This delicious vegan pesto veggie bake is easy to make, surprisingly quick to assemble, and it's so IMPRESSIVE! This beautiful and healthy side dish is perfect to make for the holidays or to go with your weeknight dinner.
I know that you're thinking this vegan veggie bake looks fancy and time-intensive, but it's actually very easy to make! This is why I always make this dish for holiday meals and family events because it looks so special. In addition to being a beautiful dish to look at it also tastes incredibly delicious!
If you like ratatouille, I think that you're really going to enjoy this zucchini tomato pesto bake. This dish is similar to ratatouille because of the thinly sliced layered vegetables, but what sets it apart is the flavorful pesto sauce that's used instead of traditional tomato sauce.
I just love how the pesto sauce seeps into every nook and cranny of the vegetables while they're roasting. It's seriously tasty! Trust me, serve this side dish at your holiday dinner or jazz up your weeknight dinner, your family is going to love it!
How To Make a Pesto Veggie Bake
First, you're going to make the pesto sauce. Add the fresh basil leaves, pumpkin seeds, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, water, salt, and pepper to a food processor. Pulse until the sauce until smooth and set it aside for later.
Next, use a hand mandolin to thinly slice the zucchini, tomatoes, and red onions into thin slices.
Arrange the sliced vegetables in the pan in this order: zucchini, tomato, zucchini, red onion. Start with the outer ring first and then work your way in. Keep stacking the vegetables until you run out.
Drizzle the vegan pesto sauce over the vegetables and then use a silicone brush to evenly brush the sauce over all the vegetables in the pan.
Lastly, lay a piece of unbleached parchment paper on top of the vegetables and bake it until all the vegetables are tender.
What Should You Serve With This Veggie Bake?
This zucchini tomato pesto bake can pretty much be enjoyed with any meal. It looks fancy so I always serve it as a side dish to our Thanksgiving feast and Christmas dinner, but I also like it on the side with roasted lemon garlic cauliflower steaks or vegan meatloaf to jazz up a simple weeknight dinner.
What Can You Do With Leftovers?
You can enjoy the leftovers just as they are or you could mix the leftover roasted vegetables with pasta and tomato sauce or with cooked quinoa and more pesto sauce.
Notes & Substitutions
- What Type of Tomatoes Should You Use? When you're picking out Roma tomatoes, look for firm tomatoes so they slice easily. If you buy soft, mushy tomatoes, it will be very difficult to slice them using a hand mandolin and you'll have to cut them by hand with a knife.
- Do You Have to Use a Cast Iron Skillet? You don't have to use a cast-iron skillet, you could arrange the vegetables in any type of casserole dish.
- Sliced Vegetable Bake Arrangement Option: If you don't want to arrange the vegetable slices standing up like the pictures, you can layer them flat in a casserole dish too. Do whatever is easier for you, either way, it will taste delicious.
- Vegetable Substitutions: Instead of tomatoes and zucchini, you could use slices of summer squash, eggplant, or mini bell peppers.
- Oil Substitution: If you're oil-free, you can omit the oil completely and use water or aquafaba in place of the oil.
Success Tips
- Try to buy zucchini and Roma tomatoes that are similar in size, width-wise. Also, look for the smallest red onions. You want the vegetables to be uniform in size so they roast evenly.
- Use a hand mandolin to quickly slice the vegetables. Using this tool really reduces your prep time!
- You can use store-bought vegan pesto sauce if you don't want to make it from scratch. I often use the organic vegan pesto sauce from Sprout's, it's delish!
- Store the leftover roasted vegetables in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
- This recipe does not freeze well. Tomatoes and zucchini get very mushy after they've been frozen and defrosted.
More Vegan Pesto Vegetable Recipes You'll Love!
Zucchini Tomato Pesto Veggie Bake
Equipment
- Food Processor
- Hand Mandolin
- Cast Iron Skillet
Ingredients
Pesto Sauce
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves
- ¼ cup raw pumpkin seeds (or pine nuts)
- 1 garlic clove peeled
- 2 tbsp lemon juice (about 1 large lemon)
- 3 tbsp olive oil (or water)
- ¼ tsp himalayan pink sea salt (more to taste)
- ⅛ tsp black pepper (more to taste)
Vegetables
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 medium zucchini thinly sliced
- 8 medium roma tomatoes thinly sliced
- 4 small red onions thinly sliced
Instructions
- First, you’re going to make the pesto sauce. Add the fresh basil leaves, pumpkin seeds, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, water, salt, and pepper to a blender or food processor. Blend the sauce until smooth and set it aside for later.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Use a hand mandolin to thinly slice the zucchini, tomatoes, and red onions ⅛"-¼" thick. Be very careful with the mandolin, it's very sharp!
