Vegan Baked Ziti is a classic Italian American comfort food with pasta, meatless ground beef, homemade tomato sauce and gooey cheesy dairy free cheese! Delicious and easy vegan casserole recipe! Vegetarian, Nut free, healthy! Easily gluten free too!
My baked ziti recipe is meatless and amazing!!
Wait until you taste my Vegan Baked Ziti. It’s as tasty as lasagna but without the fuss!! So GOOD! It’s an easy baked pasta without meat, dairy or eggs! That tastes incredible! My family and friends adore this cheesy saucy noodle casserole. And I know you will too! Your whole family will love it and want seconds I guarantee !
Makes a great midweek meal and perfect hot dish to bring to a potluck too! Serve with a side of vegetables, salad and garlic bread for a full meal deal!
Definitely comfort food at its finest. I used ziti noodles, Gardein beefless ground to replace the meat and dairy free cheese and a few other ingredients to make a simple 5 minute vegan cheese sauce. No need for tofu cashew ricotta or béchamel sauce!
-But the winning component in this dish is my homemade Italian spaghetti sauce (red sauce)! Not only did I make an incredible tomato sauce but I added some vegan cream cheese for an amazing creamy cheesy flavour! Wait until you taste it OMG it’s so yummy!!
Scratch made sauce really is the key to a good vegetarian or vegan pasta bake! So don’t buy jarred marinara sauce! Make your own, it’s cheaper and the taste is far superior than any store bought variety!! Okee dokee! And it’s super simple to whip up!
How to make vegan baked ziti:
Preheat oven to 375° lightly grease a 9×13 casserole dish, set aside. I use my deep dish lasagna pan.
Cook ziti pasta according to package instructions, add a pinch of salt and a drizzle of oil to pasta water. (Ideally noodles should be al dente as it will be baked too) Drain but do not rinse, toss with a little olive oil and pour into the prepared casserole dish
While pasta is cooking start the sauce: Heat large pot to medium heat (I use my Dutch Oven), add the oil, onions and a pinch of salt and pepper. Sauté for 5 minutes or so until onions have softened. Stir in the garlic until fragrant, 30 seconds or so.
Now stir in the rest of sauce ingredients except the cream cheese and vegan ground beef. Reduce the heat to a good simmer and cover with the lid slightly ajar. Cook for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the cheese and meatless crumbles. Taste for seasonings- add salt and pepper if necessary.
For the cheese sauce ( I make this while the sauce is cooking): Add the grated cheese, vegan butter, plant milk and mustard to a medium sauce pot. Cook over medium heat while stirring until the cheese is all melty and gooey. This just takes a couple of minutes.
To assemble Baked Ziti: add sauce to noodles and mix together. Pour cheese sauce evenly over the top.
Cover tightly with tin foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and broil for a couple of minutes to brown cheese slightly (optional). Enjoy!! For full recipe ingredients and instructions see recipe card below.
Should I cook baked ziti before freezing?
No need to bake the ziti before freezing because it’s essentially cooked already. So once it’s assembled cool to room temperature. Wrap the casserole dish tightly in plastic wrap then tin foil and freeze. To bake from frozen: Preheat oven to 350° remove plastic and foil rewrap in new foil and bake for 70-90 minutes or so until heated through. Uncover and broil for a few minutes if desired to brown the cheese slightly. If thawed overnight in fridge: bake for approximately 50 minutes.
What goes great with baked ziti?
I like to serve it with a simple green salad, spinach salad or vegan caesar salad and either my no knead bread or garlic bread! Could add a side of veggies too, like peas, broccoli, carrots,..etc
This Baked Ziti is:
vegan
kid friendly
super tasty
easy to make
saucy and cheesy
meaty
great for meal prep
leftovers make for easy lunches!
Healthy
Enjoy you guys! Happy Day! Please feel free to comment below and give this recipe a rating. Your feedback is greatly appreciated!
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Want more Vegan Pasta Recipes? Check these out:
- The Best Vegan Lasagna with Easy Tofu Ricotta
- Vegan Mushroom Stroganoff (Best Mushroom Pasta!)
- Jalapeño Cheddar Vegan Mac and Cheese
- Best Vegan Mac and Cheese (Easy 20 Minute Recipe)
- Vegan Hamburger Helper (Instant Pot or Stovetop)
- Best Peanut Noodles Ever!
- Creamy Spinach and Mushroom Pasta (Tomato Sauce) (Vegan)
- Best Vegan Alfredo Sauce (cashews) (So Easy!)
- Sweet & Spicy Garlic Noodles
- Best Vegan Bolognese Sauce Ever!
