Vegan Spinach Pesto Pasta
Questa ricetta è disponibile anche in italiano
This vegan spinach pesto pasta is a really simple dish that’s great for any time of year – we love it as a winter warmer and as a summer day pasta salad!
We absolutely love taking classic recipes and putting a vegan spin on them. That’s what we’ve done here, making our own pesto so that we can be completely sure that it’s vegan!
If you wanted to make this recipe your own, you could try swapping out the sunflower seeds for pine nuts! While pine nuts are a little harder to come by, they are one of the classic ingredients in pesto, so your flavor will be a little bit more conventional.
How To Make Vegan Spinach Pesto Pasta
Let’s get started by gently toasted the sunflower seeds in a hot pan until they’re fragrant. The smell of well-toasted sunflower seeds is a wonderful thing that always signifies the start of a new season, and we love it!
Add the toasted seeds and vegan cheese to the bowl of a blender, then blend them until they’re completely powdered. Ensure that the powder is the same consistency all the way through – this will help a lot with flavor distribution. Any large chunks that the blender hasn’t quite caught will have plenty of unreleased flavors, so make sure to avoid that!
In the same blender, add the fresh spinach in a couple of small batches, and pulse everything until it’s finely chopped. Alternatively, you can simply blend until the texture is to your liking.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta in plenty of salted boiling water. A great tip to cut down on the time needed to boil pasta – boil the water that you’ll need in the kettle before adding it to a pan of dry pasta and salt. The pasta will cook just the same, and an electric kettle will boil water much more quickly than a pan full of pasta will. Try it out – it saves us so much time!
Now, take a large bowl, and add in the chopped spinach, cheese and sunflower seed powder, as well as the garlic puree, olive oil, and lemon juice. Then, add in a pinch of salt and pepper to taste, and mix everything well with a spatula.
Drain the pasta al dente, and then coat it in the wonderful pesto sauce. While you can cook the pasta just as much as you’d like, I would certainly recommend cooking it al dente. The idea of cooking pasta like this is that the residual heat in the food will actually continue to cook it as you’re eating it.
Finally, you can enjoy your vegan spinach pesto pasta straight away! Alternatively, you can chill it in the fridge for a cold version, which we’d actually recommend for the summer months – it’s great for sunny days!
Vegan Spinach Pesto Pasta Recipe
Ingredients:
500 g Pasta
400 g Baby Spinach
70 g Vegan Hard Cheese
50 g Sunflower Seeds (+ more as toppings)
4 tbsp Olive Oil
1 Handful Basil
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp Garlic Purée (or 1 fresh garlic clove or 1/4 tsp garlic powder)
Salt
Pepper
Method:
1. Toast the sunflower Seeds on a hot pan until fragrant.
2. Add the toasted seeds and the vegan cheese into a blender bowl and blend until powdered.
3. In the same blender add the fresh spinach in a few batches and pulse until finely chopped (or to taste).
4. Meanwhile cook the pasta in abundant salted water.
5. Add the chopped spinach, the cheese & sunflower seed powder, the garlic purée, the olive oil and the lemon juice to a bowl, along with a pinch of salt and pepper to taste, and mix well with a spatula.
6. Drain the pasta al dente (if you prefer) and coat it in the pesto sauce.
7. You can enjoy the vegan spinach pesto pasta straight away or chill it in the fridge for a cold pasta version (recommended for summer months).
For other yummy pasta dishes do not miss:
– Mushroom Tagliatelle Paglia & Fieno
– Creamy Cauliflower and Mushroom Pasta
– Sea Flavoured Courgettes (Zucchini) and Blossom Pasta
– Asparagus, Broccolini, Courgette and Pea Pesto
– Caramelized Onion, Olives and Hummus Pasta
– Oil Free Vegan Alfredo
– Super Easy Green Bean Pasta Bake
– Pasta with Butternut Squash and Smokey Crispy Seaweed
– Vegan Seafood Pasta
– Pasta with Wild Mushrooms and Parsley+Avocado Pesto
– Creamy Courgette and Rocket Pasta (with Homemade Stracchino Cheese)
– Courgette Blossom Pasta
– Creamy Avocado Pasta with Mixed Nuts and Cherries
– Beetroot Tagliatelle with Mushroom Ragù and Parsley&Spinach Pesto
