Creamy vegan spinach artichoke pasta is a 30-minute, one-pot meal. If you like spinach artichoke dip, you'll love this pasta!
I don't know what it is about spinach and artichoke, but it's like they were made to be together. And they bring the veggie power and the flavor to this super easy, one-pot vegan spinach artichoke pasta!
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Want more one-pot pasta goodness? Try my creamy vegan pasta bake!
Making the creamy spinach-artichoke sauce
This pasta recipe uses a slightly tweaked version of my popular spinach artichoke dip as the sauce. It's not only dairy-free, but you don't need any vegan mayo or vegan cheese to make it.
You can use any type of bite-sized pasta you like, so choose your fave! I'm using rigatoni here, but this is also great with penne, shells, rotini, or even macaroni.
The sauce gets its creaminess from homemade, cashew cream sauce. To make the cashew cream, you just puree soaked cashews with water, plenty of garlic, and a touch of lemon juice.
After you make the blender cashew cream sauce, just pour it over cooked pasta. Toss in thawed, frozen spinach and chopped artichoke hearts. Warm it through, and you're ready to serve!
You can use the same pan you cooked the pasta in to toss the cooked pasta and sauce together and warm it all up. And since you make the cashew cream while the pasta cooks, the prep time is very minimal.
Serving and storage directions
This dish is hearty enough to be a meal on its own. I love it solo or with a salad or some homemade, vegan garlic bread on the side.
Any leftover pasta will keep for around three to five days in the refrigerator.
Store it in an airtight container. I like to portion out my leftovers into our single-serve meal-prep containers, so I have lunch sorted for the rest of the week.
I do not recommend freezing this recipe. It can change the texture of the cashew cream.
Substitutions
For gluten-free, simply use the gluten-free pasta of your choice.
You can use all spinach or all artichokes, if you prefer one or the other over the combo together. Just replace with an equivalent amount, so you end up with about the same pasta-to-veggie ratio.
To make this nut-free, use raw sunflower seeds or raw pumpkin seeds in place of the cashews.
Vegan Spinach Artichoke Pasta Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 ounces rigatoni pasta - Or your bite-sized pasta of choice -- whole wheat or gluten free are both fine, as well.
- 1 cup raw cashews - soaked in hot water for 10 minutes
- ½ cup water
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 12 ounce bag frozen spinach - thawed and drained
- 1 14 ounce can quartered artichoke hearts - drained
- salt and pepper - to taste
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to the package directions and drain it.
- While the pasta cooks, make the cashew cream by combining the cashews, water, garlic, and lemon juice in your blender, and puree until very smooth. If you're having trouble getting a smooth mix, blend for 30-45 seconds, then let the mixture rest for 5-10 minutes. The cashew meal will soften more, so when you blend again, it will get smoother.
- Transfer the pasta and spinach back to the pot you used to cook the pasta. Pour on the cashew cream, and add the spinach and artichoke hearts. Stir well to combine.
- If your pasta got cold during stirring, you can turn the heat to medium-low and stir constantly until everything is heated through. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve warm.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Frequently asked questions
They sure are! What makes spinach artichoke dip unhealthy is all the dairy and mayo in conventional recipes. This dish replaces all of that dairy and egg with cashew cream.
Artichokes are actually flower buds! You can eat the flesh of the leaves and the inner "choke", located at the base of the bud. This recipe uses canned artichoke hearts, so you don't have to worry about cooking and separating whole artichokes.
You can! Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes until it's browned on top. If you like, you can sprinkle on breadcrumbs or French fried onions prior to baking.
Christine
Can you use fresh spinach? This sounds delicious!
BlueberriesandBananas
Oh how funny! I had JUST made your spinach-artichoke dip and enjoyed it with a baguette but because I am the only one eating it in my household, I was thinking about alternative uses. I came to your website to share my genius idea on the dip page, but HERE IT IS! You already did it! =) I took some of the leftovers, mixed it with a touch of water, added a dash of cayenne, heated it for 30 seconds in the microwave, then tossed into cooked rigatoni! It was DEVINE! Thank you!
Becky Striepe
Thank YOU! I appreciate you leaving such a thoughtful comment and a review!