The shaved brussels in this pasta get caramelized with salt and pepper. The melty cheddar mixed in adds a great offset.
Non Dairy cheeses are such a hit or miss. Disclaimer here that I am no cheese connoisseur here. I hardly have had artisan cheeses before. Plus, my tastes are corrupted by a fair share of pizzeria cheeses from my non vegan school days. From the vegan cheeses on the market, I currently like Daiya pepperjack, Daiya Cheddar Slices, Kitehill Cassucio, and Teese mozzarella and thats about that. I haven’t tried treeline yet. I picked up some Follow your hear to try.
As several other people who compared non dairy cheeses have said before, with follow your heart it is more about the taste while daiya is more about the texture and meltyness. It takes a while for the fyh cheese to really melt. It however does taste good. Next in line to try out are the Mozzarella, fiesta blend and the sour cream! All Follow your heart product ingredients are gluten-free, vegan, non gmo, and most of the products are also soy-free. Cheddar is soy-free.
I made a pasta bake with cheddar and topped it with shaved brussels sprouts and baked till they caramelized a bit. Ziti is a bit too big pasta for the bake, Use smaller pasta or elbows for a mac n cheese bake! What are your current favorite vegan cheeses?
Grilled cheddar cheese below.
More pasta recipes from the blog
Quinoa shell pasta with jalapeno garlic white sauce.
Fusilli with mushrooms and spinach
Nacho Mac and cheese casserole.
Brussels Sprouts are one of those weird veggies that I have to figure out ways in which to cook. Else I never touch them. For some reason Hubbs keeps getting them to challenge me in the kitchen 🙂 The shaved brussels in this pasta get caramelized with salt and pepper. The melty cheddar mixed in adds a great offset. I am not sure if I like them yet. So if you fall under the same category as me, use only cheddar to top the pasta and bake.
Layer the pasta, sauce and shredded Brussels sprouts.
Bake, and serve hot.
Ziti Cheddar Brussels Sprouts Bake Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 oz (170.1 g) pasta cooked according to instructions
Sauce
- 1/2 cup (134.25 g) white beans or 1/4 cup soaked cashews
- 1.5 to 2 cups (354 to 473 ml) almond milk or other non dairy milk
- 2 Tbsp flour omit to make gf
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) salt
- 1 tsp garlic powder or garlic paste
- 2 tsp prepared mustard
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) paprika
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) black pepper
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) Italian herb blend
- 2 tsp tamari or liquid aminos
- 1/2 (0.5 ) medium tomato
- 3/4 cup (84.75 g) follow your heart cheddar shreds or use my coconut milk cheddar or my Cauliflower Cheddar
Topping
- 1 to 1.5 cups (100 to 150 g) shredded/shaved Brussels sprouts I used raw, you can also lightly steam them and use
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) salt
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) black pepper
- 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup (50 g) follow your heart cheddar shreds
Instructions
- Cook the Ziti or Elbows or other smaller pasta al-dente, according to instructions. Add to a greased baking pan.
- Make the sauce: In a blender, add all the sauce ingredients. Blend, taste and adjust salt, spice. Add the sauce to the pasta and toss.
- Make the Brussels sprouts topping: Mix the salt, pepper, oil in the shredded brussels sprouts. Mix well by tossing and rubbing in. Mix in the cheddar.
- Distribute the over the pasta. Spray oil on top.
- Bake at preheated 425 degrees F / 220ºc for 30-35 mins. For more crisper brussels sprouts. broil for a minute.
- If not sure about Brussels Sprouts, sprinkle cheddar on the pasta and bake for 25 mins or until bubbly.
Notes
Nutrition
Mae
I saved this recipe years, and I finally made it for the first time tonight! It’s really yummy and easy. I doubled it and used elbows instead of ziti. Mine was very saucy, which was great! I love Brussels sprouts and this is a fun way to use them.
Lyn
This recipe sounds amazing! Can brussel sprouts be shredded in a food processor?
Richa
Yes
Caterina B
Hi, Richa, will make this next week! I will use smaller pasta, as you suggested. I would like to tell you about our favorite vegan cheese. We love Vio Life most of all. We get mozz shreds for casseroles, and smoked mozz and cheddar slices for whatever, mainly sandwiches. Our daughter seems to incorporate vegan cheese in almost everything she makes and she is a very inventive cook. I keep a wedge of Vio Life “feta” around all the time. It adds the tang one wants in pasta salads, also hot pasta dishes. Vio Life is pricy, though. We can easily spend $15.00 on just three selections. it’s made in Greece where they seem to have a knack for making vegan cheese, Chao is another Greek made vegan “cheez,” that is very good and also pricey, but worth the expense.
Sarah
what type of white bean would you recommend for the sauce if not using cashews.
also, if I wanted to more protein, could I add cooked chickpeas to the dish and mix with the pasta and sauce? or other bean or lentil?
thank you!
Richa
northern beans or cannellini beans for the sauce.
yes add some chickpeas or white beans
Shannon Leparski
Wow I love brussels sprouts! This is such a creative way to use them differently. Love it! I haven’t tried vegan cheese yet, maybe now is the time. Can’t wait to try your recipe 🙂
Corrin Radd
Made a double batch of this for dinner tonight. This was the first time my kid was willing to eat brussels sprouts. He didn’t exactly admit that he liked them, but he ate them–I’ll take that!
Richa
😀 i’ll take that too.
Mae rockmeamadeus@live.com
I saved this recipe and I can’t wait to try it! I made a vegan mac n cheese recently using a mix of follow your heart and daiya. There were also cubes of tofu in a beet juice and soy sauce based marinade. It was AMAZING! My non-vegan boyfriend was in heaven.
Meredith @ Unexpectedly Magnificent
Pasta, Brussels sprouts, and vegan cheese? Yes please! I’m so excited to make this! 🙂
traditionallymodernfood
Yummy