Description
Vegan Protein Pasta is a super easy 15 minute dinner that's packed with over 30 grams of protein per serving.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 12-16 ounces High Protein Pasta (see Note 1 below)
- 1/2 cup Raw Sunflower Seeds or Raw Cashews (See Note 2 below for substitutions)
- 1 cup Filtered Water
- 2 cups Marinara (See Note 3)
- 2 cups Loosely Packed Baby Spinach, Chopped, Optional
- Salt and Fresh Cracked Pepper To Taste, Optional
Instructions
- Cook the Pasta: Cook your pasta according to package directions, but only cook till al dente (slightly chewy) as we will be adding it to our sauce and finishing the cooking process. You may want to reserve a little bit of the pasta water before you drain it. Drain when finished and leave in the colander to heat the sauce.
- Make the Sauce: While the pasta is cooking, make the sunflower seed cream by blending the seeds and water together. You may need to stop and scrape down the sides with a spatula halfway through. Add the tomato sauce when it is nice and creamy, then blend again until smooth. Taste and adjust if needed. Note: If you do not have a high powered blender, soak your raw sunflower seeds for 10-15 minutes in just-boiled water, then drain and blend with other ignredients.
- Heat the Sauce: When the pasta pot is empty, add the contents of the blender to the pot and heat over medium heat. When it starts to bubble, add the chopped spinach. Stir.
- Assemble: After 1 minute, add the cooked pasta back to the pot and give it a good stir. If the sauce is too thick, you can add a tablespoon or two of that reserved pasta water (or a splash of hot water or unsweetened plain non-dairy milk). If the sauce is too thin, either mix in some veggies or you can add some nutritional yeast to thicken it up. It shouldn't be too thin, though.
- Enjoy: Serve immediately and enjoy!
- Storage: Left the vegan protein pasta cool to room temperature and refrigerate for up to 4-5 days. Depending on what brand of pasta you used, it should last fine, but some textures are worse the next day (I've found that with some chickpea pastas, but not the Chickapea brand I recommended above).
Notes
- Note 1: You can use any brand or kind you like! We used a brand that comes in 12 ounce boxes, so that's how we calculated the nutritional info. If you use a different brand or amount, it should still work. This seemed saucy enough to accommodate 16 ounces pasta vs the 12 ounces we had. We used our favorite chickpea pasta but you can use Banza chickpea pasta, red lentil pasta, or any dry pasta you like. To keep this recipe gluten-free, make sure you use a certified gluten-free pasta. You can use traditional pasta / regular pasta or whole wheat pasta if you prefer but this will lower the protein content.
- Note 2: If you don't want to use raw sunflower seeds, you can use raw cashews, pine nuts, or even cooked (or canned) cannellini beans (or any white beans) instead. Just add unsweetened plain non-dairy milk (such as almond milk) or water to blend. Something colorful like raw pumpkin seeds will work too, it'll just change the color of your sauce.
- Note 3: Store bought marinara (your favorite pasta sauce) will work very well in this recipe. We used Prego Roasted Garlic and Herb Marinara. We prefer red sauce / marinara over tomato puree because it already has a lot of seasonings, but you can use it and add your own seasonings like salt, pepper, granulated onion and garlic, and dried herbs like oregano and basil or an Italian herbs blend.
- Note 4: For extra protein, you can add cooked lentils or beans to the pot when you're heating the sauce. Or serve with my crispy tofu or panko tofu. It would also be great with vegan meatballs which you could make or use your favorite brand of premade.
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Dinner, Protein
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: American, Workout