Well I never, doesn’t it look exactly like there’s a thick layer of cheese on top of that vegan pasta bake you see before you?
Well it’s not! It’s white sauce! Isn’t that some magic right there? 
I wanted to make this pasta bake with a bolognese sauce (with some lentils added in) but at the last minute decided to mix the bolognese with some cashew cream for a creamy sauce.
And then the creamy pasta is topped with a white sauce that bakes to look just like cheese! It’s too good.
It’s definitely rich! But it makes a perfect meal to feed a crowd.
There are a few steps involved but it’s actually quite simple and the prep for this vegan pasta bake is only around 70 minutes.
Then it bakes for 20 minutes, so the entire meal is ready in 90 minutes.
The bolognese sauce is a simple mix of onion, garlic, olive oil, mushrooms, soy sauce, tomato paste, lentils, chopped tomato (canned), and a little salt, pepper and brown sugar for flavor balance.
This sauce is totally delicious as is. And if you want to go with it exactly as is, you definitely can.
But I was inspired to make a simple cashew cream and mix it in for a creamy bolognese sauce.
The white sauce that looks exactly like a thick layer of cheese on top of this vegan pasta bake is just like your classic bechamel sauce, but made with vegan butter, all purpose flour, coconut milk, vegetable stock and then some black pepper, dijon mustard and sea salt added for flavoring and nutritional yeast added for cheesiness!
The result is a very rich, very satisfying vegan pasta bake that will definitely impress some guests if you had to serve it at a dinner party, maybe with a large green salad and some fancy bread and lots of good red wine!
It serves at least 8.
Another thing that makes this really a good choice for a dinner party is that you can make it in advance. So you can get it all ready in the dish, cover it in foil and put it in the fridge and then 20 minutes before you need to serve it, put it in the oven to bake!
So you could literally make it the night before! Perfect for a stress-free dinner party! All you’d have to do on the night is make the salad, pop this in the oven and open the wine!
That sounds like the way to socialize!
You will love this vegan pasta bake, it is:
- Rich
- Creamy
- Comforting
- Satisfying
- Feeds a crowd
Leftovers keep very well and can be reheated the next day for lunches or dinner.
So let us know what you think of this vegan pasta bake in the comments! Please rate the recipe as well, it’s super helpful! Thanks so much!
For more delicious pasta meals, check out these great options:
- Vegan Pesto Pasta with Pan Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
- Cheesy Garlic Vegan Alfredo
- Ultra Cheesy Vegan Mac and Cheese
- Linguine with Garlic Chili Peanut Sauce
Sign up to our email list for a fabulous (and free!) recipe ebook and to stay updated with all our latest recipes as they’re posted to the blog!
Vegan Pasta Bake
- Prep Time: 70 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 8
Description
Rich and creamy vegan pasta bake that feeds a crowd AND you can make it in advance so it’s perfect for a dinner party! It’s comforting, satisfying, and leftovers are simply divine too!
Ingredients
For the Pasta:
- 18oz (500g) Penne
For the Bolognese Sauce:
- 1 Medium White or Yellow Onion (Chopped)
- 1 tsp Crushed Garlic
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 18oz (500g) Button Mushrooms (Sliced)
- 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1/2 cup (130g) Tomato Paste
- 1 15oz (425g) Can Lentils (or 1 and 1/2 cups cooked lentils)
- 2 Cans (15oz/425g each) Chopped Tomato
- 1–2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
- Salt and Pepper (to taste)
For the Cashew Cream:
- 1 cup (150g) Raw Cashews
- 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
- 1/2 cup (120ml) Water
- 1/2 tsp Salt
For the White Sauce:
- 3 Tbsp Vegan Butter
- 2 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
- 1 14oz (400ml) Can Coconut Milk
- 1/3 cup (80ml) Vegetable Stock/Broth
- 1 tsp Black Pepper
- 1 tsp Dijon Mustard
- 1/4 cup Nutritional Yeast
- Sea Salt (to taste)
Instructions
- Put the pasta on to cook while you prepare the vegetables for the bolognese sauce. When the pasta is cooked, drain it, cover it (to prevent it from drying out) and set aside.
- Prepare your bolognese sauce. Add the onion and garlic to a pot with the olive oil and fry until softened. Then add in the sliced mushrooms and soy sauce. Cover the pot for a minute and allow the mushrooms to release their water. Then remove the lid from the pot and let the water from the mushrooms cook off a little. Add in the tomato paste and lentils. Then add in the canned tomato. Bring to a simmer. Add in the sugar to balance out the flavor and add salt and pepper to taste.
- Prepare your cashew cream. Add the cashews, lemon juice, water and salt to the blender jug and blend until smooth.
- Add the cashew cream to your bolognese sauce and mix it in. Then add your pasta and mix it all in together.
- Now prepare your white sauce. Add the vegan butter to a saucepan and let it melt and start to sizzle just a little. Add in the flour and stir it quickly, then add in the coconut milk and vegetable stock and whisk it very quickly to get rid of the lumps. Then switch to a wooden spoon and keep stirring while you bring it to the boil. Once it boils keep stirring for about another 4 minutes until thickened. Then remove from heat and add in the black pepper, dijon mustard, nutritional yeast and sea salt.
- Preheat the oven to 430°F (220°C).
- Place the pasta and bolognese mix into a rectangular oven-safe dish and smooth down.
