Vegetarian Pasta Bake with No Cook Noodles
Vegetarian Pasta Bake! This one pot dish is NO BOIL! Just throw everything into a casserole dish and bake! Pasta, tomato butter sauce, cheese, and meatless Italian sausage are all you need.
Pasta is my love language. Especially when covered in a silky tomato sauce and lots of cheese. It’s the one food I almost always crave: the perfect combo of comfort, easy and absolute deliciousness.
It also seems like most of you love pasta as much as I do, considering that some of the top-rated recipes include my pasta fagioli recipe, arrabbiata sauce recipe, Tuscan kale soup recipe, and my lemon chickpea orzo soup.
Even though my dad is Italian, my Danish mother has the same affinity towards pasta as I do. It’s my mom who creates some of my favorite pasta recipes and my mom who I call whenever I’ve got a recipe question. She might not have Italian blood, but that woman knows her way around the cucina.
Growing up, her signature dish was baked vegetable ziti. A dish I’ve made hundreds of times and have used to celebrate new life, mourn death, and feed many hungry, broken hearts.
This pasta bake is an easier version of baked ziti. It’s my go-to freezer meal for new moms, and it’s the dish that I almost always have ready to go in my freezer whenever we need a ready-made dinner.
Why We Love This Recipe
I love baked ziti, but I don’t like the prep. Between slow-roasting the vegetables, making the homemade sauce, seasoning the ricotta, and cooking the pasta, it’s at least an hour’s process.
So when I saw this technique from Pinch of Yum, I knew I had to adapt that pasta bake to fit my needs. There is very little prep, and you don’t have to cook the pasta ahead of time. Sold.
I had visions of making lots of changes: doing a butter-free sauce, using vegan sausage, and increasing the vegetables for this vegetarian pasta bake. But all of that ended up being more work- the exact opposite of what I intended. After all, I already own the world’s best baked ziti recipe; I needed something that could be put together for a weeknight and be just as delicious.
Therefore, I kept things mostly the same for this version of the vegetarian pasta bake. I lightened the sauce, kept the vegan sausage, and used baby spinach for extra greens. The result is a cheesy, creamy pasta dish that’s perfect for just about any gathering.
So many of you have made this baked pasta recipe since I first posted it in 2019, and it’s a winner every time. If you like pasta bake recipes– you’ve gotta try this one!
Vegetarian Pasta Bake Ingredient Notes
- Uncooked penne pasta: Yes, uncooked! That’s the real beauty of this recipe: the noodles cook in the sauce in the oven, so you don’t have to cook them first. (Mom, I know you wish you knew this trick beforehand. I’m sorry for the hours and hours that you spent cooking the pasta first before assembling your famous baked ziti!)
- Crushed, fire roasted tomatoes. I adore fire-roasted tomatoes and strongly feel that they add a lot of flavor to this dish. However, if you like things mild, I’d recommend regular crushed tomatoes. If you can’t find crushed tomatoes, then I recommend whole tomatoes that you crush with your hands.
- Milk: Any milk will work, as long as it’s unsweetened.
- Melted butter: For a vegan pasta bake then choose a dairy-free butter. There are plenty of options on the market these days, but I’m partial to Earth Balance and Miyoko’s.
- Minced garlic: My trick for mincing garlic is using a microplane so that the garlic melts into the sauce. But, a garlic press works too!
- Sliced vegan Italian sausage: Field Roast is my favorite, but your favorite brand will do. If I want more flavor, then I will brown the sausage ahead of time. But, sometimes I am in a rush and don’t do it! You can also use crumbled, browned plant-based meat, like the kind from Beyond or Impossible.
- Spinach leaves: I think a leafy green works best here, but if you want to use a heartier veggie like chopped bell pepper, mushrooms, or chopped zucchini, then I recommend adding them to the bake before placing them in the oven.
- Shredded mozzarella cheese: I like the gooey coating of mozzarella cheese on top; a dairy-free cheese will work as will parmesan cheese. For an extra cheesy topping, you can use both mozzarella and then a grating of parmesan cheese.
Pasta Bake Substitution Notes
You can swap in almost any leafy green for the spinach, or you can leave it out entirely. You can also use a different cut of noodles– elbow, rigatoni, and the like will work.
I highly recommend the fire-roasted tomatoes as I feel like it gives this pasta bake plenty of flavor, but you can also use a favorite jarred marinara sauce or even homemade red sauce.
