Name: Baked Goat Cheese (Party Appetizer!)
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 3 garlic cloves; 2 tablespoons olive oil; ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes; ½ teaspoon dried basil; ½ teaspoon dried oregano; ½ teaspoon kosher salt; 28-ounce can fire roasted tomatoes (we used Muir Glen diced fire-roasted tomatoes); 8 ounces goat cheese; 1 baguette

This baked goat cheese appetizer is one of the best party appetizers out there! Creamy goat cheese and tangy fire roasted tomatoes make magic together.

Baked Goat Cheese Appetizer with Fire Roasted Tomatoes

This post was created in partnership with Muir Glen. All opinions are our own.

If you’re looking to distract party guests with a finger food they can’t resist, this is it. In all honesty, this baked goat cheese appetizer disappeared within about 5 minutes of shooting these photographs! Although, we did have help from a few friends who were along for the ride to hand-model and taste test. Something about this sweet, garlic-y roasted tomato sauce and gooey healthy appetizer kept everyone coming back for more!

Related:Best Goat Cheese Recipes

How to make this baked goat cheese appetizer

We were inspired to make this baked goat cheese appetizer by a similar dish from one of our favorite local restaurants called Napolese. We played with the concept of their recipe, and ended up creating our own version that we make all the time. And every time we make it, it’s a huge hit! It’s perfect for entertaining, like the holidays or New Years, or just a dinner party with friends.

The main concept is to cook your own tomato sauce with fire roasted tomatoes, then place goat cheese right into the sauce and bake it until it’s creamy and melty. If you’d like, you can broil the top of the baked goat cheese appetizer to get some golden char marks. Typically we just eat it right away and don’t worry about broiling! Another nice addition would be a sprinkle of chopped basil over the top of the baked goat cheese appetizer.

Why use fire roasted tomatoes?

What are fire roasted tomatoes, and why use them in this recipe? Fire roasted tomatoes are canned tomatoes that have been roasted over an open flame to accentuate their sweet flavor. The reason we love fire roasted tomatoes is that you can absolutely taste the difference. Where tomatoes straight out of the can are typically a little bitter and acidic, fire roasted tomatoes are sweet and juicy straight out of the can. This means you don’t have to cook them as long. Shorter cook times are always better, right?

With canned tomatoes, quality is key (low quality can be borderline catastrophic in some recipes, like pizza!). We usually go with imported Italian tomatoes, or organic Muir Glen tomatoes. Muir Glen asked us to try some of their new jarred tomatoes, and we were happy to create this baked goat cheese appetizer recipe with them to share with you.

The tomatoes are organic, and the new glass jars are BPA-free and easily recyclable. And the taste: sweet and juicy, perfect for pizzas, red sauce, and goat cheese smothered in tomatoes. We are literally obsessed with fire roasted tomatoes, and use them all the time. Use fire roasted tomatoes for the baked goat cheese appetizer if you can; you’ll taste the difference!

Looking for party appetizers?

This baked goat cheese appetizer recipe is perfect as a game day recipe or a party appetizer! (Though really, we’ve been known to eat it by ourselves for dinner for the two of us!) A few of our top party appetizers:

This baked goat cheese appetizer recipe is…

Vegetarian and gluten-free.