Why This Creamy Brie Pasta is a Must-Try

If you’re searching for a pasta recipe that’s both quick to prepare and boasts an impressive depth of flavor, this **creamy brie pasta** is your answer. It takes cues from the viral TikTok feta pasta but elevates the experience with the luxurious richness of brie. Unlike feta, which can be salty and crumbly, brie offers a meltingly soft, buttery texture that creates an incredibly smooth and decadent sauce. The high-fat content of triple cream brie ensures that once baked, it transforms into a beautifully emulsified, glossy sauce when combined with the pasta and a splash of pasta water. The sweet acidity of roasted cherry tomatoes perfectly balances the richness of the cheese, creating a harmonious and utterly delicious dish that you’ll want to make again and again.

This recipe is perfect for busy weeknights, but it’s also elegant enough to serve to guests. Its simplicity means you spend less time in the kitchen and more time enjoying a fantastic meal. Plus, it’s easily adaptable to your taste preferences and what you have on hand.

The Star Ingredient: Triple Creme Brie

The magic of this **baked brie pasta** truly lies in the choice of cheese: **triple creme brie**. While any good quality brie will work, a triple creme variety offers an unparalleled level of creaminess and decadence. These cheeses have an extra boost of butterfat, giving them an incredibly rich, velvety texture that melts beautifully into a luscious sauce. When baked, the brie softens and releases its nutty, earthy flavors, creating a base that is wonderfully complex yet surprisingly mild. It’s a cheese that transforms from a firm round into a gooey, molten delight, ready to coat every strand of pasta.

Compared to its viral counterpart, feta, brie brings a completely different character to the dish. Feta is salty, tangy, and crumbles when heated, offering a sharper, more piquant flavor profile. Brie, on the other hand, is buttery, mellow, and incredibly smooth. Its natural fat content ensures that it releases a beautiful, flavorful oil when melted, which, when combined with the sweet acid from the cherry tomatoes and a touch of pasta water, creates a perfectly emulsified, incredibly creamy sauce that is far silkier and more indulgent than what you’d achieve with feta. This makes it ideal for a truly decadent pasta experience.

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions for Brie Pasta

One of the beauties of this **brie pasta recipe** is its minimal ingredient list, proving that often, less is truly more when it comes to flavor. Each component plays a crucial role in creating the dish’s balanced and rich profile. While the recipe is straightforward, a few notes on ingredients and potential substitutions can help you achieve the best results.

• 1 (8oz) Round of Brie (Triple Creme Recommended): As discussed, triple creme brie is highly recommended for its superior creaminess and richness. When selecting your brie, aim for a fairly simple, classic variety. Some artisanal bries can have very complex or smoky undertones, which might overwhelm the delicate balance of this dish. A good “run-of-the-mill” brie round is often perfect, focusing on that desired creamy texture. You want the cheese’s smooth, buttery essence, not overly strong, funky notes.
• ½ lb Rotini Pasta: Rotini, with its spiral shape, is fantastic for catching and holding onto the creamy brie and tomato sauce, ensuring every bite is flavorful. However, feel free to use other pasta shapes that have good surface area or nooks and crannies, such as fusilli, cavatappi, penne, or even rigatoni. The key is to choose a shape that will effectively deliver that luscious sauce.
• 2 Cups Cherry Tomatoes, Halved: Cherry tomatoes are preferred over grape tomatoes for their sweeter flavor and thinner skin, which allows them to burst and release their juices more easily when roasted. They break down beautifully in the oven, creating a sweet and slightly acidic counterpoint to the rich brie. If you can only find grape tomatoes, they will work in a pinch, but the texture and sweetness might be slightly different. Roasting enhances their natural sugars, making them a delicious component of the sauce.
• 4 Cloves Garlic Confit: Garlic confit is a game-changer for this recipe. It’s slow-cooked garlic in oil, resulting in incredibly soft, mellow, and intensely flavorful cloves. If you don’t have garlic confit on hand or prefer not to make it, you can substitute 2-3 cloves of finely minced fresh garlic. If using fresh garlic, add it to the baking pan with the cherry tomatoes before baking so it can soften and mellow in the oven. For an even easier approach, you could use a teaspoon of garlic powder mixed in with the tomatoes.
• 1 Teaspoon Salt & 1 Teaspoon Black Pepper: These seasonings are essential for enhancing the flavors of the tomatoes and brie. Adjust to your personal taste, and remember that brie itself can be slightly salty.
• Olive Oil (Optional, but Recommended): A drizzle of good quality extra virgin olive oil over the tomatoes and brie before baking can further enhance their flavor and help with the roasting process, creating a more cohesive sauce base.
• Fresh Herbs (Optional Garnish): While not strictly required, a sprinkle of fresh basil or chopped parsley at the end adds a beautiful burst of color and freshness that brightens the entire dish.

Step 1: Prepare and Bake the Brie and Tomatoes. Begin by preheating your oven to 350°F (175°C). This ensures the oven is at the optimal temperature for the brie to melt and the tomatoes to roast evenly. Next, carefully cut the bottom rind off the round of brie. This crucial step allows the luscious, melted cheese to easily escape and blend into the sauce. Place the prepared brie round in the center of a Pyrex glass baking dish (or any oven-safe baking dish). Surround the brie with your halved cherry tomatoes, creating a colorful ring around the cheese. Drizzle lightly with a touch of olive oil, then season generously with salt and black pepper. Transfer the dish to the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes. During this time, the tomatoes will soften and burst, releasing their sweet juices, and the brie will become wonderfully molten and bubbly.

Step 2: Cook the Pasta. While the brie and tomatoes are baking, bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Add the rotini pasta and cook according to the package directions until it’s al dente – tender but still with a slight bite. This usually takes about 8-10 minutes for rotini. Before draining the pasta, remember to reserve about ½ cup of the starchy pasta water. This “liquid gold” is essential for achieving the perfect creamy consistency for your sauce, helping to emulsify the melted brie and tomato juices. Once cooked, drain the rotini thoroughly.

Pro-Tips for Perfect Brie Pasta

1. The Brie Rind Secret: The most important trick to making truly exceptional **brie pasta** is to cut the bottom rind off the brie round before baking. This isn’t just a suggestion; it’s vital! The rind acts as a barrier, preventing the melted cheese from flowing out and incorporating into your sauce. By removing the bottom rind, you allow the creamy interior to seep out, creating that desirable luscious texture. Use a very sharp knife for this, or ideally, a cheese wire if you have one. Brie can be tricky to work with, so take your time. Trust us, it makes all the difference! We learned this invaluable lesson running a meat and cheese charcuterie company – specialized tools like cheese wire were a must for delicate cheeses like brie.
2. Don’t Forget the Pasta Water: Always, always save some pasta water! This starchy water is your secret weapon for creating a silky, cohesive sauce. The starches in the water help to emulsify the cheese and tomato juices, preventing the sauce from becoming oily or clumpy. Start with ¼ cup and add more, tablespoon by tablespoon, until you reach your desired consistency. It helps bind everything together for a truly restaurant-quality finish.

Recipe FAQs for Brie Pasta

Creamy Brie Pasta

Vincent DelGiudice