Best Vegan Pasta Recipes

If you are vegan, you do something good every day for animals, the planet, and your heart health. You deserve a reward, and what could be better than a delicious Italian meal.

Pasta is a major staple of the vegan diet because it tastes delicious and makes you feel full. It can be combined with veggies, meat substitutes, or even served as a side dish with olive oil. There are many different kinds of vegan pasta dishes that you can make at home. They range from fast and easy to very labor-intensive. 

If you are vegan, you are probably constantly searching for the perfect protein source. If you walk down the aisle of any grocery store, you will see a wide selection of pasta varieties and styles. Many of them are fortified with so many nutrients that you could serve them alone. 

There is at least one great recipe for every kind of pasta.

Kelp Noodles 

These translucent noodles are made from seaweed and salted water. At 20 calories and 1 gram of carbohydrates per serving, they are perfect for a person on a diet because kelp is loaded with vitamins and minerals. It is an excellent source of iodine which is critical to thyroid health.

Asian Kelp Noodle Salad 

This is a refreshing cold salad that is low in calories and gluten-free. It is colorful, good for you, and can be served as a side dish or a main dish.

Ingredients 

1 red cabbage, shredded

1 cup of chopped kale 

4 ounces of kelp noodles 

¾ cup of bean sprouts

2 Chinese red radishes 

1 avocado 

Chili flakes, crushed peanuts, and black pepper 

4 to 6 tablespoons of peanut sauce

Half a lemon

You never want to boil kelp noodles. Put the noodles in a bowl and sprinkle baking powder over them. Soak them in 3 to 4 cups of hot water with lemon juice for 6 to 10 minutes, and then drain them. 

1. Mix the cabbage, kale, bean sprouts, and noodles in a bowl. 
2. Massage the peanut sauce into the mixture with your hands. The longer you massage kale, the better it will taste. You can use more sauce if you desire.
3. Chill the salad for about an hour. 
4. Put it onto plates and garnish it with the avocado, radishes, peanuts, and pepper flakes.

Rice Noodles 

Rice noodles are the perfect vegan alternative to egg noodles in Asian recipes and contain no gluten. They are comparable in calories but lower in sodium than regular noodles. If you get rice noodles imported from Asia, there is a good chance they will be fortified with vitamin A. Rice noodles are also a good source of selenium, a powerful antioxidant. 

Pesto with Rice Noodles

You can always run over to Whole Foods and get some rice noodles and a jar of vegan pesto. However, this vegan pesto sauce recipe is tasty and easy to prepare. It is cheaper than buying jarred sauce, and you can tell everyone you made it yourself. 

As with kelp noodles, you never want to boil rice noodles. Put the noodles in a pot and pour hot water over them until they are covered. Soak the noodles for 8 to 10 minutes or until they are softened. Stir the noodles to separate them. When the noodles are done cooking, simply drain them, mix them with the pesto and enjoy. You can use the leftover pesto sauce as a garnish for salads and sandwiches.

Whole Wheat Pasta

2 tablespoons tomato puree paste

2 tablespoons smoked paprika

2 cans of tomatoes

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 chopped onion (white or yellow)

4 cloves of garlic

2 diced of garlic

2 diced carrots

2 tablespoons of red wine

1 thinly sliced zucchini

1 leek sliced

1/2 of a sliced red pepper

1 1/4 cup chopped mushrooms

1 bunch finely chopped basil

1/2 cup vegetable stock

A tablespoon of cornstarch

Salt & pepper to taste

1. Heat the olive oil in a pan for a minute or two.
2. When the oil is hot, add the onion and garlic and saute for a few minutes.
3. Toss in the leek, carrots, zucchini, red pepper, mushrooms, and saute for 6 minutes or until soft.

Slowly stir in the remainder of the ingredients. Cover with the lid and let it cook for about half an hour. Stir occasionally. Let it cool a bit. Pour it over your pasta and enjoy. This dish tastes great with hot apple cider, coffee, or a whiskey-based libation.

