Veggie Pasta Alfredo – vegan and gluten free
This vegan, gluten-free Veggie Pasta Alfredo recipe offers a lovely combination of flavors—and the creamy sauce is made in a blender!
When I switched to a plant-based diet, I thought I’d have to give up pasta Alfredo. Then I learned about the wonders of vegan cheese sauces! You could say this Veggie Pasta Alfredo recipe was inevitable.
This recipe was inspired Minimalist Baker’s 30-Minute Vegan Alfredo. Their recipes are ideal for lazy cooks like me, except I got even lazier on this one. I wondered if I could make the Alfredo sauce from start to finish in a blender. It worked like a charm!
Endless Veggie Possibilities
I also wanted to pack in lots of veggies. A family friend has been sharing a surplus of summer squash from his garden. I added it to the braising greens I picked up from our local farm buying club.
Lastly, I added some lovely cherry tomatoes to the mix. I like to add tomatoes at the end of cooking—so they are just warmed through.
The veggie combo in this recipe is just one of many possibilities. I say chop up and steam sauté whatever you have on hand. I bet broccoli would be delicious!
Veggie Pasta Alfredo
However, I do recommend this veggie combination. The dish offers a lovely mix of colors, textures and flavors:
- Warm, juicy red/orange tomatoes
- Sweet yellow summer squash
- An earthy mix of kale, collard greens and chard
- Feel-good pasta with creamy, cheesy, garlic Alfredo
What’s Needed
A couple of items make preparing this recipe easier:
- High-speed blender – Blending the ingredients into a smooth sauce before adding it to the pan saves time and cleanup! I love my Vitamix blender.
- 5.5-quart non-stick sauté pan – A large, deep sauté pan allows you to stir in the sauce and pasta without making a mess.
Veggie Pasta Alfredo – vegan and gluten free
Ingredients
Alfredo Sauce
- 3 cups almond milk
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 6 cloves garlic large
- ½ cups nutritional yeast
- ½ cup raw cashews
- ¼ cup arrow root powder
- 1½ tsp. fine sea salt
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- ½ tsp. ground black pepper
Veggie Pasta
- ¼ cup water more as needed
- 1 bunch braising greens (mix of kale, collard greens and/or chard), chopped
- 2 summer squash large, chopped, zucchini and/or yellow squash
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes sliced in half
- 16 oz. gluten-free pasta
Instructions
Alfredo Sauce
- Add Alfredo ingredients to a high-speed blender in the order they are listed.
- Begin blending on low and increase to highest speed.
- Blend on high for 1 minute.
- Leave the sauce in the blender while you prepare the pasta and veggies.
Veggie Pasta
- Add ¼ cup of water to a large (5.5-quart) non-stick sauté pan.
- Place chopped greens and summer squash in the pan and steam sauté for 10 to 15 minutes on medium high. (Allow steam to build up in covered pan, stir veggies, cover and repeat until veggies nearly reach desired tenderness. You may need to add more water to keep veggies from sticking to the pan.) When veggies are nearly done, reduce heat to low and leave covered.
- When veggies begin to soften, cook pasta according to package instructions.
- When pasta has about 5 minutes to go, turn heat on veggies back up to medium and pour Alfredo sauce into the pan. Stir continuously until sauce thickens then reduce heat back to low and cover pan.
- Drain and rinse pasta and add it to the pan of veggies. Stir until pasta, veggies and sauce are well mixed.
- Stir in sliced tomatoes and let sit for a minute before serving.
- Garnish with fresh basil and/or vegan "Parmesan" if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
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We are big pasta lovers and this veggie pasta alfredo looks like the perfect combo of textures and flavors!
Thanks! I’m a pasta lover too and I can tell you it hits the spot. 🙂
This looks great! So colorful, creamy, and healthy too. Plus who doesn’t love a big plate of pasta now and then!?!
Thanks Melissa! I for one require a big plate of pasta now and then. 😉
I was trying to figure out a way to make Cody (my newly dairy free son) feel a little less deprived, so I just tried making your alfredo sauce. Now, I’m offering you my apologies to which you didn’t even know you were entitled. As I was adding ingredients to the blender, there was much skepticism and perhaps even a wrinkling or two of my nose……but the end result was really very tasty! So, my apologies for doubting your vegan culinary skills!!! And…Thanks! ?
Ha ha! Thanks Nora – so glad he enjoyed it!! If I recall, he also liked my Plant-based Nacho Cheese Sauce – if I dare suggest your next dairy-free culinary adventure? 😉
Yes, he was definitely a fan of your Nacho Cheese Sauce! (Me too!) 🙂
I tried this recipe out tonight and the alfredo sauce was SUPER runny. 🙁
Hi Christy – Sorry to hear that. I appreciate you letting me know. What kind of plant milk did you use? If I use rice milk I reduce the liquid by 1/2 cup or else the sauce doesn’t thicken as well because rice milk is one of the few plant-based milks that doesn’t have some kind of thickener added. I meant to add a note about this to the recipe. Thanks for the reminder!
If it wasn’t the milk, my next question would be did you allow time for the sauce to thicken in the pan? It’s thin when you first pour it in the pan. You need to allow it to cook for a few minutes with the veggies in order for it to thicken up.
And lastly, if you allowed the sauce time to thicken, did you add the right amount of arrow root starch flour?
Please let me know if any of these scenarios apply – this really is a delicious recipe and I want to be sure you are able to enjoy it. 🙂
I used almond milk and 1/3 c arrowroot as listed in the recipe. It must have been the time left in the pan…not long enough. Maybe if I reheat the leftovers on the stovetop it’ll thicken up. Thanks!
Depending on how hot the pan was when you added the sauce it may have needed a little more time. You want to stir over medium heat to medium-high heat until it thickens. You can turn the stove temp down to low and cover and let it sit if it thickens before the pasta is done.
I LOVE this recipe. I’ve made it several times and my kids actually request it!
Thanks Hayley – It’s a family favorite in our house too. 🙂 I often make it with frozen broccoli and peas.
Fantastic recipe! Have lots of yellow squash in my garden and was looking for a recipe… found this one and tried it last night…. SO GOOD! the only thing I changed – left out the oil, used whole wheat spaghetti and added a squeeze of lemon to the sauce and added spinach and peas at the end… Can’t wait to have leftovers tonight! thanks for sharing this recipe!
So glad you enjoyed it, Karen! I’ll have to try it without the oil!
Fantastic recipe! Easy and delicious. Really loved the Alfredo sauce. I left out the oil and didn’t miss it. I used a lentil pasta that paired well. Will definitely use again and experiment with different veggies and pastas. Thanks!
Glad you liked it! 🙂