Description
Creamy, cheesy and comforting Baked Ziti. Ziti pasta is covered in a cheesy vegan tomato-cream sauce and baked in a casserole dish until crispy. Serve with a side salad for a complete meal.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 pound ziti or penne pasta (500 grams)
- 1/2 cup cashews, soaked
- 1 cup olives, pitted (in a jar or can)
- 1/4 cup olive brine
- 1 can crushed tomatoes (796 ml or 28 oz)
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 1 white onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, diced
- Salt and pepper and hot pepper flakes
Topping
- 1/4 cup bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
Instructions
- In a medium size bowl, soak the cashews in hot water for thirty minutes or overnight in cold water in the fridge.
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente (still slightly hard, the pasta will continue cooking when you bake it in the oven).
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Rinse and add the soaked cashews to the high speed blender with the olives, olive brine, crushed tomatoes, and water. Blend for 2 minutes until creamy.
- Saute the chopped onion and garlic with the Italian seasoning over medium high heat in a large pot until soft (I use the same deep pan I cooked the pasta in).
- Add the pasta sauce to the pan. Stir in the nutritional yeast. Cover the pan and simmer for 10 minutes. Taste test and add salt, pepper, and hot pepper flakes to taste.
- Stir the pasta in with the sauce. Transfer the pasta to a casserole dish. Garnish with nutritional yeast and bread crumbs on top.
- Bake for 25 – 30 minutes until the top of the pasta is golden brown. If you want the topping super crispy, broil for the last 3 minutes. Enjoy!
Notes
Use gluten free pasta for this recipe to be gluten free.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Category: Main