The evenings are getting shorter, temperatures are dropping, and we’re all starting to think about digging out the big coat. All this means one thing: it’s officially pasta bake season.
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Pasta bake is the ultimate fall comfort food. It’s easy to make, doesn’t require complex ingredients, and it’s pretty much guaranteed to taste good. Traditional recipes tend to be heavy on dairy cheese, but it’s perfectly possible to make a vegan version with just a few simple swaps.
If you aren’t familiar with pasta bake, it’s exactly what it sounds like: a baked pasta dish that typically includes pasta, sauce, and cheese. It’s generally topped with cheese or breadcrumbs, and baked in the oven until crispy. Pasta bakes are popular throughout the world, and they’re also very kid-friendly. You can make these pasta bakes for the family, a dinner party, or just an evening home alone.
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Vegan pasta bake ideas
The below vegan pasta bake recipes are made entirely without animal ingredients. But none of them are missing out on any of the cheesy goodness that this dish is renowned for – as they all use dairy-free alternatives instead. From a saucy spaghetti bake to a baked feta pasta, here are three vegan pasta bake ideas to try.
Baked feta pasta
Baked feta pasta went viral on TikTok back in 2021, and it’s been a hugely popular recipe since then. Feta is usually made from sheep’s or goat’s milk, or a mixture of them both. But it’s now easier than ever to find animal-free feta in the supermarket – and many of them taste just like the real thing. This recipe, which comes from Natlicious Food, uses Violife Greek White – but other brands like Nurishh and Green Vie make similar products. Other ingredients include capers, eggplants, sun-dried tomatoes, and nutritional yeast.
Find the recipe here.
Spaghetti bake with alfredo sauce
If you’ve never used spaghetti in a pasta bake, you’re seriously missing out. This recipe is saucy, cheesy, packed full of flavor, and it couldn’t be easier to make. Unusually, the homemade sauce for this recipe doesn’t require any vegan cheese. Instead, ingredients like plant milk, dairy-free butter, and nutritional yeast all work together to create the creamy texture. This recipe comes from Sam Turnbull’s vegan cookbook Craving Vegan.
Find the recipe here.
Creamy pumpkin pasta bake
If fall was a recipe, it would probably be this incredibly tasty creamy pumpkin pasta bake. As well as being packed full of vegan cheese, this recipe also uses pumpkin puree, which gives this dish a distinctly autumnal look and taste. This recipe is an Ela Vegan creation. It doesn’t use too many ingredients, and many of them are cupboard staples. This is a great evening dinner to cook up after a long day at work, and it’s also perfect if you’re throwing a Halloween dinner party…
Find the recipe here.