Today I’ve got another new recipe for you, and it’s one of my most requested! I know lots of my readers are gluten an dairy-free and are on the hunt for quick an easy dinners! I used to love pasta bakes before going gluten-free, so decided to create a delicious, veg-packed gluten and dairy free pasta bake to try instead!

Vegan cheese can be tricky for me-I try to avoid Carageenan (a preservative that can sometimes cause stomach issues) and a lot of them are just packed with chemicals and preservatives. It’s also a bit of a faff when there’s only one of you that’s dairy-free (However, I made say as an exception to this-I have tried Tyne and Cheese and that’s probably my favourite vegan cheese ever!).

Health Benefits-Gluten and dairy free pasta bake

I always feel its a bit of a ‘cop-out’ when cheesy vegan recipes; say ‘use vegan cheese’ (well, duh!) so I thought I’d try to create one that uses a mix of cashew nuts and nutritional yeast instead! This is ideal then if you’re looking for a soya-free gluten and dairy free pasta bake, or just something much healthier than using regular vegan cheese.

I’m always looking for ways to make my recipes a little bit healthier, so I’ve used 1/2 the amount of pasta and added a mix of courgette and sweet potato instead.

This is the bake before I added the sauce! I’m using The Dorset Meat’s Company chicken (as mentioned previously, I’m working on a batch cooking blog post for them where this recipe will feature!) and have thinly sliced sweet potato and courgette.

Ingredients- Gluten and Dairy Free Pasta Bake

If you struggle to digest vegetables, courgettes (especially when peeled) and sweet potato are great sources of soluble fibre and easier to digest. I’ve also added a little bit of rapeseed oil to coat these (I was sent some by Farrington Oils to try and it gave a lovely yellow flavour with no sense of oily taste!)

Once that’s done, you’ll then add the par-boiled pasta and cooked chicken to the mix and then coat with my special ‘cheesy pasta sauce’ mixture.

This uses a combo of blended cashew nuts, almond milk, nutritional yeast, paprika and turmeric. Much healthier than most vegan cheese-with a good supply of healthy fats (from the cashew), B12 (from the nutritional yeast) and calcium. It’s my first time using the mixture but I’m impressed at how creamy it looked and tasted!

I then simply popped in the oven until golden! I did add a sprinkle of dairy-free cheese; just to see if I needed the taste. I’m not going to lie and say it tastes exactly like normal cheese; this gluten and dairy free pasta bake is more creamy than full of cheese flavour-but if you do want more of a cheesy taste, just grate over some vegan cheese.

You can find the full recipe below. I really hope you enjoy and can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

Gluten and Dairy Free Cheesy Pasta Bake

A delicious and creamy gluten and dairy free pasta bake.

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Ingredients

3 chicken breasts
100g soaked cashew nuts
40g nutritional yeast
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 large sweet potato
2 courgettes
3 tbsp turmeric
3 tbsp paprika
1/2 tbsp black pepper
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 serving gluten-free pasta

Instructions

Chop chicken and pan-fry in 1tbsp of rapeseed oil for five minutes until cooked (don't worry if they're not completely cooked through as they'll cook in the oven too!)
Parboil the pasta for five minutes to soften (again, it doesn't need to be completely cooked; just softened)
Peel and finely slice sweet potato and courgettes
In a casserole dish, layer chicken and sweet potato/courgette slices. Drizzle over the remaining 2 tbsp of rapeseed oil and coat well.
Now it's time for the sauce! In a nutribullet or blender (anything that blitzes will do), add the cashew nuts, nutritional yeast, almond milk and 2 tbsp's of turmeric and pepper.
Blend for one minute, check and stir and then blend for a further minute. Depending on your model, you might need to use a little more almond milk to help blend.
Empty mixture into a small bowl and add the further tablespoon of turmeric and paprika. Now it's time to taste test and make the following amendments.
If it's not quite cheesy enough, add in nutritional yeast (1 tablespoon at a time). You might also want to heat on the hob and melt in a small portion of vegan cheese.
If it's too thick, add almond milk slowly and stir.
If you'd like a little more spice, add another tablespoon of paprika.
Add the pasta to the chicken and vegetable and then pour over the sauce, coating the mixture well. If not completely covered, add a little more almond milk.
Cook in the oven at 200 degrees for thirty minutes. After twenty minutes, you can grate over vegan cheese if you'd prefer.
After thirty minutes, it should be cooked and the mixture should have turned golden brown. Check the chicken for pinkness and then leave to cool for five minutes. Then serve.