Comfort food at its finest, this warm and deliciously creamy Vegan “Tuna” Noodle Casserole is a classic remake.  Packed with healthy vegetables, tasty noodles, and a flavorful sauce, it is sure to be a new family favorite.  A fabulous Whole Food Plant Based recipe. Vegan, oil free, sugar free, gluten free, no highly processed ingredients.

Hi!  Robin here!

In another life, tuna noodle casserole was a family favorite.  It was quick, easy, and flavorful.  I made it fairly often when the kids were growing up.  I could whip it up in no time using a can of tuna, a can of cream of mushroom soup (or cream of chicken soup), and some egg noodles.  Mix it all up, pop in oven with some crushed potato chips on top and you were good to go, right?  The kids loved it.  I had to make it in massive quantities because TP109 would hover it, and there wouldn’t be any leftovers for the next day for me to take some to work for my lunch.  LOL

TP109 = Casserole Lover!

I know I have mentioned this in other posts, but I feel like I need to metion it again… TP LOVES casseroles!  He gets super excited any time he sees me or Monkey dig through our hoard of casserole dishes.

Not that we have a ton of casserole dishes, but we keep them in the back of a lower cabinet where we must dig through a mountain of baking dishes to get to them.  His reaction is kinda reminiscent of that famous youtube video of that cute dog that went crazy when his Gumby doggy toy comes to life.

If you haven’t seen it, it is definitely worth seeing, search youtube “Guy dresses up as dog’s favorite toy”.  Once you view that, you will understand how much TP loves casseroles.   LOL

TP109 is like, “You making a casserole?  You are gonna make a casserole, right?   I think it’s time for a casserole blog today; that’s what you are making, right?  Don’t get me all excited for a casserole, then pull the rug out, OK?”

It is really quite comical how excited he gets over casseroles.  He lights up like a Christmas tree.

“Tuna” Noodle Casserole

Veganizing and Whole Food Plant Basing a “Tuna” Noodle Casserole is something I have been contemplating for quite some time.  The original version (not Vegan, not WFPB) was fast and easy.  I knew it would take a little extra work to pull this healthy version together, but I was totally up for it.

Healthy and Delicious

This WFPB “Tuna” Noodle Casserole is not only healthy, it is abosolutely delicious!  It is TOTALLY worth the little extra time and effort. TP109 went insane!  He loved it.

Pasta vs Gluten Free Pasta

It is fairly easy to find a WFPB compliant pasta at most grocery stores.  I would suggest using a WFPB fettuccini pasta to mimic the traditional egg noodle, but any WFPB pasta will work if gluten is not an issue.

However, we could not locate a gluten free WFPB compliant fettuccini pasta and I really, really, really wanted to mimic the look of the egg noodles found in traditional tuna noodle casserole.  So, here’s what we did.

I bought a 9-oz. package of Delallo Gluten Free Lasagna noodles, partially cooked them, then cut them into one inch strips, then place them in the casserole. They finished cooking in the sauce when we placed it in the oven.  We were so excited because it worked perfectly.

Bread Crumbs vs Gluten Free Bread Crumbs

It is also fairly easy to find WFPB compliant bread crumbs or rather make them.  All you need to do is dry out some WFPB compliant bread in the oven, then process it in a food processor to create bread crumbs.  For those of us trying to find a WFPB Gluten Free bread to make bread crumbs, that’s a whole “nuther” story.

So, Monkey and I got creative.  We took one of our left-over Quinoa Flatbreads, baked it in the oven until it was super crispy, then stuck it in the food processor along with a few other seasonings and processed it until it resembled bread crumbs.  WOOT!  WFPB gluten-free bread crumbs!

For our Gluten-Free WFPB friends, we certainly don’t expect anyone to go through the extra work to get compliant bread crumbs, but, if you happen to have any left-over quinoa flatbread, you can make gluten free bread crumbs this way.  OR, you can totally leave the bread crumbs off the casserole.  It doesn’t impact the flavor of the casserole; it just adds to the “look” of a traditional tuna noodle casserole.

Frozen Veggies

Frozen vegetables work really well for this recipe because it eliminats cleaning and blanching fresh vegetables before placing them in the casserole.  We used a 16-oz. bag of Classic Mixed Vegetables (corn, peas, green beans, and carrots) as well as a 14.4 oz. bag of frozen broccoli and cauliflower florets.  You can drop them in frozen with the cream sauce, and then heat them through.

One thing I noticed is in my bag of frozen broccoli and cauliflower, the florets were very inconsistent, which is fine, but it drove me crazy.  Some were HUGE, while others were perfectly sized.

When I put them into the cream sauce, once they were heated through, I picked some of the larger florets up with a slotted spoon and sliced them into smaller pieces, then dropped them back into the sauce.  This way, I didn’t have any veggie mountains in my casserole.  LOL

Amount of Pasta

While it is super tempting to use a full pound of pasta (or more pasta than the recommended amount of 9 oz.), I wouldn’t unless you adjust the recipe to increase the cream base amount.  This recipe is more veggies than “noodles,” but if you are really hankering for a noodle fix, then reduce the amount of veggies OR increase your cream sauce accordingly to ensure that oh-so-delicious creamy texture and not end up with a dried-up casserole because your pasta sucked up all the moisture of the cream base.

