Vegan Baked Ziti with Cashew Cheese. Simple ingredients come together to create a comfort food classic that is sure to please all of your friends and family. Noodles, marinara sauce and a luxurious creamy cashew cheese sauce are baked to perfection.
Traditional Baked Ziti usually consists of white pasta with a tomato sauce, sometimes meat, and a TON of cheese. This Vegan Baked Ziti with Cashew Cheese gets a healthy makeover without sacrificing flavor. Seriously, this dish is deliciously rich, creamy and comforting. You won’t miss the meat or cheese.
I have been making this recipe for years for my family and it never disappoints. I usually throw a cooked vegetable or salad on the side as well, such as Instant Pot cooked kale, roasted brussels sprouts, steamed broccoli or roasted cauliflower.
This Vegan Baked Ziti with Cashew Cheese is:
A comfort food classic
SUPER kid-friendly
Creamy and rich
Bursting with tomato goodness
Topped with Vegan Parmesan
Quick and Easy
How do you make Vegan Baked Ziti?
-First, prepare your pasta. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
-Next, pour your pasta sauce on top.
-Stir your pasta sauce in with the noodles.
-Now spoon your cashew cheese on top of the noodles and sauce.
-Stir cashew cheese sauce into the noodles, but not too much, leaving some pockets of cheese unmixed. Sprinkle Vegan Parmesan on top and bake for 25 minutes.
This is a great meal to impress non-vegans and show them the magic of cashews as a stand in for cheese!
See this recipe for Vegan Parmesan. This stuff is good anywhere you would use parmesan cheese, such as sprinkled over pasta or pizza. It keeps for weeks in the fridge in a glass container. I always have some on hand!
If you make this recipe, let me know how it goes! Rate it, leave a comment and tag a photo @noracooksvegan on Instagram. Enjoy!
Vegan Baked Ziti with Cashew Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 lb whole grain or gluten free ziti noodles or similiar shape
- 1 1/2 cups raw cashews soaked in hot water for 5-10 minutes
- 3/4 cup water
- juice from 1 large lemon
- 4 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 25 oz jar marinara sauce
- 1/2 cup Vegan Parmesan
Instructions
- Prepare pasta according to package instructions.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Make the Cashew Cheese sauce: Add the soaked and drained cashews to a high powered blender along with the water, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, garlic, onion powder and salt. Blend until smooth, scraping the sides down as needed.
- Add the cooked noodles to casserole dish.
- Pour the marinara sauce on top of noodles and stir to combine.
- Spoon the cashew cheese on top of noodle/sauce mixture and stir gently, leaving pockets of cheese intact.
- Sprinkle vegan parmesan on the top. (optional)
- Bake, uncovered, for 25 minutes.
- Serve with steamed kale, broccoli, roasted brussels sprouts or a good salad. Enjoy!
My daughter made this a few days ago and wont hush about how awesome it is. I am so thankful to have those like you make converting to Vegan eating and Plant based
Oh that’s so great to hear, thank you for sharing! It’s a very comforting dish, one of my favorites.
This was so yummy. I can’t wait to make it again. Wondering how many days I should wait.
That’s great to hear Jessica, thanks for sharing! 🙂
Can you make your cheese sauces without cashews or other tree nuts? Why do so many recipes call for cashews or other tree nuts in vegan cheese sauces? I have family members allergic to tree nuts and coconut ingredients.
Hi Cindy! If you search for “nut free vegan cheese sauce”, you will find some options. Sometimes people make vegan cheese sauces out of potatoes, carrots and other ingredients, but I have found using cashews makes some of the most delicious vegan cheeses. That’s why I use them in my vegan cheese recipes. I haven’t found anything else that works the same at all, but I will think about coming up with a nut free vegan cheese sauce of some kind. I do have plenty of recipes on the website without nuts. You could try replacing tofu with the cashews for this particular cheese sauce, that works quite well. Thank you!
Wow!!! Now I need to make that immediately!
Just wanted to say that I made this for dinner this evening and even my fussiest child loved it. It is so rare to make something new that everyone likes! I’ll be adding this to my regular meal rotation from now on. 😊
Yay! I love it when even the fussy children enjoy my recipes! 🙂 I’m so glad you all enjoyed the ziti, it’s one of my favorites.
Can this be turned into a freezer meal?
Yes it can be a freezer meal. I would prepare the recipe up to the point of baking it, then cover well and freeze. When ready to eat, thaw it in the fridge overnight and then bake as directed. You may need to bake it a little longer than normal.
Made this last night for the son’s 18th birthday and all of us enjoyed it! Thank you for your recipes!
So happy to hear it! You are SO welcome. 🙂
This looks really good! Would this last as a weekly meal prep?
Thanks, it is SO good! Yes, it will last in the refrigerator 3-5 days.
Hi! This looks amazing, I can’t wait to try it. Do you think it could work with zoodles?
