Vegan Pizzaiola Pasta Bake

This baked vegan pizzaiola pasta bake is a mouthwatering and ultra creamy primo piatto made with simple ingredients. It has three layers of delicious creaminess. A rich tomato sauce, a smooth homemade béchamel sauce, and a vegan cheese topping that gives a melted umami taste and texture.

Tips

• How to get a creamy pasta sauce: creaminess is usually difficult to achieve in vegan cooking - especially if you're a new vegan and you don't really know where to start. Boiling the pasta in the tomato sauce will result in a creamier sauce. This is because the pasta releases starch while boiling, and starch makes the pasta sauce creamy.

• Meal prep: this vegan pizzaiola pasta bake a is perfect for meal prep, or cooking ahead before having guests over for dinner. You can prepare the pasta bake in advance and put it in the oven just before serving. To speed up the preparation, you can even prepare the tomato sauce the day before.

• Wholegrain Sauce: for a wholegrain béchamel alternative, see our recipe for vegan béchamel sauce and sneak in some additional fibre. In addition, you can choose wholegrain pasta for a healthier overall meal.

Storage

This vegan pizzaiola pasta bake can be stored in the fridge with a piece of foil or an air-tight lid on top for 2 days. It should always re-heated in the oven before serving.

Recipe

Vegan pizzaiola pasta bake

Author: Nico

This vegan pizzaiola pasta bake is a mouthwatering and ultra creamy primo piatto made with simple ingredients. Our Pizzaiola Pasta bake has three layers of delicious creaminess. A rich tomato sauce, a smooth homemade béchamel sauce, and a vegan cheese topping that gives a melted umami taste and texture.

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4.58 from 7 votes

Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Total Time 40 mins

Course First Course

Cuisine Italian

Servings 4 people

Calories 506 kcal

Ingredients

 

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• 250 g (9 oz) uncooked fusilli pasta, or penne
• 100 g (3.5 oz) meltable vegan cheese
• 10 leaves fresh basil

Béchamel Sauce

• 250 g (1 cup) soy milk
• 25 g (1 oz) vegetable butter
• 25 g (1 oz) all purpose flour
• ½ tsp nutmeg, grated
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper

Pizzaiola Sauce

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 500 g (17.5 oz) canned peeled tomatoes
• 1 scant tbsp dried oregano
• 4 tsp sea salt
• ½ tsp black pepper

Instructions

 

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Béchamel Sauce

• Heat the milk with a sprinkling of nutmeg. Set aside.
  
• Melt the butter in a saucepan then add the flour and stir (this is the roux).
  
• Cook the roux over medium heat for 1 minute, then add the hot milk and a pinch of salt, and continue stirring until the sauce becomes creamy and lump-free.
  
• Remove from the heat and let cool, stirring occasionally to prevent it from lumping up.
  

Pizzaiola Sauce

• Thinly slice the garlic
  
• In a frying pan suitable for baking crush the peeled tomatoes with a fork
  
• Add the the finely sliced garlic, oil, pepper, salt and oregano and mix well
  
• Bring the tomato sauce to a boil, add the fusilli in the same tomato sauce and leave to cook for 10 minutes, stirring regularly and adding 1 cup of water. This type of cooking makes the pasta creamy thanks to the high concentration of starch that falls into the sauce
  
• After about 10 minutes turn off the heat and incorporate the béchamel with the pasta stirring gently. At this point adjust the salt
  
• Cover the pasta with meltable vegan cheese and bake in the oven for 5 minutes at 200˚C leaving the cheese to gratin well
  
• Before serving, let the pasta rest for 10 minutes, add a few basil leaves and a drizzle of good quality extra virgin olive oil
  

Notes

If you can, please use a digital scale for our recipes. This way you'll get the best results.

We use calculateme.com to convert grams to US volume measurements. We believe they have the most accurate conversion algorithm. If must use cups and spoons, then use the "spoon and level" method. That is, spoon the ingredients into the measuring cup, or measuring spoon. Then level the excess with a knife.

Nutritional Values

Nutrition Facts

Vegan pizzaiola pasta bake

Amount Per Serving

Calories 506 Calories from Fat 189

% Daily Value*

Fat 21g32%

Saturated Fat 5g31%

Trans Fat 1g

Polyunsaturated Fat 4g

Monounsaturated Fat 8g

Potassium 487mg14%

Carbohydrates 66g22%

Dietary Fiber 5g21%

Sugar 6g7%

Protein 13g26%

Vitamin A 461IU9%

Vitamin B6 1mg50%

Vitamin C 17mg21%

Vitamin E 4mg27%

Vitamin K 17µg16%

Calcium 168mg17%

Folate 54µg14%

Iron 3mg17%

Manganese 1mg50%

Magnesium 51mg13%

Zinc 1mg7%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Will you be baking this pasta at home? If you have any tips or questions, we would love to hear from you in our comment section below.