Easy Dairy-Free Cheesy Broccoli Pasta Bake (vegan)

If you don’t follow me on Instagram, well first, why aren’t you??? Follow @tracysnutritiontips for even more plant-based and nutrition content! Any who, if you don’t follow me on Instagram, then you might not know that I am currently completing my Population and Public Health Dietetic Internship. At my internship I do a variety of things, including helping to lead cooking classes. At our most recent cooking class, we made a cheesy chicken pasta bake, and it got me thinking that I should make a dairy- and meat-free option for myself!

And as they say, don’t fix what’s not broken, so this recipes uses my go to dairy-free cheese sauce recipe which is packed with veggies and flavour!

I used broccoli in my pasta bake, but green peas, corn, or cauliflower would also be great additions! As for the chickpeas, if you’re not a fan of them, you can opt for cubed tofu that’s been pan-fried, or even use some breaded plant-based chick’n! That would also be super tasty.

This is also a great meal prep meal because the pasta reheats really well and can be stored in the fridge for several days! It’s a win win win situation really.

Here’s the recipe:

Serves: 5-6

Ingredients

• 1 batch of my dairy-free cheese sauce
• 2 ¼ cups elbow macaroni pasta (I used brown rice pasta!)
• 1 head of broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces and washed
• 1 can no salt added chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp chili powder
• ¼ tsp paprika
• ¼ tsp cumin
• ½ tsp salt
• ~ ¼ cup panko breadcrumbs (I used whole wheat)

Directions

1. Prepare the dairy-free cheese sauce according to the instructions and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 375^oF.
3. In the same pot used to boil the vegetables for the cheese sauce, fill the pot with some more water and bring to a boil. Boil the pasta for 4 minutes, then add the broccoli and boil for another minute. Drain and rinse with cold water, then transfer back into the pot.
4. Pour the cheese sauce into the pot and gently stir to evenly combine. Transfer the pasta into an oven-safe baking dish and set aside.
5. In a large bowl, combine the chickpeas, olive oil, chili powder, paprika, cumin, and salt. Sprinkle the chickpeas on top of the pasta in the baking dish and use a spoon to gently incorporate into the pasta.
6. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs on top of the pasta and bake for 15 minutes.
7. After 15 minutes, broil the surface of the pasta for 1-2 minutes, or until the breadcrumbs are golden.