Looking to mix up your pasta dish? Make this delicious Creamy Vegan Pasta with Sautéed Kale, and Tomatoes.
Hola amigos! I had a conversation with Linley the other day about how there are certain foods we are afraid to cook. Like grilling for example. I used to be mortified to grill because I thought it was only a dude thing. Turns out, it’s super simple and really enjoyable! I get emails from readers about how they are afraid to cook chicken or any kind of meat because they are afraid they will mess it up or undercook it. One thing I’ve learned in my 6 years of food blogging is to just GET OVER THE FEAR and get in the kitchen and just do it!
I bring this up because I FINALLY took my own advice last month and made a creamy vegan pasta sauce with soaked cashews, which I was afraid to make. I am a HUGE Minimalist Baker fan (I just think Dana is the bestest) and she is the queen of vegan creamy sauces. I’ve been gawking over her vegan pasta recipes using soaked cashews for the past 4 years, but I have been too much of a fraidy cat to make it. Thankfully, I put on my big girl pants, got in the kitchen, and created this delicious recipe!
Anyway- I just wanted to reiterate- DO NOT TO BE AFRAID. You WILL surprise yourself at how good real food tastes even if you think you messed it up. I did at least!
With all of that said- this pasta is SO GOOD. Today’s recipe is sponsored by truRoots.
I want to start off by saying that I have tried a fair share of gluten-free pasta. I’m not going to lie, I don’t normally swoon over GF pasta because it can come out mushy and tasteless. YOU GUYS- THIS PASTA IS AMAZING. The texture is on point and the flavor is delicious. I can safely say this is the best gluten-free pasta I have ever tried and would 100% recommend this to both gluten-free eaters and normal pasta lovers.
I love this pasta not only because it tastes great and cooks to perfection, but also because it’s packed with ancient grains such as brown rice, quinoa, amaranth, and corn! Did I mention it’s called fusilli? Say that 5 times fast!
As I was exploring truRoots’ website, I noticed that you can see exactly where they source their ingredients for their products! I love that in every piece of pasta you pretty much get a taste of the entire world.
Okay- let’s talk sauce for a minute here. So I mentioned above that I was a little mortified to make a vegan “cream” based sauce because I just didn’t have experience working with soaked cashews. GUYS- it’s so easy! All you have to do is boil some water and pour it over your cashews, let them soak overnight, and you’re ready to make your sauce the next day. The base of this sauce is soaked cashews with some garlic, a whole bunch of basil, olive oil, water, and salt. I was hoping for the sauce to turn green, but errrrrrr, it didn’t happen!
The rest of the pasta is even easier than the sauce! All you need to do is cook your pasta and sauté your veggies. Then, you mix everything together and DINNER IS READY!
Vegan Creamy Pasta with Basil, Kale, and Tomatoes
Ingredients
For the Sauce
- 1 cup raw cashews soaked*
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup fresh basil
For the Pasta
- 2 cups kale deboned, packed
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 package truRoots Organic Fusilli Pasta
Instructions
For the Sauce
- Place all of the ingredients for the sauce into a high-speed food processor or blender and mix for 2-3 minutes, stopping to scrape the sides every so often. If your sauce is too thick, add more water a tablespoon at a time. Set aside.
For the Pasta
- Cook truRoots Organic Fusilli Pasta by following the directions on the box. Set aside.
- Sautée veggies by heating 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a saucepan over medium/high heat. Add in kale and cherry tomatoes and sautée for a few minutes or until kale is at desired texture. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add pasta into veggies and then add the sauce (note: you may have some leftover depending on how saucy you like your pasta!).
Tips & Notes
Nutrition facts
Similar recipes:
This post is sponsored by truRoots. I was compensated and all opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting Fit Foodie Finds and my love for all things real food!
Love love love this recipe
Csn you please let me know how I can reduced the sodium amount? Thank you
Omit the salt! The rest comes naturally from real food.
I know this is an older recipe but I wanted to comment that when I input the ingredients into LifeSum I get drastically different numbers for protein using the same ingredients. I’m not sure how you got to 29g of Protein because I’m getting 12.9? Could I be mistaken or should the protein content be lower? My fat is also much higher at 30g where yours is 7 – have these been flipped? Thanks for the recipe I am excited to try!
Okay, I am officially OBSESSED with this recipe. I made it for the first time tonight and I’m so impressed! It was quick, took maybe 20 minutes. It was easy. SO EASY. And it was utterly delicious!!! I didn’t have enough basil because some of mine went bad before I could use it but it did not matter. I will definitely be making this one again and again!
Girl I totally feel you!! Try some of our other vegan pastas. We use a similar sauce base 😀
My go to recipe. Even my non vegan friends and family love this.
I’m preparing the dish for myself and seems I can’t finish the sauce at a time. I’m thinking of keeping it in a glass jar and store it in fridge. Would it be safe to consume within a week?
Hey Ashley! I think you should be good for a week, though I haven’t tried. You can always try freezing it instead to be safer.
This was amazing!!!! My four-year-old cheese loving daughter totally bought it, and I devoured it. My husband was asking for a little more “kick” so red pepper flakes for him. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, as a new vegan I really needed this!!!!!
YASSSSSSSS! Your 4 year old is a girl after my own heart 🙂
Definitely a do over in this house, could not stop eating it
Cheryl
Can you use almonds instead of cashews (nut allergy)?
Is this dish best served hot or cold?
We recommend servingthis hot!
Great meal so delicious and easy! I didn’t have time to soak the cashews so I boiled them for about 15 minutes, and used the water from boiling to put in the sauce. Turned out perfect. Love this recipe I can’t wait to share with my omnivore friends to see what they think.
o0o I love the boil trick! Thanks for sharing!
My husband just made this dish and it was amazing!!!! Will be making again!
This recipe is so delicious! I made it last weekend and will be making it again tomorrow. I love how simple it is to make too. The cashew cheese has a mellow, almost ricotta-like taste to it. Thanks for posting!
So glad you loved it, Lisa!
Update! We used 3/4 a cup of nutritional yeast and it turned out great! Huge hit!
Yum! Great addition <3
We have a tree nut allergy in our house. Would we be able to swap nutritional yeast for the cashews? If so how much nutritional yeast would you suggest we use?
Just seeing this, but glad it worked!
Yum – this looks delicious! pasta with simple ingredients…Thanks
MMM! I have an amazing kale pasta salad recipe that I make often, but looking to switch it up a bit. Definitely will have to try your version! 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Absolutely the yummiest recipe I ever made. Unfortunately, my husband (an omnivore) and I (plant based) devoured the dish before any pictures could be taken. Even used Italian bread to wipe the pot clean. Can’t wait to make it again.
Mmm looks so yummy! SO simple and easy- will definitely give this a try!
Check out our Vegan February article: http://www.mimazine.co.uk/
xxx
A simple vegan pasta with simple ingredients. This looks delicious =) Will definitely give this a try. Thanks for sharing
<3 Thanks for stopping by!