Creamy Vegan Garlic Pasta

This quick and tasty creamy vegan garlic pasta is an easy vegan dinner idea that's perfect for busy weeknights. Plus, it can also be gluten-free if you use gluten-free pasta. To save time and to have this dish ready even quicker, you can pre-make and refrigerate the sauce until you're ready to use it!

Freshly cooked pasta coated with a flavour-packed garlicky, dairy-free creamy pasta sauce. Doesn't that sound delicious?!

This vegan pasta recipe is a family favourite that's always a hit, every time I make it (just like my one-pot cheesy taco pasta, my lentil spaghetti bolognese and this broccoli pasta!).

It's similar to vegan garlic Alfredo, but not quite the same. This dish is creamy and filled with garlic and Italian spice flavours, and the best part? It's SO, SO easy and quick to make.

Most creamy vegan pasta sauce recipes call for cashews or a non-dairy milk and flour mixture to achieve that creaminess, but this garlic sauce recipe contains no cheese, no cream, it's dairy-free, cashew-free, nut-free, and flour-free.

Want to know how to make it? Read on!

Ingredients You'll Need

The ingredients you'll need are simple, pasta, onions, garlic, broth, soft (also referred to as "silken") tofu, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, salt pepper, Italian seasoning, dried parsley, and oil.

Ingredient Notes

Pasta - I like to use fettuccine for this recipe, but feel free to use your favourite kind. Use gluten-free pasta to make the recipe gluten-free.

Soft / Silken Tofu - This is the secret ingredient that makes this vegan pasta sauce creamy. I have not used any other type of tofu to make this recipe, this type will give you the creamiest and smoothest texture.

Italian Seasoning - This is simply a blend of spices and it can be found in the spice section of your grocery store. If you don't have it or can't find it, feel free to use your favourite spices.

Oil - A little oil is used to sauté the onions and garlic. If you prefer to not use oil, you can use broth or water instead.

Garlic - You'll need 6-8 cloves of garlic for this recipe, 6 will give you a sauce that's packed with a lot of garlic flavour but 8 will make it even stronger. The amount you use is up to you!

Broth - I use a low sodium vegetable broth but if you don't have any, you can use unsweetened non-dairy milk instead. I used to make it with dairy-free milk before but found that the broth gives the sauce a lot more flavour.

Optional Add-Ins

Feel free to customize this recipe by adding some veggies to the finished sauce. Some suggestions: sliced and sautéed mushrooms, roasted asparagus, roasted broccoli or roasted cauliflower.

The Garlic Pasta Sauce

The star of this recipe is definitely the vegan garlic pasta sauce. It's where all the flavour lives and it contains a little bit of a secret ingredient: silken tofu (or soft tofu, same thing!).

The tofu is the base of the sauce and gives it that creaminess we all love, without any oil, cream, or butter. (Just like my vegan veggie dip!)

The sauce also has a few other additions to build up the flavours that make this dish so delicious.

You can even make the sauce in advance and refrigerate it for later to make preparing your dinner even quicker. When ready, make your pasta, warm up the sauce, and serve.

How to Make It

(Note: I’ve outlined the step-by-step on how to make this recipe here, but find the full recipe, ingredients, and directions at the end of this post.)

This is one of the quickest and easiest dinner recipes I make. There aren't many steps and the longest step is probably boiling the pasta.

First, you'll get the pasta started, when it's boiling, prepare the vegan garlic cream sauce.

Start by sautéing the onions and garlic. When done, add the garlic and onions and the rest of the ingredients, except the parsley flakes, to a blender. Blend until it's smooth and creamy and then pour the sauce into a skillet that's on low heat, to warm it up.

You'll then whisk the parsley flakes into the sauce, then add the cooked pasta and toss to coat all the noodles with the sauce.

And that's all. See? Quick and easy!

Serve Immediately

This recipe is best served right away. I don't recommend combining the pasta with the sauce and then saving it for later.

When this is done, the pasta absorbs the sauce as it sits and then ends up dry and not very saucy.

If you do want to make this meal in advance of serving it, you can do so by pre-making the sauce (see above), and refrigerating it until you're ready to use it.

Garnishes and Side Ideas

This dish is great on its own, but you can add garnishes or enjoy it with a side dish, if you'd like.

Here are some ideas:

• freshly chopped parsley (like in the pictures!)
• vegan Parmesan cheese
• red pepper flakes
• garlic bread
• roasted Brussels sprouts
• roasted broccoli
• roasted garlic cauliflower (for a little extra punch of garlic!)
• roasted asparagus
• sautéed mushrooms
• peas
• salad

My favourite way to serve it is with parsley, garlic cauliflower, and vegan Parmesan, but play around with different combos to see what you like best.

Storing Leftovers

This recipe is best when served immediately after preparing but if you have leftovers, cool completely, place in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 2 days.

Reheat in a skillet over medium heat and add a splash of broth to loosen up the sauce since it thickens up when refrigerated.

The sauce cannot be premade to be frozen. Silken tofu does not freeze well, so the texture of your sauce will no longer be smooth and creamy when thawed.

Tips for Success

• Use the correct amount of pasta for the recipe. Too much pasta will result in a dry pasta dinner with barely any sauce to coat all the noodles. If you want to use more pasta than what’s called for, you can always double the sauce recipe. Using a little less pasta than what is called for will result in extra saucy noodles, which is not necessarily a bad thing!
• If you make the sauce ahead of time and refrigerate it for later, it will thicken, but when reheated, it should return to its original consistency. If you want to thin it out further when reheating it, you can add a tablespoon or two of broth.

FAQ

If You Make This Recipe...

...please let me know! You can do so by leaving me a comment below or by sharing a pic on Instagram and tagging me (I'm @delightfuladventures over there!)

And If You Like This Recipe...

...you may also like these other easy vegan dinner recipes:

• Creamy Vegan Tomato Pasta
• Creamy Vegan Mushroom Pasta
• Creamy Vegan Tahini Pasta
• One-Pot Cheesy Taco Pasta
• Mushroom Stew
• Taco Rice Bowls
• Lentil Sloppy Joes
• Vegan Bolognese Spaghetti

You can help others to find this recipe by pinning it to one of your food boards on Pinterest. Click here to pin it now!

This post was updated in February 2021 to add more helpful info and the recipe was updated slightly to make it even more flavourful.