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    Home » Recipes » Pasta & Noodles

    May 11, 2016 40 Comments

    Creamy Vegan Lemon & Asparagus Pasta

    9.7K shares
    Jump to Recipe

    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...).  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.

    Creamy Vegan Lemon and Asparagus Pasta! This recipe is so easy, just 15 minutes to make! Fresh, easy, creamy, and full of zesty lemon and the zing of garlic. Perfect quick pasta for a warm spring night. #itdoesnttastelikechicken

    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 and Asparagus Pasta! This recipe is so easy, just 15 minutes to make! Fresh, easy, creamy, and full of zesty lemon and the zing of garlic. Perfect quick pasta for a warm spring night. #itdoesnttastelikechicken

    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.

    Creamy Vegan Lemon and Asparagus Pasta! This recipe is so easy, just 15 minutes to make! Fresh, easy, creamy, and full of zesty lemon and the zing of garlic. Perfect quick pasta for a warm spring night. #itdoesnttastelikechicken

    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.

    Creamy Vegan Lemon and Asparagus Pasta! This recipe is so easy, just 15 minutes to make! Fresh, easy, creamy, and full of zesty lemon and the zing of garlic. Perfect quick pasta for a warm spring night. #itdoesnttastelikechicken

    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.

    Creamy Vegan Lemon and Asparagus Pasta! This recipe is so easy, just 15 minutes to make! Fresh, easy, creamy, and full of zesty lemon and the zing of garlic. Perfect quick pasta for a warm spring night. #itdoesnttastelikechicken

    So now that we have removed the grossness, chop up the good parts of the asparagus and zest your lemon.

    Creamy Vegan Lemon and Asparagus Pasta! This recipe is so easy, just 15 minutes to make! Fresh, easy, creamy, and full of zesty lemon and the zing of garlic. Perfect quick pasta for a warm spring night. #itdoesnttastelikechicken

    Whisk together all your sauce ingredients. Alternatively, you could whizz them up in a blender, whatever you find easiest.

    Creamy Vegan Lemon and Asparagus Pasta! This recipe is so easy, just 15 minutes to make! Fresh, easy, creamy, and full of zesty lemon and the zing of garlic. Perfect quick pasta for a warm spring night. #itdoesnttastelikechicken

    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.

    Creamy Vegan Lemon and Asparagus Pasta! This recipe is so easy, just 15 minutes to make! Fresh, easy, creamy, and full of zesty lemon and the zing of garlic. Perfect quick pasta for a warm spring night. #itdoesnttastelikechicken

    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!

    Creamy Vegan Lemon and Asparagus Pasta! This recipe is so easy, just 15 minutes to make! Fresh, easy, creamy, and full of zesty lemon and the zing of garlic. Perfect quick pasta for a warm spring night. #itdoesnttastelikechicken

    Print Recipe
    4.95 from 20 votes

    Lemon & Asparagus Pasta

    This recipe is so easy, just 15 minutes to make! Fresh, easy, creamy, and full of zesty lemon and the zing of garlic. Perfect quick pasta for a warm spring night. 
    Prep Time5 mins
    Cook Time10 mins
    Total Time15 mins
    Course: Main Course
    Cuisine: American, Canadian, Italian
    ingredient tag: noodles & pasta
    Servings: 4
    Calories: 262kcal
    Author: Sam Turnbull • It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken

    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
    US Customary - Metric
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    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

    For a gluten-free dish, use gluten-free pasta, my favourite is brown rice pasta.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 262kcal
    Did You Make This Recipe?Tag @itdoesnttastelikechicken on Instagram and Hashtag #itdoesnttastelikechicken

    Bon Appetegan! Sam.

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Karen Pearson says

      April 10, 2022 at 10:01 am

      4 stars
      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.

      Reply
    2. Julie says

      April 08, 2022 at 3:31 pm

      5 stars
      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

      Reply
    3. Maria says

      April 08, 2022 at 1:11 pm

      Doesn't the sauce need to be cooked so that the flour thickens the sauce? Otherwise this looks AMAZING & can't wait to try!

      Reply
    4. Beth Lawson says

      November 06, 2021 at 7:59 pm

      5 stars
      Sooo good and so easy! I added some vegan parmesan in too

      Reply
    5. Bassomatic says

      March 19, 2021 at 12:51 pm

      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.

