Vegan Creamy Mushroom Pasta

Who needs a big bowl of pasta? There are times when nothing other than a decadent creamy pasta bowl will do. Plus, I feel like we haven’t shared enough cashew cream recipes on the blog. You might have tried my Cashew Frosting or Candied Cashews. If you are unfamiliar with cashew pasta sauce, let me tell you, it is the most simple and delicious creamy vegan sauce for many dishes.

What’s Vegan Creamy Mushroom Pasta?

The classic creamy mushroom pasta is of course not vegan-friendly as it’s made with loads of cream and cheese. While there are perfectly fine vegan cream alternatives that you can use to mimic the classic, I’m proposing in this recipe to use a homemade cashew-based cream.

Ingredients and Substitutions

In fact, this recipe is ready in only 20 minutes using less than 10 ingredients:

Mushrooms – a great vegetable or vegan protein source. Garlic – for taste. Olive Oil – I use a locally-sourced extra-virgin olive oil. Vegan Butter – It’s optional. Pasta – Any shape, I recommend using those healthy pasta options: chickpea pasta, buckwheat pasta, edamame pasta, or wholewheat pasta (or brown rice pasta if gluten-free). Vegetable Stock – Or water with seasoning. Unsweetened Almond Milk – You can also use cashew milk. Nutritional Yeast – a vegan-friendly ingredient. Paprika – or smoked paprika. Cashews – Cashews are a great way of making creamy sauces without any dairy. Use raw cashews that need to soak overnight. Parsley – Or basil. Lemon Juice – Or lime juice.

How To Make Vegan Creamy Mushroom Pasta

This is comfort food at its best—a creamy vegan pasta bowl with stir-fried garlic mushrooms and cashew cream sauce. Pasta, mushrooms, cashew cream, and garlic are a winning combination! The crucial word to say about this recipe is easy! The cashew pasta sauce is an easy vegan pasta sauce using only 3 main ingredients.

Soaked cashews – the trick is to soak the cashews for at least 12 hours in cold water or 1 hour in boiling water. Soaked cashews become really soft and can easily blend into a thick cream when combined with liquids. That is how you make a good cashew pasta sauce. Liquid – can be vegetable stock, almond milk, or a combo of both as used in this recipe. Spices – nutritional yeast is great to add a cheesy flavor to your vegan creamy pasta sauce. Other great spices to add are garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt, cumin, or turmeric.

The best ratio of soaked cashews/liquid to create a creamy vegan pasta sauce is 1 cup of liquid for 1 1/2 cup of soaked cashews. Then, depending on how creamy you like your pasta, you can reduce the liquid to 3/4 cup or increase and simmer the pasta in the sauce to thicken.

Serving Suggestion

Vegan creamy pasta recipes with cashew cream are the best! This creamy mushroom pasta tastes like your classic favorite mushroom pasta, except that you have replaced the regular dairy with cashew cream. The best toppings to serve your vegan mushroom pasta are:

Chopped Italian parsley Toasted pine nuts Vegan parmesan – or my Vegan Ricotta.

Storage Instructions

This recipe can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days or freeze! Simply defrost the pasta the day before and rewarm it over medium heat in a saucepan. If the sauce thickened too much in the fridge, I recommend adding a splash of vegetable stock or water into the saucepan to lighten up the sauce.