Vegan Baked Ziti
Vegan Baked Ziti is an easy weeknight meal! This comforting pasta dish is made with cooked ziti noodles, marinara sauce, cashew cheese and optional vegan "meat". Gluten free & Nut free options.
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 405kcal
Ingredients
Cashew Cheese
- 1 1/2 cups raw cashews
- 3/4 cup water
- juice from 1 large lemon (2-3 tablespoons)
- 4 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
The Rest
- 1 pound ziti noodles gluten free if needed
- 25 ounces marinara sauce ( 1 jar)
- 2 1/2 cups vegan ground "beef" OR 2-3 sliced vegan sausages, optional
- 1 bag non-dairy mozzarella cheese shreds, optional for topping
- Optional: Vegan Parmesan
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish.
- Make the Cashew Cheese sauce: Soak the cashews in boiling hot water for at least 5 minutes. Drain the cashews and add them 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. Set aside.
- 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 casserole dish.
- Pour the marinara sauce and "meat", if using, on top of the noodles and stir to combine.
- Spoon the cashew cheese on top of noodle/sauce mixture and stir gently, leaving pockets of cheese intact.
- Sprinkle with non-dairy mozzarella cheese shreds OR about 1/2 cup of Vegan Parmesan.
- Bake, uncovered, for 25 minutes until hot throughout.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
Notes
- Gluten Free: Use gluten free noodles that are a similar shape to ziti, such as Penne.
- Nut Free: Substitute a bag of non-dairy cheese shreds (check ingredients to ensure nut free) for the Cashew Cheese.
- If you don't care for nutritional yeast, you may leave it out of the cheese.
- My favorite brands of vegan ground beef are Gardein or Beyond Beef crumbles. I like Field Roast brand Italian sausages for this recipe as well.
- 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.
- Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator for about 4 days, making it a great meal prep for lunches.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 405kcal | Carbohydrates: 56g | Protein: 17g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Sodium: 863mg | Potassium: 660mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 432IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 106mg | Iron: 4mg