      Reply
    6. Andy says

      April 27, 2020 at 9:02 pm

      5 stars
      Another amazing meal. I’ve been following you on Insta for months and have never been disappointed with a meal. Thank you for sharing.

      Reply
      • Sam Turnbull says

        May 06, 2020 at 4:30 pm

        So happy to hear that, Andy!

        Reply
    7. Jules says

      April 22, 2020 at 9:27 am

      5 stars
      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!

      Reply
    8. Cowgirl says

      April 03, 2020 at 2:32 pm

      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.

      Reply
      • Sam Turnbull says

        April 09, 2020 at 5:04 pm

        You're most welcome 🙂

        Reply
        • Laura says

          March 19, 2021 at 11:30 am

          5 stars
          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!

    9. VeggieTater says

      April 03, 2020 at 11:23 am

      5 stars
      And no added fat or oil, YAY! Wonderful!

      Reply
    10. Alyssa D. says

      May 13, 2019 at 7:29 pm

      5 stars
      I added a little bit of nooch and white wine to the sauce, but it was all so good! Delicious recipe !

      Reply
      • Sam Turnbull says

        May 20, 2019 at 3:14 pm

        So happy you enjoyed, Alyssa 🙂

        Reply
    11. Erin says

      June 14, 2018 at 10:54 am

      I would suggest steaming the asparagus to keep in the nutrients! Going to try this tonight 🙂

      Reply
      • Sam Turnbull says

        June 15, 2018 at 8:32 am

        Enjoy!

        Reply
    12. Sam Turnbull says

      August 13, 2017 at 12:27 pm

      Sorry you didn't enjoy it, Nikki.

      Reply
    13. Naomi says

      August 02, 2017 at 12:59 pm

      5 stars
      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 🙂

      Reply
      • Sam Turnbull says

        August 03, 2017 at 9:31 am

        Woohoo! So happy you enjoyed it, Naomi 🙂

        Reply
    14. Gaelle says

      July 25, 2016 at 3:58 am

      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.

      Reply
      • Sam Turnbull says

        July 25, 2016 at 10:08 am

        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! 🙂

        Reply
        • Drew says

          April 21, 2018 at 2:31 pm

          5 stars
          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

          April 22, 2018 at 9:48 am

          So happy you loved it, Drew 🙂

    15. Kristen says

      May 13, 2016 at 12:10 pm

      5 stars
      Delicious! And what a great tip on prepping the asparagus. Thanks for sharing!

      Reply
      • Sam says

        May 13, 2016 at 2:47 pm

        You're very welcome, so glad you enjoyed it Kristen!

        Reply
    16. Casey the College Celiac says

      May 11, 2016 at 7:58 pm

      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!

      Reply
      • Sam says

        May 12, 2016 at 10:01 am

        You're very welcome! I hope you enjoy it Casey 🙂

        Reply
      • Sherry-Lynn says

        May 27, 2020 at 7:28 pm

        Made this tonight! Huge hit! Definitely a keeper!

        Reply
    17. Michele says

      May 11, 2016 at 2:31 pm

      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.

      Reply
      • Sam says

        May 11, 2016 at 3:14 pm

        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 🙂

        Reply
    18. Mary says

      May 11, 2016 at 1:31 pm

      5 stars
      Don't throw out those woody stems - save them for your stock pot! Very nice flavor addition.

      Reply
      • Sam says

        May 11, 2016 at 2:07 pm

        Yes!! Lovely call Mary! I am going to add that into the instructions. Thanks 🙂

        Reply
        • Mary says

          May 11, 2016 at 2:53 pm

          Love your recipes! Keep up the excellent (and delicious!) work.

        • Sam says

          May 11, 2016 at 3:14 pm

          Aww thank you! I will indeed 🙂

    19. Bethery says

      May 11, 2016 at 12:37 pm

      Sam does it again!! A perfect recipe for the working family, (and I have asparagus in the garden!)

      Reply
      • Sam says

        May 11, 2016 at 1:15 pm

        Yay! Yours will be perfectly fresh, no need to snap off the ends at all I bet 🙂

        Reply
    20. Kevin Grishkot says

      May 11, 2016 at 12:09 pm

      I can't wait to try this!!!

      Reply
      • Sam says

        May 11, 2016 at 12:35 pm

        Yay! I hope you love it Kevin 🙂

        Reply
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