I did a 30 day detox with a couple of months ago. They provided some fantastic, tasty and simple recipes including this vegan creamy pasta sauce. Riced cauliflower and white beans are the base. It makes a creamy, rich texture that works so well on pasta and is such an amazing substitute for a dairy-based cream sauce,
When I first made it, I was sure that my meat and potatoes-eating husband would not like it. But he promised that he would try everything on the detox menu and to my surprise he did like it!
The recipe needs just 6 ingredients and very little in the way of cooking skills to make this sauce. If you can chop and heat up some shallot and garlic for just one minute you can make this sauce. It’s a great base for any flavor, so feel free to add in your favorite herbs or spices, fresh veggies and more.
I am dairy-free (except for the occasional parm cheese and butter) so this vegan pasta sauce is perfect when I have a craving for something creamy. With just garlic and shallot as the flavoring, I can turn this sauce towards Italian, Latin, Indian and so many more possibilities.
Vegan Sauce Ingredients
The base of this creamy sauce is riced cauliflower (available in most markets either frozen or fresh). If you can’t find it, roughly chop a whole head of cauliflower and pulse it in the blender or food processor to “rice” it.
White beans give the sauce good body and creaminess and garlic and shallot give it a nice flavor. Be sure to use low-sodium broth (vegan Imagine No-Chicken broth is my favorite) so that you can control the salt level in this sauce. With just a quick sauté of the garlic and shallot, the blender does the rest of the work for you.
Sauce Variations
Serve this vegan creamy pasta sauce over your favorite gluten-free pasta, spaghetti squash, zucchini noodles, anything!
- Top with fresh chopped tomato and basil
- Add Parmesan or vegan cheese substitute to the mixture
- Top with pesto and balsamic glaze
- Stir in some fresh chopped sage and sausage for carnivores
Vegan Creamy Pasta Sauce
This vegan creamy pasta sauce has just a few ingredients and will satisfy that craving.
Ingredients
- 1 12 oz bag riced cauliflower (either frozen or fresh)
- 1 can white beans
- 2 Tbsp sliced shallot
- 1-3 cloves garlic (depending on your preference for garlic)
- 1 cup low-sodium vegan broth (Imagine No-Chicken Broth is the best)
- salt
Instructions
- Drain and rinse the beans.
- Smash the garlic cloves, peel and chop into a few pieces. Slice the shallot. The blender will soon be doing the work of pureeing the sauce so it is not necessary to chop the garlic or shallot very much.
- Place the cauliflower in a glass bowl and microwave for 3 minutes on high.
- Saute the garlic and sliced shallot with a little oil over medium heat for 1 minute. Both will burn easily and turn bitter so take it easy on the heat. As soon as the one minute is up, remove from the pan so that the residual heat does not burn the garlic and shallot.
- Add the beans, cauliflower, garlic & shallot to the blender with 1 cup broth. Blend on high for 2 minutes. Check the consistency. If it’s too thick, add more broth 1/4 c at a time until it is a pourable sauce.
- Depending the brand of broth and beans you use the amount of salt needed will vary. So add a little, stir and taste. If needed, add more salt a pinch or two at a time until you like the flavor.
- I like this sauce with fresh chopped tomato and basil. Serve it over your favorite gluten-free pasta, spaghetti squash, zucchini noodles, anything! Other great additions: parmesan or vegan cheese sub, pesto, sage, sausage for carnivores . . .
Notes
Did you make this recipe? Tag @chefjanetk on Instagram
Nutrition Information
Yield 6 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 114Total Fat 1gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 1mgSodium 314mgCarbohydrates 20gFiber 5gSugar 2gProtein 7g
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated using information from the Nutritionix database. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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