I'm super excited to announce this post is sponsored by World Kitchen, who I love for their gorgeous colourful bakeware. I collect both vintage and brand new dishes all the time! (No really, you should see my ridiculous collection). I have been compensated monetarily and with product. Woot woot!
,%20paired%20with%20marinated%20artichokes.%20We%20all%20know%20those%20two%20are%20a%20super%20great%20match.%20This%20pasta%20tastes%20just%20like%20the%20classic%20dip,%20but%20it%E2%80%99s%20all%20disguised%20as%20dinner.%20Healthy,%20vegan,%20gluten%20free%20option,%20oil%20free%20option.)
Why hello there gorgeous, creamy, melt in your mouth, baked dish of deliciousness. Why yes, I do wish I was eating you right now... which would be for breakfast... which might be odd, but I am still so into the idea. Cold pasta fans anyone?
This dish is comfort food heaven! It's like creaminess and comfort got together and had a baby and they named it Vegan Spinach & Artichoke Pasta Bake. No, not the cutest baby name I have ever heard of, but it will have to do. We can call it "Baked Love" for short.
Can we take a moment to appreciate the beauty of these CorningWare dishes? I LOVE the bright fun colours of these pans, they are just so totally me. I mean the turquoise one... I can't even, I just think it's the cutest.
These days it seems like most of the things I own are turquoise: I'm sitting at a turquoise desk, next to my turquoise cabinet, eating cereal out of a turquoise bowl (not so secretly dreaming of eating Baked Love straight out of this turquoise CorningWare pan). So when I received this package of colourful dishes in the mail I was jumping for joy at the gorgeousness. You'll probably see these dishes show up in a lot of posts from now on. If you're in a shopping type mood, you can get the set shown above here, or choose from a huge range of other colours, shapes, sizes, and styles.
Back to Baked Love.
This is a great dish for an easy weeknight dinner, but it would also be ridiculously perfect for a big party! A crowd pleaser if I ever saw one. I'm not just talking about a crowd of vegans, (where is this crowd of vegans? I want to come!) I am talking about EVERYONE. The cashews make it so sinfully creamy, an entire extra large box of spinach is crammed in there (Popeye would be proud), paired with marinated artichokes. We all know those two are a super great match. This pasta tastes just like the classic dip, but it's all disguised as dinner.
What's that dull rumble? That's the sound of thousands of vegans running to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients for Vegan Spinach & Artichoke Pasta Bake.
Let's get cooking! First you need to either soak or boil your cashews until they are very tender. Then add them to a blender with all of the sauce ingredients and blend until very smooth and creamy. Set aside.
Melt the vegan butter and mix it up along with all the bread crumb toppings. Now set that aside too.
Drain the artichokes and roughly chop leaving them still leave them fairly chunky. Chop the onion. You guess it, set those aside.
Boil your pasta according to the package directions. In the last 30 seconds of cooking time, add all of the spinach to the boiling water along with the pasta.
Stir the spinach into the water until it is all wilted, then drain pasta and spinach together.
Add the pasta and spinach back into the pot, and now add the onion, artichoke, and all of the sauce. Stir to combine.
Spread the pasta out into a 9x 12 3 qt. baking dish. Then evenly shake the breadcrumb mixture overtop. Bake at 350F (180C) for 25 minutes until hot all the way through and the breadcrumb toppings have lightly browned. Feast away my friends, feast away.
Vegan Spinach & Artichoke Pasta Bake
Ingredients
For the sauce:
- 1 ½ cups raw cashews
- ¼ cup lemon juice (about 1 ½ lemons)
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 cups plant-based milk (such as soy or almond)
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt (or to taste)
For the topping:
- ¾ cup bread crumbs
- 1 tablespoon melted vegan butter
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- ¼ teaspoon chili powder
For the pasta:
- 4 cups penne or other short pasta (454g)
- 12 oz marinated artichokes, drained and roughly chopped
- ½ yellow onion, chopped
- 11 oz fresh or frozen spinach
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F (180C).
- To make the sauce: you can boil or soak the cashews. To boil the cashews: Cover the cashews with water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, and boil for about 10 minutes until the cashews are very tender, then drain. To soak the cashews: Put the cashews in a bowl, and cover them with water. Let soak for 3-8 hours until very tender then drain.
- Add the cashews along with all of the remaining sauce ingredients to a blender and blend until very smooth and creamy.
- To make the topping: mix together all of the topping ingredients.
- To make the pasta: cook the pasta according to package directions. In the last 30 seconds of cooking time, add all of the spinach to the boiling water along with the pasta. Stir the spinach in until it is all wilted, then drain pasta and spinach together.
- Add the pasta and spinach back into the pot, and add the onion, artichoke, and all of the sauce. Stir to combine. Spread the pasta out into a baking dish. Then evenly shake the breadcrumb mixture overtop. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until hot all the way through, and the breadcrumbs are lightly browned. Serve hot.
Notes
*For oil free, skip the tablespoons of vegan butter in the topping.
Nutrition
Bon Appetegan!
Sam.
Bernadette says
Do you think I could substitute boiled and grated potatoes for the pasta? I am trying to decrease the amount of pasta I eat.
Eliane says
Thanks Sam!
One trick I found that made this dish even more simple - especially for washing the dishes afterwards - is to cook the pasta in a big oven-proof pot or dutch oven, and then use the same pot to bake the whole dish, as opposed to putting it in a rectangular dish. But I must admit that I love the colour of the dish in the picture! 😉
We found that the end result was a bit drier than expected, so maybe I'll bake it covered, next time, and see if it makes it creamier. I'll try broiling at the end to get the nice golden-coloured toppings you mention. And I might cook the spinach and blend it into the sauce so that my 2-year-old doesn't remove all the leaves from his bowl! 🙂
Thanks for the inspiration!
