Our Vegan Pasta Alla Norma is a satisfying yet healthy pasta dish made with roasted aubergines or eggplants, marinara sauce, fresh basil, yeast flakes, and spaghetti.
Pasta Alla Norma is a Sicilian dish that combines fried eggplant with a delicious marinara sauce topped with grated ricotta. Our version calls for baked eggplant instead of fried and yeast flakes or vegan cheese.
Once a week it's pasta night at home. Pasta is always a family win and our favorite part is trying new sauces using different ingredients. When we first found Pasta Alla Norma, we knew it was going to be a hit. We all love eggplants and marinara sauces, so definitely a winner!
To suit our whole family, we decided to veganize this recipe and bake the eggplants instead of frying them and the result was a delicious pasta meal, that our toddler ended up loving too.
When it comes to pasta, we like trying different types but we normally stick to our favorite brand, Garofalo Pasta. For this recipe, we tried Spaghetti and it was perfect. Feel free to use another type of pasta such as rigatoni or penne, they are great choices for this type of sauce too.
Our Vegan Pasta Alla Norma is:
- Plant-based
- Family-friendly if you leave the chili flakes out
- Made using a few ingredients
- Healthy
- Hearty
- Easy to prepare
- Quick to make
How to prepare Vegan Pasta Alla Norma
Ingredients
Eggplants or aubergines. Pasta Alla Norma's star ingredient is the eggplant. Traditionally deep-fried, but equally delicious when baked. To prepare the eggplant, we cut them into cubes, and drizzle the cubes with a little bit of olive oil and salt. Then transfer the cubed eggplant onto a baking tray and leave it baking while preparing the rest of the ingredients.
Marinara sauce. Get good quality canned tomatoes (preferably plum or San Marzano tomatoes), fresh garlic, and fresh herbs to prepare a delicious tomato sauce. We use fresh basil for our marinara sauce, but you can use oregano too. If you don't have fresh herbs, you can use dried herbs too.
Yeast flakes. We use yeast flakes or nutritional flakes for our Vegan Pasta Alla Norma for two reasons. First, it gives your meal a delicious cheesy touch keeping it vegan, and second, it adds nutritional value to the dish. Yeast flakes are a great way to add vitamin b12 to your meals. If you want to use vegan cheese instead of yeast flakes, our favorite brand to go for is Violife.
Chili flakes. We love adding chili flakes to this recipe as it gives a little heat to the dish. We keep them out for our toddler and add them right at the end.
Step by Step method
- Preheat the oven to 200C or 400F. Prepare the aubergine or eggplant. Cut into cubes the eggplants, place the cubes in a big mixing bowl and drizzle with olive oil and salt. Make sure all the eggplant cubes are slightly coated (you don't want them too oily). Place the cubes onto a baking tray and bake until the cubes are cooked through (25-30 minutes).
- Make the marinara sauce by heating some oil in a non-stick pan. Add the garlic finely chopped and cook for a couple of minutes. We use our cast iron casserole pan for this recipe.
- Add the canned tomatoes and mix. Leave the sauce simmering for 10 minutes and optionally, add a bit of sugar or maple syrup if the sauce is too acidic.
- Add the baked eggplant and chopped fresh basil.
- Cook the pasta following the packet instructions and save some of the pasta water. Once the pasta is cooked and drained, add the pasta to the sauce, stir until all the ingredients are perfectly combined, and add some pasta water to get a perfect consistency.
- Serve with yeast flakes and a sprinkle of chili flakes.
Serving Suggestions
At home, we like serving pasta dishes with a few sides, such as green and black olives, a fresh salad, vegan garlic bread or crusty bread, pine nuts, or even pesto sauce. You can then top your pasta dish with different goodies.
For spicy food lovers, you can add more chili flakes or chili oil.
If you have any leftovers, you can keep them in the fridge for 2-3 days in an air-tight container.
Vegan Pasta Alla Norma
Ingredients
- 450 g spaghetti
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 eggplants or aubergines
- 3-4 garlic cloves
- A handful fresh basil
- 800 g canned plum or San Marzano tomatoes
- Salt and pepper to taste
Toppings
- Chili flakes
- Yeast flakes
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200C or 400F. Prepare the aubergine or eggplant. Cut into cubes the eggplants, place the cubes in a big mixing bowl and drizzle with olive oil and salt. Make sure all the eggplant cubes are slightly coated (you don't want them too oily).
- Place the cubes onto a baking tray and bake until the cubes are cooked through (25-30 minutes).
- Make the marinara sauce by heating some oil in a non-stick pan. Add the garlic finely chopped and cook for a couple of minutes.
- Add the canned tomatoes and mix. Leave the sauce simmering for 10 minutes and optionally, add a bit of sugar or maple syrup if the sauce is too acidic.
- Add the baked eggplant and chopped fresh basil.
- Cook the pasta following the packet instructions and save some of the pasta water. Once the pasta is cooked and drained, add the pasta into the sauce, stir until all the ingredients are perfectly combined and add some pasta water to get the perfect consistency.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve with yeast flakes and a sprinkle of chili flakes.
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| If you tried our recipe, please leave a comment or tag us on Instagram @Sixhungryfeet. We are always happy to see your creations! |
Natalie says
Just made this for lunch. Delicious! I forgot to grab the fresh basil and had to use dried. Next time I'll make sure to use fresh. I love a good meal with simple ingredients list , thank you!
Laura says
Thank you Natalie!