recipe
Vegan Pasta Primavera
Spring vegetables, garlic, and a creamy cashew sauce over al dente pasta. Light enough for warm evenings, satisfying enough for dinner.
Recipe stats
- Prep: 15 minutes
- Cook: 25 minutes
- Total: 40 minutes
- Serves: 4
You’ll need
- 12 oz Pasta (spaghetti or linguine)
- 1 bunch Asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 cup Cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 medium Yellow squash, sliced
- 1 cup Peas (fresh or frozen)
- 4 Garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 cup Cashews, soaked 30 minutes
- 1 cup Plant milk
- 1 Lemon, juice and zest
- 3 tbsp Nutritional yeast
- 3 tbsp Olive oil
- to taste Salt and pepper
Method
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1 cup pasta water before draining.
- Drain and rinse soaked cashews. Blend with plant milk, lemon juice, lemon zest, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper until smooth. Set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high.
- Add asparagus and yellow squash. Saute 3-4 minutes until just tender.
- Add garlic, cherry tomatoes, and peas. Saute 2 more minutes.
- Add drained pasta and cashew sauce to the skillet. Toss, adding pasta water as needed for desired consistency.
- Taste and adjust salt, pepper, and lemon. Serve immediately, topped with extra nutritional yeast or vegan parmesan.
Notes + tips
- Soak cashews overnight if possible — gives the smoothest, creamiest sauce.
- Substitute any spring vegetables you have — green beans, snap peas, fennel work beautifully.
- For a richer version, add 1/4 cup pesto to the sauce.
- Best eaten the day it’s made. Reheat with a splash of water to loosen the sauce.
Why this works
This recipe is intentionally simple. The technique stays out of the way of the ingredients. Plant-based cooking generally rewards clean execution over elaborate technique — the flavours are fresher, the texture cleaner, and the result more satisfying when you let good ingredients do most of the work.
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Recipe by the Stay Healthy Vegan editorial team. Tested in our home kitchens before publication.