Curl up on the sofa with this creamy, dreamy pasta. It’s dairy-free, delicious and healthy!

The cashew cream based sourced is easy to make and gives you an indulgent weekday or weekend dinner.

Regular alfredo can leave you feeling heavy and bloated, but not this vegan version.

The sauce isn’t too heavy but still hits the pasta spot.

Substitutions

Consider adding petit pois, garden peas, spinach or kale to load in vegetables.

If you have access to it, why not sprinkle with vegan parmesan cheese before serving, it goes perfectly with the dish.

You can easily make this recipe gluten free by using gluten-free pasta.

The recipe says fresh lemon juice, but you can also use a little lime if that’s all that you have. The citrus fruits neutralise the cashews to leave you with a nutty cheesy taste, so both do the same job.

Method

The roasted garlic cloves is really what brings it in terms of flavor, yes they take 40 minutes to roast but it’s the key flavor to the dish. I’ve tried this recipe with and without the roasted garlic and it makes a huge difference.

If you don’t have time to soak the cashews, there’s another way. Add water in a pan and add the cashews and place on the heat. Once the water has reached boiling point remove the pan from the heat, squeeze half a lemon into the water and leave to cool for fifteen minutes with the cashews still in the water. Remove from water after the 15 minutes and they should be good to go.

Top Tip

Think about your toppings. You can easily give this dish a little something extra. I went with sundried tomatoes and basil leaves. It also goes well with parmesan cheese, cracked black pepper, chopped parsley or even vegan garlic bread on the side!

Ingredients

2 x ounces of pasta (any kind best for you, I recommend red lentil, chickpea or protein pasta as they are all high in protein)

2 x teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 x red onion chopped

1 x cup cashews soaked overnight

1/4 x cup of water

1.5 x cups unsweetened almond milk

4 x cloves of garlic

2 x tablespoons nutritional yeast

1 x pinch of Himalayan sea salt

2 x tablespoons vegan parmesan cheese

1 x fresh lemon juice

1 x tablespoon dried sundried tomatoes

3 x leaves of fresh basil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450°F and place peeled garlic cloves on a baking try and roast in the oven for 40 minutes

2. Boil a pot of water and cook the pasta until done. Once cooked rinse and drain

3. Peel and finely chop onion. Heat olive oil in a skillet pan and cook onion until translucent

4. In a blender add the soaked cashews, water, unsweetened almond milk, nutritional yeast, sea salt, parmesan cheese and fresh lemon juice. Add the roasted garlic from the oven and onions from the pan and blend until smooth

5. Back in the large skillet add the cooked pasta and sauce until mixed together and heat for a few minutes, carry on stirring all for a few minutes until heated through and sauce reduces down to become slightly thicker

6. Once ready serve onto a plate and add the basil leaves and sundried tomatoes as a topping. Enjoy!

If you’re looking for other vegan dinner ideas then check out The BEST Vegan Lentil Bolognese, The ULTIMATE Vegan Shepherd’s Pie or Mexican Three Bean Vegan Chili.

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This recipe has been taken from Jessica In The Kitchen and loosely adapted for the above recipe.

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