Think of all the classic comfort food pasta dishes and you'll see the same key players: butter, cream, and cheese. Which leaves our vegan friends out in the cold sans delicious pasta. This will not do! Herewith are 8 vegan-approved pasta dishes that will fill your belly and make you sigh with happiness.
I have to admit, I have gained new respect for the challenges of eating vegan while assembling this collection of recipes. My goal was to find truly vegan recipes, ones that wouldn't require a note saying "substitute olive oil for the butter" or "skip the sprinkle of parmesan." But almost every Italian pasta recipe advises adding just a little pat of butter or sprinkle of parm! It started feeling a little ridiculous.
I did the best I could. The cauliflower pasta recipe pictured above just looked way too good to leave out of this round-up, though yes...you'll have to "skip the parmesan."
• Spaghetti with Cauliflower, Green Olives, and Almonds from Gourmet
• Rotelle with Tomato-Tofu Carbonara and Basil from Vegetarian Times
• Mac and Cheeze from Vegan YumYum
• Pumpkin Pasta from Martha Stewart
• Pasta with Tomato Sauce and Eggplant from Saveur
• Meaty but Not Really Pasta Sauce from The Kitchenist
• Pappardelle with Roasted Veg and Sage from BBC Good Food
• Chunky Tomato Mushroom Sauce from The Washington Post
What are your favorite vegan pasta dishes?
(Image: Romulo Yanes/Gourmet)
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If you're seriously researching vegan recipes, you would come across the definitive vegan cookbook, Veganomicon and/or the author's website, Post Punk Kitchen. The website is loaded with recipes, including many for pasta. For example, Isa came up with an innovative recipe for totally vegan mac & "cheese," using cashews instead of cheese. There are some truly amazing sites out there that take vegans seriously--you just need to approach the subject without the attitude that vegans are some sad fringe group you need to throw crumbs at once in a while (and I'm not even a vegan).
I second decogirl on Isa Chandra Moskowitz & the PPK. The PPK recipe for mac & cheese is just fantastic, even though it sounds bizarre (cashews &, uh, sauerkraut...together at last?). Although this recipe for pasta with French lentils & lacinato kale is probably my all-time favorite: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pasta-with-Lentils-and-Kale-238092. I like to make it with strozzapreti. It's divine with the toasted breadcrumbs (which actually make a pretty delicious substitute for parm in general, IMO).
http://www.theppk.com/2010/12/creamy-red-chard-linguine/
This is my absolute favorite (also from Isa)..it feels so decadent:)
http://ohsheglows.com/2011/01/31/15-minute-creamy-avocado-pasta/
mmmmm
I'm a vegetarian living with a lactose-intolerant omnivore, so we do lots of butter-less, cheese-less, cream-less pasta. First of all, basic tomato sauce is much-loved by most and there are a thousand varieties.
Aglio e olio doesn't need butter--herbs and vegetables are great adds. Any pumpkin, squash, or zucchini recipe will make a lovely sauce WITHOUT cream. My fave for a hearty meal is whole wheat pasta with cannellini beans tossed with shallots and sage sauted in olive oil. Add some broccoli rabe, red pepper flakes, and a little pasta water. Olivada is a killer sauce all on it's own (thinned w/pasta water), or you can stir it into tomato sauce for an anchovy-free putanesca. Right here on this site was a recent recipe for a parmesan sub that the reggiano-less peasants used: toasted, herbed breadcrumbs. No need for soy milk, nutritional yeast, or a pound of cashews.
I'm an omnivore, but one of my favorite ways to eat pasta is by cooking down a big pile of sliced cremini mushrooms with just a little bit of olive oil and s&p. I deglaze the pan a few times during the process (usually just with plain old water) and let a nice deep flavor build. On the final deglazing, I use just a enough water to scrape up the brown bits in the pan and let it thicken just a tad and then toss it with my pasta. It's rich, satisfying, simple and totally vegan.
Our preschool has cooking class from a local vegan group. They don't discuss animal issues with the kids but revolved around healthy cooking. None of the kids are vegan and none of them are particularly picky. Not really hard. One soy allergy.
But it left the parents unimpressed. 4 out 6 recipes started with 1 cup nutritional yeast and there where cashews in half the dishes. It was weird. Why not start with delicous food that is obviously vegan rather than trying to trick food into what it was not.
cminnyc - my kids would love your cooking.
We are not veg at all but he will happily eat pinto beans and spinach for breakfast.
@JudiAU I couldn't agree more. SO MANY traditional foods ARE vegan because meat was expensive and/or scarce! Then people get rich and add the meat, the butter, the cream, and the cheese. If you look at traditional cuisines, and traditional ways of eating, there is a whole lot of great food with a lot of history (that is, trial and error that results in top results). I don't mind trying vegan inventions. I own a copy of Veganimicon. But that's not my go-to way. (And thanks! Kids are tough!)
Oh come on.
"Sorry folks, here you go..."
I'm not even vegan, but I have an ENTIRE BOOK called The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen that is absolutely STUFFED with pasta dishes that are *GASP!* traditionally vegan. So...yeah. It is not hard to find vegan pasta recipes.
Also: are we seriously defining "pasta week" by European pasta alone? You know, there is a whole other part of the world that uses LOTS of different kinds of pasta and hilariously enough, has a strong cultural tradition of vegetarianism PLUS being typically cheeseless/butterless by culinary tradition: ASIA. Check it out. No worries about having to "leave off the parm" here.
@kittystockings, laughing/gagging at imagining tofu pad thai with parmesan cheese!
Right on @kittystockings...I'm starting to think the Kitchn needs a little help in the research department...or maybe a genuine vegan on staff to set the record straight
@kittystockings, yes indeed we are focusing primarily on Italian-style pasta this week. Otherwise we would have called it "Noodle Week." :) We're well aware of Asian noodle traditions - a week wouldn't be enough to fold all those in as well. We'll do more with those early in the new year.