Helloooooo lazy.
This is pretty much as good as it gets for a quick week day meal.
Allow me to demonstrate.
Collect ingredients. Layer. Bake.
So easy.
And definitely delicious.
I made this both gluten free and lactose free so Kyle and I could share it. It’s much easier that way.
Isn’t it cool how the spaghetti is baked into the casserole? And the noodles are all plump. Considering how different GF noodles are than wheat noodles, I was happy this turned out as well as it did. I actually think the brown rice noodles turned out better baked in the oven than cooked in boiling water!
Baked Spaghetti with Spinach & Goat Cheese [vegetarian, lactose free, gluten free, FODMAPs friendly]
Ingredients:
- 12 oz. gluten free spaghetti noodles (I used Tinkyada brown rice spaghetti)
- 24 oz. marinara sauce (I used Newman’s marinara pasta sauce)
- 24 oz. water (just refill the sauce jar with water)
- 12 oz. lactose free plain yogurt (I used Green Valley organics)
- 4 oz goat cheese (I used Laura Chenel’s chevre)
- 8 oz. frozen spinach (I used Stahlbush Island Farms)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt & pepper (to taste)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Add olive oil to glass casserole dish (I used a 7 x 11 pyrex) and spread so the pan is coated.
Layer: noodles, marinara, water, spinach, cheese, salt & pepper.
In layering the noodles, I put about a third of them on the bottom lengthwise, then I broke another third in half and layered them across on top, followed by the final third lengthwise. There’s no right or wrong way to do this, just scatter them out in a crosshatch pattern.
For the marinara, I poured the whole jar on top, then refilled it with water, shook it up so the extra stuff would mix with the water, and then dumped it all into the dish. The water gets soaked up as the pasta cooks, so don’t worry about how soupy it looks.
The final layers are the spinach and cheese. You can use whatever vegetable you want – collard greens, kale, green beans – seriously anything! You can also use whatever cheese you want. For the people who tolerate dairy/lactose, use mozzarella instead of the plain yogurt. And maybe add on parmesan.
Bake for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees.
Allow to cool to room temp before serving (helps the pasta set).
Done and done.
Totally yum.
This is the goat’s cheese I used.
If you look at the sugar/fiber content it gives you a good idea of why it’s tolerated by those who are sensitive to lactose. There’s basically no lactose in it. I used half the package crumbled atop the dish.
As for the Tinkyada brown rice spaghetti…gluten free with only two ingredients. One of which is water. Doesn’t get much more pure than that!
This is a sure crowd pleaser. Kyle and I both enjoyed every bite. He said he’d never have known the dish was gluten and dairy free either, so it’s really for anyone, not just people following special diets.
If you give it a try, let me know!
This sounds wonderful and easy! I have only used rice noodles once and although I liked the taste and texture they stuck together really bad and we ended up eating them with a fork and knife to cut like it was a pasta bake topped with sauce rather than regular pasta. I think I will try it this way next time, it sounds way easier and it’s meant to be eaten with a fork.
This looks so easy! Cody loves spaghetti, so I’m definitely giving this a go soon!
This is so awesome and SO easy! I am loving it! I am also super impressed by how well it appears that the noodles baked. I will definitely be giving this a try.
Whoa! I didn’t know you could throw raw noodles into the oven and they would cook like that. I always thought you had to cook the noodles first on the stove-top them put them in the caserole. Is that dumb? Maybe I should have kept that to myself.
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this looks great, can’t wait to try it!
Love this idea! Definitely easier than making lasagna!
Hi Elise!
I made this yesterday AM and snacked on little bowls of it all day! I did a vegan version so I wouldn’t use up all our goat cheese and we were out of my almond unsweetened yogurt. It was just spinach brown rice noodles, Newman’s own sockarooni sauce, water, a bag of frozen spinach and salt, pepper and nutritional yeast (all organic and gf)! I even messed up my layering and had some noodles on top, but it didn’t matter! It was DELICIOUS and the noodles were amazing– I agree about them tasting even better than boiled. Even my carnivorous partner LOVED it! He usually will try my veggie/vegan stuff, even though he grimaces, but he declared it “AWESOME!” Thanks heaps, you made preggo me very happy! 😀 MWAH! :-*
This sounds so good! Do you think it would freeze well pre-baking?
