Simple Baked Pasta Recipe with Mediterranean Flavours

I don't think there is a more simple meal. One dish, pre-chopped vegetables, pasta as protein, pre-made sauce, broth, and bake. Packed with nutrients, in so little time. A one pan meal is one of the easiest ways for busy people to get a healthy dinner on the table. This recipe is super simple, and can be customized to fit your preferences. 

I love the way a baked pasta cooks because it does the same thing as adding boiling liquids to your pasta sauce to get the creamy texture, but without using a ton of dishes. The sauce blends and creams together with the starch, vegetables, and vegan cheese if you're using one. It's kind of like a pasta stew (with less liquids). 

This is also a great way to incorporate legume pasta into your protein rotation. I find that legume pasta while they're delicious when hot, often aren't great for meal prep because as they sit they get tough and a little crunchy, but that's not the case with this method! By cooking the noodles in all the sauce, broth, and veggies the legume noodles get really soft (in a good way) and seem to stay that way for days! This is the only, and best way, I've found to use legume pastas for meal prep. 

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Why You'll Love this Recipe

The hands on time takes about 10-15 minutes, tops. The rest is just the bake time, making this the perfect weeknight meal.

It's super balanced without being complicated! Legume pasta brings in 20g or more protein per serving, plus the legumes themselves offer fibre, and complex carbs. Add in veggies for vitamins and minerals, sauce for flavour and healthy fats, and top with vegan cheese for a flavour packed comfort meal.

High protein and low effort.

Baked pasta is totally customizable. I used a marinara sauce, but you can use whatever jarred sauce you like, or make your own sauce for extra points. Pick different veggies, or throw in additional plant protein like chopped seitan sausages.

What You'll Need

While I like the use of legume pasta because it covers the protein without any effort, you can also use regular wheat pasta, or a brown rice pasta if that's preferred.

A pasta sauce. I loveeeee the Raos Homemade Marinara sauce. It's the best jarred pasta sauce I've ever had. 

Vegetables. Although, you could skip this, given that the tomato sauce adds veggies and the pasta has fibre and protein, your meal is already pretty balanced. 

Cheese is optional, but definitely adds that something extra.

Substitutions

Any kind of pasta will work.

Any pasta sauce you like will work.

Any vegetable will work.

Any cheese. 

Basically it's 100% customizable. 

Storing

Baked pasta is great for meal prep! I use these same glass containers for everything every single week. They're non-toxic, dishwasher safe, and super durable. I have so many of them and I love them.

This was a part of my weekly meal prep series where I also made breakfast oats, a spinach salad for lunch, and chocolate crunch bars for dessert. If you want weekly meal plans like this sent to your inbox every week, join us in Bite Club!

Please note: All macros have been calculated to the best of my ability but may vary slightly.

 

Baked Pasta With Mediterranean Flavours

Recipe makes 4 servings

Macros per serving:

504 cals - 12g fat - 74g carbs - 25g protein 

 

Ingredients:

• 4 cups dry, red lentil pasta
• 2 heaping cups frozen vegetable mix, I like this mediterranean style one
• 2 cups organic tomato marinara
• 4 cups vegetable broth, or 1 tbsp vegetable bouillon + 4 cups water
• 1/3 pack cashew feta, or preferred cheese
• 2 tbsp dried parsley for garnish, optional 

 

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
2. Grab a large casserole dish and add: dry pasta, frozen vegetables, marinara sauce, and vegetable broth. Using a spatula, mix everything together really well.
3. Bake the pasta for 25 minutes or until noodles are done and sauce has thickened.
4. Remove from the oven and add crumbled feta across the top.
5. Place back in the oven and turn to broil. Broil for 5 minutes or until feta is melty.
6. Remove from the oven and garnish with dried parsley if desired.
7. I also like to drizzle it with aged balsamic vinegar, I use this one that has a bit of sugar in it so it's thicker.
8. Enjoy!

Let us know in the comments how this recipe went for you! You comments really help the blog grow, so thank you for taking the time!