This vegan sun-dried tomato pasta is smothered in a rich and creamy cashew sauce and flavored with garlic and a touch of white wine. A delicious dinner that's easy enough for a weeknight, but fancy enough for special occasions.
Sun-dried tomatoes are a great way to add a burst of sweet, smoky flavor to recipes. I love how they work in dishes like my pasta primavera, and sun-dried tomato and olive hummus.
But you need to be careful. I tend to have a lot of recipe fails when working with sun-dried tomatoes. They can easily overpower a recipe. I've found that the key is to pair them up with a variety of other textures and punchy flavors.
With that in mind, I created this recipe with lots of other ingredients and tastes that pair up perfectly with sun-dried tomatoes. It has tender pasta, rich and creamy sauce, pungent garlic, white wine, and kale. There's a lot going on, but everything comes together beautifully to create an absolutely delicious dish.
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Ingredients You'll Need
- Raw cashews. These will make the base for the sun-dried tomato cream sauce. You'll be soaking them in water and blending them up. Don't substitute roasted cashews or your sauce will taste like nut butter.
- Sun-dried tomatoes. Ideally you'll want to used dry sun-dried tomatoes. If oil packed are what you've got, that's fine — just be sure to drain them well before using them.
- Lemon juice. Use freshly squeezed juice to give your sauce the best flavor.
- Salt & pepper.
- Dried rigatoni. You can absolutely swap this out with your favorite pasta shape. Try penne, fettuccine, or rotini. Want to keep the dish gluten-free? Just use your favorite gluten-free pasta!
- Kale. The recipe calls for lacinato kale, also known as Tuscan kale or dinosaur kale. You can use curly kale if it's not available, or even substitute another green such as broccoli or asparagus.
- Olive oil.
- Garlic.
- Dry white wine. This adds a lot of flavor to the sauce, but feel free to substitute vegetable broth or water if you prefer to cook without alcohol. If you do use it, check with Barnivore before buying to ensure that the brand and variety you use is vegan.
- Fresh basil.
Tip: While they're certainly not required, crushed red pepper flakes and vegan Parmesan cheese make great accompaniments for this dish.
How It's Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Begin by making your sauce. Place raw cashews, sun-dried tomatoes, water, lemon juice, and salt into a blender or food processor bowl.
Blend everything until the mixture is smooth and creamy. This can take a few minutes, particularly if you're not using a high-powered device.
Boil your pasta according to the package directions. When it's almost done, add chopped kale and boil it briefly with the pasta. Drain the pasta and kale together. Reserve at least a cup of the cooking water — you'll be using it later.
Get working on the sauce while the pasta boils. Heat some olive oil in a pot, then add minced garlic. Sauté the garlic briefly, stirring it the whole time to prevent it from burning.
Tip: Start your garlic just a few minutes after adding the pasta to the water. This way your pasta will be done right about when you're ready to combine it with the sauce.
Add white wine and sun-dried tomatoes to the pot. Bring the wine to a simmer and let it cook for a few minutes, until it reduces by about half.
Add the pasta, kale, and cashew sauce to the pot. Stir it up! The sauce will be very thick. Use your reserved pasta water to thin it. Cook everything briefly to heat the sauce.
Tip: If your pasta isn't finished by the time you're ready for it, just temporarily remove the pot containing the sun-dried tomatoes and wine from heat. Return it to the burner and briefly warm it up before adding the pasta and sauce.
Take the pot off of heat. Stir in chopped fresh basil. Give your sun-dried tomato pasta a taste-test and season it with additional salt and pepper to taste. Optionally, top it with a sprinkle of vegan Parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes before serving.
Leftovers & Storage
Leftover vegan sun-dried tomato pasta will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for about 3 days. The sauce will thicken during storage, so add a splash of water when you reheat it.
More Vegan Pasta Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Creamy Vegan Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta
Ingredients
For the Sauce
- 1 cup raw cashews, soaked in water 4 to 8 hours, drained and rinsed
- 1 ½ cups water
- ¼ cup julienne cut sun-dried tomatoes (Notes 1 and 2)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
For the Pasta
- 12 ounces dried rigatoni pasta
- 1 medium bunch lacinato kale, stems removed, leaves roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ cup dry white wine
- ¾ cup julienne cut sun-dried tomatoes
- ½ cup fresh basil, roughly chopped
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Place all of the sauce ingredients into a blender or the bowl of a food processor fitted with an s-blade. Blend until smooth.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and set the timer to cook it until al dente.
- When the pasta has about 30 seconds of cook time left, add the kale to the pot. Continue boiling until the pasta is finished cooking and the kale is wilted (30 seconds to 1 minute).
- Reserve at least 1 cup of the water used to boil the pasta, then drain the pasta and kale into a colander.
- While the pasta boils, heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.
- Add the garlic. Sauté the garlic for about 1 minute, until very fragrant.
- Stir in the wine and remaining sun-dried tomatoes. Bring the wine to a boil, lower the heat and allow it to simmer until it reduces by about half, about 4 minutes.
- Stir in the cooked pasta, kale, and cashew mixture. Thin the sauce with as much reserved pasta water as is needed to reach your desired consistency. Stir and cook the mixture for about a minute, just to heat up the sauce.
- Remove the pot from heat and stir in the basil. Season the mixture with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve.
Notes
- Dry sun-dried tomatoes are preferred for this recipe, but oil packed will work as long as you drain them well.
- You're going to need some additional sun-dried tomatoes to mix in with the pasta. A 3-ounce bag will give you just the right amount for the entire recipe.
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Could this recipe work as an oven pasta bake?
I'm sure it could with some adjustments! I find that cashew-based sauces tend to dry out quite a bit in the oven, so you may want to add more liquid and maybe even cut down on the amount of cashews by a bit. I wish I could give you exact amounts, but I haven't tested the recipe this way. I'd also recommend keeping it covered for most of the bake time, to minimize moisture loss. I'd love to hear how it turns out if you decide to give it a try!
This is exceptional! I cook for two, so I knew there would be leftovers. I actually made the sauce 1.5x and held back about 1/3 of the sauce when served initially. I added the remaining sauce when reheating the leftovers to maintain the creamy goodness. Excellent recipe!!!