Rao’s and Vero Gusto are my favorite jar sauces, but any will work! I grab Rao’s at Costco, where it’s almost half the price of the grocery store.
How to make this Vegetarian Baked Ziti
I can’t even explain to you how easy this veggie pasta bake is. If you want to make it truly one pot, then you can even mix everything together in the casserole dish. This one is for lasagna lovers who don’t have time to make lasagna!
Mix everything together
In a large bowl, mix together the pasta, tomatoes, milk, melted butter, garlic, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, red pepper, salt and sausage.
Bake
Transfer to a 9×13 inch casserole baking dish, then cover tightly with foil and bake for 35-40 minutes, until penne is al dente.
Stir in Spinach
Remove the foil, stir, add in the spinach, and stir again.
Top With Cheese
Top with cheese and place back in the oven under the broiler. Let brown for 3-5 minutes, then remove from the oven and let stand for a few minutes so the sauce can thicken.
Serve
Remove from oven and serve! It’s really that easy! The ultimate comfort food with just 5 minutes of prep time. Fantastic for weeknight meals.Â
How to Store for a Freezer Meal
This vegetarian pasta bake makes for a great freezer meal; so much so that I’ve rounded up this recipe plus 19 others in my Vegetarian Freezer Recipes for New Moms post.
There are a few ways to freeze this, but I recommend assembling the casserole and wrapping it tightly in both plastic wrap and aluminum foil before placing it in the freezer for 3-4 months. To bake, remove the plastic wrap and foil, then cook right from frozen, extending baking time 25-35 minutes, until penne is al dente. No thawing required!
This pasta bake will keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. It’s great the day of and the day after, but the pasta does become mushy the longer it sits in the fridge.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you have to pre-cook the pasta before baking it?
Not in this pasta bake recipe! Add the uncooked noodles along with the rest of the ingredients, then bake as directed.
Should the pasta bake be covered or uncovered?
When using uncooked noodles, the pasta bake must be covered. This allows the dish to steam as it cooks and retain enough moisture to ensure that all the noodles become tender.
Can I use store-bought pasta sauce?
Yes, you can use store-bought pasta sauce. You will need the equivalent of 28 ounces of sauce to make this recipe. If you can’t find crushed tomatoes, then you can use whole tomatoes and crush them with your hands.
How do you keep the baked pasta from drying out?
Make sure you are stirring all of the ingredients together before baking and covering the dish tightly with foil. If the dish is not covered, it will not steam properly, and your pasta will dry out.
How do you reheat the pasta bake without drying it out?
To reheat, add a small amount of pasta sauce (or even broth or water) to the bake before recovering and warming in the oven. Depending on how much baked ziti is left, I usually add a tablespoon or two of water per 1-2 cups of leftover pasta. Then cover and reheat in the oven at 300 degrees for 15-20 minutes until warmed through. The additional liquid will help the pasta not dry out, but don’t use too much or the pasta will become soggy. You can also add in extra cheese on top to help with moisture.
More Vegetarian Pasta Recipes
- Cherry Tomato Pasta
- Spring Vegetable Gnocchi
- Ratatouille Pasta with Orzo
- Pasta in Green Sauce
- Vegetarian Spaghetti Squash Lasagna
- Spring Lasagna Recipe
Hope you love this Vegetarian Pasta Bake as much as we do! If you make it, make sure to come back to rate it and leave a comment. Your feedback helps other readers, and seeing you make my recipes makes my day!
Vegetarian Pasta Bake
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 ounces penne pasta, uncooked
- 1 28 ounce can crushed fire roasted tomatoes
- 2 cups milk, *see notes
- 1/3 cup butter, melted (*see notes)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- ¼-1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper, depends on how spicy you like it
- 1.5 teaspoons salt
- 3 links, ~9 ounces vegan Italian sausage, sliced
- 1 cup spinach leaves, chopped
- ¼ cup mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, mix together the pasta, tomatoes, milk, melted butter, garlic, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, red pepper, salt and sausage. Transfer to a 9×13" casserole baking dish. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 35-40 minutes until penne is al dente.
- Remove the foil (be careful, it's hot!), stir, add in the spinach and stir again. Top with cheese and place back in the oven under the broiler. Let brown for 3-5 minutes, then remove from the oven and let stand for a few minutes so the sauce can thicken.
Notes
- To make this vegan, use an unsweetened non-dairy milk and vegan butter, like Miyokos or Earth Balance. Omit the cheese or use a non-dairy cheese instead.