This easy vegan spaghetti has a great vegan marinara sauce made with garlic, shallots, capers and some cashew cream. Finest noodles!
One evening, after a long night at work, Alex spontaneously conjured up a vegan spaghetti dinner for us. Looking around, he found a few cans of tomato puree and spaghetti in the cupboard and a few shallots in the pantry. Rummaging through the fridge, he discovered capers in the jar and leftover cashew cream. The resulting vegan spaghetti and creamy marinara sauce was so good I kept asking them: how exactly did you do that? Of course his answer was I have no idea. He cooked intuitively. After years of writing a food blog and then a cookbook, taking notes while cooking comes naturally to us. But he surprised us with a sneak attack. Read on for the story behind this easy vegan Italian recipe.
Related: Easy marinara sauce
The story behind this vegan spaghetti
This vegan spaghetti with creamy marinara sauce has an extremely flavorful sauce: garlic, shallots and capers together with creamy cashews make the same thing umami as possible. That is so good. After repeating several times what he thought he did that night, he was able to recreate the delicious vegan spaghetti he made on a whim. Knowing we’d be doing this a year later, we made sure to write it this time!
We took the photos together, and after editing, Alex presented me with the final photos for this post. I couldn’t wait to see the photos of the creamy, comforting vegan spaghetti to remind myself of eating them again. Except when we looked at her together, something wasn’t right. The image of noodles was flat and lifeless. Something didn’t quite resemble the soothing, creamy umami experience of creamy vegan marinara spaghetti. We both looked at it and said: Oh.
Related: Easy vegetarian recipes for beginners | Romantic dinner ideas
A new perspective
Alex decided to return to the drawing board with the same photo. He set it up in Photoshop and this time put a new filter on top. The new filter made the colors pop and brought a warmth that the original image lacked. Rather than showing the whole pasta plate, it’s then cropped so you can see the gooey details of the sauce and the contrasting tangles of the pasta. This time when I looked at it, the photo said gooey, creamy and comforting vegan spaghetti.
Why am I telling this story? Because in a way it’s like life. How often do we look at some aspect of our lives and say to ourselves: Oh. It’s not quite what I expected. Something is wrong here. And it’s discouraging.
What if, like Alex, we could apply a new filter to our lives? What if we had a new filter that improves color and brightness? What if we could crop where we could clearly see the detail (and a bit of chaos!) and realize that what’s there is actually beautiful? A simple shift in perspective can cultivate a heart of gratitude if we let it.
And now we’re all eating vegan spaghetti with creamy marinara sauce. hp It’s also a fabulous use as a pizza sauce.
Related: Easy dinner recipes for the family
Tips for preparing vegan spaghetti
This is an incredibly easy vegan pasta recipe! It takes about 40 minutes to prep, but half of that time is hands-free cooking time. Here are a few things to keep in mind when preparing this vegan spaghetti:
- Soak cashew nuts — To make a super smooth cashew cream, it’s important to soak the cashews for at least 30 minutes (if you have a high-powered blender), but 1 hour is best. If you skimp on soaking time, the cashews won’t mix well and your vegan marinara sauce won’t taste good. If you have a standard blender, we recommend 1 hour.
- Salt the water generously — For the best vegan spaghetti, you must add a good pinch of salt to boiling water. If you don’t, the pasta will be tasteless!
- Cook the sauce over low and slow heat — Both when sautéing the shallot and garlic and simmering the sauce over the heat, the heat should be fairly low. Remember: you want to cook the veggies without burning them. If they burn, the marinara will turn slightly bitter.
Also try: Homemade spaghetti sauce with veggie crumbles!
This vegan spaghetti recipe is…
Vegetarian, vegan, plant based, dairy free. For gluten-free pasta, use gluten-free pasta.
The description
This easy vegan spaghetti has a great vegan marinara sauce made with garlic, shallots, capers and some cashew cream. Finest noodles!
- 1 Cashew nut cream recipe
- 2 large shallots
- 5 medium garlic cloves
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 28-ounce can of tomato puree
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- ½ cup cashew cream (from above)
- 2 tablespoons capers, drained
- 1 Bucatini Pasta Pounds
- basil leaves for garnish
- Prepare the cashew nut cream (allow at least 30 minutes soaking time or prepare in advance).
- Finely chop shallots. Chop the garlic.
- In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the shallots, garlic, and oregano and sauté gently, stirring occasionally, until tender and translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Pour in the tomato puree, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and hold over low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the cashew cream and capers and simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Cook the noodles according to package directions in plenty of salted water. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, slowly add the hot pasta to the tomato sauce and stir well. Serve hot, garnished with shredded or sliced basil leaves, a drizzle of olive oil (required: this is a key ingredient in achieving the creamy, rich flavor) and a pinch of additional salt (if needed).
- Category: main course
- Method: Cook
- Kitchen: Italian
Keywords: Vegan Spaghetti, Easy Vegan Pasta, Vegan Marinara Sauce, Vegetarian Pasta Recipe, Vegan Pasta Recipe
Looking for easy vegan pasta recipes?
There are so many ways to make easy vegan pasta. It takes about 40 minutes to make, but some of our favorites are:
Looking for vegan recipes?
Aside from these vegan spaghetti in marinara sauce, here are some of our favorite vegan recipes:
