Creamy and vegan? Yes! This quick pasta dish is filling, flavorful, and plant-based!
Creamy vegan noodles with broccoli and tempeh bacon
Who doesn’t love creamy pasta? And what better way to enjoy it than with a plant-based cream sauce? With soaked cashews, garlic, and nutritional yeast, you get a creamy, non-dairy, milk-flavored sauce.
With tender roasted broccoli and smoky tempeh bacon (I love the Lightlife brand, but use any you like!), it’s a perfect pasta dish where every fork offers a nutritious boost.
Switch it up by using tofu, beans or another protein on top – and yes, if you’re a meat eater this is still a great recipe (fried chicken would work well too!)
Bookmark this recipe, albeit not for the whole dish but for the cream sauce – this makes a lot of extra cream sauce, so save the rest for other meals!
Creamy vegan noodles with broccoli and tempeh bacon
- 12 ounces broccoli florets
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil + more for drizzling
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt + more to taste
- pepper
- 1 Cup raw cashew nuts, soaked for at least 6 hours (preferably overnight)
- 1 package Lightlife Tempeh Bacon Slices
- 3 Garlic cloves, sliced
- 1 small red onion, diced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ Lemon, juiced
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1 8 ounces Box of rotini or penne
- red pepper flakes for garnish
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Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and add the broccoli. Drizzle with a little olive oil and season with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Toss well to coat and lay out on the baking sheet. Roast for 30 minutes or until fork is tender, shaking pan every 10 minutes to avoid burning broccoli.
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While the broccoli is cooking, drain and rinse the cashews and add to a high-speed blender. Put aside.
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Bring a medium-sized saucepan half filled with water to a boil. Once the water is boiling, cook your pasta according to package directions. Pour into a sieve.
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While you wait for the water to boil, place a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the tempeh slices. Fry for 3 to 5 minutes, flip and fry for another 3 to 5 minutes or until crisp. Set aside on a plate with tongs. You may need to cook in batches. Immediately add the oil to the pan and reduce the heat to medium-high. Once the oil is shimmering, add the garlic and onion and cook for 5 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Turn off the heat, stir in the oregano and place in blender along with ¾ cup water and lemon juice, salt and nutritional yeast. Season with pepper, puree until smooth, cover, taste and season with more salt if needed. Put aside.
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After draining the pasta, return it to the pot in which it was cooked. Add half the creamy cashew sauce, broccoli, and half the bacon, using your fingers (or a pair of scissors) to break them into chunks as you add them to the saucepan. Give the noodles a good stir to combine them. Save the cream sauce for future use or add more if you like more creaminess.
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Divide the noodles among bowls and top with the remaining bacon, breaking into pieces with your fingers. Garnish with red pepper flakes and serve.
