Vegan One-Pot Pasta

VEGAN ONE-POT PASTA

Ingredients:

    • 1 pound linguine or pasta of choice

    • 6 cups vegetable stock or water

    • 4 cloves garlic, minced

    • 1 teaspoon dried basil

    • ¼ teaspoon black pepper

    • ½ teaspoon salt

    • 10 ounces cherry tomatoes

    • 2 cups spinach packed

    •  1 tbsp lemon juice*

    • ¼ cup vegan parmesan plus more for topping

Instructions:

    • Add pasta, vegetable stock, garlic, basil, pepper, and salt to a large pan (preferably one wide enough that the pasta can lay flat in. If not, make sure to move and flip the pasta around frequently at the beginning until the pasta becomes pliable.)

    • Bring to a boil on high heat. Boil for 9-10 minutes, or until the pasta is tender. This time will vary depending on what type of pasta you use. With about 3 minutes left, add the tomatoes. About halfway through, you may need to turn the heat down to medium if the liquid is sputtering a lot. Add more water or vegetable stock as needed.

    • Turn off the heat. Stir in the spinach until wilted. Stir in the lemon juice, and vegan parmesan. Serve warm.

Note: Depending on many factors, your pasta may not be cooked through by the time all of the stock has absorbed. Add more stock or water if this happens. I usually start with an extra half cup.

*Editor’s Note: The recipe calls for adding olive oil and 2 tsp lemon juice. I eliminated the olive oil and upped the lemon juice.

Substitutions

    • Vegan parmesan: You can use storebought, make a homemade vegan parm (recipe follows), use nutritional yeast, or just omit this ingredient.

    • Spinach: You can use kale or bok choy.

    • Basil: If you don’t have basil, any Italian seasoning is sufficient, such as oregano or thyme.

Variations

    • Creamy pasta: Add a half cup of non-dairy milk or vegan cream cheese after the pasta is finished cooking for a creamy texture.

    • Vegetables: Just about any vegetable will work in this pasta. Some ideas are cauliflower, carrots, zucchini, peas, broccoli, and asparagus. For veggies that take longer to cook, like carrots or broccoli, add them at the beginning. 

    • Spicy: For pasta with a kick, add some red chili flakes or cayenne pepper to taste. 

   • Protein: White beans or chickpeas are great additions. My favorite protein to add is baked tofu.

EASY CHEESY VEGAN PARMESAN

    • 1/3 cup raw unsalted cashews

    • 1.5 tbsp nutritional yeast

    • 1/2 tsp onion powder

    • 1/2 tsp garlic powder

    • 1/4 tsp salt

 Using a food processor or spice/coffee grinder, blend all ingredients together into a powder. Store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

This recipe was inspired by and adapted from many other vegan parmesan cheese recipes.Long live the person who discovered the cashew + nutritional yeast combination!

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I made the Vegan One-Pot Pasta and it came out really well! It occurs to me that this is similar to another one-pot pasta recipe that we made as part of a previous Recipe Challenge. Since I choose the pool of recipes, I guess you can tell I like pasta ….

Anyway, this was a success! It is actually a very easy recipe (easier than cooking pasta and sauce separately, which is itself pretty easy). One tip: be prepared for this to come out more like a stew than like pasta that you would serve on a plate. As you can see, I served it in bowls and we ate it with a spoon.

The recipe calls for spinach but the author says you can sub in another green so I used one of my favorites, broccoli rabe (which goes by a lot of names: rapini, broccoli raab, Wegmans calls it rappi). Unlike spinach, which cooks almost instantly when added to simmering liquid, broccoli rabe needs about 5 minutes to cook so add it when you add the tomatoes.

This is a good technique for making a kind of pasta stew and once you have made the recipe you’ll see how you could sub in or add other vegetables, also things like artichoke hearts, olives, etc.

Another tool in your toolbox!
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Karissa of Karissa’s Vegan Kitchen has been vegan since 2016 but admits it wasn’t an easy transition and wants to help anyone on their journey: “I get the struggle that comes along with growing up in an omnivorous household and in a culture that emphasizes a ton of animal products – the dairy addiction, not knowing what to eat, having to learn to love veggies, the social pressure, etc. I take those personal experiences and try to help anyone who is struggling like I did with zero judgment.”

In addition to offering many recipes free on her website, Karissa has a free 5-Day Beginner’s Guide. She also has e-cookbooks for sale, including Vegan Family Recipes, and a YouTube channel.

Karissa uses oil and vegan processed foods in her recipes but they can be easily adapted, as I did with this Vegan One-Pot Pasta. I simply left out the olive oil and upped the amount of lemon juice.

I am curious whether people will find this a useful recipe or a solution in search of a problem. Personally, I find pasta one of the easiest meals to make the regular way: just boiling a pot of water and cooking the pasta then adding a sauce which can range from simple to complex. However, it might just be a super time to put everything in one pot. At least this explodes the myth that you need to rinse pasta “to get the starch off.” People, we want the starch, and this way you don’t lose any of it! I would use a whole-grain pasta, such as whole wheat or brown rice.

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