Cauli Cheese Pasta Bake
This is one of those recipes we keep coming back to on cold weeknights when we want something proper comforting but don't want to spend all evening in the kitchen. It's creamy, cheesy, golden on top and absolutely packed with cauliflower so you're getting loads of veg in without even thinking about it. The sauce is rich and velvety, the pasta soaks it all up beautifully, and when it comes out of the oven bubbling away it honestly looks and smells incredible. We've made this for dinner parties, lazy Sundays and everything in between and it never fails to impress. Trust us, get this one in the oven tonight.
Before You Start
- Preheat oven to 200°C
- Large baking dish
- Colander
- Microplane or box grater
Ingredients
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp English mustard
- 1 large cauliflower
- 70g plant-based butter
- 50g plain flour
- 500ml plant-based milk
- 25g nutritional yeast
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 400g penne pasta
- side salad
- chives garnish
- 200g plant-based cheese
Method
Cook the pasta
- Put the saucepan on the stove, pour in the water from the kettle, add a generous pinch of salt
- Pour in the penne and cook for 4 minutes
- Add 1 large cauliflower, broken into florets, and cook for a further 5 mins
Make the sauce
- Whilst the cauliflower and pasta is cooking, melt the dairy free butter in the pan, sieve in the flour and stir it into the dairy free butter to make a thick, sticky roux
- Pour the dairy free milk into the pan gradually, stirring constantly, until the sauce is smooth and creamy
Finish the sauce
- Grate the dairy free cheese and add the nutritional yeast, garlic powder & mustard into the pan, stirring constantly, until the dairy free cheese has melted and combined with the sauce
- Add 6 tbsp of pasta water to the pan and stir it into the sauce
- Taste the sauce, season with salt and pepper and turn the heat of the stove right down
Combine the ingredients
- Drain the cooked cauliflower & penne with a colander and pour into the cheesy sauce and mix together
Bake in the oven
- Pour the contents of the pan into a baking dish, and put in the oven for 15 minutes or until bubbling
- Remove the roasting dish from the oven
- Serve the Baked Cauliflower Cheese Penne Pasta with a side salad, garnish with chives
Tips & Variations
- Get the florets small: We find breaking the cauliflower into smaller, bite-sized florets means they cook evenly with the pasta and you get a bit of cauli in every forkful rather than big chunky pieces.
- Season generously: The pasta water is your first chance to build flavour so don't be shy with the salt. It makes a real difference to the finished dish.
- Crispy top: If you want an extra golden, crunchy topping, scatter some breadcrumbs over before it goes in the oven. Henry always does this and honestly it takes it to another level.
Why This Works
The trick here is cooking the cauliflower right in with the pasta so it softens perfectly and absorbs all that salty water before it even meets the sauce. Then the roux, made with dairy free butter and flour, gives you a proper thick and glossy base that coats every single piece of pasta. It's a simple technique but it's the thing that takes this from good to genuinely great.