Vegan Mushroom Broccoli Pasta

Creamy, delicious, and made with simple ingredients, this vegan mushroom broccoli pasta with lemon garlic cream sauce is a simple and delicious dinner. It’s ready in about 20 minutes and approved by both kids and adults!

You guys. I didn’t think it would be possible to make a dairy free sauce that was so creamy, so simple, and so easy to make. Yet here we are.

While I love my roasted red pepper pasta and lentil bolognese, I think this mushroom broccoli pasta with lemon garlic cream sauce might take the cake on my all type favorite pasta recipes.

Sprinkle on top some cashew parmesan and you’ve suddenly gone to vegan pasta heaven.

There’s no cashew soaking involved (I got you impatient people) but you still get a gorgeously creamy sauce in *literally* 20 minutes. I think I found heaven. It’s perfect for a quick family dinner, and you can even toss in some grilled chicken or salmon if you aren’t vegan for some added protein.

How to make vegan pasta

It’s easier than you think ladies and gents. Follow these simple steps to get the perfect lemon garlic cream sauce every time.

First, you’ll want to bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta according to package instructions. You can use any type of pasta, but I like rigatoni for this vegan broccoli pasta.

While the pasta is cooking, add the chopped broccoli and mushrooms to a pan with about 1/2 inch of water and let steam for about 5-7 minutes.

To prepare the sauce, mince the garlic very finely and add to a large saute pan with the olive oil. Cook until the garlic starts to brown slightly.

Whisk in the flour until no clumps remain. It’s going to look clumpy because of the garlic, but as long as you whisk it really well, there shouldn’t actually be any clumps of flour. Slowly pour in the almond milk and whisk together.

Add in the lemon juice and reduce heat to low. Let simmer until the sauce is thick. This should take about 10 or so minutes.

Add in the salt and pepper, taste and adjust seasonings as desired. Try not to add the lemon and salt too close together (wait a few minutes between the two).

For some reason when I did this once, the garlic turned blue when it reacted with the salt. If anyone can explain that to me, I’m all ears!!

For an extra creamy sauce, use an immersion blender to process the sauce until completely smooth or just add it to a regular blender.

It will be delicious and creamy blended or not! I personally like the blender method because it really infuses the garlic flavor into every bite and gives a really silky texture, but the choice is yours!

Add the veggies and sauce to the pasta and combine well. Top with additional salt, pepper, or red pepper flakes and enjoy!

How to store

Once prepared, this mushroom broccoli pasta will store in the fridge for about 3 days, but tastes best when served right away. To reheat, add to a pan with a splash of milk and heat until creamy and warm.

I have not tried freezing this pasta, but I do think it would be ok! If you use gluten free pasta like I did, just keep it mind it will fall apart a bit when it defrosts, it unfortunately doesn’t hold together as well.

You can freeze for up to 1 month, then thaw and reheat on the stove.

Ingredient tips & swaps

FLOUR. We’ll be using a bit of flour to thicken the sauce. The brown rice flour can be subbed for any neutral flour like whole wheat (if not gluten free), regular rice flour, gluten free all purpose flour etc. Try to stick to a flour that has a very neutral flavor.

MILK. Any kind of plain/unsweetened milk will work here. I usually use almond or soy, so if you want to keep it nut free, just use soy! I don’t recommend oat milk because it is naturally a bit sweeter. Almond, soy or regular cows milk work best if you are not vegan.

SALT. I know a whole teaspoon and a half of salt seems like a lot, but it really rounds out the flavor of this dish, so don’t skimp on it!

GARLIC. I’ve received a few questions about the 12 cloves of garlic. Yes, I really do mean TWELVE cloves! Trust me, it’s amazing. The flavors calm down when it cooks, so it won’t be overpowering! I like to use this garlic press to ensure the garlic is very finely minced.

Try these recipes next

• Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
• Vegan Vodka Sauce
• White Wine Cream Sauce
• Spicy Red Pepper Sauce
• Carrot Pasta Sauce

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