Vegan Creamy Mushroom Pasta with flavor-packed sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, and spinach! An easy, satisfying 30-minute weeknight dinner.
Let’s make a pan of satisfying, vegan creamy mushroom pasta with flavorful sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, & spinach! I love that this dish comes together in just 30 minutes for an easy vegan weeknight meal. To simplify the cream sauce, I use a shortcut with cashew milk and cheesy nutritional yeast instead of soaking whole cashews. (You can certainly sub another non-dairy milk if desired but it may slightly alter the taste – just be sure it’s plain and unsweetened!)
As always, have fun changing it up with your own variations. You can add fresh lemon juice to brighten it up, different greens such as arugula, or more fresh herbs. Not to mention it’s a great dish to adjust seasonally with whatever fresh produce is available. (Asparagus is lovely in the springtime!) You can even pair it with your favorite vegan deli sausage. I love Field Roast’s Smoked Apple Sage sausage. Hope you enjoy!
If you’re looking for more quick & easy 30-Minute meals, also check out:
Portobello Fajitas
Broccoli Cashew Stir Fry
Vegan Butter Chickpeas
Easy Peanut Noodles
Or also browse: 15 Best Easy Vegan Weeknight Meals
PS – come join The Garden Grazer on Instagram and share a pic if you make this! I love seeing your beautiful recreations.
Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Mushroom Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 oz. penne (gluten-free if desired)
- 8 oz. mushrooms
- 1/2 cup diced sun-dried tomatoes*
- 3-5 cloves garlic
- 1 1/2 cups cashew milk (plain, unsweetened)
- 2/3 cup vegetable broth
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
- 3 Tbsp. fresh basil
- 2 cups fresh baby spinach (or arugula, etc.)
- Salt/pepper to taste
Toppings for serving (optional):
- Fresh basil or parsley, kalamata olives, cashew parmesan
Other possible additions:
- Onion, grape tomatoes, asparagus, shallot, roasted bell pepper, peas
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package instructions, leaving al dente. Drain when finished.
- Meanwhile, slice the mushrooms.
- In a large skillet over med-high heat, saute mushrooms for about 7 minutes. (I use 3 Tbsp. water/veggie broth for no-oil saute method.)
- Meanwhile, mince garlic and dice sun-dried tomatoes (yielding about 1/2 cup diced tomatoes).
- Add garlic and sun-dried tomatoes to the skillet. Stir and saute 1 minute.
- Add cashew milk, broth, nutritional yeast, and garlic powder. Stir well to combine.
- Heat 3-4 minutes or until lightly simmering.
- Meanwhile, chop/julienne the basil.
- Add basil and drained pasta to the skillet. Toss well and heat for 5-10 minutes or until the pasta has absorbed most of the sauce. (The sauce will be thin at first, but will thicken upon heating and even more after sitting.)
- Stir in spinach during last couple minutes to wilt. Salt/pepper to taste.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving (estimate)
This looks AMAZING, some of my favorite foods all in one!!!
Thanks, mine too! 🙂 Hope you enjoy if you give it a try Lindsay!
I made this tonight……it is amazing! The creamy sauce made with the cashew milk and nutritional yeast was spot on! I did not miss the cream or cheese! Wow! I will use the simple sauce in other dishes, for sure. But this dish is a keeper, and I can’t wait to make it for my vegan daughters! Problem – I couldn’t stop eating it – _ – extra workouts tomorrow!
Haha, yessss!! Loved seeing your pics on instagram! Hope your daughters enjoy it too! Definitely an easy sauce to use for other recipes – would love to hear what you come up with! Thanks for taking the time to comment & rate it! <3
Hello! I was wondering if I could use lactaid milk instead of the cashew milk? Recipe looks great though!
Hi Claire! I don’t have any experience with Lactaid milk, but I’ve tried this recipe with cashew, soy, and almond which all work great! I’m guessing any plain & unsweetened milk would work just fine 🙂 Hope you enjoy if you give it a try!
I made this last night and it was super delicious! Definitely a keeper. Super easy to put together too. Glad I doubled the recipe lol. My almost 18 year old son is super picky and more than often isn’t a fan of my plant-based cooking, but this one he devoured and had seconds as did my husband. Thanks for a fab meal!!! Will def be making this often.
Aww hi Trish! This is amazing!! Beyond thrilled to hear you all enjoyed 🙂 Thanks so much for coming back to rate the recipe and leave such a sweet comment – very appreciated. Wishing you all a most beautiful week! -Kaitlin
Just made this exactly as written!!! YUM!!! I am so happy to have discovered your blog! Have a ton more recipes pinned to work my way through!
Hey Grace!! Yay! Thrilled to hear you enjoyed this one (and found more inspiration on the site as well!) 🙂 Hope you enjoy any others you try! Thanks so much for the sweet feedback – wishing you a beautiful week! -Kaitlin
OH my goodness, absolutely amazing!!! All of the flavors are spot on! I used soy milk and had no issues with it thickening up. I added peas and tomatoes and used lentil pasta. Even my meat eating husband said it tasted good! Thank you for sharing!!!
YAY Ashley! So glad you both enjoyed this! I absolutely love your additions, yum! 🙂 Thanks so much for taking the time to leave such sweet feedback – very appreciated! Wishing you and your husband a most beautiful week! -Kaitlin
It was just ok, a little bland for our taste.
OMG. I’m new to cooking, despite being plant based for quite a while, so most of my experiments I’ve been pretty modest about…okay, yeah, it tastes good, but could it be better?
