Baked Cream Cheese Pasta - The Cheese Knees (2023)

This baked cream cheese pasta takes baked pasta to the next level thanks to a super flavorful cream cheese sauce with tomatoes, mushrooms, onions and fresh lemon juice all baked to perfection and served with spaghetti. Enjoy!

Fave Baked Cream Cheese Pasta

It all started with the baked feta pasta trend that went completely viral on social media a few years back, so we put our own spin on a few variations of this deliciously easy recipe. Cue: this baked cream cheese pasta!

Baked Cream Cheese Pasta – What You Need

The star of the show in this dish is most definitely the CREAM CHEESE! You’ll love how creamy it makes the sauce, as well as the delicious flavor it gives the entire dish. You’ll need:

• Cream cheese: We used a brick of full-fat cream cheese as the base for this dish, but a block of reduced fat cream cheese will also work.

• Cherry tomatoes:In addition to the cream cheese, cherry tomatoes are going to be the base of your pasta sauce. Feel free to use red, orange, or a combo of colors.
• Bella mushrooms: Sliced mushrooms cook down so nicely in this pasta! Not only will you get the delicious mushroom flavor, you’ll have perfectly cooked ‘shrooms, too.
• White onion:Onion of any kind will work in this dish. It helps create a beautiful sauce base, and we just love the flavor.
• Olive oil:Olive oil is a must as it will make sure nothing sticks to your casserole dish. It also adds a great nutty flavor to this baked cream cheese pasta recipe.
• Dry white wine: Any dry white wine will work here! Feel free to use a cooking wine if you have it on hand, or open a nice bottle of sauvignon blanc and enjoy a glass as you’re cooking!
• Lemon juice: We always prefer fresh lemon juice! Lemon juice will give this pasta such a deliciously fresh flavor.
• Garlic powder:Do not skip the garlic powder. It adds just enough garlicky flavor.
• Pasta:Any kind of pasta works for this baked cream cheese pasta because you cook the pasta separately. Pick your favorite shape! We used spaghetti 😀
• Pasta water:Pasta water is truly the “secret sauce” of this sauce. After your pasta cooks in the water, make sure to reserve some of the starchy water. It will help thicken your cream cheese sauce.
• Salt & pepper:Salt and pepper this pasta dish to your liking!

Cream Cheese Suggestions

While we’ve only tested this cream cheese baked pasta with a full fat brick of cream cheese, a few other variations will also work:

Can I use reduced fat cream cheese? Yes! A block of reduced fat cream cheese will also work for this dish.

Can I use whipped cream cheese? Because whipped cream cheese isn’t as dense, and doesn’t come in a brick form, it likely will require a shorter bake time than a brick. If you go this route, let us know how it turns out in the comments!

How to Make Baked Cream Cheese Pasta

You won’t believe how easy it is to whip up this baked cream cheese pasta! The whole fam will love this deliciously creamy dish. Let’s walk through it together:

Assemble Pasta Sauce Base

Let’s create the base for that yummy, cream cheesy, tomato-base sauce.

Place cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, onion, white wine and lemon juice into your casserole dish.

Mix It All Together

Then, toss with olive oil so that everything is nicely coated. Add garlic powder, salt and pepper and toss ‘er all again.

Add Cream Cheese

Nestle your block of cream cheese right in the middle of the casserole dish, pushing the tomatoes, mushrooms and onions aside, so the cream cheese sits right on the bottom of the casserole dish with a halo of veggies around it.

Bake

Bake cream cheese pasta sauce at 400ºF, uncovered, for 40 minutes.

It’s Pasta Time

While the pasta sauce bakes, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Stir your pasta regularly so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom and cook it until it is al dente!

Don’t forget!Set aside 1 cup of the pasta water for later. You are going to use the water in your pasta sauce to help thicken it.

Zest & Smash

Once your sauce has baked for 40 minutes, the cherry tomatoes should be deeper in color and look visibly shriveled. This is exactly how you want them to be! The cream cheese block should be slightly golden brown and super soft to touch.

Use a fork or a mixing spoon, smash the cherry tomatoes until they burst.

All Together Now

Then mix together the smashed tomatoes with the softened cream cheese and mushrooms. Add in your starchy pasta water, and mix it all together — you should have a beautiful creamy pasta sauce at this point!

Add in al dente pasta, and toss everything together.

Enjoy!

Garnish with fresh herbs and salt and pepper. Serve, and ENJOY!

Baked Cream Cheese Pasta Flavor Variations

Add a Meat Protein: Feel free to add any protein that you’d like into this pasta dish! Top the pasta withpan seared chicken,slices of left over steak or grilled shrimp!

Swap out the Mushrooms: Don’t love ‘shrooms? Swap them out for another veggie like kale, sliced bell peppers or asparagus. Just wait to add them into the casserole dish until there is about 20 minutes left of the bake time remaining.

How to Store Baked Cream Cheese Pasta

Let your baked cream cheese pasta cool completely, and then transfer it into an air-tight container. Store in the fridge for up to 3-5 days.