If you need an indulgent, vegan and vibrant dinner fix, this creamy truffle pasta will blow your mind. We use a mix of raw cashews and peeled zucchini (!!) for the velvety pasta-hugging sauce of our dreams. Garlic, onions, nutmeg, truffle oil, and our old pal nutritional yeast bring the flavor. The pasta dinner is smoothed out with some reserved pasta cooking water. I love topping mine with vegan parmesan.
Half of the sauce base here is cooked zucchini. It keeps the consistency creamy, but just a touch lighter than the use of cashews alone. I feel like I rely on cashews heavily in savory recipes and need to branch out. This recipe is my slow start at diversifying and trying new things.
We top this indulgent and super creamy goodness with balsamic-roasted broccoli rabe (also called rapini). A nice heap of bitter greens with sweet reduced balsamic vinegar in the mix. The contrast is so good! Broccoli rabe is one of my favorite vegetables. Of course, if you’d prefer regular broccoli here, that would also be delicious.
The velvety sauce will impress even the most hardened vegan skeptics. That pungent truffle aroma could rope anyone in!
Creamy Truffle Pasta with Balsamic Roasted Broccoli Rabe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 small yellow onion, diced (about ½ cup diced)
- 1 small zucchini, peeled and diced (about 1 cup diced)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ cup raw cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours & drained
- 1 cup water, plus extra
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon truffle oil, plus more to taste
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- pinch ground nutmeg
- salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 bunch broccoli rabe
- 12 oz short pasta of choice
- 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
- red pepper flakes, for serving (optional)
- vegan parmesan
Equipment
- Blender
Notes
- The only substitution suggestion I can offer for cashews is raw macadamia nuts or pine nuts. I know that these are likely even more expensive than cashews in most shopping scenarios, but they do have that same richness.
Instructions
- Heat a large, deep saute pan over medium heat. Add 2 teaspoons of the avocado oil to the pan and swirl it around. Add the onion to the pan and saute until edges are translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the zucchini and continue to stir and saute until the zucchini is soft, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Turn off the heat and transfer the sauteed vegetables to an upright, high speed blender. To the blender, add the drained cashews, water, lemon juice, truffle oil, nutritional yeast, onion powder, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Blend the mixture on high until totally smooth, about 1 full minute. Add more water by the tablespoon if necessary. Set the creamy truffle sauce aside.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Separate the thin leaves from the broccoli rabe stalks and cut off the woody ends. Cut the trimmed broccoli rabe stalks into 2-inch pieces and place them in a medium bowl. Toss the chopped stalks with 2 teaspoon of the avocado oil, 1 teaspoon of the balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Spread the coated pieces of broccoli rabe out on a large baking sheet and roast for 10 minutes.
- While the stalks are roasting, toss the thin broccoli rabe leaves in the remaining 2 teaspoons of avocado oil, 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. Really massage it in!
- At the 10 minute mark, remove the roasted broccoli rabe stalks from the oven and stir them up a bit. Scatter the coated broccoli rabe leaves over top and return the baking sheet to the oven for another 5 minutes, or until the leaves soften and crisp up a bit on the edges.
- While the broccoli rabe is roasting, prepare your pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water before draining.
- Wipe out the original large saute pan you were using and place it over medium heat. In the pan, combine the creamy truffle sauce and cooked pasta. Stir until the pasta is evenly hot and super creamy. Add splashes of pasta cooking water to loosen things up, if necessary. Stir in ½ of the roasted broccoli rabe.
- Serve the creamy truffle pasta hot with the remaining roasted broccoli rabe on top with chili flakes and vegan “parm” if you like.
This was unbelievably good and the best recipe that I’ve tried for broccoli rabe. Wow! Doesn’t even taste bitter. Thank you so much for sharing. I subbed yellow pepper for zucchini as I didn’t have any zucchini.
This dish is SO good- I’ve made it a number of times now, and my 2-year-old also loves it. It’s been added to the weekly rotation! Thank you so much.
Gah this sauce is so good!! I skipped the truffle oil but it was still super lush. I ate it over Banza, and just blanched some broccoli in the pasta water and drizzled some high quality balsamic over the top to streamline it a bit for a busy Wednesday night. Cozy vibes for sure.
We made this last night and it was delicious – my 9-year-old loved it and asked for seconds with extra greens! I couldn’t get broccoli rabe anywhere in town yesterday so we used a combination of broccolini and gai lan, which worked out great. Thank you for sharing the recipe. :-)
dayuuummmmmm lady! lookin’ good!
This looks outrageously delicious! I’m a huge fan of using cashews for creaminess myself, but feel no need to diversify ;)
Quick question: Did you use white or black truffle oil? Thanks! Cannot wait to try this recipe!!!
Hi Emily!
I used white truffle oil.
-L
Yes I have been doing Veganuary! I feel really great!!!! Do you have a good suggestion to replace cream in coffee?
Thanks
Hi Deborah, my favorites are Oatly barista edition or the same thing from Califa Farms :) It bugs me so much when my creamer curdles in my coffee, and these two haven’t for me and are super creamy. A bit pricey for sure, but life changing for me and affordable when on sale. SO cool that you’ve been trying out Veganuary and are feeling great! Apologies for chiming in from left field.
My favourite replacement for coffee creamer is nutpods! It’s an unsweetened creamer that is about as rich as it gets. Soy creamers are also quite rich, but always come sweetened. I also have a recipe for a full fat coconut milk-based creamer in my cookbook!
-L