This? This here? NO QUESTION. Truly. I love an easy, one pan dish that allows me to multitask, and mega bonus that it was ready in under 30 minutes. I had extra mushrooms I needed to use up, so I went ahead and doubled the recipe, and thank goodness I did. Everyone had seconds and I still managed to squirrel a bit away for my lunch today.
The only substitution-ish thing I made was that I didn’t have cashew milk, so I used unsweetened almond milk and threw a tablespoon of cashew butter in, and I thickened the sauce with cornstarch in the very end (this probably wouldn’t have been necessary if I had slowly added the double of the milk, rather than follow it to a T, but as I said, newbie!)
Hi Nataleigh! YAY, so great to hear that! Thanks for the sweet message 🙂 I’m so glad this worked out for you. And I love your idea to use almond milk + cashew butter. Smart! Hope you continue to have fun with your plant-based cooking journey & experiments! <3 Wishing you a beautiful week! -Kaitlin
I made this last night. It was really yummy! My man and I enjoyed it last night. I had leftovers for lunch today and the sauce kinda disappeared. I added a bit of veggie broth to the bowl last night, but the noodles must’ve soaked it up over night. Any suggestions or did I make too little sauce? I probably need to add broth right before microwaving..
Hi Allyson! Great to hear you both enjoyed it. This recipe works best if eaten the same day, as leftovers do tend to soak up the remaining sauce as you found. (Apologies that was unclear – I just added a note to clarify.) You could certainly add a touch of milk or broth before reheating to re-hydrate a bit if desired however! Wishing you guys a beautiful week 🙂
Made this tonight using Almond Milk with a touch of cornstarch to thicken it up.
This dish was amazing-both my husband & I really enjoyed it.
Thanks for a great recipe.
Awesome Kate!! Perfect substitution with the almond milk + cornstarch 🙂 Thrilled to hear you both enjoyed this one! Thanks for the kind feedback and leaving a rating/review! Have a great rest of the week! -Kaitlin
I made this last week and everyone loved it. My non-vegan husband added some parmesan cheese but the rest of us added vegan parmesan cheese. Loved it. So happy I found your site! Thank you.
Hey Jennifer! YAY! So fantastic to hear it was enjoyed by all 🙂 Thanks so much for the super sweet feedback (and for leaving a recipe rating – very appreciated!) Wishing you all a most wonderful week! -Kaitlin
Just made this recipe and LOVED it! It tasted like Alfredo sauce! I used a quinoa and brown rice blend of fusilli pasta (because they didn’t have penne and I’ve become addicted to the combo). Also used oat milk instead of cashew and it was the perfect consistency, and subbed asparagus for mushrooms since I’m not a fan. It all turned out great, can’t wait to make it again.
Hey Genevieve! Woo! Awesome to hear you gave this a try and enjoyed 🙂 I love the oat milk & asparagus substitutions, yum! And I agree, quinoa & brown rice pasta is my favorite too. Thanks so much for coming back to leave such sweet feedback (and recipe rating!) Very appreciated. Wishing you a beautiful rest of the week! -Kaitlin
This is one of my favorite recipes at our local ItalianRestaurant. I order it but usually pay for it later as I don’t do well with dairy products. Now with the quartile I searched the web for a vegan version and found your recipe. Absolute.t finger lickin good. My husband loved it too .thank you for sharing. This great recipe.
So lovely to hear you both enjoyed it Janet! Thanks so much for the kind feedback 🙂
Absolutely delicious, I used unsalted cashew butter to thicken my sauce.
Wonderful substitute! Thanks so much for sharing your creative adaption 🙂 So glad you enjoyed it!
Tried this today, I didn’t have nutritional yeast, and used almond milk and cornstarch. Still So delicious, will definitely make it again as written.
Your blog has been a life saver. We went vegan almost 2 years ago and You have helped me prepare so many great meals. I absolutely love it and been telling everyone I know about it.
Hi Lillian! That’s so wonderful to hear, and great substitute with the cornstarch to thicken it up! 🙂 Thrilled you’re enjoying the blog and thank you so much for sharing it with others. Really appreciate your kind words. Wishing you a beautiful rest of the weekend! Take good care. -Kaitlin
Thank you for this recipe! It is delish! I didn’t have spinach, so I used arugula, and doubled the mushrooms, as they needed to be used, and added a whole onion at the beginning. Very good! Saved it to my favorites. 🙂
Awesome to hear that, Jana! Really love your wonderful adaptions – many thanks for sharing 🙂 Wishing you a beautiful weekend! -Kaitlin
The first time I made this I thought it was pretty good. This time, I doubled the recipe but tripled the mushrooms and added a diced onion. It was amazing! My family loves it.
Hi Tara! That’s fantastic – I adore your extra mushrooms & onion addition 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing your kind feedback! Wishing you and your family a beautiful weekend. -Kaitlin
I made this recipe for lunch today and just loved it. I found your website a little over a week ago and have prepared at least four of your recipes. I’ve enjoyed every one of them, and have been sharing them with my friends and family on Facebook.
I have one question. Where can I find the serving sizes? Thank you!
Hi Amanda! That’s awesome to hear – so glad you’ve been enjoying the recipes! And thanks so much for sharing them with your friends/family as well, that means a lot. 🙂
The servings for each recipe are listed right above the ingredients. I usually don’t mark down a specific measurement (i.e. 1/2 cup per serving), but rather how many servings the recipe typically makes for our family (such as 5 medium bowls, etc.) I realize that’s not very precise, but hope it at least gives a rough guideline if you’re keeping track of nutritional content, etc.
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a sweet comment, and hope you have a beautiful rest of the week! -Kaitlin