Cashew Cream Tomato Sauce Pasta

Craving a healthier option for creamy pasta sauce?

Making your own sauces, dressings and spices is a great way to ensure that you are putting good ingredients into your body. I have found it eliminates so much unnecessary crap from the store bought versions and it really isn’t as difficult as one might think. For a while now I have been wanting to try out a creamy cashew sauce for, well- anything, but pasta to start.

I followed this recipe from Jeanette’s Healthy Living blog for how to make the cashew cream. I will just say that for someone who has never done this before it is surprisingly simple. To the point that I am shocked I hadn’t tried it sooner. You just soak some cashews and forget about them for a while. In this time you can prep and cook the rest of the meal until they are ready to blend!

You can use any blender, but I for sure want to add a Vitamix to my kitchen! It blends everything soooo smooth that it is leaps and bounds above anything else you will use.

Once blended, I added in some lemon juice, red pepper flakes, garlic, dried basil and a dash of salt and pepper. I will note that this was delicious as is, I just wanted to have a rich tomato sauce for this particular dish.

You can blend up your own tomato or buy canned tomato juice. I mixed a little in until it was a light red color, but not too liquified. Just heat on low over the stove and mix with pasta of your choice! I had some herbed noodles from a farmer’s market to go with mine.

Now, I do realize how contradicting it sounds to add meat to a pasta with vegan sauce, but I am not a vegetarian. I simply like to experiment with food, and I happen to love cashews! I am always looking for a healthier alternative and this might save me from my alfredo addiction. So yes, I threw some beef tenderloin tips into this pasta. I soaked them in a little tomato juice first before adding them in with the noodles.

Cashew Cream Tomato Sauce Pasta

Rich tomato pasta sauce with cashew cream base.

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Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 45 minutes mins

Course Main Dish

Cuisine Italian

Servings 2 people

Ingredients

  

• 2 cups cashews raw
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup tomato juice
• 1 tbsp olive oil (optional)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tsp basil
• 1 tbsp crushed red pepper
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 cup noodles

Instructions

 

• Boil some water and then add in the cashews. Remove from heat, cover and let sit for 30 minutes.
• Let the cashews soak and then when about halfway done cook the pasta.
• Drain the cashews and then put in blender with 1 1/2 cups of water. Blend repeatedly until smooth. Stir in lemon, minced garlic, seasonings and tomato juice.
• Heat sauce on low for a minute or two on the stove with some olive oil. Mix in pasta when ready!

The final result tasted sinfully delicious! This creamy pasta alternative is protein packed, dairy-free and extremely versatile. I love how just a few little extras transformed the nutty flavor into something that most people would never guess had a base of only raw cashews. In fact, my husband just stared at me when I told him what it was made of. Give this cashew cream tomato sauce a try and you may be equally satisfied!

You can check out another version of a vegan cashew sauce from Plant Strong Mom’s blog, which was a recipe adapted from the Oh She Glows cookbook! She uses this often to make a vegan mac-n-cheese recipe that sounds delicious and is loaded with veggies!