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Vegan Lemon Asparagus Pasta – 30 mins! Creamy Lemon Alfredo style sauce with tofu with fettuccine and pan roasted garlic asparagus and more lemon. Vegan Nutfree Recipe. Can be Glutenfree. 17 gm of protein Jump to Recipe
Asparagus is abundant and in season. Fresh, crisp and delicious and this lemon asparagus pasta celebrates it perfectly! The pasta comes together in 30 minutes and has this luscious delicious zesty cream sauce. The sauce uses tofu, non dairy milk and herbs for the sauce, See below for soyfree option. Tofu makes the sauce so fluffy creamy! Lemon in various forms at various stages of the sauce, lemon juice and zest in the blended sauce, zest and lemon slices while simmering, make this sauce incredibly tasty! Hubbs couldnt believe it was tofu! and 2 serves went down within minutes.
This Vegan Lemon Asparagus Pasta is all things Spring. Lemony, Creamy, satisfying and makes a great weeknight meal. The lemon pasta sauce is creamy and delicious. Adjust the flavor of the sauce while simmering to preference. Add a few tbsp of white wine for variation. Lets cook.
Ingredients and Substitutions for Vegan Lemon Asparagus Pasta
- Tofu makes for a quick and creamy sauce! no soaking the nuts needed. It also picks up the lemon flavor amazingly. To make this soyfree, You can use 1/2 cup cashews with 1.5 cups non dairy milk instead. Or use 1 cup of steamed cauliflower and 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds.
- Use any pasta of choice and use glutenfree if needed.
- The recipe can be easily made without oil. Saute in broth instead.
- Lemon at various stages in various forms, zest and juice in the blended sauce, zest and slices added during simmering is what makes this sauce mindblowingly delicious. No subs there!
Step by Step Photos
The key is to multitask for the various components for a quick meal. Start by bringing a pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Meanwhile, Chop the garlic, onion, mushrooms if using and asparagus. Assemble the sauce ingredients.
Blend the sauce and set aside.
Add pasta to the boiling water. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and Cook for half a minute, then add asparagus, salt, pepper. Toss for a few seconds, then cover and steam until bright green. Transfer to a bowl.
In the same pan add oil and then saute the garlic for a few seconds. Add onion and mushrooms and cook until translucent.
Check on the pasta while the onion is cooking. The pasta should be done by now, drain, rinse with cold water and set aside.
Once the onion is translucent. Add the blended sauce and simmer. Add the zest, slices, cooked asparagus and fettuccine and fold in. Toss well to coat all the pasta. Taste and adjust flavor. Switch off heat, but don’t take the pan off the stove. Cover and let sit for a few minutes for the flavors to meld.
Plate portions, garnish with vegan parm, basil, black pepper/pepper flakes and serve as is or with some garlic bread.
How to make Vegan Lemon Asparagus Pasta
- Start cooking the pasta. Meanwhile, Asparagus is roasted for a minute with golden garlic, then covered to cook with the steam.
- The sauce uses tofu and lemon, herbs and flavors. Tofu when blended makes for a silky creamy sauce!
- Garlic, onion and mushroom are sauteed, the sauce added and simmered to thicken.
- Then more lemon zest and lemon slices round up the flavor of this fabulous lemon cream sauce. Toss in the pasta and asparagus and serve!
More Pastas from the blog
- Sundried Tomato and Garlic Pasta with Soy curls.So beautiful!
- Garlic Pasta with Cajun Cauliflower – super popular
- Rose Sauce Farfalle – so Creamy!
- Lentil Bolognese with Spaghetti.– Hearty
- Cauliflower Parmesan Pasta Bake – sliced cauliflower, baked then dressed in vegan mozz, baked over pasta
- Chickpea Chorizo, Quinoa shells in tomato sauce. GF – So Meaty.
