With just four ingredients, you have the best cauliflower pasta bake ever. The sauteed cauliflower feels decadent with spicy almonds in this crunchy baked pasta. You can cook this over the stove top, or bake it. Be careful not to overcook your pasta, as it will continue to cook in the oven.
This pasta bake is just the kind of thing for these dark and dreary days. It’s warm, crusty, and soul-satisfying. Yet it’s full of healthy ingredients. Chickpea pasta, crushed cauliflower, and a good peppery almond crust.
The pasta is a vessel that holds the cauliflower and with every bite, you get a bit of the creamy from the cauliflower and crunch from the almonds.
If you are not a cauliflower lover, you will be surprised by this dish. If you enjoy cauliflower, this is a winning recipe, you’ll love it. The chickpea pasta gives a hearty feel, the cauliflower gives all the nutrients, and the almonds adds to the flavor and the crunch. The cauliflower pasta bake is definitely a winner at home.
I’ve used gluten free pasta chickpea pasta here, and you could add any pasta you prefer. A shell would be perfect since it will hold the sauce. You could also make this a day ahead and refrigerate it. Bake it when ready to serve. It is a dry pasta dish. You could add broccoli, asparagus or peas. It all works great with this cauliflower pasta bake.
Cauliflower Pasta Bake
The key to a good cauliflower pasta bake is to very finely chop the cauliflower. I like to use the Cuisinart to mince the cauliflower. You could bake the cauliflower or you could easily make this in a pan. Since there are very few ingredients, make sure to use the best ones.
Again, make sure not to overcook the pasta since it will bake in the oven. If you want to skip the baking, you can use the same steps and make it in a pan. Toss in the almonds in the end. If you want to make this completely vegan, you can skip the cheese; it’s delicious as is.
Here’s the link to the brand of Pasta I used. This is not a sponsored post, I just absolutely love this pasta.
Chickapea Pasta – https://choosechickapea.com/
- 1 head of cauliflower
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp chili flakes
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp good quality olive oil + 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 packet or 8 oz gluten free chickpea pasta or any pasta shell you prefer
- Salt
- ⅓ cup toasted almond
- ⅓ tsp garlic powder
- Pepper as required
- ⅓ tsp dried oregano
- basill
- fontina or manchego cheese or vegan cheese
- In a food processor, add the cauliflower, garlic, chili flakes, black pepper and olive oil. Turn on the machine and mince it very fine, almost like you would do for cauliflower rice. Set aside.
- In the same food processor, ad the almonds, garlic powder, pepper, dried oregano and coarsely powder it. Set aside.
- Boil the pasta in a huge pot of water. Gluten free pasta takes a minute or two more than gluten pasta. Cook it till al dante and drain it, Reserve ⅓ cup of the pasta water. DO NOT OVERCOOK THE PASTA AT THIS POINT, since it will bake later.
- In a large saute pan, add 2 tsp olive oil. fennel seeds and cook for a minute. Add the minced cauliflower mixture and keep sauteeing and cooking on high heat for 8-10 minutes. Mix it every minute or so. Let the cauliflower brown in the bottom a little bit.
- Add the pasta, add the cooking liquid. Mix and switch off the heat and transfer to a baking dish. At this point, you can cook for 2 minutes and serve it as is.
- Sprinkle the almond powder on top of the pasta. Grate some cheese on top of the pasta and bake for 10 minutes in a 400 degree oven. To keep it completely vegan, you can drizzle the top with a tablespoon of olive oil and bake.
- Serve immediately.
Prep the pasta, and put in a casserole and bake whenever you need it.
If you decide to skip the baking part, cook the pasta completely and you can toss everything in the pan and serve.
If you make Crusty Chickpea Cauliflower Pasta, do tag me on social media at #foodfashionparty. I’d love to see it.
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