- Pour the white sauce over the top and smooth down.
- Bake uncovered for 20 minutes until golden on top.
Notes
*If you want to make this in advance then complete all the steps except for baking it in the oven. Keep the dish covered in the fridge and when you’re ready, pop it in the oven to bake.
*Leftovers keep very well in the fridge and can be reheated the next day.
- Category: Entree, Dinner, Savory
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Serve (of 8)
- Calories: 569
- Sugar: 13g
- Sodium: 684mg
- Fat: 23.1g
- Saturated Fat: 9.3g
- Carbohydrates: 74.1g
- Fiber: 8.4g
- Protein: 19.1g
Gorgeous and indulgent. What a good idea
★★★★★
Thanks Zoe!
The cheesiest plant based pasta bake I’ve ever made. Can’t tell the difference from real cheese. Truly mouth watering
★★★★★
Yay! Thanks for the great review!
This was delicious! We did a few changes, had some beyond meat crumble to replace the lentils and didn’t have tomato sauce so we just used a whole can of tomato paste and some veg broth. It was SO RICH AND CREAMY!! that white sauce is amazingg!! Added some spinach and yum! Will make again. THANK YOU 🙂
★★★★★
Awesome Jen! Thanks for sharing!
Hi, what could we use instead of cashews? My daughter has a nut allergy and all of the creamy vegan recipes seem to involve cashews!
Thanks
The cashew cream is optional, you can make this pasta bake with just the tomato sauce and pasta and with the white sauce topping which is totally delicious as is.
What lentils can we use?
It’s a can of lentils in this recipe. If you want to use dried lentils, then you would cook them first and use 1 and 1/2 cups (which is around 3/4 cup uncooked). 🙂
I never leave comments on recipes but it was so amazingly indulgent that I must tell the world. I made half the recipe for 3 people and we demolished the whole thing. The cashews makes the sauce so creamy and the white sauce with the nutritional yeast tastes deliciously cheesy. Perfect 10/10.
★★★★★
Thank you so much Emily!
The pictures don’t do this recipe justice. It takes some time to make this masterpiece, but it is delicious! Tastes like you ate at a very expensive Italian restaurant! You will not be disappointed. Thank you Alison!
★★★★★
Thanks so much Margie! 🙂
This recipe is absolutely amazing! I keep this recipe for special occasions! Creamy and delicious! 100% recommend!
★★★★★
Thanks so much Edel!
made this for the fam, we had to substitute the cashews for pine nuts but it turned out amazing; so creamy and perfect cheesy texture ! absolutely delicious. what a good recipe, thank you so much alison 🙂
forgot to rate this but 5 stars !!! stellar recipe <3
★★★★★
Thank you so much! 🙂
If I don’t have vegan butter, what can I sub in? coconut oil?
Olive oil works great, or coconut oil should also work fine. 🙂
This is a weekly dinner for me!! I absolutely love it! Although there are a lot of steps it’s not too tricky to make, and seriously worth it anyway. The leftovers are even tastier the next day!!
Thanks Alison – I have tried a lot of your recipes and you really have taken the time to perfect them 😀
★★★★★
Thank you so much Rachel! xo
Made this and it went down a treat! Added sun dried tomatoes as I had them, and topped with breadcrumbs for extra crunch. Made 2 days ahead and baked on the day. Recommended.
★★★★★
Awesome! Thanks so much Jo.
Hi Alison. Do you think cornstarch would work as a sub for the flour to make the roux? Or have you ever gotten feedback on using gluten free flour? Just trying to figure out how to adapt this delicious recipe for my gluten free daughter. Thank you!!
Hi Melanie, you can absolutely use a gluten free all purpose flour blend, I have used it before with great success. Alternatively cornstarch also works great but you would use half the amount of the flour and I would usually use a different method if using cornstarch. I would bring the other ingredients to a boil and then make a slurry with cornstarch and water and whisk it in vigorously and keep stirring until thickened. All the best! 🙂
This always turns out amazing… the cashews really give it that extra creamy edge. I’ve tweaked it many times with different vegetables. Today I omitted the lentils/mushrooms and used red and yellow peppers. I used oat milk instead of coconut, to reduce saturated fat. A little tip I learnt after making this over and over; make sure you don’t heat the white sauce until all the liquid has been added and there’s no lumps. Also add the liquid very slowly, eliminating lumps as you go along. Thank you Alison for another family meal!
★★★★★
Thanks so much Satin! 🙂
Hello! I am hoping to make this recipe using dried lentils. Do you know how much this would be in measure of volume? Also, I accidentally bought roasted cashews instead of raw. Will this alter the taste and consistency much?
Thanks!
Hi Jacquelyn, the amount of lentils to use would be 1 and 1/2 cups of cooked lentils, which is around 3/4 cup of dried, uncooked lentils. 🙂
Thank you for the help! The recipe came out perfect! My non-vegan friends had no idea, and were so shocked when I told them. The roasted cashews did not alter the flavor, however they had to be soaked for longer so they were easier to break down. Thank you so much! Will make again!
★★★★★
Awesome! Thanks for posting! 🙂
Absolutely delicious! One of my new fave recipes – the white sauce tastes like actual cheese sauce and my non-vegan family loved it. Making it again this weekend for my Mum’s birthday dinner xx
★★★★★
Yay! So happy to hear that Rachel. Thanks for the wonderful review. 🙂