Enjoy your vegan pasta like you never have in the past with these amazing recipes. Head over to my YouTube video and scroll down for the written recipes!

So if you haven’t seen my video on this yet, I made high protein vegan pasta recipes that are not only delicious but also high in protein and of course, 100% plant-based!

So I made three recipes — (1) oil-free creamy pesto salad, (2) high-protein smokey mac & cheese, and (3) simple TVP spaghetti! If you’d like to add more ‘oomph!’ to your vegan pasta dishes, then I highly recommend trying these out! 

Now, let’s get cooking!

Oil-Free Creamy Pesto Pasta Salad 

Doesn’t it look amazing???

I know you guys have been raving about my alfredo pasta sauce that I shared before, but this time, I didn’t use any cashews for the sauce! I used… (drumroll please~!)

… TOFU!

I know, right? I was pretty surprised myself when I first found out that tofu can also be used to make pasta sauce. For this one, I would recommend using silken tofu which is a softer and more custard-like kind of tofu and makes the sauce really creamy and higher in protein content. One thing to note when you are making a sauce with tofu is that you will need to flavour it well otherwise, you might have a strong “tofu” taste. 

And because this is actually a salad recipe, you can eat it cold but you can go ahead and eat it warm if you’d like. It still tastes awesome! 🙂

Per 1 Serving

• Total Calories – 472
• Total Carbohydrates – 55g
• Total Fat – 12g
• Total Protein – 32g

Ingredients (2 servings):

• Creamy Pesto
  • 1/2 block silken tofu 
  • 3 tbsp pine nuts 
  • 30g basil
  • 4 tbsp nutritional yeast 
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice 
  • 1-2 cloves garlic 
  • 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 servings high protein pasta (I used the Thrive Market Chickpea Fusilli) 
• 1 cup edamame beans (optional)
• 2 roma tomatoes, chopped (or about 2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half)

Instructions:

1. Add tofu, pine nuts, basil, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, and garlic into a blender and blend until smooth. 
2. Cook pasta according to packaging instructions. You can use regular or whole wheat pasta but to boost the protein amount, I used a higher protein pasta (watch the video for more info). 
3. Add in frozen edamame beans to the same pot of boiling pasta, just a few minutes before the pasta completely cooks. 
4. Drain pasta and edamame beans and place them in a large mixing bowl. 
5. Add in tomatoes and pasta sauce. Mix well together. 
6. Serve and enjoy!

High-Protein Smokey Mac & Cheese

I feel like there are a million-and-one ways to make vegan mac & cheese, and this is just another one of those ways. I should probably do a mac & cheese video and just make different kinds of mac & cheese recipes! Let me know if that’s something that would interest you.

Per 1 Serving

• Total Calories – 309
• Total Carbohydrates – 24g
• Total Fat – 6g
• Total Protein – 26g

Ingredients (2 servings):

• 1/2 block silken tofu 
• 3 tbsp non-dairy milk
• 5 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tbsp garlic powder 
• 1 tsp vegetable bouillon, veggie stock powder or add a bit of salt instead
• 1 tsp mustard or dijon mustard
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 servings Banza chickpea pasta shells or other type of pasta
• top with bread crumbs and/or vegan parmesan

Instructions:

1. Cook up pasta according to package instructions. 
2. To make the pasta sauce, add tofu, non-dairy milk, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, vegetable bouillon or salt (whichever you like), turmeric, mustard, lemon juice, and paprika to a blender. Blend well and set aside.
3. Transfer cooked pasta to a mixing bowl, add in the pasta sauce and mix well.
4. Enjoy!

Simple TVP Spaghetti

I kinda forgot about TVP for a while, but I have been reintroducing it back into my life recently. 

For those of you who don’t know, TVP stands for Textured Vegetable Protein and comes dry (watch the video to see what I mean). To rehydrate it, all you have to do is add a little bit of water and it becomes softer. This way, you can kind of use it in the same way as you would use ground meat. 

This super easy recipe is a quick meal idea for you, especially for those lazy days!

Per 1 Serving

• Total Calories – 453
• Total Carbohydrates – 63g
• Total Fat – 8g
• Total Protein – 34g

Ingredients:

• 1 serving of high protein spaghetti (I used Thrive Market Chickpea Spaghetti) 
• 1/4 cup TVP + 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup garbanzo beans (optional) 
• 1 handful chopped kale 
• 1/2 cup tomato-based pasta sauce

Instructions:

1. Add water to TVP to rehydrate it. Set aside. 
2. Boil pasta according to packaging instructions.
3. While the pasta is cooking, add the rehydrated TVP into a wok along with vegan pasta sauce, and chickpeas. Stir.
4. Add in the pasta and mix well. 
5. Add in chopped kale (or any vegetables or green leafies of your choice) for extra nutrients. Cover wok until the kale cooks to a vibrant green color. 
6. Serve and enjoy!