TP109 was happy and sad!

When it came out of the oven, it looked divine.  I mean, I could totally hear angels singing in my head.  “Aaaaahhhhhhh”  LOL  It was sooooo good.  TP loved it.  The only thing that made him sad was that he wanted leftovers.

Mind you, there totally could have been leftovers, but the man is a human vacuum cleaner!  If you don’t know him, then you wouldn’t understand. While TP109 is a small man, 5’6” and 135 pounds soaking wet, he can eat like a 350-pound linebacker.  The man can really pack it away.  I mean seriously . . . he could have easily eaten the whole casserole by himself (and trust me, he totally wanted to),   He just loves to eat.  It really pisses me off that he can eat so much and not gain a pound.  LOL

Ameera here!

I loved this Vegan “Tuna” Noodle Casserole.  It was sooooo good!  We all devoured it like it was our last meal on earth.  Dad was all over it as soon as it came out of the oven.  He was making tons of excuses to allow himself to take a portion out of the casserole before we photographed it.

“Just let me have a small portion to start with, it will look more authentic to show your readers that someone couldn’t wait to eat this beautiful casserole in the photos.” “You can take a photo of me eating it to lend credibility to your blog on how much I love casseroles.”

The funny thing is when we wanted to take a photo of him eating it (when we finally did give him some), he didn’t want us to take his picture because “I don’t want to take off my glasses and you know I hate to take pictures with my glasses on.”  HAH!!

We hope you give this comfort food recipe a try.  It is super tasty and we hope you love it as much as we do.

Products used:

• Ceramic/Enamel lined Dutch oven.
• Nonstick skillet (for sautéing the mushrooms)
• Stock pot (for boiling the pasta)
• High-Speed Blender (for cashew cream)
• Immersion blender (for creaming the casserole base)

Vegan “Tuna” Noodle Casserole

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• Author: Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures
• Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 60 minutes
• Yield: 4-6 Servings 1x
• Category: Dinner
• Cuisine: American

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Description

Comfort food at its finest, this warm and deliciously creamy Vegan “Tuna” Noodle Casserole is a classic remake.  Packed with healthy vegetables, tasty noodles, and a flavorful sauce, it is sure to be a new family favorite.  A fabulous Whole Food Plant Based recipe. Vegan, oil free, sugar free, gluten free, no highly processed ingredients.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Cream Base

• 1/4 cup raw cashews *
• 1 cup unsweetened plain plant milk *

Mushrooms

• 8 oz. white button mushrooms, sliced
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon tamari *
• 1 Tablespoon vegetable broth *

Vegetable Base

• 1 medium yellow onion, fine dice
• 2 celery ribs, fine dice
• 1 carrot, fine dice
• 1 heaping teaspoon minced garlic
• ¼ teaspoon dried crushed thyme leaves *
• 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon flour (of choice)
• 2 cups water (or broth)
• 1 cup vegetable broth*
• 1 Tablespoon freeze dried shallots *
• ¼ teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons sea salt (+/-) *
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper (+/-)

Additional Ingredients:

• 1 – [ 16 oz. bag ] frozen Classic Mixed Vegetables (corn, peas, green beans, carrots)
• 1 – [ 14.4 oz. bag ] frozen broccoli and cauliflower florets
• 9 oz. pasta (of choice)  *
• 1 or 2 Tablespoons bread crumbs (Optional) *

Optional: Gluten Free -Whole Food Plant Based Bread Crumbs – Ingredients

• One Basic Quinoa Flatbread – baked to super crisp (see recipe here)
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt (+/-) *
• ½ teaspoon dried parsley
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder

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Instructions

Cream Base Instructions:

1. Blend the plant milk & cashews (discard soaking water) together until very smooth. Set aside.  (See Notes on quick soak)

Mushrooms Instructions:

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, add mushrooms and sauté until the liquid evaporates (about 3 minutes). Add 1 Tablespoon of vegetable broth to prevent sticking (only if needed).
2. Now add 1 teaspoon minced garlic and tamari. Sauté until the mushrooms are tender & lightly browned. About 2-4 minutes. Remove mushrooms and set aside.

