Lemon Asparagus Pasta (Vegan)

This vegan spring Lemon Asparagus Pasta is loaded up with all of the good stuff: spring veggies, fresh herbs and a creamy roasted garlic cashew cream sauce. A delicious, quick weeknight dinner for the whole family!

Not sure about you, but I love a good creamy pasta. Who doesn't, right?

This creamy Lemon Asparagus Pasta is especially delicious right now – it pretty much screams "spring". After two weeks of random, late April snowstorms, I'm READY for it. Thankfully, it actually feels like spring today, so perfect timing for this recipe!

This vegan spring pasta comes together in just a few steps. Blend up a creamy roasted garlic cashew-based sauce, sauté some spring veggies, cook your pasta and then toss it all together.

Lemon Asparagus Pasta Ingredients

• Olive oil: feel free to sub with butter or another neutral oil.
• Leeks: Leeks are one of our favorite spring produce items. If you can't find any, feel free to sub with one yellow onion.
  • Be sure to clean them well before using – they typically hold a LOT of dirt. To prepare the leeks, slice off the root end and the tough greens. You should only use the tender white & light green part. Slice in half lengthwise, then submerge in water. Most of the dirt will fall to the bottom of the bowl, but use your hands to gently agitate to remove and extra dirt. Gently pat dry, then slice thinly.

• Asparagus: the quintessential spring vegetable! Trim the tough, white ends and then slice into one-inch pieces. Asparagus cooks very quickly, so don't let it go for too long in the pan.
• Peas: fresh or frozen both work fine. For convenience, we typically use frozen.
• Snap peas: slice thinly on a bias (see photo above). If you can't find any, feel free to sub with more peas and/or asparagus.
• Fresh parsley and dill: optional, but encouraged for lots of fresh flavor.
• Salt and pepper: add and adjust to your tastes.
• Pasta: just about any pasta will do. We used a gluten free fettuccine! Be sure to reserve some of the pasta water – it can come in handy if you need to loosen up the sauce a bit. And be sure to cook your pasta in salted water! Salt=flavor. Add 1 teaspoon for every 4 cups of water.
• Roasted garlic cashew cream sauce: more on how to make this below!

Roasted Garlic Cashew Cream Sauce

Cashew cream sounds intimidating, but it's actually super easy to make.

The most important step is to pre-soak the cashews for 2 hours in room temperature water. This allows them to soften so they blend into a smooth, creamy sauce. If you're short on time, soak them for 30 minutes in hot water.

While your cashews are soaking, get your garlic roasting. Roasted garlic is SO good. Roasting really takes the edge off of the raw bite you get from fresh garlic. It has a sweet, caramelized flavor that adds so much to this sauce.

To roast your garlic, preheat your oven to 400˚F. Turn a head of garlic on its side and slice off the top, exposing the cloves. Drizzle with olive oil and salt, wrap in aluminum foil and roast for 30-45 minutes. It's ready when the cloves are tender and a deep golden brown.

Of course, if you don't have time for this step, feel free to substitute with fresh garlic instead. Don't use all 6 cloves, though – 2-3 fresh cloves will do.

With your roasted garlic and soaked cashews ready, all that's left to do is add everything to a blender! Remaining ingredients include: nutritional yeast (for a cheesy flavor), lemon juice and zest, salt, pepper and water. Blend until perfectly smooth and creamy.

Add protein (optional)

Want a bit more protein to balance out this meal? Add a plant-based protein like white beans or crispy, grilled tofu. If you're not vegan, grilled chicken would be a great option.

More vegan pasta recipes to try

• Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta
• Easy Pesto White Bean Pasta Salad
• Spinach Mushroom Stuffed Shells
• Vegan Pasta Bake
• Roasted Eggplant, Tomato and Caramelized Onion Pasta
• Vegan Mushroom Alfredo

If you make this vegan Lemon Asparagus Pasta, we’d love for you to leave a comment and rating below! We also love to see your creations on Instagram – tag us at @crowded_kitchen so we can see what you’ve been cooking.

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