quinoa
Creamy Quinoa Pasta Casserole is gluten free and dairy free pasta dish that will fool any pasta lovers. 
This easy-to-make quinoa pasta casserole is a big bowl of comfort food. Perfect for a any crowd.
I grew up eating mac and cheese, and I'm betting that many of you did the same. My family had some financial ups and downs when I was a kid, and during lean times my pops would mix our mac and cheese with a bag of frozen peas to stretch the food budget and give us a little bit of extra nutrition. My dad's thrifty ways are the inspiration for the recipe below.
The recipe below is a plant-based take on that classic meal. To beef up the nutrition in dad's recipe even more, I added an extra veggie blast with broccoli. If you're not a broccoli fan, don't worry! I've got some substitutions for you below, or you can skip the extra veggies entirely if you're more of a mac and cheese purist.
Meet Quinoa Pasta!
OK, you've got me. The pasta in this recipe isn't macaroni. I'm using little shells, but they're not just any pasta shells. This pasta is made with a blend of organic quinoa and organic corn flours instead of semolina wheat. And it's Gluten-Free!
If you're worried about GMO corn, don't fret! Since the corn flour in this pasta is organic, it's non-GMO by definition.
Quinoa pasta is pretty awesome stuff. It's one of the few whole grain pasta that tastes like traditional pasta to me. There's no gritty or wheaty taste, and the texture is spot on. It's gluten free and contains no animal ingredients.
You can find quinoa pasta - shells and other varieties - in the natural foods section at most grocery stores, like Whole Foods or on Amazon (Affiliate Link,) if it's not available where you are.
Creamy Quinoa Pasta Casserole (Gluten-Free)
Recipe
Creamy Quinoa Pasta Casserole (Gluten-Free)
Ingredients
- 8 oz box of quinoa pasta shells prepared according to package instructions and drained
- 1 ⅓ c frozen peas
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil or olive oil
- 2 ½ c fresh broccoli chopped
Cream Sauce
- 1 c raw cashews soaked for 4-6 hours, then drained
- ½ c additional water
- 2 cloves garlic
- ½ c nutritional yeast
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a 2 ½ quart baking dish, toss together the pasta and peas. Set this aside.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet, and sauté the broccoli until it's nice and tender. Make the cream sauce.
Cream Sauce
- To make the cashew cream sauce, combine the cashews, water, garlic, and nutritional yeast in a blender or a food processor. Blend until completely smooth.
- Fold the broccoli and the cashew cream sauce into the pasta/peas mixture right in the baking dish. Season with the salt and pepper.
- Bake uncovered for 20 minutes. Let the casserole stand for about five minutes before serving.
