Thyme and Caraway Broccoli Pasta Bake with Creamy Cashew Sauce (Vegan)

This thyme and caraway broccoli pasta bake is a dairy-free pasta bake: pasta and broccoli folded into a creamy sauce blended from cashews, tofu, soy milk, garlic and miso, seasoned with fresh thyme and whole caraway seeds, then baked under nutritional yeast until the edges turn golden. It takes about 50 minutes, most of it hands-off, and feeds four to five people.

Serves: 4-5. Time: about 50 minutes (25 minutes of work, 20-25 minutes in the oven). Diet: vegan and dairy-free. Gluten-free only with gluten-free pasta and a miso without barley (see below). Equipment: a high-speed blender, a large pot, a frying pan, a baking dish of about 20 x 30 cm.

Ingredients

For the sauce

• 1.5 cups (360 ml) unsweetened soy milk or almond milk
• 150 g raw cashews
• 100 g firm tofu
• 2-3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (Maria uses a truffle-infused one)
• 1 tablespoon dark miso paste
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 packed tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
• 1.5-2 teaspoons salt (sea salt or Himalayan pink salt)
• 1.5-2 teaspoons whole caraway seeds
• Black pepper

For the pasta

• 400 g dried pasta, any shape (penne, fusilli and rigatoni hold the sauce well)
• 200 g broccoli florets
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1 tablespoon capers, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped chives, to garnish

How to make it

1. Heat the oven. Set it to 180°C (350°F).
2. Soften the cashews. Cover them with boiling water and let them soak while you prepare everything else. In a hurry, boil them for 5 minutes and drain. Soft cashews blend smooth; hard ones leave a gritty sauce.
3. Cook the onion and garlic. Warm the olive oil in a pan over medium heat and fry the onion and garlic until translucent and lightly browned, 5-7 minutes. Stir often. Burnt garlic turns the whole sauce bitter.
4. Blend the sauce. Put the drained cashews, tofu, soy milk, the onion and garlic, salt, miso, lemon juice and a good grind of pepper in the blender. Blend on high until smooth and creamy, 1-2 minutes. Start with 1.5 teaspoons of salt and taste: the miso, capers and nutritional yeast all add salt later.
5. Stir in the herbs. Add the caraway seeds and thyme to the sauce and stir them through by hand. Left whole, the caraway gives small bursts of flavour when you bite into a seed instead of spreading through the whole dish.
6. Cook the pasta and broccoli. Boil the pasta in salted water until al dente, following the packet. About a minute before it is done, add the broccoli florets to the same pot to blanch them. Drain both and stir in the chopped capers.
7. Mix. Pour about 2 cups (480 ml) of the sauce over the pasta and broccoli and fold until everything is coated. You can eat it straight from the pot at this point.
8. Bake. Tip the pasta into the baking dish, press it flat with the back of a spoon, and scatter the nutritional yeast and some extra black pepper over the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the edges are golden and the top has set.
9. Finish. Sprinkle the chives over it and serve warm.

The sauce makes more than the 2 cups you need. Keep the rest in a closed jar in the fridge for 3-4 days and use it on another pasta night, or loosen it with a little plant milk as a dip for roasted vegetables.

What the diet labels hold

Vegan and dairy-free: yes, as written. The creaminess comes from cashews and tofu, and the savoury, cheese-like note from miso and nutritional yeast.

Gluten-free: only with two changes. Use a pasta labelled gluten-free, and check the miso. Many dark misos are made with barley (mugi miso), which contains gluten. Rice miso or a soy-only miso such as hatcho is the safe choice. Nutritional yeast is naturally free of gluten, but some brands are packed alongside wheat, so read the label if you cook for someone with coeliac disease.

Nut-free: no, as written. See the swaps below.

Protein: the original recipe called this dish high in protein thanks to the tofu. The 100 g of tofu adds roughly 12-15 g of protein to the whole dish. More comes from the pasta, the cashews and the soy milk. Split between four people, a portion lands somewhere around 20-25 g, depending on your pasta and how much of the sauce you use. A filling dinner. For more protein, blend a full 400 g block of tofu into the sauce and add a little extra soy milk.

Thyme, caraway and the Ayurvedic view of this dish

Caraway (Carum carvi) is the seed you know from rye bread and sauerkraut. It tastes warm and faintly of anise, and it pairs well with the garlic and miso in the sauce. Thyme adds a fresh, herbal edge. Don't swap the caraway for cumin: they look alike and are often confused, but cumin is earthier and pulls the dish toward a curry.