Vegan Lemon Asparagus Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 oz fettuccine or other pasta, , glutenfree pasta if needed
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 clove of garlic, , finely chopped
- 1 lb asparagus, , chopped into 2 inch pieces, remove tough bottom stem
- dash of salt and black pepper
Lemon Cream Sauce:
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 3-4 cloves of garlic, , finely chopped
- 1/3 cup chopped onion
- 2 oz sliced mushroom, optional
- 7 oz firm tofu, or silken tofu
- 1 cup non dairy milk, such as almond or soy
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- zest of half a lemon
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp ground mustard
- 1-2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp flour, , use starch or rice flour to make glutenfree
- 2 tsp italian seasoning, (I like 1 tsp basil, 1/2 tsp parsley, 1/3 tsp rosemary)
- zest of the other half of the lemon
- 3-4 thin lemon slices
- pepper flakes, ,black pepper, vegan parm for garnish
Instructions
- Cook the fettuccine according to instructions on the package, rinse in cold water and set aside. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for half a minute.
- Add asparagus, pinch of salt and black pepper and mix. Cover to cook/steam for 3 mins or until bright green. Transfer to a bowl.
- Add oil to the same skillet over medium heat, add garlic and cook for a few seconds. Add onion and mushrooms and cook for 2 mins
- Meanwhile, blend ingredients from tofu to flour until smooth. Add the blended sauce to the skillet, add herbs, and mix in. Bring to a simmer. Fold in the rest of the lemon zest, lemon slices. Taste and adjust salt and flavor with additional salt , garlic powder, herbs and some black pepper if needed.
- Add the the cooked pasta and 2/3 of the asparagus and mix in. Cover and take off heat and let the flavors meld for 2 mins.
- Garnish with pepper flakes, black pepper and fresh basil and optional vegan parm and the cooked asparagus. and serve.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I’ve made this twice and it’ll be a solid addition to our rotation of recipes. Despite the longer list of ingredients, it really IS quick to pull together. Next time I make it I will increase the lemon zest and lemon juice- I’d like that to be a bit stronger. It’s so nice. I had leftovers the next day and as often happens with tofu sauces it was noticeably BETTER the next day once the tofu had more time to really absorb the other flavors – so I might consider making the sauce a day in advance. I had this with pasta, and then the 2nd time with ramen noodles because it’s all we had in the house and it was delicious both times. This recipe says “spring is here!” and I love it. Thank you, Richa.
Awesome! Great suggestions
I made this recipe for dinner last night. I highly recommend it. The recipe is easy to follow and the results were outstanding. It makes a lot, so I’m looking forward to having it again tonight. I love cooking once and eating twice.
So happy to hear!
This was so delicious! My whole family loved it. Thanks for another awesome recipe!
Yay!! Glad to hear it.
This recipe is a refreshing and flavorful dish that combines the zesty brightness of lemon and tofu for protein. I substituted the asparagus with spinach and It was very easy to put together.
So happy you enjoyed it!
Another outstanding recipe for the win! Lusciously lemon 🍋 I added a bit of Cajun spice. I didn’t add the mushrooms but followed the recipe besides that. I’ve always added lemon to my veggies but never thought of adding it to pasta. It was the best refreshing pasta ever! Oh yeah I also added about 10 drops of lemon essential oil.
Awesome! So glad you liked it.
This the fourth pasta recipe in a week of this challenge. It more pasta I eat in a month.
I may pass on this recipe or make later, also asparagus is difficult to find in winter. This recipe looks delicious for a more appropriate time.
It’s the second pasta. The first 3 recipes were a stew, Alfredo white beans, quinoa casserole. Use other veggies instead of asparagus
I love the ease of making this dish. The flavors are so delicious and comforting. It was great on this snowy day.
So good to hear!
Really enjoyed this as part of the 2025 Veganuary challenge! I used spinach instead of asparagus, and served it with a lentil and wheat pasta to up the protein content! Would make again!
Thanks!
Sounds delicious!! Glad you liked it.
Made this for dinner tonight, yum!!! Another amazing recipe.😊
Awesome!!
Delicious! I used broccoli because our grocery store was out of asparagus. We enjoyed it but looking forward to trying it again with asparagus. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
So glad you liked it!