Amber
Thank you! About using zoodles, or zucchini noodles, I’m not sure! It would be a totally different dish but it would probably taste good!
I just made this tonight for dinner and all I can say is WOW! This recipe is a keeper for sure! It is so darn good and even my non-vegan husband said, boy this is great! Thank you for the recipes and you have a bunch more I can’t wait to make!
Thanks Karla! So glad you both enjoyed the ziti!
Do you feel the yeast really makes or breaks this? I can’t have it or dairy and would love to try this. Especially b/c my children hate store bought vegan cheese. LOL!
It will still be good without the nutritional yeast! I hope you are your children love it. 🙂
If i cooked and refrigerated the night before and reheated to bring to Christmas Eve dinner would it be okay and not soggy?
You could, but it might get a bit soggy. It would be better to make the cashew cheese, and even cook the pasta, but keep everything separated until you are ready to serve it. Then, just quickly throw it all together and bake.
hmm Vegan parmesan? I’ve never tried it before. They looks like mashed peanut xD Such a tasty casserole, anywways 🙂
– Natalie
This one is a favorite by many! Yes, vegan parmesan is delicious on top of all sorts of dishes. 🙂 Thanks!
I just made this for dinner tonight and it’s my favorite vegan recipe to date! It is really amazing. I liked it better than typical baked ziti. So cheesy and amazing! My husband rated it 6/5 and he’s a tough grader. Thank you!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it and your husband did, too!
I had to make myself stop eating this! Unbelievably good!!!
Perfect hearty comfort food. I love how the lemon gives the cashew cheese sauce a slight tang. Thank you!
Perfect hearty comfort food. I love how the lemon juice makes the cashew cheese slightly tangy. Thank you!
Made this tonight it was so easy and yummy!
Thanks 😊
Just made this tonight—so easy and delicious! Having a chronic illness, it’s so important to have recipes that are quick, don’t involve a ton of prep work, and come together SO deliciously. I’m excited to have the leftovers for tomorrow. Thank you <3
Wow ! My daughters & I have finally decided to go the vegan route this year and it has been challenging. I made this last night and we all loved it so much. Thank you so much ! The cashew cream tastes so rich and we did not miss cheese at all. This recipe is a keeper and I’m sharing with all my friends 🙂
Excellent! I followed the recipe exactly. My husband and 1 year old loved it, my picky 6 year old ate it without complaints! Thank you
I’m so glad! This dish is almost always a big hit with kids! Thank you. 🙂
We eat this every Sunday night in our home, everyone loves it!
This recipe is seriously amazing! Thank you so much for sharing!
I cannot get over how good this is- it looks and tastes just like the ziti my mom used to make. Unbelievably good!!!! Absolutely a repeat!!!!!
If I’m allergic to cashews, do you think I could sprinkle some store-bought vegan cheese on top?
Oh absolutely! I just did this using the Daiya cutting board shreds and it was divine.
Thanks! Can’t wait to try this then!
Let me tell you, I’ve seen a lot of blogs. Cooking is my thing! And yours is the first blog that I want to make every recipe. I got your meal plan and this is what we are going to eat for the entire week. I was not sure about the “cheese sauce” because I’m not a fan of nutritional yeast but man, that was good! I did not put all the sauce on the ziti since I was not sure how it was going to go but the kids keep adding more and more to their pasta. It does not taste like cheese but it’s creamy and super yummy! I put an extra garlic clove and more salt and it was delish! I’m more confident about the rest of the week!
Awwww BEST COMMENT EVER! Thank you so much. I’m so happy you and your family enjoyed the baked ziti! Hope you enjoy the rest of the week, too.
So good! Made it tonight and the family loved it. Just went back to veganism and this recipe will be a regular for me!
Thank you for this delish dish, it is a wow for everyone who has sat down to dinner with us!
I’m so glad you have enjoyed the ziti, thank you! It’s one of my family’s favorites.
Nora, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! I read a few of the comments above and I couldn’t agree more. Veganism was the best choice I have ever made, the only thing I miss is cheese. I am Italian so a lot of my culture is cheese and cream-heavy dishes. This is an AMAZING substitute, it is actually wayyyyy better than the ziti my grandma makes (although I will never tell her!!!!). USER BEWARE this is addictive and has caused me and my fiance (a vegetarian who eats dairy) to almost eat an entire pound of pasta on several occasions!!
I would also like to add, I sometimes don’t bake this. I also sometimes don’t add red sauce. I have made this as a cream dish with peas, spinach and a vegan “bacon” I make from tofu to act like a pancetta.
Vegans, vegetarians and non-vegs love love this dish. beyond grateful for this and the rest of your fab recipes, can’t wait to try more.
You are so welcome! I’m so happy you are enjoying the vegan ziti. Thank you!
This is a delicious pasta recipe. We’ve already made it multiple times since discovering this recipe including serving it to my non vegan (one could say fairly anti vegan) relatives when they came to visit and they all agreed it was delicious!