Best Vegan Baked Ziti Ever! (Easy Too)
- Prep Time: 40 Minutes
- Cook Time: 25 Minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 Servings 1x
- Category: Mains, Gluten free, Vegan Holiday Recipes,
- Method: Stovetop and Oven
- Cuisine: Italian, American, Canadian
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Vegan baked ziti: a rich hearty and easy pasta bake that’s meatless, dairy free and tastes incredible, with ziti noodles, vegan ground beef, best homemade tomato sauce and vegan cheese. Delicious weeknight comfort food. Reminiscent of lasagna but without the fuss. Vegetarian, nut free, healthy!
Ingredients
- 1 lb (454 grams) ziti noodles or sub rigatoni or penne pasta
Pasta sauce:
- 1 tablespoon or so olive oil
- 1 medium-large yellow onion, diced
- 3–5 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 2 large cans of diced tomatoes (796 ml/28 oz each), pulsed in food processor. I like San Marzano diced tomatoes but any variety will do😊
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon vegetarian better than bouillon no beef soup base
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 and 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
- 1 teaspoon granulated onion
- 1/2 teaspoon ground fennel
- 1/4 teaspoon celery salt
- 1 and 1/2 cups vegan ground beef, I used gardein beefless ground (see notes for more options)
- 1/2 container vegan cream cheese (4 oz), I used Daiya (kite hill is great too)
Cheese sauce:
- 1– 200 gram block of vegan cheese, grated ( I like Daiya Monterey Jack or mozzarella for this- I do not like the pre shredded bags of vegan cheese)
- 3/4 cup unsweetened non dairy plant milk
- 1 tablespoon vegan butter
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons yellow mustard
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375° lightly grease a 9×13 casserole dish, set aside. I use my deep dish lasagna pan.
- Cook ziti pasta according to package instructions, add a pinch of salt and a drizzle of oil to pasta water. (Ideally noodles should be al dente as it will be baked too) Drain but do not rinse, toss with a little olive oil and pour into the prepared casserole dish
- While pasta is cooking start the sauce: Heat large pot to medium heat (I use my Dutch Oven), add the oil, onions and a pinch of salt and pepper. Sauté for 5 minutes or so until onions have softened. Stir in the garlic until fragrant, 30 seconds or so.
- Now stir in the rest of sauce ingredients except the cream cheese and vegan ground beef. Reduce the heat to a good simmer and cover with the lid slightly ajar. Cook for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the cheese and meatless crumbles. Taste for seasonings- add salt and pepper if necessary.
- For the cheese sauce: (I make this while the sauce is cooking) Add the grated cheese, vegan butter, plant milk and mustard to a medium sauce pot. Cook over medium heat while stirring until the cheese is all melty and gooey. This just takes a couple of minutes.
- To assemble Baked Ziti: add sauce to noodles and mix together. Pour cheese sauce evenly over the top.
- Cover tightly with tin foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and broil for a couple of minutes to brown cheese slightly (optional). Enjoy! Great served it with a simple green salad, spinach salad or vegan caesar salad and either my no knead bread or garlic bread! Could add a side of veggies too, like peas, broccoli, carrots,..etc For step by step photos see above post.
Notes
- For gluten free baked ziti: use gluten free pasta noodles, if you can’t find ziti noodles use similar size like rigatoni or penne
- Leftovers will keep in the fridge for 4-5 days and are awesome meal prep for lunch!
- vegan ground beef options: I like Gardein for this and I also like beyond ground beef or sausage. If using beyond meat or sausage (remove from casing) , fry separately in skillet first then add to prepared sauce.
- To cook baked ziti from frozen: No need to bake the ziti before freezing because it’s essentially cooked already. So once it’s assembled cool to room temperature. Wrap the casserole dish tightly in plastic wrap, then tin foil and freeze. To bake from frozen: Preheat oven to 350° remove plastic and foil rewrap in new foil and bake for 70-90 minutes or so until heated through. Uncover and broil for a few minutes if desired to brown the cheese slightly. If thawed overnight in fridge: bake for approximately 50 minutes.
- If just freezing leftover ziti I would recommend portioning and reheating in microwave😊
Keywords: vegan baked ziti, vegan pasta casserole, baked ziti vegan, easy vegan baked ziti, meatless pasta bake,
The baked ziti was a hit! My family really enjoyed it. Kids stated they would like us to make that again. so it will be on our recipe rotation now. Thank you
★★★★★
So happy to hear that Betty! glad it was enjoyed. thanks so much for commenting!