Baked feta chickpeas
Cherry tomatoes and chickpeas roasted around a pile of feta until everything bursts and melts into a creamy, tangy sauce, the viral baked feta idea turned into a hearty dinner.
- 45 min total
- 10 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $4.21 a serving
- 490 calories
- Vegetarian
Dolly says: Most of the time here is hands-off, so you can sit down while it cooks.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 2 packages cherry tomatoes
- 2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 4 cloves garlic, smashed
- 6 oz feta cheese
- 1 package baby spinach
- 2 tbsp fresh basil, torn (optional)
- ½ French bread, for serving (optional)
From your pantry
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 490 calories, 21 g protein, 44 g carbs and 27 g fat, and costs about $4.21 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No feta cheese? Goat cheese works.
- No baby spinach? Kale or arugula works.
- No French bread? Sourdough bread works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the oven to 400°F.
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
the tomatoes, chickpeas, garlic, oil, oregano, pepper flakes, salt and pepper together in a 9x13-inch baking dish.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Pile the feta in the middle of the dish, pushing the tomatoes aside to make room.
30 to 35 minutes, until the tomatoes have burst and the feta is soft and at the edges.
Bake. Baking means cooking in the oven with dry heat all around the food. It cooks evenly from every side, so you can mostly leave it alone.
How you’ll know: It’s golden on top and passes the recipe’s check, like a clean toothpick or the right temperature.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Timer: 32 min
Stir right away, crushing the tomatoes and feta into a creamy sauce around the chickpeas.
Dolly’s tip: Press the tomatoes against the side of the dish with your spoon. They pop and turn saucy.Stir in the spinach until it in the heat of the dish.
Wilt. Wilting means cooking leafy greens just until they go soft and collapse. Greens shrink a lot, so a big pile of spinach becomes a small handful, and that’s normal.
How you’ll know: The leaves turn soft and deep green and slump into the pan, usually within a minute or two.
Top with basil and serve with crusty bread for the sauce.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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