Baked Vegetarian Ziti
You won’t believe that this Baked Vegetarian Ziti contains five different vegetables and over 30 g of protein! True Italian comfort food, made delicious and easy.
You are going to love this baked vegetarian ziti recipe! With a homemade bolognese sauce made with five different types of vegetables and a higher protein sauce.
Growing up, my mom made baked ziti almost weekly. It was her go-to dish for everything: holidays, weekend dinners with family, a casserole to bring for a new mom, or whenever she was in a recipe rut.
Her version was easy— cooked pasta, red sauce, ricotta, and mozzarella cheese. While that version is one of my favorites, I wanted to create a richer, more vegetable heavy dish.
To start, the vegetable bolognese is packed with veggies but tastes like a meat sauce! The key is finely dicing the veggies in a food processor before cooking until they are very well cooked and tender. Then, a creamy sauce is made with cottage cheese and spices. Toss with cooked pasta, cover in cheese, and bake!
See below for more details on how to make this baked vegetable ziti, or scroll down for the full recipe.
Baked Ziti Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Pasta: Although it’s called ziti, you can use any short tubular pasta. Penne works, as does rigatoni. You can also use a smaller noodle, like mini penne.
- Tomato Sauce: To make this sauce easy, I use canned tomato puree. You can also use a jarred pasta sauce, like marinara, or my homemade red sauce.
- Vegetables: This is the real beauty of this recipe! You’ll add the onions, mushrooms, garlic, carrots, and celery to a food processor bowl and finely chop them. This makes the vegetables almost melt into the sauce, creating an extra-tender, rich, bolognese-like sauce.
- Cottage Cheese: While traditional baked ziti contains ricotta cheese, for a higher-protein recipe, I call for cottage cheese instead. The key is pureeing the cottage cheese to make a creamy, silky sauce. A pinch of nutmeg adds a bit of warmth, and I don’t recommend skipping it!
- Mozzarella: To finish things off, add a layer of mozzarella cheese, then bake until bubbly!
How to Make this Baked Vegetarian Ziti (Step-by-Step Photos)
Finely chop the onions and mushrooms
Place the onions in a food processor and finely chop. Remove, then add the mushrooms and finely chop again. It should look like the above photo, very finely chopped.
Chop the carrots
Remove the mushrooms and add the carrots to the food processor. Very finely chop.
Cook the Vegetables
Heat the olive oil in a large pot and add the vegetables. Cook until very tender and soft.
Make the Sauce
Add the tomato puree to the finely chopped and cooked vegetables. Season, adding in salt as needed. Depending on what kinds of tomatoes you use, you may need more or less salt.
Place a layer of sauce in a casserole dish
Place a layer of sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch casserole dish.
Add the noodles
Cook the pasta, then toss with pureed cottage cheese sauce.
Top and Bake
Top with remaining sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese, then bake until hot and bubbly. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.
What to Serve with Baked Ziti
I love to balance baked ziti with a simple side salad. The acidity of a good salad dressing, like an Italian dressing, cuts through the richness of the baked ziti.
You can also serve with my simple broccoli salad for an easy side dish.
More Italian Comfort Food Recipes
- Spring Vegetable Gnocchi
- Eggplant Bolognese Pasta
- Kale Pasta with Butternut Squash and Pecan Parmesan
- Caramelized Onion Fettuccini
- Caprese Brie Pasta
If you make this baked vegetarian ziti pasta, make sure to come back to leave a comment and a rating. Your feedback helps other readers, and seeing you make my recipes makes my day!
Baked Vegetarian Ziti
Ingredients
- 1 white or yellow onion, peeled and cut into chunks
- 3 garlic cloves
- 8 ounces mushrooms, cleaned and stems removed
- 2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
- 2 celery stalks, cut into chunks
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 28- ounce can tomato puree
- 16 ounces ziti or penne pasta, cooked
- 16 ounces cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg, just a pinch!
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Place the onion and garlic in the base of a food processor and pulse until very finely diced, like the photos above. Remove and set aside.
- Next, place the mushrooms in the base of a food processor and pulse until very finely diced, like the photos above. Remove and set aside.
- Finally, place the carrot and celery in the base of a food processor and pulse until very finely diced, like the photos above. Remove and set aside.
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot and add the vegetables and salt. Cook until very soft and reduced, about 20 minutes, stirring often. Add in the tomato sauce and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes, stirring often, until thickened and combined. Taste, adding more salt, if desired.
- In a blender or food processor, puree the cottage cheese along with the nutmeg and pepper. Toss with the cooked ziti and 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese.
- In a 9 x 12 baking dish, layer 1/2 of the sauce mixture, the ziti mixture, and then the rest of the sauce. Top with the remaining cup of mozzarella cheese.
- Lightly tent the casserole with foil and place in the oven. Bake for 25 minutes, then remove the foil and bake another 10-15 minutes until sauce is bubbly and cheese is melted and golden brown.
- Remove, let cool for 5 minutes and dig in!