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This easy vegan spaghetti has a superb vegan marinara sauce of garlic, shallots, capers, and a bit of cashew cream. Pasta at its finest!
One night after a long night at work, Alex whipped us up an impromptu vegan spaghetti dinner. Rummaging around, he found some canned tomato puree and spaghetti noodles in the cupboard, and a few shallots in the pantry. Digging in the refrigerator, he unearthed some jarred capers and some leftover cashew cream. The vegan spaghetti and creamy marinara sauce that resulted was so good I kept asking him, how exactly did you do that? Of course his response was, I have no idea. He was cooking by intuition. After writing a food blog for years and then writing a cookbook, taking notes while cooking is second nature for us. But this one caught us on sneak attack. Keep reading for the story behind this easy vegan Italian recipe.
Related: Easy Marinara Sauce
The story behind this vegan spaghetti
This vegan spaghetti with creamy marinara sauce has a supremely savory sauce: garlic, shallots, and capers all work together with cashew cream to make as much umami as possible. It’s so.darn.good. After remaking what he thought he did that fated evening several times, Alex was able to recreate the delicious vegan spaghetti he had made on a whim. Since we knew we’d be making this one for years later, this time we made sure to write it down!
We shot the photographs together, and after editing, Alex presented the final photos to me for this post. I couldn’t wait to see the photos of the creamy, comforting vegan spaghetti so I could remember eating it all over again. Except when we looked at them together, there was something not quite right. The image of the pasta was flat and lifeless. Something was not quite evoking the comforting, creamy umami experience that was the vegan spaghetti with creamy marinara. Both of us looked at it and said, Oh.
Related: Easy Vegetarian Recipes for Beginners | Romantic Dinner Ideas
A new perspective
Alex decided to go back to the drawing board with the same photo. He brought it up in Photoshop and this time put a new filter on it. The new filter made the colors shine and brought in a warmth that was missing from the original image. Then, instead of showing the entire plate of pasta, he cropped in so you could see the gooey details of the sauce and the contrasting tangles of the noodles. This time, when I looked at it, the photo said gooey, creamy, comforting vegan spaghetti.
Why am I telling this story? Because it’s like life, in a way. How many times do we look at an aspect of our lives and say Oh. That’s not quite what I was expecting. There’s something that’s not quite right. And it’s disheartening.
But what if, like Alex, we could apply a new filter to our lives? What if we had a new filter that enhanced the color and brightness? And what if we could crop in to where we could clearly see the detail (and a little bit of the mess!) and realize that what’s there is truly beautiful? A simple change of perspective can cultivate a heart of gratitude, if we let it.
And now, to go eat all the vegan spaghetti with creamy marinara sauce. PS. it’s also a fabulous used as a pizza sauce.
Related: Easy Dinner Recipes for Family
Tips for making vegan spaghetti
This is an incredibly easy vegan pasta recipe! It takes about 40 minutes to make, but half of that time is hands-off simmering time. Here are a few things to keep in mind when making this vegan spaghetti:
- Soak the cashews — To create a super smooth cashew cream, it’s important to soak the cashews for at least 30 minutes (if you have a high-powered blender), but 1 hour is best. If you skimp on the soaking time, the cashews won’t blend up well and your vegan marinara sauce won’t turn out right. If you have a standard blender, we’d recommend 1 hour.
- Liberally salt the water — For the best tasting vegan spaghetti, you must add a healthy pinch of salt to the boiling water. If you don’t, the pasta will be flavorless!
- Cook the sauce low and slow — Both when you sauté the shallot and garlic and when you let the sauce simmer on the stove, you want the heat to be fairly low. Remember: you want to cook the veggies without burning them. If they burn, the marinara will be slightly bitter.
Also try: Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with veggie crumbles!
This vegan spaghetti recipe is…
Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free. For gluten-free, use gluten-free pasta.
Vegan Spaghetti with Marinara Sauce
This easy vegan spaghetti has a superb vegan marinara sauce of garlic, shallots, capers, and a bit of cashew cream. Pasta at its finest!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 1 recipe Cashew Cream
- 2 large shallots
- 5 medium garlic cloves
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 28-ounce can tomato puree
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- ½ cup cashew cream (from above)
- 2 tablespoons capers, drained
- 1 pound bucatini pasta
- Basil leaves, for garnish
Instructions
- Make the cashew cream (allow for a soak time of at least 30 minutes, or make it in advance).
- Thinly slice the shallots. Mince the garlic.
- In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the shallot, garlic, and oregano and gently sauté, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Pour in the tomato puree, kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Bring to a bubble, then reduce the heat and maintain a low simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in cashew cream and capers, and simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Boil the pasta in plenty of salted water according to the package instructions. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, slowly transfer the hot pasta to the tomato sauce, tossing to coat. Serve hot, garnished with torn or sliced basil leaves, a drizzle of olive oil (required: this is an important component for achieving the creamy, rich flavor), and an additional pinch salt (if necessary).
Notes
As a fun optional topping, sprinkle with Vegan Parmesan Cheese!
Looking for easy vegan pasta recipes?
There are so many ways to make an easy vegan pasta. It takes about 40 minutes to make, but A few of our favorites are:
How can this be vegan? There are eggs in every kind of bucatini pasta I’ve ever seen. If you know of one that does not have eggs, please let us know. If not, please stop labeling recipes as vegan when they are clearly not.
Hi! Most store bought dried pasta is vegan. I think we used Barilla for this recipe.
I’m wondering what I can use in place of cashew cream since I don’t have a high powered blender and need to buy it. Will coconut cream work?
Hi! You can just omit the cashew cream if you like. It just adds a bit of body and creaminess.
It’s now one of my favorite recipes! Quick, simple, and absolutely delicious.
The only thing that I would change is to undercook pasta and then add it to the sauce with a 1/2 cup of pasta water. This way it turns out perfectly al-dente and with a very rich taste.
Ahhh yes, cooking until just before it’s done is the perfect trick — this sounds amazing! Thanks for the idea.
I made the pasta sauce and served it with baked spaghetti squash and vegan lentil mushroom meatballs. It was delicious! I was surprised how creamy and how much flavor the sauce had. I will definitely make this again.
This sounds like a fantastic idea! We’ll need to try this :) So glad you enjoyed it!
I love the beautiful words and message behind this already incredible-sounding and -looking dish. It’s something to live by (both the words, and this perfect pasta!)
some of the best things I’ve ever made have come from impromptu planning, but also some of the worst! So, am happy you did the testing already, thank you! The photos look wonderful too, so thank you for the editing!
This pasta is literally making me drool. I can never get enough of this type of comforting food. Also, loving the photo editing metaphor! xoxo
Yum! This looks so delicious and definitely comforting! Some nights you just cannot beat pasta… and sometimes the most spontaneous recipes turn out to be the best!
Sochal – The Healthy Social Network