A hearty oven baked vegan sausage pasta. Great for dinner, great for leftovers.

**prep time** 15 mins **total time** 55 mins
**serves** 4

This vegan cheesy sausage pasta is so tasty and the ultimate comfort food. Plus, it’s a great one to make a big batch of as it makes great leftovers (lunch or dinner!).

It has some of my favourite ingredients in it; mushrooms, tomato, spinach and lots of vegan cheese.

When it comes to the vegan cheese I used Violife’s Epic Mature but you can use any. Some of my favourites are:
Violife Original
Koko
Vegusto
Sheese
Applewood

Same goes for the vegan sausages. My favourites are the Sainsbury’s Shroomdogs and Richmond Meat Free. But of course you can use any.

One of my favourite meals to make are those that are finished off in the oven for a nice crispy topping. It makes the flavours that bit more rich and creates the golden crispy layer that is always the best part!

Honestly, the combination of the tomato-y pasta with the nutritional yeast and vegan cheese on top are just so moorish.

Ingredients

300g dried pasta
2 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
200g button mushrooms sliced
6 vegan sausages, sliced in approx 2cm rounds
2 tbsp tomato puree
400g tin of haricot beans, rinsed and drained (any pulses can be substituted)
1 tsp Italian mixed herbs (or mixed herbs if you don’t have Italian)
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
150g bag of baby spinach
Small bunch of basil
50g vegan cheese
Sprinkling of nutritional yeast
2 slices of bread made into breadcrumbs, or approx a cup of panko breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180/200°C.
Cook the pasta in boiling salted water for 2 mins less than the packet’s instructions, and drain.
Whist the pasta is cooking, fry the onion and garlic until soft.
Add the sausage and fry until golden. Next add the chopped red pepper, and mushrooms, fry for 5 minutes more. Then add the beans, tinned tomatoes, purée and dried herbs.
If you like the pasta sauce to be quick sauce-y, thenr efill the tin of tomatoes halfway with some water and add this in, or add another tin of tomatoes for extra flavour and sauce.
Season and stir, bring to a gentle boil and simmer for a further 5 mins.
In the meantime, mix together the breadcrumbs, cayenne paper, paprika and cheese in a bowl ready for the topping.
Add the fresh herbs, dried chilli flakes (if using), baby spinach and cooked pasta to the pan and stir through, cooking for a few minutes until wilted.
Pour into a baking/gratin dish and sprinkle the top with the cheese/bread mix.
Bake in the oven for about 25 mins until golden and heated through.