Veggie Pasta Bake

This veggie pasta bake is one of my family’s favourite dinners, especially when we want a vegetarian meal. It’s filled with vegetables like roasted butternut squash, mushrooms, peppers, and spinach, paired with a delicious tomato sauce and baked with feta and Cheddar cheeses. It’s an incredible comforting dinner that is also nutrient-dense.

In This Post:

My Favourite Veggie Pasta Bake

I have made this pasta bake many, many times. It’s our go-to comfort food in the cooler months and my family loves it.

This vegetable pasta bake requires a little bit of prep but once the dish is assembled (which you can do ahead of time), all you need is to pop it in the oven for 15-20 minutes. I often pre-make it on a Sunday as part of meal prep and then bake it on Monday evening.

With a plethora of vegetables, flavourful tomato sauce, gooey cheese crust and salty feta melted into the sauce, this is the ultimate veggie pasta bake!

👉 If you’re looking for more vegetarian dinner recipes, make sure to try my lentil and mushroom Stroganoff, this veggie-filled cottage cheese lasagna, the baked Italian eggplant Parmigiana, or the quinoa-stuffed peppers. You can find all of my vegetarian recipes here.

You Will Need

This recipe is pretty forgiving and you don’t have to be super accurate with the amounts of veggies listed. A little less or more will work just fine! Here is what you need to make this veggie pasta bake:

• Winter squash/pumpkin – you can use butternut squash or kabocha squash (Japanese or Kent pumpkin, for those in Australia). Cut it into cubes and roast a big batch (save the leftovers for a salad). This can be done ahead of time.
• Mushrooms – good old cremini, white button mushrooms, sliced.
• Spinach – Baby spinach is best for this recipe but you could also chop up some English spinach or defrost frozen spinach.
• For the sauce – onions, red bell pepper, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes in oil (don’t skip!), paprika, chili flakes, salt, pepper, and tomato passata (aka tomato sauce or marinara sauce).
• Cheese – feta and either grated Cheddar or Mozzarella; in Australia, Tasty cheese is also good here!
• Pasta – I almost always make this dish with fusilli pasta as it holds onto the sauce so well. You could also use penne or rigatoni, nothing too small though.

How To Make Vegetable Pasta Bake

Find the full list of ingredients, nutritional info, and instructions in the recipe card below. Here are some step-by-step pictures to guide you along.

• Prepare roasted squash. Preheat oven to 400 F/200 C. Peel and cut the squash into large cubes. Drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast on a large, flat baking tray for 25-30 minutes, until lovely and soft.
• Cook the mushrooms. Slice the mushrooms. Saute in a large pan with a little olive oil and salt over medium-high heat for 7-8 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes, until golden brown.

• Make the tomato sauce. Add olive oil, onions and red peppers to another pan and saute over medium-high heat for 7-8 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes. You want the veggies to get soft and almost caramelized.
• Add the garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, salt, pepper, chilli, paprika and stir through. Follow with tomato sauce and cook for 3-4 minutes.
• Wilt the spinach: Finally, add the baby spinach and stir through; cook for 1-2 minutes until wilted into the sauce. Taste for seasoning.

• Cook the pasta. While the above is happening, cook the pasta until just al dente. I like to reduce the cooking time by 1 minute as the pasta will continue to cook while baking and you don’t want pasta that’s too soft. Once pasta is cooked, reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water and strain the rest.
• Combine the pasta: Add the pre-cooked pasta to the sauce along with the mushrooms and most of the roasted butternut squash. Add the feta cheese and stir through. Place any remaining butternut squash pieces on top and finish the dish with grated Cheddar or Mozzarella.
• Ready to bake: Preheat the oven to 400 F/ 200 C (this can be done while you’re assembling the pasta if making everything at once). Bake for 15-20 minutes until the cheese has melted and golden brown crust has formed.
• Making-ahead: You can store pre-made veggie pasta in a baking dish overnight. Bring to room temperature (10-15 minutes out of the fridge) before baking.

Recipe Tips

• Don’t overcook the pasta! Keep it al dente, even a little undercooked as it will continue to cook while baking. Speaking of pasta, use larger shapes like fusilli and penne.
• To speed up the time, roast the butternut squash ahead of time. It can be stored for 3-4 days in the fridge.
• Another speed hack is to use store-bought pasta sauce (something like a vegetable version) and add the spinach when heating it up.
• If making your sauce like in this recipe, don’t skip sun-dried tomatoes! They are a key flavour ingredient and I am all about the flavours.

What To Serve With Pasta Bake

This dish is perfect by itself but you can freshen it up with a crisp green salad or some garlic broccoli. I also love a drizzle of chili oil on my serving.

More Pasta Recipes

Full Recipe 

Find the full list of ingredients, instructions, and a nutritional breakdown below. If you have questions or cook this recipe, please let me know in the comments, and make sure to rate this recipe so it’s easy for others to find.