- Brush a light coating of oil on the bottom of a cast iron skillet. Then arrange the sliced vegetables in the pan in this order: zucchini, tomato, zucchini, red onion. Repeat this order until you run out of vegetables. Start with the larger outer circle first, then do a smaller circle inside of the outer circle. Lastly, fill in the center hole.
- Drizzle the vegan pesto sauce over the vegetables and then use a silicone brush to brush the sauce over all the vegetables in the pan.
- Lay a piece of unbleached parchment paper on top of the vegetables and bake it for 30-35 minutes or until all the vegetables are tender.
Notes
- Try to buy zucchini and Roma tomatoes that are similar in size, width-wise. Also, look for the smallest red onions. You want the vegetables to be uniform in size so they roast evenly.
- Use a hand mandolin to quickly slice the vegetables. Using this tool really reduces your prep time!
- You can use store-bought vegan pesto sauce if you don't want to make it from scratch. I often use the organic vegan pesto sauce from Sprout's, it's delish!
- Store the leftover roasted vegetables in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
- This recipe does not freeze well. Tomatoes and zucchini get very mushy after they've been frozen and defrosted.
Nutrition
*This recipe was originally shared on 3/11/16, but I updated it with new pictures on 5/16/20.
Wow, this is a real showstopper! Love that it's so easy to make but looks so professional.
Thank you, Caroline!
Oh my god, this looks so fantastic! I have been looking for a new way to use zucchini, I think I may have found it!
This is so pretty! I love seeing that it's really easy to achieve something beautiful!
Thank you, Mila! I 100% agree, I loved looking at it almost as much as I enjoyed eating it!
Absolutely stunning. Just need the patience to do it...hahaha! But seriously, I bet this was totally delicious!
It was fabulous, Felicia! Thanks!
How beautiful! I love roasted vegetables and this is such a gorgeous way to prepare them!
This does look a little labor intensive, but really good at the same time! I love roasted veggies and I really love basil and pesto!
It's really not labor intensive, I promise! I hope you get a chance to make it!
and a lot of healthy ingredients too!
I can't get over how beautiful this dish is! Plus all of those flavors together sounds simply divine! 🙂
This looks absolutely delicious! I can't wait to make this!
Thank you!
This is absolutely STUNNING! I just got all of these vegetables in my farm share, so I can't wait to try it out. I also got a, Italian eggplant - I wonder if I could slice that up, too. What do you think?
Thank you, Paula! What perfect timing! =)
You had me at pesto! I'm currently obsessed! Not to mention I love any excuse to use my cast iron!
This looks so yummy! Is it good leftover? It seems like something healthy and easy I could make one day and have for lunch over the next several days.
Yes, definitely! We ate it all in one sitting tho, it was too tasty we couldn't stop!
OMG! This looks visually so artistic. As a vegetarian I cannot wait to try it. Pinning it for future.
Thank you, Tanvi!
This looks so sophisticated! Love it!
ANOTHER WINNER!!! I just printed out TWO copies of your recipe!! One for my shopping trip to the grocery store and another copy for a friend. Such an attractive dish!!! I never would have thought of preparing those vegetables in layers like that, but after reading your recipe it makes delicious sense!!!! Yum is all I have to say and POINT ME TO THE OVEN!!!!
Holy smokes! I bet this tastes as good as it looks! I've been on such a veggie kick lately. What a timely recipe! I have friends who are already harvesting all of these ingredients from their gardens.
Perfect timing! My garden didn't fare so well this summer, it's just so hot here! All my zucchini's withered up before they got big enough to harvest! I hope you enjoy the recipe!
This looks delicious!! Pinned to make soon!
Thank you!
This looks so good! So pretty and colourful you just know it's good for you as well!
It's my favorite kind of recipe! Pretty, tasty and healthy!
My mom just gave me fresh zucchinis from her garden. Looks like know what I'm going to do with them!
What a coincidence! Let me know what you think of it! =)
This looks simple and delicious. Definitely gonna give it a try 🙂
Thanks, enjoy!