This is such an awesome idea!!! When i was a kid one of my favorite dinners was “spaghetti pie”, cooked noddles mixed with and egg, baked in a pie plate and then topped with sauce/veg/cheese and rebaked a bit
This would be soooo perfect for lunches too!
Ok, so I’m a long-time reader and love your blog but I made two recipes this week that turned out horribly. I followed the recipes for the baked spaghetti and the banana whatchamacallit. The spaghetti turned out super watery and mushy and the banana thing tasted like a weird sweet frittata. I am feeling sad about this because I really like your blog but feel like this was a total waste of food because it’s inedible 🙁
well that sucks! sorry you had bad luck…i dont know what to say since i just wrote out what i did. my recipe posts are literally exactly what i did and without knowing anything about your preparation its hard to say where the problem occurred. i know others have made the banana whatchamacallit and its turned out so im not sure how to help.
hmmm…probably not. i suspect there would be something weird that happens to the uncooked noodles just soaking in liquid for so long.
yayyyy. so glad it was a hit!!
I had no idea that you could get noodles to cook in the oven like that! I crave pasta constantly (carbs are my weakness) but I don’t always have the energy to go through the water boiling/cooking/prepping sauce process. I can’t wait to try this!
What a brilliant idea for lazy-man’s lasagna! I’d love to make this for my fam this weekend! When do you add the yogurt – with the sauce?
no, just after the spinach, with the goat cheese crumbles.
I made this tonight and so easy! We had nothing in the house but all these ingredients and within an hour of me coming in the door i had it made! My one year old gobbled it up Aand its still hit or miss for him for a ‘solid’ meal, but my hubby well he doesnt like anything i make so he tossed most of his serving in the trash. I was like ‘wait! Our kid can eat that tomorrow’ win some lose some i guess
This dish was a hit with my whole household, which is rare. I am SO making this again!
Terrific recipe! I found it by Googling “baked spaghetti rice noodles” and I’m so glad I tried it! My comment is to say (a) thank you for the recipe! and (b) to let others know that you can use plain Asian rice noodles instead of the amazing-looking Tinkyada, which aren’t available where I live in Australia. My family is on the Perfect Health Diet, and faux pasta using white rice noodles is perfect for us.
We had it tonight and loved every bite!
thanks so much elisa! glad to know the rice noodles work bc the tinkyada ones are $$$ so when they arent on sale, im definitely going to use the cheaper option.
I just made this with mozzarella, leftover chicken sausage and leftover peppers and onions. Came out great and so easy. Seems like it can be really versatile depending on what you have on hand, I’m definitely going to repeat this!
Hi — I stumbled onto this recipe looking for a way to cook spaghetti noodles in the oven. Being newly gluten-free (sort of 😉 ) I was thrilled to see your recipe using brown rice noodles. Mine is baking now and should be done, but it’s still super-watery looking. .. is it supposed to be covered with foil? ? Thanks for any advice!
how did it turn out? i didnt use foil and although it was soupy before it cooked it wasnt after it baked and sat…
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The marinara sauce contains dried onion and garlic which are not fodmap friendly…just so people know. There is a brand that doesn’t and it is Raos for sensitive tummies! Can’t wait to try this. Thanks.
Hi! i had the watery issue at first as well and i think it’s because i used regular pasta instead. the second time around i only put in an extra 12oz and it came out picture (and taste) perfect!
thanks again for the recipe!
OH and I added lentils for some extra kapow and then did the whole goat cheese thing. DELICIOUS 🙂
awesome!!!
What a coincidence! I recently did a similar baked spaghetti dish but added fresh mushrooms + kidney beans and was pretty fond of the pasta soaking up the sauce and getting pleasantly plump. Now that I’ve seen your version I think I’ll have to get spaghetti-bakin’ again soon :).
yum yum yum! great minds…
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Thanks so much for an EASY and versatile recipe! I can’t remember the last time I made something so easy and it’s totally delicious! I added polenta as a layer as well as fresh tomatoes on top with a layer of nutritional yeast – YUMMY!
Elise, did the dried onion and garlic in the sauce bother you? Also, did you use goat cheese log? Or another type of goat cheese? If not a log, what kind? Thanks much.
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