Creamy and scrumptious vegan spinach artichoke pasta is a comforting spring dish that you need in your life right now. It includes a delicious dairy-free Alfredo sauce, tender and tangy artichoke hearts, and fresh spinach all snuggled together with your favorite hearty noodles. Try this easy spinach and artichoke pasta recipe as a quick weeknight dinner that’s sure to please!
This rich and creamy vegan spinach artichoke pasta dish tastes so incredibly luscious and luxurious that some might find it hard to believe it’s completely vegan. But it’s true!
My tried-and-true vegan Alfredo sauce is super popular, and I wondered how it could be incorporated it into even more delicious recipes. As it turns out, it goes well with just about anything pasta-based! So I decided to combine creamy homemade sauce with artichokes – one of my favorite spring veggies – plus plenty of fresh spinach and thick rigatoni noodles.
The result is a plant-based dinner dish that’s both delicious and satisfying, without feeling too heavy. It’s easy to prepare in a little over 30 minutes, plus a bit of time for soaking the cashews needed to make the Alfredo sauce. Give it a try with your preferred noodles (you can even use gluten-free pasta!) and I promise you’ll love this Italian-inspired recipe, too!
Ingredients
Here are the ingredients needed to make the creamy vegan Alfredo sauce:
- Olive oil
- Yellow onion
- Garlic
- Raw cashews
- Unsweetened almond milk
- Lemon juice
- Nutritional yeast
- Salt and pepper
For the rest of the recipe you need:
- Pasta
- Canned artichoke hearts
- Fresh spinach
NOTES:
I use rigatoni to make this vegan spinach artichoke pasta dish, but feel free to use whatever noodles you prefer. I just recommend that you pick something thick that is good for coating with a rich sauce.
To make this entire recipe gluten-free simply use your favorite GF-friendly noodles!
HOW TO MAKE A CREAMY DAIRY-FREE ALFREDO SAUCE
To prepare this vegan Alfredo sauce you’ll need a blender and cashews that have been thoroughly soaked.
There are two methods for soaking cashews:
- Cover them with room temperature water and let soak for 4 hours, or
- Place the cashews in a mason jar and pour in enough boiling water to cover. Let sit uncovered for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, saute the diced onion and minced garlic in a skillet with olive oil, until the onions are translucent. Once the cashews are ready, drain and place them in a blender. Add the onion, garlic, and other sauce ingredients. Blend until smooth and creamy.
Note: If you like your pasta extra saucy you can easily double the vegan Alfredo sauce portion of the recipe, or cut the amount of pasta cooked in half. Your choice!
HOW TO MAKE OUR EASY VEGAN SPINACH AND ARTICHOKE PASTA RECIPE
As you prep the sauce ingredients, bring a large pot of water to a boil on the stovetop and cook the pasta according to package instructions. Be sure to add a healthy pinch of salt before adding the noodles to the water!
While the pasta cooks, chop and saute the artichoke hearts in the same skillet used to cook the onions and garlic. This really brings out the bright and earthy artichoke flavor.
Then save 1/2 a cup of the pasta water and set aside, and drain the noodles in a colander. Set aside.
To the pot you cooked the pasta in, add the vegan Alfredo sauce, sauteed artichoke hearts, and spinach. Stir to combine. Next, add the noodles and half of the reserved pasta water. Gently stir again so that the sauce coats the noodles.
Add more of the pasta water if you want to thin the sauce out a bit. Give the vegan spinach and artichoke pasta a taste, and add salt and pepper as needed. Serve right away while warm.
CREAMY VEGAN PASTA SERVING SUGGESTIONS
This delicious Italian-inspired dish is perfect to enjoy with a fresh green salad and warm, crusty bread on the side.
For the best vegan-friendly garlic bread, make a plant-based garlic butter sauce. Use a pastry brush to slather the melted butter onto toasted slices Italian or French bread just before serving.
TIPS FOR STORING LEFTOVER SPINACH ARTICHOKE PASTA
Because of the tender spinach this dish definitely tastes best right after being freshly prepared. However, leftovers are still quite yummy and can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days. Let the pasta cool completely before transferring to an airtight container. Reheat in the microwave in short bursts so that you juuuust warm the pasta without totally overcooking the spinach and artichokes.
I do not recommend that you freeze leftovers.
If you tried this vegan spinach artichoke pasta recipe let me know in the comments below and share a photo using #mindfulavocado. I’d love to hear from you! Want to see more recipes? Let’s get social! CONNECT WITH ME on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest to see what I’m currently cooking up!
If you like this recipe, you’ll LOVE:
Vegan Spinach Artichoke Pasta
Ingredients
Other Ingredients:
- 1 pound pasta of choice I used rigatoni
- 1 14.5-ounce can artichoke hearts roughly chopped
- 2 big handfuls fresh spinach roughly chopped (about 3 cups)
Sauce:
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil fivided
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 cup raw cashews soaked in water for at least 4 hours (see notes for quicker method)
- 3/4 cup plain, unsweetened almond milk
- 1/2 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Tools:
Instructions
- Heat 1 Tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan or pot on low- medium heat.
- Sauté onions until translucent (about 10 minutes). Add garlic and cook until fragrant (about 30 seconds).
- Add to high-speed blender along with remaining sauce ingredients. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.
- Meanwhile, cook pasta according to instructions. Drain and save 1/2 cup of pasta water.
- In the same pot from the sauce, heat the remaining Tablespoon of olive oil. Add chopped artichokes and sautee for 5 minutes. This releases the artichoke flavor!
- Add the sauce back to the pot along with the spinach. Stir and cook for 1-2 minutes until the spinach is wilted.
- Add cooked pasta to the pot with 1/4 cup of reserved pasta water. This helps to coat the pasta in the sauce. Add more pasta water if needed. Taste and adjust seasonings.
- Remove from heat and serve warm. Top with fresh parsley and cracked black pepper if desired!
Video
Notes
- Boil a pot of water to a rolling boil.
- Put cashews in a glass or mason jar.
- Pout water into the glass or mason jar with the cashews.
- Let sit uncovered for 15 minutes.
Nutrition
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Very tasty! I omitted the oil and water sautéed the veggies for a lower fat version.
I’m glad you enjoyed this recipe! Love the substitution as well.
I just found this recipe and made it within the same hour! It is GOOD and so easy to make. I didn’t even have artichokes to add, used sweetened almond milk, and frozen spinach because it’s all I had. And it was still the best sauce I ever made… I’m definitely making this for my family members. Thank you so much!
So happy you enjoyed this recipe! 🙂 Thanks for taking the time to review the recipe too.
This was absolutely delicious! Only change I made was used unsweetened oat milk instead of almond and we will definitely be making this recipe regularly in our house!
So tasty! Only change I made was that I used frozen spinach and soy milk only because that’s what I had. Definitely a keeper. Family loved it! Came quickly together too. Thank you!
Quick and easy to make. Very tasty. Next time will sub some white beans with some of the cashews to lower the fat content. Also water sauté the onions/artichoke. Will be adding this into the rotation
This was wonderful; I added more cashews to thicken the sauce and up the protein. Lush! Thanks for this.x