This veggie lover’s baked rigatoni is packed full of cherry tomatoes, onions, garlic, mushrooms, bell peppers, zucchini, and spinach. A hearty and delicious vegetarian dinner!
Today’s recipe is all about pasta, veggies, and cheese.
Three of my favorite things!
This veggie lover’s baked rigatoni is a vegetarian’s dream come true and one of the best pasta bakes.
It’s one of my favorite vegetarian recipes along with my Vegetarian Baked Ziti.
Packed full of tons of super fresh veggies, hearty rigatoni pasta, and topped with the perfect mixture of mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
While I love a good 10 minute cream cheese pasta, if you have a few extra minutes for dinner, I promise this crazy delicious pasta is worth the time! It’s one of our favorites along with this creamy mushroom pasta.
Just like my Roasted Vegetable Pasta, roasted veggies are the star of the show here.
As a vegetarian, I’ve eaten quite a bit of pasta in my day, but this one is possibly the best I’ve ever eaten!
Rigatoni is also a fun change from the pastas I regularly buy.
We love it in this spinach artichoke pasta bake too.
Made this for a friend who is a vegetarian and she loved, I have to admit I saved some for us and we loved it too!!! It is super easy to make and rated me “good buddy” points making her think that I spent a huge amount of time slaving over the kitchen, I call that a win win!!
Thanks for sharing the recipe, it is a keeper! – Lynn
This recipe is a favorite of ours now!
My mission was to create a deliciously cheesy pasta that was heavy on both flavor and veggies so that it didn’t sit as heavy as other pastas can on my stomach.
We’re going all in on this pasta with cherry tomatoes, onions, fresh garlic, mushrooms, bell peppers, zucchini and spinach!
A true veggie lover’s perfect pasta recipe.
How to make veggie lover’s baked rigatoni
First, toss the cherry tomatoes with the olive oil and place in an even layer on a baking sheet.
Roast at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, or until tomatoes start to wilt and burst.
This brings out such a lovely flavor in the tomatoes!
Cook your rigatoni according to instructions and set aside
In a large skillet, combine the onions, mushrooms, bell pepper, zucchini, garlic, dried basil, salt, pepper, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
Sautee the vegetables on medium high heat for 12-15 minutes, or until liquid is released and vegetables have started to cook down.
Add spinach and wilt for several minutes, then add the sauce and stir to combine.
Add the cooked tomatoes to the sauce with the other veggies and stir.
Mix the mozzarella and parmesan cheeses together in a bowl.
Add 1 cups of cheese mixture to the sauce/veggie skillet and stir.
Combine rigatoni with sauce/veggie skillet and transfer mixture to a 13 by 9 baking dish.
Top with remaining cheese, then bake until cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown, serve and enjoy!
I love the texture and firmness of rigatoni, and it doesn’t get soggy quickly when baking, making it perfect for this pasta bake.
Beautifully symmetrical pasta with tons of veggies and crispy pieces of cheese on top.
It’s what my dinner time dreams are made of.
Freaking delish! We are new to the world of veggies but this dish here let’s me know what we’ve been missing! I followed the directions and it came out perfect!
I used a blend of mozzarella and parmesan on top of the pasta and cooked it just long enough for the cheese to melt and start to get a little browned on top.
Those browned bits will be your favorite bites!
If you want it more browned on top, simply broil the pasta for the last 1-3 minutes, watching closely.
Broiling is great for getting the cheese nice and browned and crispy.
I love this recipe! We are trying to eat vegetarian every other day. This meal is filling and satisfying. – Kasey
This makes a huge 13 by 9 casserole dish and we enjoyed the leftovers for several days.
Serve as is or with some red pepper flakes on top if you like a little heat!
You can’t go wrong with this delicious pasta.
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Veggie Lover's Baked Rigatoni
Veggie Lover's baked rigatoni packed full of delicious vegetables and two kinds of cheese. A delicious vegetarian pasta recipe!
Ingredients
- 5 oz container of fresh spinach (or 4-6 cups of loose spinach)
- 10 oz container of cherry tomatoes
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 portobello mushroom caps, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 1 medium zucchini, diced
- 9 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 lb rigatoni pasta
- 25 oz pasta sauce (I used mushroom flavor)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 ¾ cups grated parmesan cheese
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Toss cherry tomatoes with ⅛ cup of olive oil and place in an even layer on a baking sheet
- Roast at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, or until tomatoes start to wilt and burst
- Cook Rigatoni according to instructions and set aside
- In a large skillet, combine onions, mushrooms, bell pepper, zucchini, garlic, dried basil, salt, pepper, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- Sautee on medium high heat for 12-15 minutes, or until liquid is released and vegetables have started to cook down
- Add spinach and wilt (2-3 minutes)
- Add sauce and stir well
- Add the cooked tomatoes to the sauce with the other veggies
- Mix the mozzarella and parmesan cheeses together in a bowl
- Add 1 cups of cheese mixture to the sauce/veggie skillet and stir
- Combine rigatoni with sauce/veggie skillet and transfer mixture to a 13 by 9 baking dish
- Top with remaining cheese
- Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 375Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 35mgSodium: 1283mgCarbohydrates: 43gFiber: 6gSugar: 9gProtein: 19g
Cynthia
Sunday 10th of September 2023
I'd love to make this for a friend, as my family loves it! But she is currently only consuming dairy free meals. Do you think I could skip the cheese in this dish?
Joy Shull
Sunday 10th of September 2023
I have not tried it myself, but I think you could. I would offer her a dairy free cheese substitute to top it with when she eats it so she has the option!
Barbara
Tuesday 13th of June 2023
I made this last night and it was absolutely wonderful! Everybody loved it and it is very rare that I find something that pleases everyone. I followed the recipe almost exactly, I had some carrots that needed to be used so I diced one up and added it in with the veggies. I do use jarred minced garlic as a time saver and I only had the equivalent of 4.5 cloves left, but for us this was just the right amount. For the jarred pasta sauce, I used Ragu, I think Garden Vegetables or something like that.
Thank you so much for this recipe!
Joy Shull
Wednesday 14th of June 2023
So happy you enjoyed the recipe, thanks for sharing!!
Kristina
Monday 12th of June 2023
Can I use fusilli noodles or bow tie noodles
Joy Shull
Wednesday 14th of June 2023
Yes
Lynn
Monday 10th of April 2023
Can I bake this instead of stovetop? If so, how long at what temp?
Jessy
Saturday 25th of March 2023
This is so good. I make it about 2x a month. I don’t even take time to bake it. I just eat it straight from the skillet ! Easy 30 minute weeknight meal.