Before I tell you about this amazing recipe for Creamy Vegan Lemon & Asparagus Pasta, I want to tell you a quick story:
Before I was writing a cookbook, before I was a food blogger, before I was vegan... before ALL those before's, I was a student in university who happened to love to host dinner parties. I remember a moment where I proudly declared to my friends that I could write an entire cookbook on pasta recipes. I waved my wooden spoon in the air as I said this, and a piece of penne went flying across the room. (No alcohol was involved...er...). Â Not only could I write an entire cookbook, I gestured, but all my recipes could be prepared in the time it took the water took to boil. Arm and spoon straight into the air a la He-Man. I'm subtle.
This is not what my cookbook is about, but I still believe I could do just that. I have a deep love of pasta, and an even deeper love of quick, easy, pasta recipes that take only 15 minutes to make. I mean really, who doesn't have a deep love for that!?
Creamy Vegan Lemon & Asparagus Pasta meets all the requirements, and is jam-packed full of fresh spring flavours. Garlic-y, zesty, tangy, a bit spicy, lemon-y, asparagus-y. Just so many y's. This is the perfect recipe for a quick, spring meal, so you can get out of the kitchen and enjoy the first hints of warm nights.
Now for the secret asparagus tip. My mom taught me this little ditty, and let me tell you, it works. You know when you eat asparagus and sometimes you get those wooden, chewy, stringy, tough pieces that are gross. This little tip is how you completely get rid of those pieces.
My Mom's Secret Tip:
Hold an asparagus stem at the base, then use your other hand to hold it somewhere in the middle, (I was photographing so I only could show you one hand... food photography problems). Bend the asparagus until it breaks. Where it breaks off will be the woody stringy gross bit, and you can save that for Veggie Broth or toss that out. The top part of the asparagus will be all tender and glorious.
Do this with your entire bunch of asparagus and you will see that some pieces will have very little woody gross bits, and some will have a lot. They will all break in different places.
So now that we have removed the grossness, chop up the good parts of the asparagus and zest your lemon.
Whisk together all your sauce ingredients. Alternatively, you could whizz them up in a blender, whatever you find easiest.
Boil your pasta according to the package directions. In the last 3 minutes of cooking time toss in the asparagus. Finish cooking the pasta and drain.
Return the asparagus and pasta to the pot then pour in the sauce. Stir and heat through until the sauce has thickened and nicely coats everything. Serve while hot and delicious. Yum!
Lemon & Asparagus Pasta
Ingredients
- 2 cups penne or other short pasta shape (gluten-free pasta if preferred)
- 1 bunch asparagus, cut into 2 inch lengths
- 1 cup plant-based milk (such as soy or almond)
- 1 lemon, zested
- ½ lemon, juiced (about 1 ½ tablespoons)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, (gluten-free all-purpose blend if prefered)
- 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and boil the pasta according to package directions. In the last 3 minutes of cooking time toss in the asparagus.
- In the meantime, whisk together all of the all of the sauce ingredients in a bowl. Alternatively, you could mix them together in a blender. Whatever you find easiest!
- Drain pasta and asparagus and return to pot. Add in all of the sauce and toss well to combine and heat through.
Notes
Nutrition
Bon Appetegan! Sam.
Karen Pearson says
I made this last night and it was very good. I only made two servings but wished I'd made more. I loved that I could prep all the sauce ingredients while waiting for the water to boil and the pasta to cook. Super quick and easy.
Julie says
Delicious and crazy easy! Saw this in an email this morning, made it for lunch
I'm thinking some add- ins could be fun. Artichoke hearts, sauteed mushrooms, pine nuts
Maria says
Doesn't the sauce need to be cooked so that the flour thickens the sauce? Otherwise this looks AMAZING & can't wait to try!
Beth Lawson says
Sooo good and so easy! I added some vegan parmesan in too
Bassomatic says
Love this simple recipe and per usual I made a couple small changes. First, even though it's an extra thing to wash, I love to roast the asparagus separately. And second, I add dill. For me asparagus, lemon and dill are made for each other.
