Vegan creamy spinach pasta is purely delicious. We finished a whole pot literally in minutes for dinner. Usually, pastas are full of cheese but this is a no cheese pasta with coconut milk. Kids love finger food and something they can eat themselves. Adding greens to diet is always helpful too as they need their iron. I love having greens any day over meat. I loved watching Popeye the sailor man as a kid, somehow eating greens and gaining strength, stayed with me. One pot meal full of favorite pasta in a healthy pasta sauce is a perfect weeknight dinner for the whole family.
Vegan creamy spinach pasta sauce has no nuts no cream or cheese yet it is super smooth due to coconut milk. Hence, no extra calories. You can always add nuts , basil and cheese if you want to use raw pesto instead of cooking spinach sauce. However, we wanted to make something nut-free for kiddie lunch hours at school. Most schools might have a nut free policy in Australia. Some kids might have an averse reaction due to allergies. Hence, it is always better to avoid nuts in school lunch boxes.
Do try out our other similar vegan recipes Vegan Japanese curry , Spicy ramen with Tofu ,Vegan Red Lentil Curry ,Creamy vegan pasta ,Curry pasta , vegan sloppy joes .
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Benefit of eating spinach
Greens increase iron level without you relying on supplements over the long run. It also helps increase eye health and reduce the risk of cancer. Hence I try to incorporate as much greens as possible. Palak / palakura or spinach is something close to my heart. There are so any vegan dishes you can make & still get your iron too. It grew in my garden so I ended up eating so many dishes as a kid. Whether it was easy palak rice or Sindhi Sai bhaji where we cooked lentils with greens. Spinach soup is awesome on a cold winter night while saag paneer/tofu makes any weeknight special. Two more curries are Undhiyu and Saat bhajiyun which are mixed veg curries of Gujarati and Sindhi cuisine and help you enjoy all winter produce.
Ingredients
- pasta
- onion
- garlic cloves
- capsicum
- fresh spinach /frozen spinach
- coconut milk / or any other plant-based milk
- vegetable stock powder
- salt as per taste
- water for boiling pasta
See recipe card for quantities.
Related links
Read our other vegan spinach recipes
Equipment
- Saucepan
- Sieve
- Blender
how to make vegan creamy spinach pasta?
Here are the step-by-step instructions to make your pot pasta.
- In a sauce pan, boil water and add pasta to it. Cook al dente or as per packet instructions.
2. Strain it using a sieve and keep it aside.
3. Grill 1 large capsicum on stove or in an air fryer/ oven until you get blistered skin. Keep it aside to cool, once cook,peel the skin and remove the seeds
4. Heat oil in a pan and add onions and garlic to it with little salt. Cook for 5 mins.
5. Add baby spinach to it and cook for 2-3 mins until they wilt.
6.Turn off the heat, add coconut milk to it.
7. Blend the mix with the grilled capsicum.
8. Heat this vegan spinach sauce and add stock powder to it with lemon juice. Allow it come to boil on slow flame. You may also add spoonful of nutritional yeast at this stage.
9. Add cooked pasta to it and mix slowly.Turn off the heat after few minutes.
10. Serve warm
Hint: Over boiling the pasta will make it mushy. Always check the package directions.
easy creamy pasta recipe with vegan spinach sauce
Equipment
- 2 saucepan
- Sieve
- Blender
Ingredients
- 200 gm Pasta I have used Penne pasta.
- 3-4 cups water to cook pasta
- 1 green capsicum mild sweet green capsicum
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 large Onion diced
- 3 garlic cloves chopped
- 100 gms baby spinach or normal spinach in place of baby spinach
- 150 ml Coconut milk Used a full small can
- 1 tbsp. vegan soup stock optional
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- Salt as per taste
Instructions
- In a sauce pan, boil water and add pasta to it. Cook al dente or as per packet instructions.
- Strain it using a sieve and keep it aside.
- Grill 1 large capsicum on stove or in an air fryer/ oven until you get blistered skin. Keep it aside to cool, once cook,peel the skin and remove the seeds
- Heat oil in a pan and add onions and garlic to it. Cook for 5 mins.
- Add spinach to it and cook for 2-3 mins until they wilt.
- Turn off the heat, add coconut milk to it.
- Once it has cooled down, blend the greens mix with the peeled/grilled capsicum and strain it.
- Heat the creamy spinach sauce and add stock powder to it with lemon juice. Allow it come to boil on slow flame
- Add cooked pasta to it and mix slowly.Turn off the heat after few minutes.
Notes
Substitutions
- You may add ¼ cup pine nuts, basil and cheese if you like while blending greens to make the pesto.
- You may substitute the baby spinach with with frozen spinach if you do not find this variety.
- Add crushed black pepper or red pepper flakes if you like a spicy pasta dish. You can make this recipe gluten-free, if you use gluten-free pasta.
Variations
You can add mushrooms to make vegan mushroom spinach pasta. Vegan spinach artichoke pasta & tofu spinach pasta is also a good variation. Many brands come in various shapes & sizes. You can also choose a different type to go with it like fusilli or spaghettis. Use rainbow colored ones for a variation. Chickpea pasta, brown rice pasta can be used to make these vegan pasta recipes. You can also grate some vegan parmesan cheese before you serve if you like.
FAQ
Fresh baby spinach leaves, coconut milk, olive oil, garlic, salt as per taste.
Barilla, De cecco,Garofalo, Colavita, Rummo,365 by Whole Foods Market Pasta are some of the vegan pasta brands. Always check the ingredients before you use as a thumbrule.
It is a powerhouse of iron. It also has vitamin A,C, K , folates, potassium and fiber.
Storage
It is always better to eat fresh. However, you can boil pasta and store it separately for 1-2 days. You can also keep the puree separately. Freeze it in refrigerator if you like to cook in advance. Thaw and add freshly boiled pasta to it.
Conclusion: This easy recipe with a creamy sauce is perfect recipe to wow your kids. Whole grain pasta is definitely in my go-to meals for a healthy dinner.
Gabrielė says
Delicious! I added few leafs of kale and omitted capsicum, still very yummy
bhavana bhatia says
Hi Gabriele
Thank you so much for your feedback! So glad you liked it.
Warm Regards
Bhavana
Kristina says
I tried this out for dinner because I had a huge bag of spinach just sitting in my fridge. It was super good! My only thing was seasoning wise I added quite a lot more salt than I wanted to. The coconut flavor was just over powering and left a coconut taste in my mouth. And don’t get me wrong I LOVE coconut.
bhavana bhatia says
thanks for so much for your feedback