Pasta is always on the menu at our house and I’d been wanting to make this creamy pasta primavera for my family. The cool thing about this dish is that you can use just about any vegetable you have on hand.
I didn’t have anything green at the time of cooking this, like broccoli but the veggies I happened to have worked perfectly. Some other great vegetable additions to this dish might be zucchini, asparagus, yellow squash, or even spinach.
However, broccoli is always a favorite in pasta or broccolini. Broccolini is more tender and flavorful, in my opinion, and a great alternative to plain broccoli. Here are some fun facts about broccolini.
Check out these other plant-based pasta dishes:
- Cauliflower Pasta Alfredo
- One Pot Penne Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce
- Pasta with Spinach Marinara Sauce
- Pasta Puttanesca with Spinach
If you don’t like soy milk, you could try another dairy alternative, like almond milk. Just make sure that it doesn’t have any added sugar. I like Westsoy or Trader Joe’s version of unsweetened soy milk. It has only soybeans and water.
If you’re used to having this dish with milk and cheese, it may take some time to get acclimated to the taste of this dish. But I think you’ll find that this is a winner without the added fat from cheese.
Some recipes use ground cashews for the creaminess, but by adding a little flour to thicken (gluten-free oat flour if you’re gluten-free), the creaminess comes through, and you won’t need the added fat.
Another tip when cooking pasta, fresh ground pepper tastes best. Invest in a pepper grinder and top your pasta with aromatic fresh ground pepper.
This dinner is perfectly served with a green salad.
I’d love to hear your feedback for this Pasta Primavera recipe in the comments below! If you have a photo, post it on my Facebook page, tag me using the hashtag #plantbasedcooking in your caption, and I won’t miss it!
Pasta Primavera
Equipment
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Large Skillet
Ingredients
- 1/2 head cauliflower broken into bite-sized pieces
- 2 large peppers any color, seeded and chopped into about 1″ pieces
- 2 large carrots peeled and cut into 1/2 rounds
- Any other veggie preferable green, you might have on hand, chopped into 1″ pieces
- 1 package whole wheat spaghetti
- 1/2 medium white or yellow onion diced
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 2 1/2 cups unsweetened non-dairy milk divided or homemade
- 1 tbsp tahini
- 2 tsp yellow mustard
- 1/2 Juice from 1 lemon
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 tsp Vegan Worcestershire sauce or Braggs Liquid Aminos
- 2 tbsp flour
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place chopped vegetables on a sprayed baking dish or one lined with parchment paper. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Bake in the oven for about 35-40 minutes until the vegetables are tender, turning half way through to help with overall browning. Set aside.
- In the meantime, boil the pasta according to the package direction. Drain all but about 1/2 cup of the pasta water and set aside
- In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, water sauté the onions for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, adding water if it evaporates. Add the garlic and continue to sauté until the onions are very tender and sightly browned.
- Add 2 cups of the non-diary milk to the onions along with the tahini, mustard, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and nutritional yeast. Whisk to combine and continue to heat.
- In a separate container, place 1/2 cup non-dairy milk along with 2 tablespoons flour. Whisk until well combined.
- Add the flour mixture to the sauce and whisk and continue to heat until the sauce starts to thicken. If it becomes too thick, add a little of the pasta water to thin. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Add in the roasted vegetables and stir to coat them with the sauce.
- Add the reserved pasta into the pan and stir until heated through.
Looks/sounds yummy! I’m trying to eat gluten-free while also avoiding nightshade vegetables, so I can easily alter this recipe with similar substitutions. Can’t wait to try it!
I try to eat gluten-free, as well. Pastas are better than ever… I just ate a corn-quinoa pasta dish and it was delicious, no falling apart like they used to. Enjoy.
Is this delish cold as well?
I haven’t had it cold but it’s worth a try. It is creamier than most pasta salad dishes. You probably saw my Macaroni Salad recipe…
That is way too much sodium. I live everything about this recipe except for the sodium content
Hey Robin, thanks for bringing that to my attention. Something was definitely wrong and it’s been updated now with much lower sodium.