This Blender Creamy Tomato Pasta is way too easy – just throw simple, plant-based ingredients into a blender and voila, you have a delicious creamy tomato pasta sauce! This recipe is definitely kid-approved and will soon become a family-favorite and a regular in your weeknight rotation.
Ingredients
- pasta of choice (bowtie and rigatoni are our go-to’s)
- jarred minced garlic
- rice milk
- raw unsalted cashews
- canned crushed tomatoes
- nutritional yeast
- garlic powder, onion powder, dried basil, dried oregano, salt and pepper
How to make this pasta
First, you’ll want to soak the cashews so they soften (see below) – this is what makes the sauce nice and creamy! Then, you’ll boil pasta according to package instructions. Blend all of the sauce ingredients (including soaked and drained cashews) until nice and creamy. Drain and rinse the pasta and use that same pot to heat up the sauce. Stir the cooked pasta back into the sauce and serve!
How to soak cashews
To soak cashews, place in a bowl and cover completely with warm water. Soak for 1-2 hours, then drain and rinse the cashews. To soak quickly, pour very hot or boiling water over the cashews for 15 minutes.
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Blender Creamy Tomato Pasta
Ingredients
Pasta
- 1 16 oz (453 g) package pasta of choice gluten-free if needed
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) pasta water
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) olive oil (can sub vegan butter)
Pasta Sauce
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) unsweetened, plain rice milk
- 1 cup (146 g) raw unsalted whole cashews, soaked and drained (see notes)
- 1 28 oz (793 g) can crushed tomatoes
- 1/4 cup (15 g) nutritional yeast
- 1 1/2 tsp (4 g) garlic powder
- 1 tsp (4 g) onion powder
- 1 tbsp (5 g) dried basil
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes plus more to taste
- 1 1/2 tsp (9 g) salt plus more to taste
- 1/8 tsp black pepper plus more to taste
- Vegan parmesan for topping
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Once cooked, reserve about 1/4 cup of pasta water then drain and rinse pasta in cold water. Toss in olive oil. Place pot back on stove.
- While the pasta is cooking, blend all of the sauce ingredients until nice and creamy.
- Pour sauce into the pot used for pasta. Heat on medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring often – until the sauce is hot and has thickened up a bit. Taste and add more crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper if necessary.
- Stir in the cooked pasta. Add pasta water by the tablespoon until desired consistency is reached. Serve topped with vegan parmesan!
Question – can any other non-diary milks be used rather than rice milk?
We recommend rice milk for its neutral flavor. If you have a go-to non-dairy milk that you like to cook with, you can use that, however the flavor will reflect whatever milk you use. Hope this helps!
Makes sense, thank you!
Made this tonight instead of a more complicated recipe I originally planned on. This was delicious and easy! Goes great with a crisp salad and some crusty bread. We all went back for seconds. Will definitely make again! Used unsweetened almond milk instead of rice milk because it’s what I had on hand. Great recipe!
Probably the best recipe I have ever come across! I use any plant based milk I have in the fridge and it’s delicious every single time!