This cheesy pasta dish comes together in a flash and is a tasty meal that everyone loves!
Since St. Patrick’s Day is just about a week away, I thought I should share a green dish! No green eggs and ham – just some easy, cheesy noodles that get their green color from fresh spinach.
I know I’ve mentioned that macaroni and cheese is always a favorite over here – my oldest son loves the classic orange mac and cheese. I’ve recently started making a white sauce with fresh spinach blended in, and I’m happy to report that it’s a big hit! He loves it just as much as the classic recipe.
This is super simple to make – you simply add fresh spinach to the cheesy sauce, and then blend it all up with an immersion blender. Once the sauce is ready, add your hot pasta, stir, and serve! This flavorful pasta is also really delicious with the addition of grilled chicken.
Pasta with Creamy Spinach Sauce.
Ingredients
- one 12 ounce box gluten free penne
- 3 Tablespoons vegan buttery spread
- 3 cups Daiya mozzarella shreds
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 1/2 cups non-dairy milk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 teaspoon pepper
- 3 handfuls fresh spinach
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to package directions.
- While the pasta cooks, make the sauce. Melt the vegan buttery spread in a large pot. Add the Daiya cheese mozzarella shreds, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and non-dairy milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring often.
- Once the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth, add the spinach. Stir until the spinach wilts.
- Remove the pan from the heat and blend the sauce using an immersion blender.
- Add the cooked and drained pasta to the cheesy sauce. Stir well to coat. Season with more salt and pepper if desired. Serve immediately.
What easy meals have you been making lately?
Hi! So I’m not vegan (but planning on going vegetarian once my iron goes up) and this recipe is lovely!!! I bet it taste even better with the dairy free stuff! Definitely keeping this. (Also added roasted garlic and pepper flakes instead of just garlic powder For some spice! Thanks so much!
Loved this recipe! So simple, super quick and oh my gosh DELISH! Perfect for a post gym meal, or a quick and easy dinner for sure. Instead of blending though, I chopped the spinach to save even more time and washing up!
So glad you liked it! Thanks for letting me know!
I’d love to try this but my house is full of picky eaters. Can you really taste that this is dairy free?
I think that this just tastes like a flavorful, creamy sauce.
Hi! Lovely recipe, but I unfortunately ran into a problem: The cheese stuck together like glue! Since I did not have access to the mozzarella you suggested, I used regular instead, and that’s really the only change I made. Other than that, what do you think went wrong? Anyway, great recipe! I hope to try it again without messing up. Thank you so much!
You might want to try tossing the shredded cheese with a bit of flour before stirring into the sauce.
What non-dairy milk would you recommend cooking with for recipes like this? Would you use that same non-dairy milk to bake with, or would you suggest something different? Thanks! :)
We often use the refrigerated unsweetened coconut milk beverage, but you could use soy, almond, or even rice milk. Rice milk would be the least creamy of those options. All of these milks work for sweet and savory recipes.
I tried this and loved it. I need a way to add more protein, in a vegan way. Any suggestions?
Maybe chickpeas? You could even roast them a bit first if you wanted!
Just made this a tried it out on the rest of the household. AMAZING! Im lactose intolerant, so while eating this i thought i would get sick because of how creamy and authentic it felt, but of course I didn’t. So delicious. I did use a my preferred soya vegan cheese and 3 cloves of garlic instead of powdered since I seem to have ran out of the powder. Amazing non the less though!
Awesome, so glad you liked it! Yay! :)
Hey there – this looks delish! Just wondering what brand of vegan & gf pasta you use (we live in Canada) – I can’t find any my son will actually eat ?
mozarella is dairy and not vegan, also glutenfree pasta is still nog vegan. i was specificaly googling for gluten free dishes and this comes up.
The gluten free pastas I use are vegan – they only contain corn, rice, water, etc. No egg.
I use Daiya mozzarella shreds – a vegan cheese. http://daiyafoods.com/our-foods/shreds/mozzarella/ Hope that helps!
Hello, I was wondering if the brand Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella Cheese would work instead of Daiya? I find that Daiya has a funky aftertaste.
thanks for your recipe! what can i substitute the vegan buttery spread (will coconut oil work?) and the Daiya mozzarella shreds (we don’t have dairy free cheese here)?
You could try a little coconut oil, or you could use a little coconut cream in place of both the oil and the shreds. I’m not sure how it will turn out, but that’s where I would start.
And add some nutritional yeast for sure for that cheesy flavor!
I made this for dinner last night, and it was so good! I subbed onion powder for the garlic powder d/t our son’s garlic sensitivity. Thanks for all the great recipes. This one, in addition to many of your others, will be on our menu rotation.
Yay! So glad you like it! Thanks for letting me know! :)
Ooh this looks perfect! I bet you wouldn’t even notice it’s dairy free!
Thank you!
I’m always looking for new sauce ideas for our pasta! We can’t do daiya, but I bet nutritional yeast would be yummy too! Thanks for sharing! :)
Oh yes, that would be good! Love nutritional yeast!
What a delicious dinner idea!
Thank you!
We are total recipe twins, Kelly! I have a spinach pasta recipe going up later this week! So cool. :) I seriously LOVE how cozy and comforting this looks! Get in mah belly!
So fun!
Oh this pasta looks SO good! I love the spinach cheese sauce. So creative, Kelly!
Thanks, Gayle!
I’m going to try this one soon! It looks delicious, and I hope my kids will like it. They like my kale pesto pasta, so I bet this would go over well with them, too!
I hope you love it!