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Vegan Lemon Asparagus Pasta – 30 mins! Creamy Lemon Alfredo style sauce with tofu with fettuccine and pan roasted garlic asparagus and more lemon. Vegan Nutfree Recipe. Can be Glutenfree. 17 gm of protein Jump to Recipe
Asparagus is abundant and in season. Fresh, crisp and delicious and this lemon asparagus pasta celebrates it perfectly! The pasta comes together in 30 minutes and has this luscious delicious zesty cream sauce. The sauce uses tofu, non dairy milk and herbs for the sauce, See below for soyfree option. Tofu makes the sauce so fluffy creamy! Lemon in various forms at various stages of the sauce, lemon juice and zest in the blended sauce, zest and lemon slices while simmering, make this sauce incredibly tasty! Hubbs couldnt believe it was tofu! and 2 serves went down within minutes.
This Vegan Lemon Asparagus Pasta is all things Spring. Lemony, Creamy, satisfying and makes a great weeknight meal. The lemon pasta sauce is creamy and delicious. Adjust the flavor of the sauce while simmering to preference. Add a few tbsp of white wine for variation. Lets cook.
Ingredients and Substitutions for Vegan Lemon Asparagus Pasta
- Tofu makes for a quick and creamy sauce! no soaking the nuts needed. It also picks up the lemon flavor amazingly. To make this soyfree, You can use 1/2 cup cashews with 1.5 cups non dairy milk instead. Or use 1 cup of steamed cauliflower and 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds.
- Use any pasta of choice and use glutenfree if needed.
- The recipe can be easily made without oil. Saute in broth instead.
- Lemon at various stages in various forms, zest and juice in the blended sauce, zest and slices added during simmering is what makes this sauce mindblowingly delicious. No subs there!
Step by Step Photos
The key is to multitask for the various components for a quick meal. Start by bringing a pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Meanwhile, Chop the garlic, onion, mushrooms if using and asparagus. Assemble the sauce ingredients.
Blend the sauce and set aside.
Add pasta to the boiling water. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and Cook for half a minute, then add asparagus, salt, pepper. Toss for a few seconds, then cover and steam until bright green. Transfer to a bowl.
In the same pan add oil and then saute the garlic for a few seconds. Add onion and mushrooms and cook until translucent.
Check on the pasta while the onion is cooking. The pasta should be done by now, drain, rinse with cold water and set aside.
Once the onion is translucent. Add the blended sauce and simmer. Add the zest, slices, cooked asparagus and fettuccine and fold in. Toss well to coat all the pasta. Taste and adjust flavor. Switch off heat, but don’t take the pan off the stove. Cover and let sit for a few minutes for the flavors to meld.
Plate portions, garnish with vegan parm, basil, black pepper/pepper flakes and serve as is or with some garlic bread.
How to make Vegan Lemon Asparagus Pasta
- Start cooking the pasta. Meanwhile, Asparagus is roasted for a minute with golden garlic, then covered to cook with the steam.
- The sauce uses tofu and lemon, herbs and flavors. Tofu when blended makes for a silky creamy sauce!
- Garlic, onion and mushroom are sauteed, the sauce added and simmered to thicken.
- Then more lemon zest and lemon slices round up the flavor of this fabulous lemon cream sauce. Toss in the pasta and asparagus and serve!
More Pastas from the blog
- Sundried Tomato and Garlic Pasta with Soy curls.So beautiful!
- Garlic Pasta with Cajun Cauliflower – super popular
- Rose Sauce Farfalle – so Creamy!
- Lentil Bolognese with Spaghetti.– Hearty
- Cauliflower Parmesan Pasta Bake – sliced cauliflower, baked then dressed in vegan mozz, baked over pasta
- Chickpea Chorizo, Quinoa shells in tomato sauce. GF – So Meaty.
Vegan Lemon Asparagus Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 oz fettuccine or other pasta, , glutenfree pasta if needed
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 clove of garlic, , finely chopped
- 1 lb asparagus, , chopped into 2 inch pieces, remove tough bottom stem
- dash of salt and black pepper
Lemon Cream Sauce:
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 3-4 cloves of garlic, , finely chopped
- 1/3 cup chopped onion
- 2 oz sliced mushroom, optional
- 7 oz firm tofu, or silken tofu
- 1 cup non dairy milk, such as almond or soy
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- zest of half a lemon
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp ground mustard
- 1-2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp flour, , use starch or rice flour to make glutenfree
- 2 tsp italian seasoning, (I like 1 tsp basil, 1/2 tsp parsley, 1/3 tsp rosemary)
- zest of the other half of the lemon
- 3-4 thin lemon slices
- pepper flakes, ,black pepper, vegan parm for garnish
Instructions
- Cook the fettuccine according to instructions on the package, rinse in cold water and set aside. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for half a minute.
- Add asparagus, pinch of salt and black pepper and mix. Cover to cook/steam for 3 mins or until bright green. Transfer to a bowl.
- Add oil to the same skillet over medium heat, add garlic and cook for a few seconds. Add onion and mushrooms and cook for 2 mins
- Meanwhile, blend ingredients from tofu to flour until smooth. Add the blended sauce to the skillet, add herbs, and mix in. Bring to a simmer. Fold in the rest of the lemon zest, lemon slices. Taste and adjust salt and flavor with additional salt , garlic powder, herbs and some black pepper if needed.
- Add the the cooked pasta and 2/3 of the asparagus and mix in. Cover and take off heat and let the flavors meld for 2 mins.
- Garnish with pepper flakes, black pepper and fresh basil and optional vegan parm and the cooked asparagus. and serve.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This recipe was absolutely delicious 😋 super easy too! I will be making this again soon!
glad to hear it
I am still new to using tofu. Do I need to press it before I use it for this recipe?
not when blending into a sauce – press is a good idea when sauteeing or baking to crisp it up
Very good! It took longer than the 30 minutes for me to make it, but it was time well spent. This recipe is a keeper.
Made this last night for dinner and it was delicious. The creamy, lemon sauce is so simple and so tasty. I added some cherry tomatoes and spinach that I had in the fridge. I
Awesome
This was FANTASTIC! It’s asparagus season so I was looking for something different to make with my surplus. I used the cashew substitution (instead of tofu) and wow! The sauce is delicious. My husband said it tasted like a pasta dish from a high end (expensive) restaurant! Now I am looking forward to enjoying the leftovers!
Yay!
The asparagus add such a great lightness to this dish, and I loved how tart it was. If I were to make it for guests I might leave out a bit of the lemon indicated to add but for myself it was perfect and very spring-like!
This tastes delicious! If I made a double batch, do you know if I could freeze half of it for a quick meal later?
thank you, yes, taht would work
Sauce needs WAY MORE seasoning/garlic. Great recipe otherwise! I had fun making it.
this happens because of the different brands of tofu. Some foods are a lot more strong flavored and overshadow the flavors. Adjust during simmering to preference
I’ve made this recipe several times for home and for others. It’s a winner and has made it onto my repeat recipes document. The simplicity of the recipe belies the wow factor! I’ve had nothing but compliments. Thank you!
Made this again; it is so good!! I didn’t have mushrooms, but added roasted zucchini and yellow squash along with the asparagus and some fresh cherry tomatoes. Thanks for another winner!