This ultra creamy homemade spinach tomato pasta dish comes together in just 20 minutes – and with only one pot to clean!
The sauce is so thick and creamy – even without ANY heavy cream!
Something you might not know about me is that I am a huge hockey fan – Seriously, ask me any sort of useless hockey trivia and I will probably know the answer without even having to stop and think.
Come playoff season, you can find me with eyes glued to the television and remote in hand, especially if my team has a chance to win.
I’m lucky enough to have my two favorite teams in the playoffs this year (Dallas Stars and Washington Capitals), which makes for one very happy Katie.
I quickly threw together this creamy spinach tomato pasta dish on Monday night as a simple and filling meal I could enjoy before watching the games.
With just one skillet and no need to chop any vegetables or blend ingredients, I made myself a leisurely dinner and cleaned the entire kitchen, all before 7 PM.
For dessert, try these Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies or these Black Bean Brownies!
Step 1:
Cook the pasta according to package directions, in salted boiling water.
Drain, but do not rinse.
Step 2:
While the pasta cooks, sauté the garlic for 1 minute, then add the flour, onion powder, and salt.
Whisk in remaining sauce ingredients and bring to a boil, whisking constantly.
Step 3:
Add the pasta and stir to coat. Taste, and season with salt and pepper if desired.
If the pasta absorbs the sauce and looks a little dry, stir in a little more milk of choice until sauce is creamy again.
I’ve made this recipe two different ways now, and both are equally delicious:
The first option is to use cashew cream. If you haven’t tried my recipe for Homemade Cashew Cream yet, you should definitely check that one out at some point – It’s incredibly versatile and can be used to add richness and creaminess to both sweet and savory dishes, for a fraction of the calories in heavy cream!
The other option, which I tried out on Monday night, is to use unsweetened creamer or a half-&-half-type product. I was recently introduced to Nutpods Dairy-Free Creamer, and I was head-over-slippers in love at first taste of the thick vegan creamer.
(I work from home. Ergo, slippers are my footwear of choice.)
Immediately upon receiving the package, I tried it straight from the bottle… and I can’t say that was the only time I drank it straight from the bottle, either. The creaminess is just too hard to resist! Yes, I was the girl who would drink heavy cream straight from the carton as a child whenever my mom would make homemade whipped cream. She’d turn around, and half the heavy cream container would have disappeared.
If this were an iphone, I’d insert the embarrassed emoji now.
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Creamy Spinach Tomato Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 oz dry pasta – such as farfalle
- 1-2 tbsp olive oil or buttery spread or oil spray
- 1 1/2 tbsp minced garlic
- 3 tbsp flour (spelt, white, or sweet rice flour)
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 cup cashew cream or unsweetened creamer – I like Nutpods Dairy Free Creamer
- 1/4 cup Parmesan-type topping or nutritional yeast, optional
- 1 cup unsweetened milk of choice or additional creamer
- 1 can diced tomatoes, or 14 oz diced tomatoes
- 1 cup fresh or 1/2 cup frozen spinach, optional
Instructions
- Bring a salted pot of water to a boil. Boil pasta according to package directions, then drain fully but do not rinse. Meanwhile, sauté the garlic in the oil for 1 minute. (Technically, you can use oil spray, but the oil will give a richer flavor and will help the sauce adhere to the pasta – It amounts to less than a teaspoon per serving, and I really think the flavor will be much better if you use oil instead of spray.) Add the flour, onion powder, and salt. Sauté an additional minute, then whisk in the creamer, milk, oregano, and Parmesan, if using. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Boil and whisk for about a minute, then add the tomato and spinach – You can omit the spinach if desired. Stir until sauce thickens. Add the pasta and stir to coat. Season with salt and pepper if desired. If the pasta absorbs the sauce and looks dry, stir in a little more milk of choice until sauce is creamy again.View Nutrition Facts
Notes
More Healthy Pasta Recipes:
My fiance made this last night! It was delicious! I’ve been using Nutpods in my coffee for months and hadn’t thought to use it in other recipes.
