Vegan Pasta Bake

Our Vegan Pasta Bake is packed with vegetables, topped with our favorite vegan cheese and baked to perfection. It makes for a perfect weeknight dinner that freezes and stores very well. Leftovers, anyone?

Jump to:

• 🥗 Why We Love This Recipe
• 🥘 Ingredients
• 📋 Ingredient Notes
• 🔪 Step-by-step Instructions
• 💭 Expert Tips and FAQs
• 🍽 Related Recipes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Reviews

🥗 Why We Love This Recipe

• Easy, nourishing, family-friendly weeknight dinner: Vegetables + plant-based protein-rich lentils + pasta + vegan cheese = the perfect balanced meal. It's filling but it's much more than just carbs.
• Easy to customize: You can treat this pasta bake like a pizza. If half of your family is vegan, and half isn't--like ours--you can easily top half of the bake with vegan cheese and the other half with regular cheese.
• Leftovers for days: This recipe freezes and reheats extremely well, so you can store and enjoy later in the week, month, or year.

🥘 Ingredients

Here are the key ingredients you'll need to make this vegan pasta bake:

📋 Ingredient Notes

• What kind of pasta should I use?: We used a gluten free rotini, but the beauty of this recipe is that any pasta that's not long thin noodles will work well in this recipe. It's a perfect way to use up all the pasta sitting in the pantry! Just be sure to check the cooking instructions on the package for your pasta and don't forget to add a large pinch of salt to the cooking water.
• Sauce: You can try your hand at our vegan bolognese sauce, our classic marinara, or go with a store bought brand. No judgment here. We think something on the chunkier side with pieces of veggies adds heartiness and freshness to the dish.
• Vegan cheese: In 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! When it comes to soft vegan mozzarella, you can't go wrong with Miyoko's. 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.
• Italian seasoning: this dried herb blend makes it easy to add flavor to this pasta bake without having to open and measure several different dried herbs. If you don't have any of the blend, you can also use 1 tsp each of dried basil, parsley and oregano instead.
• Lentils: it's best to use green or brown lentils here, which hold up well in the sauce. Don't use yellow or red lentils, which will be too mushy in this pasta bake. 

🔪 Step-by-step Instructions

Prep: Cook lentils according to package directions and preheat oven to 375˚F.

 Cook pasta according to package directions. We always cook our pasta in salted water (at least 1 tsp of salt) to season it properly. 

(1) Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add onion and sauté for 5-7 minutes, until softened. Add garlic and mushrooms and continue cooking for a few minutes, until the mushrooms cook down. 

(2) Add dried herbs, salt and pepper to sauté pan and stir well. Add spinach and parsley, then add diced tomatoes, cooked lentils, marinara, 2 tbsp vegan parmesan and ½ cup shredded mozzarella. Stir well and let cook down for a few minutes, until pasta is finished cooking. 

(3) Add cooked pasta and stir well. Pour into a 9 x 11 baking dish and spread into an even layer.

(4) Top with remaining vegan cheese and sliced soft mozzarella. You can add as much as you want!

(5) Bake for 15-20 minutes, until cheese is melty and slightly browned. 

Optional: garnish with fresh basil and extra red pepper flakes.

💭 Expert Tips and FAQs

• Cooking for two? You may want to halve this recipe. This vegan pasta bake is meant to serve a family of 4 or more and still have leftovers. If you're just making it for one or two people, cut everything in half, or just make sure you're prepared for lots of leftovers (which is never a bad thing!).
• Storage: store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.
• Freezer storage: let the pasta cool completely, then transfer to a freezer safe container and freeze for up to 6 months. Let thaw in the refrigerator overnight before you plan to serve.
• Reheating: this vegan pasta bake reheats well in the microwave. Since there's so much sauce, it keeps the pasta from drying out. If you're reheating the entire baking dish, you can do so in a 350˚F oven until warmed through.

🍽 Related Recipes

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