7 Ingredient Creamy Pasta Casserole with Red Sauce

Who doesn’t love a good pasta casserole? It’s the kind of comfort food that you crave when life get’s crazy and you don’t have any idea what else to make for dinner. This vegan dish only requires 7 ingredients and is the perfect way to use up the pasta that you have at home because just about any kind of noodle or shell will work for this dish.

Admittedly, this is another one of those recipes that I hesitated to even type up and put on the blog because, well, it’s just so, so simple…BUT, my dear, sweet, Momma asked about it this week and wondered if I was going to share it, so here we are! While quick and almost embarrassingly easy, because of the baking time required for this recipe, this dish does not qualify as a 30 minute meal, however, because most of the time that this recipe demands is just “oven time” I think it still more than qualifies as a good option for a week night meal, especially for a crowd!

What you are going to need to buy:

Your favorite kind of thick pasta. (Really, anything will work but personally, I would stay away from stuff that is super thin like spaghetti or angel hair. I used some leftover pastitsio that I had on hand)

Red Sauce - (Make your own or use your favorite jarred brand. Trust me, either way, it’s going to be delicious)

Vegan Cream Cheese - (We love the plain cream cheese from Kite Hill Foods)

Vegan Parmesan - (We love the Follow Your Heart shredded Parmesan)

Minced Garlic - (we like these jarred options from Spice World!)  

Salt and Black Pepper

Italian Seasoning or Fresh Herbs - (We used Rosemary and Basil)

What you are going to need to do:

In a stock pot, bring salted water to a rolling boil to cook your desired pasta.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix 1/4 cup of Vegan Cream Cheese with 1/4 Cup of Vegan Parmesan and one teaspoon of minced garlic, plus salt, pepper, and Italian Seasoning, to taste. Use these proportions for each “serving” you’d like to make. (ie: if you want to serve 4, then you will need approx. one cup of cream cheese, one cup of parmesan, etc…)

Optionally, you can use fresh herbs for this step and forgo the dried Italian Seasoning

Once your pasta is cooked drain and begin layering the casserole.

Begin with a barrier layer of red sauce on the bottom your oven safe casserole dish so that the pasta won’t stick and is less likely to burn.

Layer your pasta on top of the sauce and then top with evenly spaced teaspoonfulls of the cheese mixture.

Repeat layering with sauce, pasta, and cheese filling until you have reached the top of your casserole.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, on medium rack, until the sauce is hot and bubbly. (Use a piece of tin foil to lightly cover the dish for the first 15 minutes of baking, if rack can not be moved to a center position and is too close to the upper heat coil in your oven.)

Let rest 10 to 15 minutes before serving. Garnish with minced fresh herbs and an additional sprinkle of parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast.

Pour your favorite glass of red wine and enjoy.