Anna says
Just made this for dinner and it was delicious! Everyone loved it and we will definitely be making this again. I added garlic salt and some onion powder but I’m sure it’d be fine without. Easy/quicker vegan comfort food recipes are hard to come by so I’m super happy this turned out!
Sophia says
Made this tonight for dinner and it was SUPERB!
I cut the pasta in half.
Sauteed the onions with zucchini, mushrooms, artichoke, spinach, broccoli, and cauliflower.
My picky 3 year old even ate it!
Thank you for this recipe!
Srivani says
OMG - this is so tasty. We devoured it, which is unfortunate because... no leftovers! I added some vegan cream cheese to the blender with the sauce items, because my daughter loves the spinach/artichoke/cream cheese dip I make, so this was basically the same with with pasta which she LOVES too. So this recipe was a huge hit with us and my picky 6 year old. Oh, and in true Sam form, super simple too!
Sam Turnbull says
Thrilled you loved it, Srivani!!! 🙂
Laura says
This recipe was so delicious! It was the first I made vegan cheese and I cannot believe how creamy and luscious it is! Thanks, as always, for a wonderful recipe!
Sam Turnbull says
You're most welcome, Laura 🙂
Shannon says
Hi Sam!!! I have everything to make this but i got frozen chopped spinach. Do i put it in the water with the pasta still? I can't wait to make it! Giving it a 5 star before i even make it because all of your recipes i have made are all 5 star worthy and i know this one will be also!!
Sam Turnbull says
I would, just for a few seconds to thaw it. Enjoy!
Karen C says
This was a perfect meal! I followed recipe as printed but added mushrooms. Just so good. Next time I am adding more spinach since it cooks down. Thank you very much.
Sam Turnbull says
Glad you enjoyed!
LC says
This was awesome; the sauce is so flavorful with just a few ingredients. I have enough for lunch for the entire work week. I used spaghetti noodles (broken in half) instead of penne and I also used frozen artichoke hearts and frozen spinach and they worked great here. Off to try some more of your recipes!
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you enjoyed!
Bryan says
Hi, am making this for a potluck and was asked to make it “nightshade free” so...no chili powder. What could I substitute?
Tough one...I know. I was thinking Dijon and herbs, but I thought I’d ask the pro. Thanks
Sam Turnbull says
Ooph, I love nightshades so that's a tough one, haha! I think you're right, maybe some mustard powder would be good. Enjoy!
Sal says
How would you suggest I prep this for a potluck that is for the next morning?
Sam Turnbull says
I would just recommend making sure the pasta is quite al dente so that when it's reheated it doesn't get too soft. Enjoy!
Lauren says
Can this be made with macadamia it’s or walnuts instead of cashews? My husband can’t have cashews or almonds. Thanks.
Sam Turnbull says
Macadamia nuts would be great! Enjoy!
Ally Rodriguez says
Hi Sam,
How would I make this with fresh artichoke instead of canned? Looks Amazing!
Sam Turnbull says
You would have to cook the artichokes first, clean and chop them. Enjoy!
Janice says
I first heard about your blog from Nikki Limo's Youtube channel on her Tasty Tuesday segments. She seems to have success with all your recipes she's tried and they looked really good so thought I check out your blog. Decided to try this pasta dish out as I LOVEEEEEE spinach and aritichoke dip! <3
Was a lil scared since I've never used nutritional yeast before (which actually a lil hard for me to find in person, but I did find a place that had it. :D), but the end result was fantastic! Made this with 2 friends and they were both a lil skeptical since they weren't sure how good vegan dishes can be. '
Heck, I'm not vegan myself, but I'm always curious about trying new foods and am always down to try out vegetarian or vegan dishes here and there. We ended up using regular butter instead of vegan butter, since we had that on hand. But, I definitely wanna try out some vegan butter at some point though.
Definitely a winner and 100% would make it again~!! Glad I found out about this blog and definitely will be trying some of your other recipes as well. If they're anything like this pasta, I'll be pretty impressed! 😀
Sam Turnbull says
That's so awesome, Janice! So thrilled you decided to check me out, and so very happy you loved the pasta so much. I hope you enjoy many more recipes to come 🙂
Kaitlin says
Hi Sam, I was hoping to be able to make this the night before and just store in the fridge before baking. Any suggestions to make sure the pasta/everything doesn't get mushy? I was going to add the breadcrumbs right before putting it in the oven.
Sam Turnbull says
Hi Kaitlin, just make sure the pasta is just a wee bit undercooked- a firm al dente. Then you should be good. Enjoy!
Edie B says
This is an easy recipe, but most importantly it is awesome! My family loves this and it’s now in our rotation of favorite go-to vegan meals that everyone in the family enjoys. I have one carnivore left and even she loves it! I highly recommend this recipe. Thanks!
Sam Turnbull says
That's awesome!! So very happy you love the recipe so much 🙂
Mychael Robinson says
Absolutely delicious. I added some zucchini and squash, and actually added some bread in with the sauce mix to get it a little thicker ( I think I had too much liquid in there to start and did not have anything else on hand). Turned out pretty good. Thanks for the recipe!
Sam Turnbull says
You're most welcome, so happy you enjoyed!
Renee says
I made this last Thursday but I added sliced Cremini Mushroom and it is so delicious with or without the mushrooms. Of course I had to sample it before adding the mushrooms hut again either way amazingly delicious. I had enough to make a loaf pan for my cousin who is a finicky vegan...she loved it!
Sam Turnbull says
Awesome! So thrilled you enjoyed it, Renee 🙂