Casserole Base Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F.
2. Add cold water to a large stockpot and heat until boiling. This is for boiling the pasta.
3. In the meantime, while waiting for the pasta water to boil, in a large ceramic/enamel lined Dutch oven, skillet or nonstick skillet, add the onions, carrots, and celery, and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic & thyme. Sauté about 5 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. (If needed to prevent sticking, add 1 Tablespoon of vegetable broth).
4. Sprinkle the flour over the cooked vegetables, and stir constantly for 1-2 minutes.
5. Stir in the vegetable broth and water, then add the sweet paprika, freeze dried shallots, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper and sea salt. Stir well to incorporate the flour into the broth. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 5 to 7 minutes.
6. Take an immersion blender and blend everything until very smooth and creamy. If the immersion blender doesn’t work well enough, transfer to a high-speed food processor or blender, then return to the Dutch oven/skillet.
7. Add the pasta to the boiling pasta water. Watch the pasta carefully. If you are concerned, wait until the end to boil the pasta. (See Notes)
8. Turn heat to medium low and slowly stir in cashew cream. Cook for a few minutes.
9. Taste for seasoning and add more if needed.
10. Increase the heat, then add the frozen vegetables* into the casserole mixture, cook for 3 to 4 minutes to thoroughly heat through.
11. Stir in the sauteed mushrooms.
12. When the pasta tenderness reaches right before the al dente stage, stop the cooking process*, drain off the water, shake well to remove any excess water, then add to the casserole mixture.
13. Stir well to incorporate, then transfer the entire mixture into a 10 x 13 casserole dish or similar sized dish that can hold the mixture. Cover tightly with foil and bake in the oven for 25 minutes at 400 F.
14. After 25 minutes, remove from the oven, reduce the heat to 350F, remove the foil, sprinkle with several  Tablespoons of bread crumbs (+/-) and return to the oven for 5 minutes.
15. After 5 minutes, remove from the oven, allow to sit for 7 to 10 minutes before serving.
16. Enjoy!

Optional: Gluten Free -Whole Food Plant Based Bread Crumbs – Instructions

1. Place the already baked “Basic Quinoa Flatbread” into a 400 F oven to crisp up and dry out. This takes approx. 5 minutes at 400 F.  Remove from the oven and break off a piece.  If it is super crisp and crumbling apart, you can use it for the breadcrumbs.
2. Break up the quinoa flatbread and put it into a high-speed blender with the other ingredients. Blend on high until it resembles bread crumbs.
3. Sprinkle one or two Tablespoons on top of the casserole. NOTE: This makes approx. ¾ cups of bread crumbs.  Reserve or freeze the rest for use later with other recipes.
4. NOTE: If you do not require gluten free bread crumbs, you can toast any compliant bread in the oven until very dried out, then quickly pulse in a food processor until it resembles bread crumbs. Adjust the other seasonings accordingly as the seasonings are based upon one basic quinoa flatbread.

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Notes

*Cashews:  To speed up the soaking time for cashews:  Place the cashews in a small bowl and cover with boiling water, cover 20 minutes, until softened.  Use a high-speed blender or food processor to ensure a creamy, smooth texture.

*Amount of Unsweetened Plain Plant Based Milk and Cashews:  The amount of plant based milk and cashews can be increased if you plan to use more than 9 oz. of pasta.  Increase to ½ cup cashews and 2 cups plant milk.  You will also need to add slightly more seasonings.  We used a good amount of frozen vegetables in our casserole to reduce the amount of pasta.

*Vegetable Broth:  We used Pacific Organic Low Sodium Vegetable Stock because it does not have MSG, and has no highly processed ingredients; however, Pacific has a very strong flavor so our water to broth ratio is heavy on the water and low on the vegetable broth.  If you are using a vegetable broth other than Pacific, please adjust the water to broth ratio accordingly.

*Freeze dried shallots:  Freeze dried shallots are an excellent way to add some extra flavor to your dishes.  We love them.

*Frozen vegetables:  You can use fresh vegetables, but if you do make sure you cook them before adding to the mixture.  Frozen vegetables actually works best for this recipe.  The only downside is that in order to gain consistency on the size of the cauliflower and broccoli pieces, you may have to scoop a few up on a spoon and manually cut them while they are cooking in the mixture.  You totally do not have to do this, but some of the frozen cauliflower florets were huge and it really bothered me to see these big cauliflower florets in my casserole so I scooped them up after they cooked on a spoon and cut them down with a sharp knife and dropped them back down into my casserole mixture.

*Pasta: We used the 9-oz. package of Delallo Gluten Free Lasagna noodles.  We cooked them for 4 minutes, then removed them from the boiling water, ran them quickly under cold water, then stacked them and sliced them into one inch pieces.  This is extra work, but we loved the outcome. We did this because we couldn’t find a gluten free pappardelle pasta in any of our local stores.  You can totally avoid all of this by using any Whole Food Plant Based compliant pasta.  I would recommend using a WFPB compliant fettuccini or pappardelle pasta to mimic the noodles used traditionally in this type of casserole.

*Pasta Cooking Time:  You will want to cook the pasta to right before the al dente stage as the pasta will continue to cook in the casserole dish.

*Thyme Leaves: We use Penzeys French Thyme.  It has amazing flavor.  Please note that dried crushed thyme leaves is not the same as ground thyme. You can use either in this recipe.  We used dried crushed thyme leaves, so if you are using ground thyme, scale back a little more than half of the amount used, and check for flavor. Adjust as preferred.

*Sea Salt:  Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.

*Bread Crumbs:  You can use any bread crumbs you like.  We provided a WFPB Gluten Free recipe for bread crumbs.

Storage:  Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate.  Use within 7 to 10 days.