Baked Veggie Pasta

Easy baked pasta is loaded with vegetables, extra cheesy, and seriously irresistible.

Here are four reasons to love this recipe:

1. The recipe calls for seasonal vegetables and affordable pantry ingredients.
2. The pasta is hearty and ultra-satisfying. 
3. Baked pasta is the perfect make-ahead meal. Look for all my tips below.
4. It’s incredibly easy to make and can be adapted to be dairy-free/vegan 

Ingredients 

The ingredients for this easy pasta bake are simple. Here’s what you will need to make it:

• Pasta of choice — My choice is rigatoni.
• Vegetables — These are up to you. I used onion, bell peppers, carrots, zucchini, artichoke, celery, black olives, spinach, tomatoes, jalapeno (for extra spicy...optional), broccoli, squash, and portabella mushrooms. 
• Marinara sauce & Basil pesto sauce  
• parsley, fresh basil, oregano, rosemary, and thyme — A simple addition of spice and fresh herbs are what makes this pasta taste homemade and fresh.
• Ricotta and mozzarella cheese — The ricotta turns into pockets of creamy heaven and the mozzarella becomes melty and brown.

Recipe

I started by partially grilling my vegetables, if not comfortable with grilling... can be cooked partially in a skillet on the stove. 

Here are the basic steps:

• Cook sliced vegetables on the stove-top or grill.
• While the vegetables cook, bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta, as per the instructions on the package. Then drain the water using a strainer. 
• In a baking tray, add the drained pasta, mixed with basil pesto sauce, then add the partially cooked veggies on top, top it with marinara sauce, spread the finely chopped herbs.
• Sneak spoonfuls of creamy ricotta cheese into the pasta and vegetables.
• Add shredded cheese to the top and bake until bubbly. (Approximately, for 15-18mins at 350degrees in a pre-heated oven.)

Hope you enjoy this zesty pasta