This deliciously light but creamy vegan pasta sauce is quick and easy enough for a weeknight meal with its zingy fresh flavours and secret ingredients!

Secret ingredients?  What could possibly be in a pasta sauce that’s so mysterious?  Well if you heard me rave on (and on) about this Chocolate Pie you’ll have an inkling.

The first is Silken tofu.  And tofu being tofu in all its blandness means it’s perfect for sweet AND savoury.  Like chocolate pie and pasta sauce.  I think we can agree – the best of both worlds 😉

The second is this magical little bottle from Foodie Flavours.  Cream Cheese is the newest in their range of natural flavourings – all vegan too.  And it has the most amazing smell – like a cream soda.

Add in some lemon zing, fiery onion and garlic, woody mushrooms and bright fresh basil and you have the perfect vegan pasta sauce combo.  Then when you whizz it all up with tofu and a dash of plant milk we’re definitely headed to pasta heaven.  The tofu gives it that thick creamy quality that helps it really cling to the pasta.  And the cream cheese flavouring gives the whole thing a burst of creamy taste.

I could not wait to finish photographing it so I could just tuck in and slurp the whole hecking lot!

How to make a this vegan pasta sauce:

I wanted to keep this as simple as possible – just one pan and one blender needed.

• Fry the onion and garlic in just a drizzle of oil.  I fry first rather than just adding it raw to the blender because I think it helps mellow but develop the flavour.  Raw garlic is incredibly pungent and has its place – like in this vegan pesto.  But not in this sauce.
• Tip them into your blender with the remaining ingredients other than the mushrooms and basil and whizz to creamy perfection.
• Cook the mushrooms in the same pan you cooked the onions (because I’m all about saving on washing up) until they’re lightly brown and caramelised.
• Tip the sauce over the mushrooms to heat through then stir in the shredded basil.

I used dried spaghetti for this carbonara(ish) style sauce.  But I think it would be lovely with any fresh or dried pasta.  Spaghetti was just what I had at the time.  Plus I enjoy feeling like a kid while eating spaghetti, twirling it round my fork before sucking and slurping it into my mouth!

The other great thing about this pasta sauce is that it reheats incredibly well too, making it super easy to double up the ingredients and simply re-heat later in the week!  I love having food I know I’m going to enjoy just hanging out in the fridge.  It cuts down the temptation to order take-out or eat badly because it’s been a long day and my feet are tired 😉

If you make this recipe or any of the recipes from The Cook & Him we’d LOVE to see! Just snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #thecookandhim and tagging @thecookandhim in the photo itself (as this guarantees we’ll see your picture!)

And don’t forget to follow us on Instagram , Facebook or Twitter for even more recipe inspiration and chat, competitions, behind the scenes and so much more!