Make a creamy and rich pasta sauce simply using just a few ingredients. Our spinach pasta sauce is vegan, and you won't even need to cook it. All you need to make it is a good high-speed blender, six ingredients, and your favorite pasta. Believe me, this powerhouse sauce will please your whole family, including picky eaters!
When you have two little kids around, getting creative with your pasta sauces is a simple trick to include more veggies into your family meals. Maybe we've been very lucky, but our kids can eat anything on pasta as long as it's blended or doesn't come with big chunks of veggies they don't enjoy as much. This is why you can find many pasta recipes on our blog that are made with different vegetables, such as this butternut squash pasta, our famous sweet potato pasta, or this butternut squash mac and cheese.
This spinach pasta sauce is a sure winner at home and, so far, our favorite (and easiest) way to include more spinach into our kid's meals. The sauce is made by simply blending all the ingredients using a high-speed blender. You won't need to wilt the spinach, and the rest of the ingredients are also added raw.
This creamy sauce features fresh spinach and basil, silken tofu, fresh lemon juice, nutritional yeast, and pistachios. Once the pasta sauce is made, just choose your favorite pasta, and you can serve this super easy meal to your loved ones.
Ingredients for the Spinach Pasta Sauce
Spinach. For this recipe, we use fresh spinach. You can use regular spinach leaves or baby spinach. If you are using frozen spinach, make sure they are completely thawed before adding them to the blender, and we do recommend cooking them before.
Silken Tofu. We use Organic Silken Tofu. You can use firm or soft silken tofu. If you are using regular tofu, make sure you are using fresh soft, or medium tofu. If you want to substitute the tofu in this recipe, you can use cashew cream or coconut cream.
Lemon Juice. You will need fresh lemon juice. Optionally, you can add lemon zest before serving or preserved lemons.
Basil. Adding fresh basil leaves adds a delicious touch to the sauce. Our son Luca loves pesto, so we added some basil leaves for him and realized it adds an amazing touch to the sauce itself.
Nutritional Yeast. This ingredient adds a delicate, cheesy flavor and provides vitamin B12. If you need to substitute this ingredient, we have some vegan alternatives for nutritional yeast that can help you.
Pistachios. We love the flavor that pistachios add to the sauce. You can also add some crushed pistachios on top before serving this creamy pasta. Alternatively, you can use pine nuts, walnuts, or Macadamia nuts.
Pasta. You can use any type of pasta you like. We recommend short pasta or tubular pasta, such as penne pasta, as they hold the sauce better.
Step-by-Step Method
Rinse the spinach and basil leaves with fresh water. Add the spinach, silken tofu, lemon juice, basil, yeast flakes, pistachios, and a pinch of salt to a blender jug.
Blend until you have a smooth sauce. Don't worry if the sauce is too thick, as we will be adding some pasta water later.
Cook the pasta al dente following the package instructions. Before draining the water, reserve about ½ cup of the pasta cooking water. Drain the rest of the water and pour the pasta back into the pot or a large skillet.
Add the sauce onto the cooked pasta, and pour some of the pasta water. Mix well and add the rest of the pasta water if needed.
If you mix the pasta with the sauce right after draining the pasta, the dish will be ready to be served as the pasta will slightly warm the sauce.
Otherwise, you can heat the pasta and sauce at medium heat for 2-3 minutes.
Serve this green pasta topped with some crushed pistachios (skip this for kids as they are a choking hazard), lemon zest, or some additional yeast flakes. You can add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil as well, black pepper, or vegan parmesan cheese.
Creamy Spinach Pasta
Ingredients
- 3,5 oz spinach
- A handful fresh basil
- 12 oz silken tofu
- lemon juice from ½ lemon
- 2 tablespoon yeast flakes
- ¼ cup pistachios peeled and unsalted
- A pinch of salt
- 12 oz pasta
- ½ cup pasta water
Instructions
- Rinse with fresh water the spinach and basil leaves.3,5 oz spinach, A handful fresh basil
- Add the spinach, basil leaves, silken tofu, lemon juice, yeast flakes, pistachios, and a pinch of salt to a blender jug.12 oz silken tofu, lemon juice from ½ lemon, 2 tablespoon yeast flakes, ¼ cup pistachios, A pinch of salt
- Blend all the ingredients until you have a smooth sauce.
- Cook the pasta following the package instructions. Before draining the water, reserve about ½ cup of pasta water. Drain the rest of the water and pour the pasta back into the pot.12 oz pasta
- Add the green sauce onto the cooked pasta, and pour some of the pasta water. Mix well and add the rest of the pasta water if needed until you have the desired creamy sauce.½ cup pasta water
- Serve with some crushed pistachios on top, some extra basil leaves, and chili flakes if you enjoy spicy food.
Newsletter
Nutrition
Variations
- Use another type of plant-based cream. To give our spinach pasta recipe a creamy texture, we use silken tofu. You can also use cashew cream as we do for our Broccoli Pasta Sauce. To make cashew cream, we use pre-soaked cashews and water. Simply leave the cashews soaking for at least 20 minutes in warm water. Other plant-based options are coconut milk, soy cream, oat cream, or regular heavy cream if you want to make this recipe vegetarian.
- Add veggies. We kept this recipe really simple as this is how our kids love it and how we make it weekly. You can add different ingredients to make this dish more complete or to your taste. Some great options are chopped avocado, cherry tomatoes, steamed broccoli, mushrooms, or green beans.
- Make it gluten-free. The creamy spinach sauce is naturally gluten-free, so the only thing you would need to change is the pasta. You can use gluten-free pasta, chickpea pasta, or red lentil pasta, for example.
- Use different nuts or nut butter. For this recipe, we add pistachios to the sauce. They add a delicious, nutty flavor. You can add different nuts, such as cashews or walnuts, or simply add some nut butter. You can check our recipes for cashew butter and Brazil nut butter.
- Make it spicy. Add some chili powder or red pepper flakes to the blender for a spicy touch. Another option is to add jalapeño peppers on top before serving.
Serving Suggestions
Our Creamy Spinach Pasta can be served as a main dish alongside some vegan garlic bread, a fresh salad, or some marinated olives.
This dish makes for a great side dish or appetizer as well. Serve it as a side dish with this roasted cauliflower steak, or grilled tofu.
Garnish the dish with some fresh basil leaves, a drizzle of olive oil, and, if you like spicy food, some chili flakes.
Store and Reheat
If you have leftovers or you want to enjoy the meal later, you can keep this creamy pasta in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
To reheat the pasta, simply add a little water and reheat using the microwave or a skillet. The water will help you get that creamy texture again.
Leftover spinach? Try making a spinach and chickpea curry or a quick and easy spinach with fettuccine.
FAQ and Tips
If you are using regular tofu, make sure you are using fresh tofu, whether it is soft or medium tofu. I personally prefer silken tofu to make sauces.
Yes, you can use frozen spinach for this recipe. Make sure they are completely thawed and squeeze out as much excess water as possible.
If you need some inspiration to use your Silken Tofu, you should check out these 25 silken tofu recipes that you can make using this ingredient.
Michelle says
This recipe was delicious. I did not have pistachios or pine nuts so I used pepitas. It turned out great! I will make this again and try with the pistachios next time.
Laura Arteaga says
Thank you Michelle, we really like it with pistachios, but any seed goes fantastic in this pasta sauce!
Inez Navedo says
This looks AMAZING. I can’t wait to try it. One question. I see the nutritional information on the bottom of the recipe. What is each serving size? Asking for calorie counties reasons.
Laura Arteaga says
Hi Inez, the nutritional information is per serving. If you are using a low calorie pasta alternative, the value will be much lower.