And for the person who asked about where to find Nutpods, it’s not available where I live but it is on Amazon.
It makes me so happy when I find an amazing recipe and I have all the ingredients at home ^_^
I really liked this, and I’m definitely saving it to make it again soon! It’s super easy, and the creaminess is to die for — would hardly know it’s vegan. I opted for fresh, chopped Roma tomatoes that I sauteed first before adding them near the end. I think next time I’ll add more nooch or something else for spices — it was a little too simple for me personally, but it would be SO easy to kick it up with a lot of spice variations. Thank you for this!
This was extra delicious. My kids loved it and my husband even asked for seconds! We used the Nutpods Original Creamer you recommended, which was very good. I still have to try your cashew cream though!
you shoukld try traditional italian cooking cream, if you do not want to prepare yourself, like the granarolo cooking cream that comes in mini-tetrapak packages, normally used in Italy for these ecipes. the nutpods is probably too cheasy, and the almonds milk is not completerly adapt for the recipe, is to distant from the original taste.
the rest, fantastic.
you shoukld try traditional italian cooking cream, if you do not want to prepare it yourself, like the granarolo cooking cream that comes in mini-tetrapak packages, normally used in Italy for these recipes. the nutpods is probably too cheasy, and the almonds milk is not completerly adapt for the recipe, it is too distant from the original taste.
the rest is, fantastic.
Can we all please all take a minute to appreciate this masterpiece of healthy comfort food? I used soy creamer and soy milk and added just a tad parmesan. Soooo delicious. Made the whole recipe so I have something left for tomorrow. I’m not going to share ?
Can you please say what brand of soy milk creamer and soy milk you used? It is greatly appreciated.
I just discovered Nutpods – and I love it! I may be lactose-intolerant and the thought of not being able to use half and half in my coffee was actually keeping me from starting the dairy-free test! LOL I was so excited to find Nutpods. Doubly so, now that I discovered this recipe! Can’t wait to try it!
Made this last night for dinner, yum! I made a couple adjustments. I added some chopped onion instead of onion powder, I used just whole milk instead of any creamer, and used kale instead of spinach. Turned out great! Keep the wonderfully delicious recipes coming!
I made this tonight, and I thought it was fairly good but a bit bland (except for the oregano flavor, which was a bit too prominent); the addition of a bit of salt and pepper helped, and my family added cheddar cheese to their servings. I used half and half (I am not vegan), Kraft Parmesan, and unsweetened cashew milk. I omitted the spinach. I needed to add some cornstarch to thicken the sauce, but after I did that, the consistency was perfect. If I make this again, I will probably use less oregano or replace it with Italian seasoning, and add pepper and cheese.
Made this for dinner! The sauce took like 15 minutes to make! So quick and so delicious!!! My family loved it! I barely saved any for lunch tomorrow! Will definitely be making this pasta again!
I finally got around to making this and it was absolutely delicious! I used mini farfalle, which we all loved. I didn’t have any spinach on hand, but it was amazing just the same. Thanks for such a great recipe! 🙂
Looks delicious
What can I use in place of the cashew cream/nutpods creamer? I’m allergic to tree nuts.
When it says unsweetened creamer, you can use any creamer you wish as long as it is unsweetened. You could also use coconut cream.
Made this for dinner, and it was delicious. I had to make a few adjustments because I didn’t have all the ingredients, but it still turned out well. Instead of cream, I substituted 3/4 cup plain yogurt and 1/4 cup water. I also sauteed some finely chopped mushrooms and onions along with the garlic, and added chopped black olives to the final product. Another great recipe!
I made this. Without spinach and brown rice pasta. I used oatly (oat based single cream) creamer as nutpods are hard to get in the uk. It was garlicy and creamy and delish. I noticed that your sauce recipe made 2x as much as i needed to get a good coating so i could have done 1lb of pasta- but I put it away in a jar and will make again with fresh pasta in a few days. Another good one!