Veggie Lover's Rigatoni Recipe - Build Your Bite (2024)
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This veggie lover’s baked rigatoni is packed full of cherry tomatoes, onions, garlic, mushrooms, bell peppers, zucchini, and spinach. A hearty and delicious vegetarian dinner!
This veggie packed rigatoni recipe is a family favorite!
This veggie lover’s baked rigatoni has been a reader favorite over the years and is the best vegetable pasta bake. It’s been made by thousands of readers and become a family favorite pasta recipe.
It’s one of my favorite vegetarian recipes along with my Vegetarian Baked Ziti.
Packed full of tons of fresh veggies, hearty rigatoni pasta, and topped with the perfect mixture of mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Read the reviews and you will be convinced!
Just like my Roasted Vegetable Pasta, roasted veggies are the star of the show here.
As a vegetarian, I’ve eaten quite a bit of pasta in my day, but this is one of the best I’ve ever eaten!
My mission was to create a deliciously cheesy pasta that was heavy on both flavor and veggies so that it didn’t sit as heavy as other pastas can on my stomach.
We’re going all in on this pasta with cherry tomatoes, onions, fresh garlic, mushrooms, bell peppers, zucchini and spinach! A true veggie lover’s perfect pasta recipe.
How to make veggie lover’s baked rigatoni
Step 1: Toss the cherry tomatoes with the olive oil and place them in an even layer on a baking sheet. Roast the tomatoes at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, or until they start to wilt and burst. This brings out such a lovely flavor in the tomatoes!
Step 2: Cook your rigatoni according to instructions and set aside. While the rigatoni is cooking, start cooking your vegetables. In a large skillet, combine the onions, mushrooms, bell pepper, zucchini, garlic, dried basil, salt, pepper, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
Step 3: Sautee the vegetables on medium high heat for 12-15 minutes, or until the liquid is released and vegetables have started to cook down. Add the spinach and wilt for several minutes, continuing to stir.
Step 4: Add the pasta sauce and stir to combine it with the vegetables. We like to use Raos brand for the best flavor.
Step 5: Add the cooked tomatoes to the sauce with the other veggies and stir. Mix the mozzarella and parmesan cheeses together in a bowl. Add 1 cup of the cheese mixture to the veggie pasta sauce and stir it up.
Step 6: Combine the cooked rigatoni noodles with the veggie pasta sauce and transfer the mixture to a greased 13 by 9 baking dish.
Step 7: Top the pasta with the remaining parmesan and mozzarella cheese, then bake until cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown. Serve and enjoy!
I love the texture and firmness of rigatoni, and it doesn’t get soggy quickly when baking, making it perfect for this pasta bake. Beautifully symmetrical pasta with tons of veggies and crispy pieces of cheese on top.
Freaking delish! We are new to the world of veggies but this dish here let’s me know what we’ve been missing! I followed the directions and it came out perfect!
I used a blend of mozzarella and parmesan on top of the pasta and cooked it just long enough for the cheese to melt and start to get a little browned on top. Those browned bits will be your favorite bites!
If you want it more browned on top, simply broil the pasta for the last 1-3 minutes, watching closely.
I love this recipe! We are trying to eat vegetarian every other day. This meal is filling and satisfying. – Kasey
This makes a huge 13 by 9 casserole dish and we enjoyed the leftovers for several days. Serve as is or with some red pepper flakes on top if you like a little heat! You can’t go wrong with this delicious rigatoni recipe.
More Pasta Recipes You’ll Love
cream cheese pasta
bow tie pasta
easy butter noodles
mushroom pasta
creamy penne pasta
vegetarian baked spaghetti
sweet potato pasta
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Rigatoni Pasta FAQs
How do I store the leftovers?
Leftover rigatoni pasta can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
Can I use a different kind of noodle?
Yes. Penne noodles would make a great substitute.
Do I have to bake this?
Not if you don’t want to! You can serve it straight from the skillet if you want and top with the leftover cheeses when serving.
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a star rating below!
Yield: 8 servings
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
This veggie lover's rigatoni recipe is always a family favorite dinner!
Ingredients
5 oz container of fresh spinach (or 4-6 cups of loose spinach)
10 oz container of cherry tomatoes
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 portobello mushroom caps, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 medium zucchini, diced
9 cloves of garlic, minced
1 lb rigatoni pasta
25 oz pasta sauce
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons dried basil
½ teaspoon pepper
1 ¾ cups grated parmesan cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
olive oil
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees
Toss the cherry tomatoes with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and place them in an even layer on a baking sheet
Roast at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, or until the tomatoes start to wilt and burst
Cook the rigatoni pasta to al dente according to the package instructions and set aside
In a large skillet, combine the onions, mushrooms, bell pepper, zucchini, garlic, dried basil, salt, pepper, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil
Sautee on medium high heat for 12-15 minutes, or until liquid is released and vegetables have started to cook down. Stir every few minutes
Add the spinach and wilt for 2-3 minutes
Add the pasta sauce and stir to combine
Add the cooked tomatoes to the sauce with the other veggies
Mix the mozzarella and parmesan cheeses together in a bowl
Add 1 cup of the cheese mixture to the veggie pasta sauce and stir it in until melted
Combine the cooked rigatoni pasta with sauce and veggie mixture, then transfer it to a greased 9 by 13 baking dish
Top the rigatoni with the remaining cheese blend
Bake the veggie rigatoni at 425 degrees for 10 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown
Rigatoni, which comes from the word “rigato” meaning ridged, are short, wide tubes of pasta that have ridges on the outside, but are smooth on the inside. Rigatoni are perfect for big chunkier sauces as their ridges and wide center help capture the sauce perfectly.
If your rigatoni is getting flat after you extrude it, just dry it longer. You can try dropping the hydration by maybe 1% and you'll see a difference immediately. If you drop it by more than 1%, have a spray bottle of water handy to spray it in the hopper if it's too dry.
1. Spaghetti. Perhaps one of the most popular pasta types in the world, spaghetti consists of long, thin noodles which can be paired with a wide variety of sauces.
Sauces love to cling to rigatoni, making this particular pasta especially delicious with meat sauces, thin tomato sauces, and everything in between. The thick, hearty shape holds up well to lots of heat. While the al dente chew on a piece of rigatoni is simply luxurious.
Rigatoni: Slightly curved, tubed-shaped pastas, usually larger than penne. The name is derived from the Italian word rigato, which means “ridged” or “lined.”
The word rigatoni comes from the Italian word rigato (that stands for 'lined', 'striped', 'ruled', rigatone being the augmentative, and rigatoni the plural form), which means 'ridged' or 'lined', and is associated with the cuisine of southern and central Italy.
The pasta dough is fed into a machine that forces it through a perforated disk, very similar to a meat grinder. The shape of the pasta depends on the shape of the perforations. Bucatini are made with a disk with tiny circular perforations, which forces the pasta dough to emerge in long tubes.
Place one of the pieces in front of you and, using the flat of a butter knife, press down and drag the knife towards you so it forms a curled up oval shape. Place the oval over your thumb or finger and pull down so it turns inside out and makes an ear shape. Repeat with the remaining dough.
First of all, penne, ziti, and rigatoni are all hollow, cylindrical pastas made using the extrusion process, where the dough is forced through a die into the desired shape. More anecdotally, these three particular pastas are probably some of the most popular and beloved of the pasta shape world.
Shorter, thicker pasta shapes like bows or penne take 10-12mins and fresh pasta such as ravioli and tortellini will be done between 3-5mins. Once the pasta is cooked you need to take it out of the water and allow it to steam dry for a minute or two before mixing it with any sauce or dressing.
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