Learn how to make the best Vegan Baked Ziti, a cheesy, meaty, and easy comfort food that’s ready in 1 hour! Enjoy it for weeknight family dinners or freeze and reheat it later on.
Craving more easy and cheesy vegan pasta dinners? You’ll also love my Vegan Baked Mac and Cheese, Vegan Manicotti, Pumpkin Pasta Bake, and Vegan Lasagna Soup.
This Vegan Baked Ziti Recipe was one of the very first recipes I posted on my blog! And after all these years, it’s still one of my favorite family dinners and most popular recipes. It doesn’t matter who I feed it to—my kids, extended family, or die-hard meat eaters—it always receives rave reviews from everyone who tries it.
I can almost guarantee that if you like vegan lasagna, you’ll love baked ziti. It’s also a dreamy vegan comfort food disguised as a baked pasta dish, except it’s easy to toss together and bake in about 1 hour. Those ooey gooey layers of pasta, vegan cashew cheese, marinara sauce, and vegan beef are too good to pass up!
A perfect weeknight dinner you can serve hot from the oven or freeze and reheat when company comes over unexpectedly, my creamy baked ziti is possibly the best recipe ever.
Why you’ll love this easy vegan baked ziti recipe
- It’s just SO easy! This baked ziti is just as good as my Vegan Lasagna but much easier to make. Just dump everything into a casserole dish, bake, and enjoy!
- Everything you need in a comforting dinner – Al dente ziti noodles are combined with vegan ground “beef,” homemade cashew cheese, and marinara sauce. What more could you need in a family-friendly comfort food?
- A perfect freezer meal for later – Freezing baked ziti is a breeze! This freezer meal always comes in handy when company comes over, for holiday dinners, and during busy weeknights.
How to make vegan baked ziti
Find the complete printable recipe with measurements below in the recipe card.
Blend the cashew cheese ingredients together until smooth and creamy.
Next, cook the pasta until al dente. Drain the noodles and add them to a prepared casserole dish.
Cook the vegan meat in a pan until it’s browned and cooked through.
Stir the cooked vegan meat and marinara sauce into the dish with the noodles until combined. Spoon the cashew cheese on top and stir it in a little bit.
Extra cheesy option: Combine the cashew cheese with my Homemade Vegan Ricotta for an extra cheesy ziti.
Bake the vegan ziti uncovered until it’s hot and bubbly. Garnish with fresh herbs and vegan parmesan, then enjoy!
Frequently asked questions
Yes, you can make this recipe gluten-free by using gluten-free pasta noodles. You might not be able to find gluten-free ziti, but a similar shape, like penne, will work just fine.
If you’re looking for a time-saving option, you can use a bag of non-dairy cheese shreds instead of the homemade cashew cheese. My Nut-Free Vegan Cheese Sauce would also be good here!
I like making this with Beyond Beef Crumbles best but any brand of vegan ground “beef” will work just as well. Impossible, Gardein, and even TVP that’s been rehydrated in broth are all good options. Sliced or chopped vegan sausages would also be tasty.
Once the leftover pasta bake has cooled, transfer it to individual airtight containers and refrigerate. The pasta will stay fresh for up to 4 days. To reheat, zap the leftovers in the microwave or warm them in a 350ºF oven or toaster oven.
Yes, vegan baked ziti freezes very well. After cooking the ziti and letting it cool completely, tightly cover the casserole dish with foil and freeze. When it’s time to eat, bake the ziti in a 350ºF oven for about 1 hour or until it’s warmed through.
Vegan Baked Ziti
Ingredients
Cashew Cheese
- 1 1/2 cups raw cashews
- 3/4 cup water
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 4 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
The Rest
- 1 pound ziti pasta
- 24 ounces marinara sauce or more for extra-saucy!
- 16 ounces vegan ground beef Impossible/Beyond/or vegan sausages
- Optional: 2 cups vegan shredded mozzarella cheese + 1/4 cup vegan parmesan
- chopped fresh basil or parsley, for garnish
Instructions
- Prepare oven and dish: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish.
- Make the cheese sauce: Bring 3 cups of water to a boil (I use my tea kettle). Pour the hot water over the raw cashews and let soak for 5 minutes, or up to an hour. Drain the cashews and add to a high-powered blender along with the fresh water (¾ cup), lemon juice, nutritional yeast, garlic, onion powder and salt and blend until smooth and creamy. Set aside.
- Cook the pasta: Prepare pasta according to package instructions. You can cook the pasta while your cashews are soaking to save time. Drain the noodles and add to the casserole dish.
- Cook the vegan meat: Cook the vegan ground beef (or sliced sausages) in a pan until browned and cooked through.
- Combine in the baking dish: Pour the jar of marinara sauce and cooked vegan meat on top of the noodles and stir to combine. Spoon the cashew cheese on top of the pasta in large dollops. Stir it in just a little bit, leaving some pockets of cheese intact (you don’t want to mix it a lot, the cheese will become thicker as it bakes and taste incredible).
- Bake: If desired, sprinkle with some vegan mozzarella and/or parmesan. Bake, uncovered, for 25 minutes until hot and bubbly. Serve immediately, sprinkled with some fresh herbs for garnish.
Notes
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Gluten Free: Use gluten free noodles that are a similar shape to ziti, such as gluten free Penne.
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Vegan Meat: I used Beyond beef, but you can use Impossible, Gardein, or even TVP that has been rehydrated. Vegan sausage also works, sliced or chopped.
