.
I adore the jarred Persian feta in olive oil as it’s still quite firm but softer than Greek feta, and I love the saltiness it brings to the pasta. The Persian feta melts very quickly, so give the pasta a quick stir after adding it, and serve immediately.
Italians only use a few fresh basil leaves in these sorts of pastas but I’d throw in a whole bunch of basil if I could. I found a dozen leaves stirred into the sauce and another dozen basil leaves of showered on top gives enough fresh basil flavour to the pasta. Do as you like.
At the table, drizzle on more Italian extra virgin olive oil, grind on some cracked black pepper and a good quality sea salt, sprinkle on chilli flakes if you’re a fan of a little heat, and serve with a fresh garden salad.
Cherry Tomato Feta Pasta Recipe
Ingredients
- 250 g fusilli pasta - or similar spiral pasta
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil - divided
- 2 garlic cloves - minced
- 250 g cherry tomatoes - sliced in half, around 12 cherry tomatoes, preferably organic vine-ripened tomatoes
- ½ tsp salt - or to taste
- 1 tsp tomato sauce
- 1 cup Parmigiano Reggiano - grated
- 100 g feta cheese - preferably Persian feta
- 24 fresh basil leaves - divided
- ½ tsp black pepper - or to taste
- ½ tsp chilli flakes - or to taste
Instructions
- Put a large pot of salted water on the stove to boil. When it’s on a rolling boil, add the fusilli and cook until al dente according to the packet instructions, around 12 minutes.
- While the fusilli is cooking: in a deep frying pan or skillet over medium-high, heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil until shimmering, add the minced garlic, and fry for a couple of minutes until fragrant.
- To the same pan, add the cherry tomato halves and salt, and fry until the tomatoes blister and soften, stirring occasionally, then add a teaspoon of tomato sauce and a couple of tablespoons of pasta water.
- When the fusilli is ready, use a slotted spoon to transfer the pasta to the pan, along with a little cooking water, stir to coat, add the cup of grated Parmigiano Reggiano, and stir to combine.
- Using your hand, crumble in the Persian feta cheese and half the fresh basil leaves, and just as the feta is starting to melt (it won’t take long!), distribute the pasta between serving plates.
- Drizzle the remaining extra virgin olive oil onto the pasta, grind on the black pepper, sprinkle on the optional chilli flakes, and serve immediately with garden salad.
Nutrition
Please do let us know in the comments below if you make our easy cherry tomato feta pasta recipe, as we’d love to know how the dish turns out for you.
