This hearty and nutritious dish brings together penne pasta, a savory blend of vegetables, lentils, and marinara sauce, making it perfect for a quick and easy weeknight meal. It’s also an ideal go-to recipe for potlucks and effortless entertaining.
Jump to Recipe
This is a vegan adaptation of a pasta dish I used to make before embracing a plant-based lifestyle, and it remains a favorite in our home. In fact, our daughter often prepares this for gatherings because it’s a flavorful pasta dish that everyone can enjoy, regardless of their dietary preferences. This is a baked version of the Tomato Lentil Penne Pasta recipe from our Batch cooking with Tami Course. Use code Nutmeg30 to save 30% on any of our courses.
For 10% savings on the featured spices in Tami’s latest recipes (Italian Herbs, Milled Garlic Powder, and Sel-acious), use coupon code: “notebook” when you use our Affiliate Link Coupon code valid through September 30, 2024.
One of the best things about this recipe is its versatility—you can easily customize the vegetables based on your personal tastes or what you have on hand. Try swapping mushrooms for zucchini or eggplant for a delicious twist. You can use store-bought marinara sauce, but I prefer to use Well Your World’s oil-free marinara or my own Classic Marinara, which is incredibly easy to make. If you are short on time it can be served right from the pan, as everything is hot and cooked at this stage.
This is one of my favorite gluten free pastas. The flavor is good and it keeps it shape when cooked.
Choose a whole wheat pasta, gluten free pasta or your favorite legume based pasta. It works well with all of them.
For an added touch, you can transfer the pasta to a casserole dish, sprinkle it with faux parmesan, and bake it at 350°F for 20–30 minutes. This not only enhances the flavors but also helps keep the dish warm when serving buffet-style. For this version, I added Kalamata olives and after removing it from the oven sprinkle some fresh basil on top for a burst of extra flavor.
I have 2 of these casserole dishes, they go with any table setting and can go from oven to table.
Substitutions
Marinara – use store bought marinara instead of making your own
Red onion – white onion
Red bell pepper – any color of bell pepper
Lentils – white beans
Mushrooms – eggplant or zucchini
Pasta – use gluten free, legume based or whole wheat
Spinach – kale or your favorite dark leafy greens
Once your soup cubes are frozen transfer the cubes to a gallon size freezer bag. Then your molds are ready for another batch prep item.
Can this dish be frozen? Yes you can freeze it in single serving portions for future meals. I highly recommend using the 2 cup Souper Cubes freezer storage system.
Click the red YT Button to watch our Vegan Penne Pasta Bake complete cooking demo.
Here are some recipe links for additional items mentioned in this post that you may want to make.
Vegan Penne Pasta Bake
Ingredients
- 9 ounce pasta, whole wheat, gluten free or legume pasta
- 1 cup red onion, diced
- 8 ounces baby bella mushrooms, diced or sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 cups greens, finely chopped – spinach or kale
- 1 tablespoon Italian Herbs – Local Spicery
- 32 ounces marinara ,store bought or my Classic Marinara recipe
- 1 15 ounce can of cooked lentils, or 1 3/4 cup cooked lentils or 1 15 ounce can white beans, rinsed and drained
Garnishes
- fresh basil, thinly sliced
- faux parmesan
- kalamata olives, sliced
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
- While pasta is cooking, using a deep skillet over a medium heat, sauté onions, mushrooms, red bell pepper and garlic, stirring frequently adding water as needed to prevent sticking.
- When onions are translucent and peppers, mushrooms and garlic are cooked add finely chopped greens and stir to combine, add Italian seasoning, marinara, rinsed cooked and drained lentils, or cooked drained white beans combine, add Italian seasoning, Simmer until heated through, add drained cooked pasta, stir until pasta is well incorporated.
- When everything is hot remove from heat. It is ready to serve hot from the pot or you can pour it into a baking dish, sprinkle with faux parmesan cover and bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Remove from oven, uncover and add some fresh basil and sliced kalamata olives. Offer some red pepper flakes to sprinkle on top for those who like a little extra spice.
We invite you to explore our online courses designed to support your journey toward a healthy, whole-food, plant-based lifestyle.
Use code nutmeg30 to save 30% on any of our courses.
Batch Cooking with Tami: Discover the essential What, When, Where, Why, and How of batch cooking. This course includes instructional videos and over 50 delicious recipes that you can prepare in advance, making it easier to maintain your healthy eating habits. Learn how to work smarter not harder in the kitchen.
The Beautiful Chopped Salad Course: Tami teaches you how to batch prep salads for the entire week. This video course covers various chopping techniques, provides recipes for mouthwatering oil-free dressings, crunchy toppings, salsas, and all the details you need to create satisfying, filling salads you’ll eagerly anticipate. The downloadable PDF is full of recipes to help you create amazing salads.
Cooking for Company: Enjoy 10 carefully curated, plant-based menus that are tried and tested in Tami’s kitchen. These are the menus she uses when cooking for family and friends. With over 50 recipes, full-color photos, and detailed instructions, this course will make plant-based entertaining a breeze.
We are proud to be Holland Bowl Mill Affiliates. The 15 inch Holland Bowl Mill Cherry fruit bowl has a permanent place in our kitchen – it’s both beautiful and useful. The heart shaped bowl, in particular makes me happy – I love everything heart shaped! We use our 15 inch Beechwood & cherry bowl (one for each of us) to chop our salads every day. incorporating a salad for one meal every day since 2013, has helped me lose weight, maintain my healthy weight and improve my overall health. I continue to eat a salad for one meal a day but now it’s a Big Beautiful Chopped salad and it helps me stay slim and trim! For tips on adding chopped salads to your daily menu check out the Chopped Salad Blog Post plus find out how you can get a free mezzaluna knife with your Holland Bowl salad bowl order when you use our Holland Bowl affiliate link as well as free engraving and free shipping.
Leave a Reply