Easy, 20 Minute Vegan Pasta! You are going to love this healthy, easy vegan pasta! With a trick to creating glossy, restaurant-style pasta, this is a must save for quick dinners.
This pasta is my go-to meal for so many dinners. It’s vegan, loaded with vegetables and delicious. Plus, it’s ready in less than 20 minutes, perfect for any I’m so hangry moments.
I don’t know about you, but most days I am completely exhausted from the many home, parent and work responsibilities and getting a healthy dinner on the table sometimes feels like just one more thing on the to-do-list. Well, not so with this easy vegan pasta, a simple meal that you don’t need a recipe for one you’ve made it a few times.
The real beauty of this simple weeknight pasta is how few ingredients you need to put it together.
To start, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Salting the water before adding the pasta ensures that your pasta will have enough flavor before adding to the sauce.
Next, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the garlic and shallots until soft, then add in the red pepper flakes. Stir in the spinach and cook until wilted, then add in the undercooked pasta.
Ready for the ultimate trick to make this pasta super creamy and delicious? Forget the directions on the box and cook for a little more than 1/2 of the recommended cooking time. For instance, if the spaghetti will be ready in 10 minutes, cook it for 6.
Then, add your not-quite-cooked noodles to the pot along with a ladle or two of pasta water. Increase the heat to high and keep stirring as the noodles absorb the water. Add more water, a ladle at a time, until the pasta texture is cooked al dente. Doing it this way ensures that every strand will be coated in the yummy shallot garlic sauce. Season to taste with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes as needed.
For the ultimate creamy vegan pasta sauce, I recommend adding in a pat of dairy-free butter at the end to keep things glossy and smooth.
Make this vegan parmesan to sprinkle on just about everything. Made with cashews, almonds, nutritional yeast, salt and garlic powder, It’s amazing how much it tastes like regular parmesan cheese.
Nutritional yeast can be found in most co-op/Whole Foods-like places (check the bulk section) or online. This is not brewers yeast, it’s nutty, sharp and very similar to cheese. You can store the leftovers in the fridge or freezer.
For more flavor, you can consider topping with chopped fresh basil or other fresh herbs like chopped parsley. A swirl of pesto at the end is also delicious if you have it in the fridge.
I used spinach here, because there’s no chopping involved and I always have it in my fridge, but feel free to sub in any green of your choice. Chopped kale, chopped broccoli rabe or finely chopped broccoli florets will also work here.
Mushrooms can also be substituted, but I’d recommend browning them in olive oil first with the shallots and garlic before adding the pasta.
This easy vegan pasta recipe is essentially my take on my family favorite aglio e olio recipe so I don’t add in any tomato sauce, tomato paste or fresh tomatoes.
However, if you love tomatoes in your pasta then I recommend halving cherry tomatoes and sautéing them with the shallots until the burst, then adding in the pasta as directed.
Long noodles like spaghetti or fettuccine are my preferred shape for this vegan pasta recipe, but you can sub a shorter noodle like penne or rigatoni if you’d like. I’d recommend undercooking as directed before adding to the sauce pan.
For a gluten-free pasta, you can use any gluten-free pasta of choice.
If you try this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it, and tag your Instagram photos with #delishknowledge . I absolutely love seeing your creations. Happy cooking!
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20 minute dinner. You are going to love this healthy, easy vegan pasta!
Tag @delishknowledge on Instagram and hashtag it #delishknowledge
This post was originally posted in 2016 and updated in 2020.
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(61 comments) leave a comment
This was so delicious. I added rocket instead of spinach as that was what I had. I used ‘Parveggio’ by Green Vie (vegan Parmesan). I must admit I didn’t think it would be so flavourful based on the list of ingredients but I am so happy I tried it because this will now be a regular recipe of mine! Thank you!
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Came across recipe by Google search. Wanted to make it right away so I had to sub many things. Onions,red peppers,kale cabbage.bok choy. Added lots flavor. Ginger,cumin,curry,turmeric plus other recipe suggests. I did not have parm cheese used my vegan cheese n lentil fusilli pasta. It was to die for. Even my son loved it he is not vegan. I will be making it for us from now on. I have so many sensitivities n food issues this made my day. I will try cashew parm next time when have ingredients. Thank u for such great idea. I hope to find more of your recipes I can eat. i can eat. Petrina Canada/ powergirl.
★★★★★
I made for dinner now many blessings to you for sharing Alex!
Thank you so much for connecting how our daily choices impact the world we live in. “We vote with our dollar; we vote with our fork.” In our capitalistic world our strongest voice is where/how we spend. Let’s starve those destructive industries while nourishing ourselves.
★★★★★
Everything is political! Thank you for sharing your views and the recipe.
Made this for a kid who needed carbs for a soccer game and his brother who has a dairy allergy. This was SO. DELICIOUS. All 5 of us loved it! Can’t wait to make it again.
★★★★★
Looks delicious! I look forward to making this, this evening ☺️ Do you know the calories per portion? Thank you.
This is SO good. Thank you!
★★★★★
Wow! This is one of the best recipes I’ve ever found on the internet. First of all, it’s surprisingly tasty considering how many ingredients are used and how long it cooks. Second, the time hacks are spot on…I hate it when the time takes twice as long as the recipe tastes. This is the kind of meal to cook for a non vegan to convince them that life can continue if they tradition to a vegan lifestyle. Thank you!
So glad you liked it! Thanks!
I think the shallots and Parmesan cheese must be very important because I used an onion and dairy free cheese (which my husband prefers) and it came out too bland, unfortunately. I did then add more spices and more garlic, and more veggies and it was good.