The recipe's author, Maria Praeg, wrote it with Ayurveda in mind. Ayurveda, the traditional medical system of India, describes three doshas, or constitutions: vata (air and space), pitta (fire and water) and kapha (earth and water). In that framework, warm, creamy, salty and slightly pungent food settles vata, and a mild green vegetable such as broccoli suits pitta. The same framework would call this bake heavy for kapha, because it is dense and rich. If the Sanskrit is new to you, our list of 50 Sanskrit yoga terms covers the basics.

Here the sources part ways. The dosha system is a traditional way of describing people and food. Research on it is thin: studies of dosha types are small, use different questionnaires and are hard to compare, and no trial has shown that eating to your dosha changes health outcomes. Nutrition science would describe the same plate in plainer words: starch from the pasta, fat and some protein from cashews and tofu, fibre and vitamin C from broccoli. Both views agree on one thing that holds up: a warm, filling meal after a long day is easy to digest when you eat it slowly. Read the dosha notes as tradition, and let your own appetite decide.

If the elements behind the doshas interest you, the Five Elements program brings earth, water, fire, air and space into a Vinyasa practice, starting with the earth element Vinyasa class. Many yogis also cook plant-based as part of ahimsa, the principle of non-harm.

Swaps and variations

• No cashews: use 150 g of sunflower seeds, soaked the same way, or a 400 g tin of drained white beans. Both give a slightly thinner sauce, so hold back some of the soy milk.
• No caraway: fennel seeds or dill seeds are the closest match. Use a little less fennel, it is sweeter.
• Dried thyme: use 1 teaspoon instead of the packed tablespoon of fresh leaves.
• Other greens: cauliflower, kale or frozen peas all work. Add peas and kale with the broccoli so they cook for the last minute only.
• Crunchy top: mix 3 tablespoons of breadcrumbs with a teaspoon of olive oil and scatter them over with the nutritional yeast.
• No capers: use chopped green olives, or leave them out and add a squeeze of lemon at the end.

Serving, make ahead and storage

Maria serves it with green beans, flash-fried and tossed with toasted flaked almonds and lemon juice, and a green salad. The bitter leaves and the lemon cut through the rich sauce.

To make it ahead, assemble the bake without the nutritional yeast, cover it and keep it in the fridge for up to a day. Add the topping and bake straight from the fridge, adding about 10 minutes. Leftovers keep for 3-4 days in a closed container in the fridge. The pasta soaks up sauce as it sits, so add a splash of plant milk before you reheat it, covered, in the oven or a pan. It also works cold as a packed lunch.

For more from the same kitchen, try the spicy broccoli tofu soba bowl with peanut satay sauce, the gluten-free almond and blueberry breakfast muffins, or the salted hazelnut brownie loaf for afters.

The oven time is the right length for a short practice: slide the dish in, roll out your mat for a slow Yin class or a Hatha class, and dinner is ready when you come out of Savasana.

Frequently asked questions

Is this pasta bake gluten-free?

Only if you use gluten-free pasta and a miso made without barley, such as rice miso or a soy-only miso. Many dark misos contain barley. Nutritional yeast has no gluten, but check the label for a gluten-free mark if you cook for someone with coeliac disease.

Can I make it without cashews?

Yes. Soaked sunflower seeds work in the same amount and keep the sauce creamy. A tin of drained white beans works too. Both make a thinner sauce, so start with less soy milk and add more until it is pourable.

Can I use cumin instead of caraway?

You can, but the dish changes. Cumin is earthier and smokier and pulls the flavour toward a curry. Fennel seeds or dill seeds are closer to caraway's warm, anise-like taste.

Do I have to bake it?

No. The pasta is fully cooked before it goes in the oven, so you can eat it straight from the pot as a creamy pasta. Baking adds golden, crisp edges and a firmer texture, which is what makes it a pasta bake.

Can I make it the day before?

Yes. Assemble it in the baking dish without the topping, cover and refrigerate for up to a day. Add the nutritional yeast and bake from cold, adding about 10 minutes to the baking time.

Can I freeze it?

Yes, for up to 2-3 months. Cool it completely, freeze it in portions and thaw overnight in the fridge. Cashew sauce can turn slightly grainy after freezing, so stir in a splash of plant milk as you reheat it.

What does the miso do in the sauce?

It adds salt and a deep, savoury flavour that dairy cheese would normally bring. Dark miso is stronger than white miso. If you only have white miso, use a heaped tablespoon.