Andy says
Another amazing meal. I’ve been following you on Insta for months and have never been disappointed with a meal. Thank you for sharing.
Sam Turnbull says
So happy to hear that, Andy!
Jules says
Super fresh tasting and delicious! Another super easy, delicious vegan recipe with a short ingredient list ~ so important right now. I work long hours and my quarantine pantry is limited so dinner coming together in 20 min is such a blessing. Thanks again!
Cowgirl says
Love your pasta recipes. I’ve adapted all of my Sicilian mother’s recipes to be vegan as well. As you show, its easy ! Also, there can be so many individual tweaks that we can all make according to our individual tastes. Really enjoy your creativity and fun energy!
Thanks.
Sam Turnbull says
You're most welcome 🙂
Laura says
Hey Sam!
I’m getting smarter. I must have skipped over this recipe before as it contains the name of my least favourite vegetable. But sub green beans, snap peas, pepper slices as someone mentioned.... then we’re getting to a non-red sauce pasta that my omnivore buddy would be interested in too!
Reading comments here is generally informative so thanks to fellow readers too.
Thanks for repeating this recipe!
VeggieTater says
And no added fat or oil, YAY! Wonderful!
Alyssa D. says
I added a little bit of nooch and white wine to the sauce, but it was all so good! Delicious recipe !
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you enjoyed, Alyssa 🙂
Erin says
I would suggest steaming the asparagus to keep in the nutrients! Going to try this tonight 🙂
Sam Turnbull says
Enjoy!
Sam Turnbull says
Sorry you didn't enjoy it, Nikki.
Naomi says
This was really delicious, I made it for dinner last night. I did modify it a bit. I pan fried finely chopped green peppers, garlic and mushrooms, black pepper and Himalayan salt in water (I don't use fat/oil), then added the veg to the sauce. Definitely on the menu from now on! Thanks 🙂
Sam Turnbull says
Woohoo! So happy you enjoyed it, Naomi 🙂
Gaelle says
Do you think this could work with something like almond, tapioca, buckwheat flour ? I can't have all purpose gluten free because most of the time it contains things like corn or potato starch.
Sam Turnbull says
Hi Gaelle,
I'm not very knowledgeable in gluten-free cooking, but the flour here is just used to thicken the sauce. So whatever flour you think would work for that should be fine. Hope that helps! 🙂
Drew says
We tried this last night and really loved it! I used homemade oat flour (just finely ground rolled oats).
Your recipes are always so great, thank you for sharing them!
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you loved it, Drew 🙂
Kristen says
Delicious! And what a great tip on prepping the asparagus. Thanks for sharing!
Sam says
You're very welcome, so glad you enjoyed it Kristen!
Casey the College Celiac says
This lemon sauce looks amazing! I have a bunch of lemons on my tree right now, so I definitely want to try out this recipe soon (even though I'm not a huge pasta person! 😉 ) Thanks for the new way to use up all of our lemons!
Sam says
You're very welcome! I hope you enjoy it Casey 🙂
Sherry-Lynn says
Made this tonight! Huge hit! Definitely a keeper!
Michele says
Nice recipe! Just curious, doesn't the sauce, with the flour, need to be cooked through first before adding to the pasta? I would think the flour would still taste a little raw if not actually cooked, but only heated through?
Thanks so much.
Sam says
Once you add the sauce to the pasta and heat it, it will cook through. It only takes a couple minutes, and you can tell the flour is cooked because the sauce will thicken. Flour absorbs better when cooked 🙂
Mary says
Don't throw out those woody stems - save them for your stock pot! Very nice flavor addition.
Sam says
Yes!! Lovely call Mary! I am going to add that into the instructions. Thanks 🙂
Mary says
Love your recipes! Keep up the excellent (and delicious!) work.
Sam says
Aww thank you! I will indeed 🙂
Bethery says
Sam does it again!! A perfect recipe for the working family, (and I have asparagus in the garden!)
Sam says
Yay! Yours will be perfectly fresh, no need to snap off the ends at all I bet 🙂
Kevin Grishkot says
I can't wait to try this!!!
Sam says
Yay! I hope you love it Kevin 🙂