Make Baked Feta The Star Of Your Next Meatless Monday

Originating in Greece, feta cheese is distinct from chèvre, halloumi, and other sheep and goat's milk cheeses for its salt brine curing method. When purchased in block form (as is best for meal prep), feta is firm but easy to crumble. Its stalwart structure helps it stand up to the heat of the oven so you don't get a puddle-shaped, separated mess on your baking sheet. Instead, when roasted at high temperatures, feta turns a lovely golden shade that adds a touch of caramelized sweetness. While the shape stays intact, the inside of the block of cheese gets gloriously melty and its salty flavor comes to the fore.

A great meatless Monday recipe that takes advantage of this is baked feta pasta, which involves a block of feta plopped onto a baking sheet that's then drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper, surrounded by cherry tomatoes and garlic, and roasted for roughly 30 minutes. With the addition of al dente pasta, basil, and perhaps a few dried red pepper flakes, a weeknight marvel is made. Once a block of feta has finished baking, it can also be mixed together with other ingredients for creamy, salty, savory transformed sheet pan meals.

Bake feta with these sheet pan staples

The beauty of baked feta is that it can be added to the other hands-off sheet pan preparations in your repertoire. If you love roasting Brussels sprouts, red onions, broccoli, zucchini, asparagus, or other flavorful vegetables, adding even half a block of feta brings a salty creaminess to your dish. If crispy sheet pan gnocchi is a staple in your house, baked feta blends in beautifully for an easy, well-rounded one-pan meal. Plus, as the feta pasta recipe showed, you can bake your favorite pasta ingredients before cooking and adding your favorite pasta shape. Try baking feta with lemon and capers, olives and eggplant, or butternut squash and sage for impressive meatless meals with minimal effort.

Of course, if you are a meat-eater, sliced sausage can be added to any sheet pan meal. But the beauty of feta is that it adds its own hit of protein to whatever you're making. For an even heartier protein boost, consider adding chickpeas to your baking dish with feta, tomatoes, and olive oil. You'll create a delicious, vegetable-based dinner packed with protein and healthy fats.

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