This recipe for the BEST Vegetable Bake came along as a bit of an accident, but it turned out to be one of the most delicious vegetable dishes I’ve ever had! It’s perfect to make at the beginning of the week. Then, you can have it on hand as a tasty way to get a healthy does of vegetables in.
You’d think as a food blogger I always have my meals and recipes planned out ahead of time. But the truth is many of them happen on a whim, or based on whatever ingredients I have on hand. This vegetable bake is the perfect example. What started as a quick way to use up some leftover vegetables turned into an experiment that went oh so right…
On Sundays I like to batch-cook vegetables to last me throughout at least the first few days of the week, but I started to get sick of boring old roasted vegetables. So this time I decided to combine them and bring it all together with my *favorite* Trader Joe’s Eggplant Garlic Spread with Sweet Red Peppers spread and parmesan cheese. Always add cheese 😉
Find the recipe below, as well as some alternative cooking & ingredient options.
PrintThe BEST Vegetable Bake
This BEST Vegetable Bake is an easy way to make your veggies taste delicious!
- Prep Time: 25
- Cook Time: 10
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Side
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 5 ounces shiitake mushrooms
- 1 cup asparagus, cut in 1-inch pieces
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 12 ounces riced cauliflower (fresh or thawed from frozen)
- 2 cups fresh baby spinach (or 3/4 cup thawed from frozen)
- 3/4 cup Trader Joe’s Eggplant Garlic Spread with Sweet Red Peppers
- 1/2 cup grated or shredded parmesan cheese (+ more for topping)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease/line baking sheets with parchment paper
- Season mushrooms and asparagus with some salt & pepper, roast for 10-15 minutes, flipping midway
- Heat oil in a large sauce pan on medium, then add riced cauliflower. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently, until becomes translucent and slightly golden brown
- Mix in spinach and let cook for another 1-2 minutes
- In the pan or a large bowl, combine all of the vegetables. Mix in the Mix in the TJ’s eggplant spread and parmesan cheese
- Transfer to a casserole dish, add a sprinkle more of parmesan cheese, and bake for 10-12 minutes
Keywords: vegetable bake, vegetable roast, easy veggie bake recipe, cauliflower rice vegetable bake recipe, easy vegetable bake recipe, baked cauliflower rice, best trader joes recipes, easy trader joes recipes
If you want to use fresh cauliflower rice & spinach instead of frozen:
- First cook the cauliflower rice it separately from the spinach by either sautéing it stovetop or steaming. Then mix in the fresh spinach until it wilts
A cooking alternative “hack”:
- You can cook/steam the cauliflower rice and spinach in the casserole dish in the microwave for about 5 minutes to save cleaning a pan
- You can really cook all the vegetables however you prefer! Air fry, steam, sauté, etc. The key is to make sure they’re all cooked through, because the baking portion at the end is really just to bring all of the flavors of the sauce & cheese together
Other ingredient substitutions:
- If you don’t like mushrooms or asparagus, use any other vegetables you like. Some that would be great: zucchini, butternut squash, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, etc.
- I’d personally keep the cauliflower rice because that’s what makes this vegetable bake really hearty and satisfying
- To turn this vegetable bake into a main dish, you could add your favorite protein into the mix or enjoy on the side. Chicken would be delicious
- Definitely don’t omit the Trader Joe’s Eggplant Garlic Spread with Sweet Red Peppers spread. That’s what MAKES this dish!
Enjoy this vegetable bake with your favorite protein for a healthy meal
- chicken
- meatballs
- ground turkey
- tempeh
- roasted chickpeas
As always, if you make this vegetable bake or any of my other recipes I’d love to see how they turned out. Be sure to tag me on Instagram @Hungry.Blonde! xoxo GG
You might also like:
Mini Eggplant Pizzas
Slow Cooker White Bean Chicken Chili
Spinach & Artichoke Chicken Skillet Casserole
Honey BBQ Cauliflower
I made this and it was great! I accidentally got the wrong spread at TJs- instead of Eggplant Garlic Spread with Sweet Red Peppers I bought Red Pepper Spread with Eggplant and Garlic, but it was still delicious! For the veggies I did mushrooms, onions and zucchini instead of mushrooms, asparagus and spinach. In the end I made a bunch of adaptations from your original recipe, but not sure I would have thought to combine and bake this myself- so thank you!
★★★★★
Sounds delicious, and good to know re the other spread! Thanks for this comment 🙂
This was really good and a creative way to eat veggies. I used goats milk cheddar since it’s easier in my stomach. I put the frozen cauliflower rice directly in the pan and mixed it with the roasted veg and just baked it that way. I skipped the spinach (because I forgot) and ate this with some grilled chicken. Really good!
★★★★★
Sounds delicious, I’m glad you enjoyed! Thanks for this comment 🙂