This comforting Christmas pasta bake combines two of my favourite foods: Christmas dinner and macaroni cheese. I look forward to eating Christmas dinner all year. A Christmas dinner is just like a Sunday roast but with all the trimmings and a lot more effort put in.
Another of my favourite dishes is macaroni cheese or pasta bakes. I have rarely seen a christmassy twist put on a pasta bake. After creating this recipe I am left wondering why – it is truly delicious.
How I made my comforting Christmas pasta bake ‘Christmassy’
One of my favourite elements is the stuffing. My parent’s garden has a huge sage bush and, therefore, I decided to use this to create a sage and onion cheese sauce. In my opinion this gives the dish a quintessentially Christmassy flavour.
I added mushrooms, roasted cauliflower and Richmond vegetarian sausages into the bake but you could definitely experiment with other ingredients.
You could also like to try adding in roasted Brussel sprouts for some greenery. Quorn pieces would also be a good way to emulate leftover Christmas turkey. I topped my pasta bake with blue cheese and Camembert cheese. This worked brilliantly but other cheeses, such as Brie or mozzarella, would also be delicious.
And, of course, I added cranberry sauce as, I believe, it can make any recipe festive!
Do you cook pasta before baking?
With a pasta bake like this you must always book the pasta before baking. To ensure it is not too mushy only cook the pasta until it is only just al dente. If you want to try a one pan pasta bake recipe where you won’t need to boil the pasta beforehand try an orzo pasta bake. This helps minimise washing up.
Do I need to cook my pasta bake under the grill?
In this recipe I recommend grilling the pasta bake. This is the fastest way to get the cheese to bubble and turn golden. I you do not have a grill you can bake the pasta bake in the oven at 200C/180C fan. It will usually take 15-20 minutes for the cheese to turn golden.
Can you reheat pasta bake?
So long as the pasta is throughly heated through and piping hot it will be safe to eat. You could do this in either the oven or the microwave. Although some foods go soggy when reheated in the microwave, I find microwaved pasta bake tastes almost as good as new.
Too indulgent?
It is safe to say this recipe isn’t the ‘healthiest’ on my page. However, my favourite thing about Christmas is letting myself indulge. So, if you fancy, add as much leftover Christmas cheese onto this pasta bake as you can handle – the cheesier the better!
Similar recipes
If you liked this recipe try out my other delicious vegetarian pasta recipes:
- Pesto pasta bake
- Spicy rigatoni pasta bake
- Vegan Greek pasta salad
- Courgette lemon pasta
- Veggie sausage carbonara
- Veggie chicken creamy cajun pasta
Christmas Pasta Bake
Equipment
- 1 Large ovenproof dish
Ingredients
Sage and onion cheese sauce
- 1/2 a brown onion finely chopped
- 8 sage leaves finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove finely chopped
- A pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- 40g/1½oz butter
- 30g/1oz plain flour
- 350ml/9oz whole milk
- 120g/4¼oz cheddar cheese grated
Pasta Bake
- 200g/7oz dried pasta shapes e.g. macaroni, penne, conchiglie
- 1/3 of a head of cauliflower cut into medium-sized florettes
- 8 vegetarian sausages I used Richmond
- 200g/7oz of mushrooms thinly sliced
- 40g/1½oz crumbled blue cheese
- 75g/2½oz Camembert cheese sliced into 1 inch squares
- 4 tbsp cranberry sauce
- 2 tbsp oil
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 200°C/180°C fan (400°F/350°F).
- Place your cauliflower florets and sausages in a large roasting tray. Drizzle with half of the oil and roast for 20 minutes, tossing halfway through.
- Meanwhile bring a large pan of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta until al dente. Drain.
- Whilst the pasta is cooking heat the rest of the oil in a medium sized frying pan. Add the mushrooms and fry until soft, around 5 minutes. Set aside.
- Next make the cheese sauce. Melt the butter in a medium frying pan on a medium-high heat. Once melted add in the onion and fry until soft, around 5 minutes. Add in the garlic and sage and fry for a further 2 minutes until fragrant.
- Add in the flour and combine well with the onions. Fry for around 30 seconds. Pour in your milk, a little at a time, stirringly constantly until completely combined. Once thickened stir in the grated cheddar cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper, set aside.
- Once everything is cooked cut your sausages into 1-2cm(0.5-1inch) slices.
- Preheat the grill to high.
- Add the pasta, sausages, cauliflower and mushrooms into a large oven-proof dish. Stir to combine. Pour over the cheese sauce and stir to coat everything evenly.
- Sprinkle the blue cheese, evenly place the Camembert slices and dot small splodges of cranberry sauce on top of the pasta bake.
- Place the dish under the grill until the cheese is golden and bubbling.
Lovely! Thank you 🌍🙏
great recipe