This recipe may seem like it’s got a lot going on (and it does), but the ingredients are super easy to prepare, and make. The final product consists of layers of melted cheese, vegetables, sauce, and noodles, making this also an extremely budget friendly recipe. Adding some crushed red pepper and cayenne seasoning gives this pasta bake, a good amount of heat that can be adjusted for your own level of spice.
To start you will need pour water into a large sauce pot, so that it will cover the noodles about an inch. Bring the water to a boil and throw the noodles in, stirring them occasionally leaving them boiling for the recommended amount of time per the package (usually 11-13 minutes).
While the water is boiling, preheat the oven to 375, and begin by dicing the onion and garlic (quick tip – purchase the jar of diced garlic to save time preparing your recipes). In the below images, I’m using my favorite kitchen utensil, my wok. It’s very, very versatile, from cooking soups to stir fry’s, I use it about every day. Highly recommend! For this recipe, using a large skillet or saucepan will suffice, if you aren’t feeling adventurous or it’s not in the budget.
Heat the skillet/sauce pan to a medium heat, and throw in the 1 tbs of butter, making sure that the melted butter is covering the pan.
Next, toss in the onions and garlic, and cook until the onions are transparent and the garlic is fragrant. Add the crushed red pepper and cook for another 2 minutes, so the pepper becomes fragrant.
Another quick tip – most recipes you can substitute fresh produce for frozen. This can be extremely cost efficient, because frozen is generally cheaper, since it’s frozen right away, rather than sitting around during transportation, there are generally more nutrients in frozen vs. store fresh product, and you can keep them in the freezer for much longer periods of time. What’s not to love!
Add in the frozen peas, stirring so they mix in to the onion/garlic mixture. While the peas are cooking, to save cooking time, nuke the frozen broccoli for about half the time the package says. Once the broccoli is done, add it to the mixture, and cook for another couple of minutes until the broccoli is cooked through. Now stir in the cayenne, salt, fresh basil, fresh oregano cooking for another minute.
Next you can mix in the sauce and cooked pasta noodles into the skillet/pan. If the pan isn’t large enough you can wait and layer the bake (i.e. layer pasta, veggie/sauce filling, cheese, repeat…).
Now in a 9 x 13 baking pan (I’m using a demaru round baking pan – which is super easy to clean up), either layer the pasta or add half the noodle/veggie filling in the pan, followed by a layer of half the cheese. Repeat for the remaining ingredients, topping off with cheese, and fresh basil if you have it.
Set that sucker in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until the cheese is starting to turn golden brown. Make sure you don’t leave in too long, otherwise the pasta bake will start to dry out.
Spicy Vegetarian Pasta Bake
Super easy, budget friendly vegetarian pasta with a kick! This is very simple to make, and relatively short time to make (for a pasta bake).
- Prep Time: 15 min.
- Cook Time: 20 min.
- Total Time: 35 min.
- Yield: 10 servings 1x
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 12 –14 oz. dry pasta (farfalle or fusilli)
- 16 oz. pasta sauce
- 1 tbs butter
- 12 oz frozen broccoli
- 12 oz frozen peas
- 1 yellow medium onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 tbs fresh basil (1/2 tbs dried)
- 1 tsp fresh oregano (1/2 tsp dried)
- 1 c. mozzarella cheese
- 1 c. monterey jack
- 1 c. (cheddar jack) cheese
- 1 tbs crushed red pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- In a large sauce pot, bring x oz. of water to a boil.
- Pour pasta in boiling water, bring down heat to a simmer and cook per package instructions.
- Meanwhile, dice the onion and garlic.
- Heat a medium sauce pan with 1 tbs butter. Add the onion and garlic. Saute’ until onion becomes transparent (about 5 minutes).
- Stir in the crushed red pepper and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the frozen peas, and cook for 5 minutes, or until cooked through.
- While the peas are cooking microwave the broccoli for half the cook time on the package (about 4 minutes).
- Stir in the broccoli, and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Add in the salt, basil, oregano, and cayenne, cooking for another minute.
- Once the pasta is finished drain, and add the sauce to the pasta.
- In a 13 x 9″ baking dish, add a layer of noodles (half), then half of the veggie filling, topped with 1/2 cup cheddar and 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese.
- Repeat step #12 with the remaining ingredients and top with cheese.
- Place on the center rack of the oven, and bake 15-20 minutes, until the cheese is golden brown. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Using frozen vegetables, makes it more cost efficient and quicker to make
- Try using diced fresh garlic in a jar, to save time
And bam! You got yourself a deliciously cheesy and wallet friendly, spicy vegetarian pasta bake!
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