I am often in the mood for a creamy comforting pasta, and this 10-Ingredient Creamy Vegan Pantry Pasta is the easiest option that actually tastes amazing.
It’s made with just pantry ingredients, is quick and simple to make, and is packed with flavor. It’s also easy to customize, so you can round it out with your favorite vegetable or protein.
This recipe is straightforward, but if you want a few cooking tips (including the proper way to dice an onion and peel garlic) or want to see me cooking in action, I’ve included the video down below.
If you love the sound of a pantry-friendly pasta, you should also try my 10-Ingredient Lentil Bolognese and my Italian White Bean and Pasta Stew!
And for even more pasta-recipes, check out my round-up of 30 amazing vegan pasta recipes right here!
Watch: How to make Creamy Pantry Pasta!
Why you’ll love this vegan pantry pasta
10 main ingredients. Okay, not counting water, oil, salt and pepper. But yeah, just 10 main ingredients, woohoo!
Pantry staples. And all those ingredients are pantry staples (i.e., you might already have all the required ingredients in your pantry).
Budget-friendly. In addition to being a pantry meal, it’s budget-friendly!
Weeknight-friendly. It takes 20ish minutes to make, from start to finish.
Comfort food heaven. It’s creamy, cheesy, and smoky, and incredibly indulgent. It tastes like a slightly smoky version of fettuccine Alfredo! It was inspired by my Creamy Mushroom Stroganoff, which is one of my most popular recipes, so you know it’s good!
Easy to customize. Feel free to make this your own meal. Toss in frozen peas at the end, pair with a side of roasted broccoli, bulk up with some beans or tofu or your favorite protein source. I personally love it with roasted broccoli or charred zucchini and smoked tofu.
Substitutions for this recipe
Gluten-free? Use gluten-free soy sauce (aka tamari), use gluten-free flour or cornstarch, and use gluten-free pasta.
Plant milk. Canned lite coconut milk is the most pantry-friendly option, but I typically use oat milk because I always have it on hand. Any creamy plant-based milk such as oat, coconut, cashew, or soy will work—just make sure it’s a plain / unsweetened variety.
No tahini? The tahini adds extra richness and creaminess, so you can omit it, though at least one reader subbed almond butter with delicious results.
No Dijon or coarse-grain mustard? Add a splash of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. The acidity at the end helps balance the creamy richness.
If you give this recipe a try, be sure to tag me on Instagram with your recreations and please rate and review the recipe below 🙂
Introducing
Big Vegan Flavor
Techniques and 150 recipes to master vegan cooking.
10-Ingredient Creamy Vegan Pantry Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 generous tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional, for mild heat)
- 3/4 cup (180 mL) vegetable broth or water
- 1 tablespoon reduced-sodium tamari or soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour*
- 3/4 cup (180 mL) canned “lite” coconut milk or unsweetened oat milk (ideally a creamy full-fat version)**
- 1 tablespoon tahini
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt + more to taste
- Freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 6 ounces (170g) linguine, fettuccine, or any pasta of choice (including gluten-free)
- Optional garnishes: chopped flat-leaf parsley or vegan parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta until al dente.
- Meanwhile, heat a deep sauté pan over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Once the oil is shimmering, add the onions and season with a pinch of kosher salt. Cook for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until browned around the edges. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes (if using), and stir to combine for 1 minute, until fragrant.
- While the onions are cooking, pour the vegetable broth (or water) into a measuring cup or bowl and add in the tamari or soy sauce and flour. Whisk to combine until all the flour is dissolved.
- Pour the vegetable broth-flour mixture into the onion-garlic mixture and whisk to combine, ensuring there are no flour clumps. It should thicken almost immediately. Reduce the heat to medium-low and pour in the coconut milk or oat milk, tahini, nutritional yeast, paprika, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, and black pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes***, or until the sauce is thickened and very creamy, whisking occasionally.
- Stir in the Dijon mustard, and taste for seasonings, adding more salt as needed. Turn on the pan with the sauce to low heat and add the hot cooked pasta. Use tongs to toss the pasta until it's well coated in the sauce and it's all heated through. Garnish with parsley and/or vegan parm, if using.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Love this? Leave a rating below!
Hi Nisha! Lately, I’ve gotten into watching vegan cooking videos, and you and some other YouTubers have inspired me to transition towards a more plant-based diet! I think this will be the first recipe of yours I try, so excited 🙂 It won’t be 100% vegan as nutritional yeast is not available in my area, but hopefully I can at least try my hand at making oat milk!
This was fantastic! Loved the smoky flavor from the paprika. I squeezed a bunch of lemon on in the end for extra acidity.
This was so good! I couldn’t make it totally vegan due to missing ingredients but I’m excited to be able to make it again in the future "the right way." Goes really well with veggie/vegan meatballs if you have them! 🙂
Which pasta do you normally buy? I bought something made of rice and corn and hated it!
its supposed to be semolina/wheat pasta big brands like barilla have it
Can’t wait to try this! I would love to see a video tutorial on your hair routine if you ever wanted to post it! 🙂 It’s beautiful!
Wow I am making this now and it’s so good! I have extra of everything, can you make this sauce and freeze it?
I drizzled siracha over mine and it was a great addition to it!
*sriracha
Wow!!! This turned out to be so delicious! It tastes just like the rigatoni sauce that I used to get from our local pizza place before I went vegan. I had been searching for a replacement to get that same taste and THIS is the one! I am overjoyed!! I also love that I had all these recipes on-hand in my vegan pantry 🙂 So so so happy I found your YouTube channel! Thank you so much for all your hard work and dedication in sharing these amazing wonderful recipes with us. You are incredible!
*all these ingredients
Hi Shell, so happy you loved this recipe so much. And how neat that it tastes like the sauce from your local pizzeria and you can now enjoy a new version of it. I am so happy you love my Youtube channel too! I appreciate your kind words and support very much 🙂
I’ve made this 4 times now. This is so quick, easy, and soo so delicious! 5 stars!
Hi Shaylise, that’s so awesome to hear 🙂 So glad you love it so much and it’s part of your rotation now!
This was really delicious! I added some mushrooms and spinach for some veggies. I also used almond paste instead of tahini and regular paprika instead of smoked. This was one of the best pastas I’ve ever made! Really delicious
Hi Mona, thank you for your feedback! So happy you loved it and think it’s one of the best pastas you’ve made :). And mushrooms sound AMAZING in this.