So many casserole recipes require pre-cooking the ingredients before assembling the dish for the oven. But this easy cheesy plant-based casserole recipe is just two quick blends away from baking. It has an instant cheesy sauce and marinade that layer flavor onto the sweet potatoes and cauliflower.
Easy Cheesy Plant-Based Casserole with Sweet Potatoes and Cauliflower
This rich but healthy plant-based casserole recipe is a sample from Vegan Holiday Cooking by Kirsten Kaminski. We shared this cookbook before Christmas, with a sample recipe for Vegan Chocolate Yule Log Cake. But the relevance of Kirsten’s recipes carries into the New Year with comforting winter dishes and a full chapter for Easter!
The Easter chapter includes twists on old favorites, like Vegan Egg Salad, Dijon Scalloped Potatoes, Cinnamon Hot Cross Buns, and Spinach and Mushroom Alfredo Lasagna.
This cheesy plant-based casserole is actually in the Thanksgiving chapter, but we think you will love adding it to your regular plant-based repertoire. And it would be pretty good for Easter too!
Special Diet Notes: Easy Cheesy Plant-Based Casserole
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, gluten-free, grain-free, peanut-free, optionally soy-free, vegan, vegetarian, and paleo-friendly.
- 1 cup (150 g) cashews, soaked for 6 to 8 hours (or overnight)
- 1½ cups (360 ml) almond or soy milk beverage
- 1⁄4 cup (20 g) nutritional yeast
- 1⁄2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄8 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1 small head cauliflower, chopped into small florets
- 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons (6 g) finely chopped fresh parsley, plus more as needed
- 1⁄2 cup (120 g) tahini or almond butter
- 1⁄3 cup (80 ml) water
- 1 tablespoon (16 g) Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄8 teaspoon black pepper
- To make the dairy-free cheese sauce, drain the cashews and place them in a blender. Add the milk beverage, nutritional yeast, turmeric, salt, and black pepper and blend until the sauce is smooth.
- To make the veggies, preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C) and grease a 7x10–inch (18 x 25–cm) baking dish.
- While the oven is preheating, combine the sweet potatoes, cauliflower, onion, and parsley in a large bowl.
- To make the veggie marinade, whisk together the tahini or almond butter, water, mustard, vinegar, garlic powder, maple syrup, salt, and black pepper in a medium bowl until the marinade is smooth. Pour the marinade over the veggies and use your hands or a large spoon to coat them all.
- Transfer the veggies to the prepared baking dish and spread them out evenly. Pour the cheese sauce on top and make sure all the veggies are covered.
- Cover the casserole with foil or the lid and bake for 45 minutes. Uncover the casserole and bake for another 30 minutes, or until the veggies are soft and the top is golden brown.
- Let the casserole cool slightly and serve with additional parsley.
More Plant-Based Casserole Recipes
Zucchini Potato Casserole
Mini Maple French Toast Casseroles
Scalloped Potatoes Boulangère
