Vegan Baked Ziti with Almond Ricotta & Tomato Cream Sauce
Flavorful and hearty vegan baked ziti made with homemade almond ricotta and tomato cream sauce- oil-free and gluten-free!
Equipment
- Food Processor or High Speed Blender
Ingredients
For the Tomato Cream Sauce:
- 1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
- 1 tsp minced garlic about 2 cloves
- splash of oil-free veggie broth
- 3/4 cup raw cashews
- 1 large 28 oz can crushed tomatoes in a tomato puree -(if you don’t have tomatoes in a tomato puree and just regular canned tomatoes, that’s ok, just add more seasoning when the sauce is done for more flavor)
- 1/2 cup canned full-fat unsweetened coconut milk use majority of the hardened cream
- 5 or 6 medium basil leaves plus extra for topping
- salt and pepper to taste
- Italian seasoning to taste
For the Almond Ricotta:
- 6 tbsp vegan plain unsweetened yogurt
- 1 & 1/2 cups blanched & slivered almonds
- 3/4 cup unsweetened nut milk start with 1/2 and add more slowly
- 4 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 3/4-1 tsp mineral salt start on the lower end and adjust to taste
- 1 & 3/4- 2 tsp garlic powder start on the low end and adjust to taste
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 4 tbsp lemon juice
For the Pasta
- about 1 pound vegan and GF penne pasta
Instructions
- Start by preheating the oven to 375 and then start on your sauce.
Make your tomato cream sauce:
- Chop onion and add onion, garlic and splash of veggie broth to a large pan and sauté over medium heat for about 5 minutes.
- While the onion and garlic are cooking, boil your cashews. Add water and cashews to a pot and cover. Turn heat on high (I add the cashews to the water before it boils).
- Once boiling, lower the heat to med-low and boil the cashews for about 15 minutes. Once done, drain and set aside to cool.
- Once the onion and garlic are cooked, add your can of tomatoes and 1/2 cup canned coconut milk to the pan and cook for a few minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
- Once the cashews and tomato/coconut milk/ onion and garlic mixture are cooled, add everything plus a handful of basil (about 5-6 leaves) to a high-speed blender and blend until smooth and creamy.
- Adjust salt, pepper and Italian seasoning to your liking. You may even want to add more garlic depending on taste preference.
- Set sauce aside.
Next, boil pasta:
- Boil water for pasta and cook pasta about 2 minutes less than the instructions on the box.
Then, make your almond ricotta:
- Add all the almond ricotta ingredients to the food processor, starting on the lower end (about 1/2 cup) with the plant-based milk. Pulse very very very well until smooth. Add more milk slowly until you reach the smooth and whipped consistency. You will need to stop and scrape the sides down a few times while doing this.
- Set almond ricotta aside.
Assemble your baked ziti:
- Add a little bit of oil to the bottom and sides of the 9x13 pan to lightly grease.
- Add about 1/2 of the pasta and cover with about 2 cups of sauce and mix well.
- Next, add about 1/2 of the almond ricotta on top of the pasta.
- Then, add the rest of the pasta and cover the with rest of the sauce.
- Add remaining almond ricotta.
- Top with additional Italian seasoning and basil if desired.
- Bake for about 25 minutes. Top with fresh basil and enjoy!