Vegan Pasta Bake

This easy, cheesy Vegan Pasta Bake is packed with vegetables, topped with our favorite vegan cheese and baked to perfection. It can be served any day of the week, or even for your next family gathering.

Can you believe fall officially starts one week from today? It feels like each year moves faster and faster - weren't we just getting excited about summer berries, like, yesterday?!

As much as I'll miss summer produce, the weather has already started to turn towards fall here in Michigan.

Cooler, crisper days have me starting to crave all things comfort food, and not just pumpkin spice. (Although if we're talking pumpkin spice, I'll happily make/devour this granola any time of year!).

When it comes to easy, nourishing, family-friendly weeknight dinners, pasta is always at the top of our list. Do you honestly know anyone that doesn't like pasta?

This easy, healthy vegan pasta bake ticks all of the boxes. It's filling, yet surprisingly healthy and easy to customize with various vegetables and types of pasta.

We use a gluten free rotini in this pasta bake, but feel free to use whatever you have on hand.

For a lower carb option, use a legume-based pasta instead of a regular grain-based pasta. There are so many options on the market - chickpea pasta, lentil pasta, even mung bean pasta!

Be sure to take note of the cooking instructions as each legume pasta variety differs widely.

Now onto the important question...

What vegan cheese should I use?

Before nixing dairy from my diet (almost 7 years ago), I was big on cheese. Melty cheese on pasta or pizza, cheese platters, fondue - you name it. After going dairy free, cheese was the hardest thing to give up.

Luckily, over the last 7 years there have been tons of new vegan cheese options on the market. Vegan cheeses have improved drastically, and nowadays you can find just about any variety, including parmesan, mozzarella (shredded and soft), feta, cheddar and more.

We have a few favorite brands, but we tend to switch things up pretty frequently depending on availability at the grocery store and what we're using the cheese for. When it comes to this vegan pasta bake, we opt for a vegan shredded parmesan and a soft vegan mozzarella.

Our favorite vegan parmesans are from Follow Your Heart (we seriously use up 1+ boxes a week) and VioLife.

The Follow Your Heart shredded parmesan (which we used here) is particularly well-suited for high temps. It melts well and gets a bit crispy on top, just like regular cheese. So good! We also love using it in this Vegan Spinach Artichoke Dip.

When it comes to soft vegan mozzarella, you can't go wrong with Miyoko's. You guys, this stuff is G O O D. It's cashew-based and fermented, so there's a ton of flavor without any weird additives.

It melts beautifully on this pasta and adds so much creaminess. We also love using it for pizza or even this Grilled Peach Caprese Salad.

Don't let this guide limit your choices - there are SO many options on the market! We love trying locally-made, smaller brands, too - these are just the brands we use most often. We're typically able to find these brands at all of the grocery stores we visit.

Assembly

First things first, get your vegetable bolognese sauce cooking.

We use lentils to add extra plant protein (in place of more traditional ground meat). Once the lentils are cooked (according to package directions), we cook them down with various vegetables and other ingredients for a delicious, flavorful tomato sauce.

If you don't have the time to make a homemade sauce, feel free to sub your favorite pasta sauce instead. You can always stir in cooked lentils and/or mushrooms for extra body and protein!

While the sauce is cooking down, throw your pasta of choice in some boiling water with a heavy pinch of salt. When the pasta is al dente, drain and stir into the finished sauce.

Lastly, transfer to a baking dish, top with as much vegan cheese as your heart desires, and bake until the cheese is melty and slightly crispy, about 15 minutes.

Depending on whether you use homemade sauce or not, this can be ready in as little as 35 minutes! (If you make homemade sauce, cook time will be closer to one hour.)

We like to serve ours with some fresh basil and extra red pepper flakes. Oh, and a glass of wine!

More vegan pasta recipes you'll love:

• Vegan Mac and Cheese (nut free)
• Creamy Vegan Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
• Vegan Hamburger Helper via Mississippi Vegan
• Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta
• Lemon Asparagus Pasta
• Mushroom Alfredo

If you make this vegan pasta bake, we’d love for you to leave a comment and rating below! We also love to see your creations on Instagram – tag us at @crowded_kitchen so we can see what you’ve been cooking.

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