Creamy Mushroom Pasta with flavor-packed sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, and spinach! An easy, satisfying 30-minute vegan dinner.
Let’s make a pan of satisfying, creamy mushroom pasta with flavorful sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, & spinach! This dish is oil-free, using healthy whole food, plant-based ingredients. And it comes together in just 30 minutes for an easy weeknight meal. Instead of making a separate cashew sauce, I take a shortcut with cashew milk and cheesy nutritional yeast to form the simple, light cream sauce. (You may sub other non-dairy milk if desired but it may slightly alter the taste.)
Have fun changing it up with your own variations. Add fresh lemon juice to brighten it up, different greens such as arugula, or more fresh herbs. Adjust it seasonally with whatever fresh produce is available. (Asparagus in the spring is lovely!) See the recipe for additional notes and possible variations for more ideas. You can even pair it with your favorite vegan deli sausage – I love Field Roast’s Smoked Apple Sage sausage. Enjoy!
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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 (I use this brand)
- 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:
- Fresh lemon juice, 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)
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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