Black Bean Pasta

Black bean pasta packs 14 grams of protein into each serving. You can tell your meat-eating friends that a serving of these noodles has twice the amount of protein as an egg. It also has 15 grams of fiber, which is very important to a healthy diet. 

These noodles are delicious with just a little bit of olive oil, coarse salt, and pepper. If you are afraid of an overwhelming taste of black beans, don't be. The black bean flavor is actually very light. However, the noodles are very porous and will absorb anything you cook them with. Although the package will normally tell you to cook them for 10 to 11 minutes, they normally cook in about 6 minutes. 

If you are in a hurry or just not much of a cook, you can make the following recipe in no time.

Ingredients: 

4 ounces of black bean pasta

1 cup of spinach 

2 tablespoons of olive oil

½ cup of basil

4 cloves of minced garlic

Salt and pepper

Nutritional yeast

1. Saute spinach in olive oil with garlic, pepper, and basil. 
2. Puree the mixture and let it cool a bit while you cook your pasta. 
3. Boil the pasta in salted water for 6 to 8 minutes.
4. Toss the sauce into the pasta and add a few cherry tomatoes. Sprinkle some nutritional yeast on the concoction, and you are done.

Spinach Pasta 

Spinach pasta is low in calories and loaded with vitamin A. It contains antioxidants that protect your cells, and it even has B vitamins and iron that can be hard to come by in a vegan diet. 

One thing a person might miss when they transition from vegetarian to vegan is the taste of creamed spinach or spinach and cheese together. Fortunately, there are a few creamy vegan pasta dishes that can sate those cravings. You can make this one in one pot.

Ingredients

4 cups of spinach 

1 cup of basil leaves 

¾ cup of toasted walnuts 

Juice of one lemon

¼ cup of water

4 tablespoons of olive oil

3 cloves of garlic 

1. Mix all of the ingredients in a blender.
2. Put three tablespoons of olive oil in the pan along with three cloves of minced garlic and a pinch of salt. 
3. Cook for about a minute. The garlic should begin to caramelize. 
4. Add five cups of water and all of your noodles.
5. Be sure to stir your pasta as it cooks. It should only take about five minutes. The starch oil and water will work together to create a creamy consistency.
6. Add the pesto mixture and take it off the heat. Continue stirring for about five minutes. Add a little more salt and serve.

White Pasta

When you think about pasta, you can’t help but think of the rich white pasta served with butter and marinara sauce that you enjoyed as a child. Traditional white pasta is nutritious. 

White noodles are a good source of protein and complex carbohydrates. The FDA suggests that 35% of your diet is composed of complex carbohydrates. White pasta has no cholesterol and is very low in fat. 

One of the easiest pasta dishes a person can make is Pasta Aglio Olio. It is also referred to as midnight pasta because it is what chefs eat late at night when their shift ends, and they don't have much energy to cook. It is a creamy, garlicky concoction that goes well with alcohol.

The traditional recipe calls for cheese, but this is a vegan version of the dish. If you want something to substitute the texture of the cheese, you can add nutritional yeast or a vegan parmesan substitute.

Ingredients

2 servings of spaghetti

10 cloves of garlic 

4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1 bunch of parsley 

Peperoncino flakes

Salt

1. Slice the garlic. 
2. Heat the pan on low heat. 
3. Add two tablespoons of olive oil and turn the heat up to medium. 
4. Add the garlic to the pan along with a pinch of salt and parsley.
5. Cook until the garlic is caramelized. 
6. Add salt.
7. Add the spaghetti and a cup and a quarter of water to the pan.
8. Cook on high for several minutes. Reduce the heat and let it cook for 8 minutes. 
9. Add two more tablespoons of olive oil. 
10. Sprinkle on the peperoncino flakes.  
11. Garnish with parsley and serve with your favorite cocktail.

If you don’t cook and can’t be bothered to learn, you can always just grab a jar of Ragu, some noodles, and a baguette. You will find plenty of vegan pasta dishes in the deli section of Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and Sprouts. With all the delicious pasta dishes out there, there are no excuses to forgo your vegan diet when you get a craving for some pasta.