This vegetarian baked pasta dish is loaded with roasted zucchini, red bell peppers, asparagus, red onion and fennel tossed for the best tasting meatless baked pasta dish EVER!
Cheesy Baked Penne with Roasted Veggies
Cheesy Baked Penne with Roasted VeggiesLet’s face it, nothing beats real pasta. I have always been a firm believer that no foods should ever be off limits. Pasta, pizza, cheese, you can have them all with some simple tweaks to your favorite dishes, portion control and balancing out your day. In this dish for example, the pasta is loaded with so many vegetables to keep portions large and satisfying for a balanced dish. You may also like this Baked Pasta with Sausage and Spinach, or this Instant Pot Baked Ziti!
My aunt has an auto immune disease and can’t tolerate gluten, so I made this with Delallo’s Gluten-Free Whole Grain Penne. I first discovered their gluten-free pasta when I got some samples and shared with my girlfriend who has Celiac. She loved it so much she asked me to get her more and I’ve been a huge fan ever since. Wheat pasta can also be used, whatever your family enjoys.
Cheesy Baked Penne with Roasted Veggies
Ingredients
For the Veggies:
- olive oil spray
- 1 red bell pepper, cored and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 medium, 8-ounce zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 medium, 8 oz fennel bulb, ends removed and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 cup asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1/2 medium red onion, peeled and sliced into 1-inch pieces
- 6 cloves garlic, peeled and slightly smashed
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp dried basil
For the Pasta:
- 12 oz Delallo Gluten-Free Penne
- 8 oz part-skim ricotta
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano
- 8 oz part-skim mozzarella, shredded
- 1 25.25 oz jar marinara sauce (we love Delallo Pomodoro)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
- Spray a large baking sheet with oil, toss the peppers, zucchini, fennel, asparagus, red onion and garlic with balsamic, olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, black pepper, and dried herbs. Roast until tender on the lower rack of the oven, about 15 to 20 minutes stirring halfway, until slightly browned tender.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta according to package directions for al dente, (undercooking slightly as it will continue cooking in the oven), drain.
- In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, parsley, 6 tablespoons of the Pecorino Romano cheese and half of the mozzarella cheese.
- Spray a deep 13x9-inch baking dish with olive oil spray.
- Put half of the cooked roasted vegetables into the prepared baking dish, then half of the pasta and top with 1 cup of the sauce. Spoon the ricotta mixture on top of the sauce in an even layer. Cover with the remaining pasta, then vegetables, then the remaining sauce. Finish with the remaining mozzarella and 2 tbsp Pecorino Romano cheese.
- Cover with foil and bake in the center of the oven for 25 minutes, or until the mozzarella is melted.
Last Step:
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Nutrition
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Made in partnership with Delallo Foods. A brand I love and use in my home.
This is a winner! While making it, my husband laughed and said there was no way our young children would eat it due to the amount of veggies. My kids loved it! They ate it all. My husband went back for second and thirds.
Awesome!!
So good! I really like the roasted veggies in this pasta dish.
What could I use to substitute for the fennel if I cannot find a fennel bulb? Would I used fennel seeds to sprinkle over the vegetables?
Excellent!!
LOVE this recipe!!!! Delicious! But for a family of three it’s a lot of food. How would this do for a freezer dish?
Freeze the leftovers then thaw in the fridge and reheat.
Scrumptious!! Loved the veggies with the pasta. Definitely going on my lists of faves. Grandson (who’s 3) had 2 helpings. Makes this mamaw’s heart happy. Thanks Gina for all you do to help us have a healthy, flavorful lifestyle. It’s really fun!
Great flavour. Will definitely make this again.
This was outstanding!! I skipped the fennel since I am not a fan and used a larger sized zucchini and more asparagus. Otherwise I stuck to the recipe, and the three of us all had some extra after our first serving. Thanks for making Meatless Mondays so delicious.
GREAT!
We r a family of 2. Can I just cut the amounts in half. Or is this freezable? Thanks!
You can make half!
turned out very well for a family gathering, fulfilled the gooie food desire of some members and the lasagna lovers as well as the ones watching calories. I added zuchinni to the vegetable list.
This is excellent! The roasted veggies are perfection. Super simple week night meal that my whole family liked. I will definitely make this again. Thanks, as always, Gina!
Wow! This is delicious. I’ve been using your recipes for years. This has got to be one of my faves. Phenomenal.
Thanks Karri!
I love this recipe! I am going to make it for my family on Christmas. Has anyone ever added a meat to this? Thinking chicken…
It is Delicious yes I will be making this again 😋
I told my husband we were having this for dinner, and got a look (no meat). He is always willing to try though, and we both loved it. I added quartered white mushrooms to the veggies, but otherwise followed pretty closely. Delicious!
Great!
Have you ever added beef or another meat to this? Any adjustments with sauce?
Can you freeze this? Bake first then freeze ?
Delicious! I didn’t roast the veggies as long, we like crunchy. Thank you for the recipe.
I’ve made this many times and love it!  So I have 20 people coming Christmas Eve. I do a buffet with sternos  I would like to include this dish. I would prep the night before. Bake Christmas Eve and put it in a sterno to keep warm.  Do you think it would dry out?  Should I use more sauce.? Â
I think it would be OK, maybe a little extra sauce?
I’ve made so many Skinnytaste recipes but this one might be my favorite!! I’m not a huge fan of veggies so this is the perfect way of sneaking them in, and eliminating the meat at the same time. So much flavor! I used chickpea pasta to add protein and it tasted great. I only used one 10 oz box and it was more than enough.Â
Does this freeze well? I’m thinking about batch cooking it!
This recipe is actually 11 points in weight watchers and not 9.
Worth the Extra points though because it is fabulous, id just change it to have the correct ammount for people using quick add.
Hi Hannah. Did you use the recipe builder? The only accurate way to determine any recipe’s SmartPoints® value is to plug the ingredients into the recipe builder on the Weight Watchers website (Click on “My Foods,” select “Recipe,” and click “Create a recipe.”) which does not count fruits and vegetables in recipes in the calculations as they are now 0 points.
The SmartPoints® calculator isn’t meant for recipes and will often give you the wrong points (usually higher) because it’s counting the fruits and vegetables. So if you see a recipe with a SmartPoints® value that’s different from what the calculator tells you, now you know why.
I just put this into the recipe builder on WW (not the calculator) and got 11 points on the green plan also.
I think I used my homemade marinara sauce to calculate but let me double check.
So good!!! Love roasted vegetables and this was just next level! Swapped out the asparagus and fennel for carrots and parsnips – just delicious!!!!
This is my first recipe from this website, and it was delicious. I love regular baked cheesy penne but nevermind thought to combine it with roasted vegetables. What a winner!! I made a veggie version and one with turkey (browned and simmered with marinara sauce) – both were great.
I have women picky eaters in the family so had to swap out some vegetables. I think just about anything “roastable” would be fantastic here. I did broccoli, yellow squash, zucchini, and baby portabellas. It was a huge hit. Thank you!!Â
Made it as written and it was perfect! Used Trader Joe’s marinara with Barolo wine and it was so complimentary to the balsamic in the roast veggies. My husband even said it was good and went back for seconds which is huge because if a dish doesn’t have meat in it he typically hates it! Another winner from Skinnytaste! Thank you Gina!Â
Made this for dinner last night! So good and easy ! Prepared earlier in the day then popped in the oven. Subbed asparagus for tomatoes and more zucchini! Will definitely make again!
Can the balsamic be substituted for something else?Â
I use cider vinegar
Made this last night and everyone enjoyed it. The roasted veggies added such a nice flavor.