Parsnip, cheese & pasta bake

Creamy, oozy, gooey and delicious, this parsnip pasta bake is a vegged-up, healthier version of your favourite macaroni cheese. What’s not to love?!

I got two massive parsnips in my organic veg box, and spent days considering what to do with them. They really were whoppers – one was about a foot long! – and they weighed in at about 200g each. I considered making parsnip soup, but DH isn’t a big soup fan. And I thought about roasting them, but I thought they might be a bit too big and woody to really shine in a dish of roasted veggies.

Happy flavour combinations: parsnips + …

I thought about flavours that work well with parsnip. Parnsips are incredibly versatile vegetables, and really taste terrific with a whole host of tings, including curry spices, thyme, garlic, mustard, honey, maple syrup, smoky flavours, hard cheese, apples and coconut.

TOO MUCH CHOICE! Oh, indecision…

Decisions, decisions…

Focus woman, you need to get dinner on the table!

We’d had potatoes the previous night, and rice the night before, so I reached for the pasta. I mentally skimmed through the ‘flavours’ list and picked garlic, mustard and cheese. And then, I combined everything into a delicious parsnip pasta bake!

Hidden vegetables – parsnip pasta

If you’re the sort of person who likes to hide vegetables in unexpected places, this parsnip pasta is for you. The sauce is thick, creamy, cheesy and delicious. I thought it tasted of parsnips in quite an obvious way, but having identified the cheese, mustard etc, DH couldn’t guess what my ‘secret ingredient’ was.

He insisted that I include parsnip in the name of the recipe, so that no-one would be duped into eating cheesy pasta, only to discover they’d consumed a big plate of delicious root vegetables too.

Our daughter Kipper meanwhile, ate a huge bowl of cheesy parsnip pasta bake and even asked for seconds. She is a big fan of macaroni cheese, so it wasn’t a big surprise. Parsnip-y goodness. Yum.

Health benefits of cheesy parsnip pasta bake

Unlike a regular mac ‘n’ cheese or similar dish, the presence of parsnip means that this dish is much higher in dietary fibre than its veg-free cousin. I also used wholewheat pasta as a simple swap to further boost the fibre content.

Parsnips are rich in manganese and are also a good source of vitamin C and certain B vitamins. The cheesy sauce also provides various fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamin A which is essential for vision and eye health.

Special diets – Gluten-free options

This delicious pasta dish is a great vegetarian main dish, and each serving contains around 16g of protein. You can boost this further by adding a tablespoon or two of nutritional yeast to the sauce, or making a crunchy topping using crushed nuts or seeds.

A further advantage of this parsnip sauce – apart from being utterly delicious and containing a portion of vegetables – is that it’s also gluten-free. Simply sub in your favourite gluten-free pasta and you’ve got a fabulous gluten-free dinner. The cheesy parsnip sauce also makes a terrific wheat/grain/gluten-free cheesy sauce for making other dishes like cauliflower cheese.

Generous portions of parsnip pasta

This recipe made enough cheesy parsnip pasta for 2 adults, a child, and a portion leftover for lunch. I’d say 3-4. It’s quite saucy, so you can easily add more pasta to bulk it out if you need to feed more people.

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📖 Recipe

Cheesy parsnip pasta bake

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Creamy, oozy, gooey and delicious, this parsnip pasta bake is a vegged-up, healthier version of your favourite macaroni cheese. What's not to love?!

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 40 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine European, Vegetarian

Servings 4

Calories 430 kcal

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• 400 g parsnips
• 6 cloves garlic
• 175-200 g short wholewheat pasta
• 300 ml milk
• 25 g butter
• 1 teaspoon English mustard
• 100 g grated cheddar
• Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

 

• 400 g (14 oz) parsnips, 6 cloves garlic
  Peel the parsnips and cut into chunks. Peel the garlic cloves. Put the parsnips and garlic into a pan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 8-10 minutes or until tender. Drain.
• 175-200 g (6-7 oz) short wholewheat pasta
  Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the packet. Drain and set aside.
• Preheat the grill (broiler) to medium-high.
• 300 ml (1 ¼ cups) milk, 25 g (1 ⅘ tablespoon) butter, 1 tsp English mustard, 100 g (⅞ cups) grated cheddar, Salt & pepper to taste
  Place the drained parsnips and garlic in a food processor together with the milk, butter, mustard and half of the grated cheese, and process to give a smooth puree. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Mix the drained pasta with the parsnip sauce and transfer into a baking dish. Scatter over the remaining cheese.
• Cook under the hot grill for 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and golden and everything is bubbling hot. Serve and enjoy!

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Cheesy parsnip pasta bake

Amount per Serving

Calories

430

% Daily Value*

Fat

 

17

g

26

%

Saturated Fat

 

10

g

63

%

Trans Fat

 

0.2

g

Polyunsaturated Fat

 

1

g

Monounsaturated Fat

 

4

g

Cholesterol

 

48

mg

16

%

Sodium

 

354

mg

15

%

Potassium

 

624

mg

18

%

Carbohydrates

 

57

g

19

%

Fiber

 

5

g

21

%

Sugar

 

9

g

10

%

Protein

 

16

g

32

%

Vitamin A

 

532

IU

11

%

Vitamin C

 

18

mg

22

%

Calcium

 

335

mg

34

%

Iron

 

2

mg

11

%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Keyword cheese, parsnip, pasta

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November’s ‘The Vegetable Palette’ colour is white – parsnips! The challenge is organised by A2K – A Seasonal Veg Table and is full of lovely seasonal vegetarian recipes.
Since the parsnips came from our local organic veg box, supplied by the Cambridge Organic Food Company, I’m also entering this in the to Shop Local challenge, hosted by Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary.
Finally, since this is a very autumnal dish, I’m putting it forward for Simple and in Season, hosted this month by Feeding Boys, and organised by Ren at renbehan.com