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For a Veggie Variation: In a pan, saute a few cups of veggies such as zucchini, spinach, bell peppers and/or mushrooms. Stir into the pasta with the sauce.
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Storage and Reheating: Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator for about 4 days, making it a great meal prep for lunches. Simply reheat in the microwave until warm, or an oven-safe dish.
- Freezer: This dish can be frozen. Once cooked, let it cool completely, then cover tightly with foil and freeze. When ready to serve, bake at 350 degrees for an hour or until warm.
Nutrition
Hi Nora,
I make so many of your recipes and I love them. Thank you. Can I make the ziti without the meat? If so, do I use the same amount of cashew cheese or increase the amount?
Thank you
That’s great to hear Judith! You can make it without the vegan meat, and you don’t need to increase the cashew cheese. You could also add some sautéed vegetables instead, if desired.
Great! Thank you so much Nora!
Very good! I diced zucchini, carrots and broccoli. Cooked it on the pan to soften with some mushrooms. Loved the cashew cheeze on top. We all had 3 servings including my toddler! Topped it with hemp Parmesan and Tabasco mmmm
Hi Kristina. Your baked ziti sounds delicious! Thank you for sharing your recipe experience and stellar review! Wishing you happy cooking!
One of our faves! So quick easy and delicious! We prefer less pasta sauce but no big deal, your recipes are so spot on and easy to adjust to taste.
Thank you, Nora for bringing vegan deliciousness and ease into our home!
You are welcome, Shayla! I’m so glad my recipes are helpful to you and your family, and that you find the recipes easy and delicious! These are top goals! Thank YOU for sharing your stellar review and feedback! Wishing you happy cooking!
What type dairy free cheese does everyone use? Every one I try tastes awful. I need DF for one family member.
We love Rebel gruyere and also Miyokos liquid mozzarella for quick and easy!
Creamy and delicious🤗
I used The Better Butchers Italian ground. Plant based powered by oyster mushrooms.
This was delicious. I used rehydrated TVP and it was awesome. I followed the directions and added the suggested mozzarella and parm. Thank you for a fabulous ziti!!
You are welcome, Joyce! I’m so glad you loved the recipe! Thank you for sharing your stellar review and feedback! Happy cooking!
This is one of our FAVORITE recipes! I’m giving it 5 stars. We make it at least once a month and always hard to resist going back for seconds.
We did try out the new modifications tonight that you added at the beginning of this month (I think it’s only the 2 jars of sauce that’s new?) and we found it lessened the taste of the meat and cheese sauce. So we will stick to the one jar because the cheese sauce is the BEST part of the meal!
Thanks, Nora!
I’ve made this quite a few times and enjoy it. You can mix it up with different things I added in some greens and also made sauce from scratch. Also used your vegan mozzarella recipe for the cheese on the top and vegan ricotta recipe with almond since I didn’t have many cashews on hand.
Nora thank you for sharing your delicious recipes. Highly recommended.
Easy and Delicious! I don’t like to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I want to prepare delicious plant based food in 1 hour or less, start to finish. This recipe fit the bill. The vegan cheese sauce was simple and delicious. I used arrabbiata sauce and added petite diced tomatoes, with Parmesan and mozzarella cheese. It was everything!
I made this for my vegan husband and my meat and potatoe loving Mom for Valentine’s Day. They both enjoyed it and my Mom told me I need to cook for her more often. That’s a huge compliment because she is a great cook.
Thank you, Nora. This is a keeper.
You are welcome, Julie! Thank YOU for your amazing review and wonderful feedback! I am so glad that the recipe was a hit with your husband and mom! Wishing you lots of happy cooking!
I don’t know why I haven’t made this sooner! This is so good! I used penne instead of ziti (it’s what I had on hand, and it’s similar) and diced up some Field Roast Italian sausage. I diced it to get better overall sausage coverage in the dish. I used a glass baking dish, and things were OK but not quite as warm as I would’ve liked after 30 minutes in the oven. I think if you use a glass dish, it might take 20 additional minutes to heat everything through. It may need to be shielded with foil for the first half with the longer cooking time. I’ll remember this for next time. This is a super recipe because it’s so simple, though I could see adding fried red and green peppers, onions, some mushrooms, and/or zucchini to get fancier. The cheese sauce is so tasty I can imagine making it by itself and serving it over steamed veggies or french fries. Husband approved!
Hi Jackie. All of your ideas sound so delicious – yummy!. It’s always fun to adjust a recipe to add all your personal favorites! I’m glad you loved the recipe, and I appreciate your glowing review and feedback! Thank you for taking time to share. Happy cooking!
I made this again. This time I used Beyond Beef and couple of Beyond Sausages. The meat looked a little unappealing as I was about to mix it into the sauce, and I realized that you’d probably intended Beyond Beef CRUMBLES and not an actual package of Beyond Beef . However, I forged ahead. I chopped up everything as much as I could and mixed it with the pasta and sauce. I used my glass baking dish again, so I cooked everything for 45 minutes, using the glass lid on the pan for the first 30 minutes. AND not only was it good, it was amazing! So yes, this works! You can put raw Beyond Beef and Beyond Sausage in there, cook it for 45 minutes without precooking the “meat,” and it will be awesome. It was chunky in spots which I really liked! I would suggest mixing everything up as well as possible before putting it in the pan though. I had a spatula spoon I used to break up the larger pieces.