Dairy Free Penne Alla Vodka Pasta Bake

Let’s talk pasta!

One thing I love about meal prep, is using pasta! Pasta gets a bad reputation for being just laden with carbs and lacking in nutrients. However, that can’t be further from the truth. It’s actually the perfect medium to get more veggies on your plate and you can even utilize healthier sauces and pasta varieties. If you’re not about white pasta, you can always mix it up with healthier alternatives. Today, there are endless options!

Bonus, it terms of leftover, it’s still good the next day!

One of my favorite classic dishes, is Penne Alla Vodka! We’ve done a traditional vegan Penne Alla Vodka dish, but I wanted to explore a baked option and put a more effortless spin on it. This dish is typically made with heavy cream and paired with chicken, but you can easily skip he dairy and pack on some plant protein to make for a more filling dish.

Even bigger bonus, you can use whatever red sauce you like or having laying around to make the sauce! There is no need to go and buy ready made vodka sauce that typically has a laundry list of ingredients. Simply throw it all in a blender and boom, you have some easy homemade vegan Vodka Sauce!

So why a pasta bake? Honestly, I never saw the appeal in a pasta bake and wondered what all the fuss was about. Typically if you’re making a vegan sauce it can easily dry out. So if you don’t have the right consistency and throw it in an oven, you won’t be left with much. The key is to achieve the perfect texture! With this recipe we added coconut milk instead of almond milk and salvaged the pasta water as you actually impart more flavor with it than broth. If you’ve tossed yours already, you can also throw in some veggie broth!

What’s fab about this dish? Honestly, everything. It’s quick, easy, has minimal ingredients, it’s veggie packed, flavor packed, creamy, dreamy, and filling. It can easily be made in bulk (meal prep), affordable, ingredients are accessible, the sauce is thrown in a blender, it’s not made with heavy cream, it features actual vodka, you can’t taste the coconut milk, has notes of garlic, the sauce has plant protein, the sauce can be paired with countless other dishes, you can mix up the pasta, its great for entertaining, the dish is non vegan approved, you can use vegan cheese on top or traditional if preferred, and it’s just an all around game changing effortless recipe you have to try!

If you love a solid vegan pasta dish that you can enjoy for years to come, this Penne Alla Vodka Pasta Bake is it!