Vegan Cheesy Spaghetti
By Laila ·
A take on a pasta dish I grew up eating! This one is vegan, much healthier, and just as tasty as the one my parents used to make :)
I was about to make spaghetti and tomato sauce for my kids when I had a quick change of heart and decided I’d try replicating one of my favourite childhood meals! Although this is a vegan dish and a much healthier version of what I grew up eating, the taste is very much deceiving…which is how I like to cook and bake! It’s not lost on me that many non-vegan eaters tend to stay away from vegan foods because of the stigma that the dishes and desserts are bland and ‘blah’…but I promise you that my recipes will make you a believer and have you come around and embrace healthier foods (I’m not advocating becoming vegan..I myself am not vegan). But with how animals are treated and how meats are processed these days, suddenly eating more vegan foods sounds better for your health and that of the animals and the environment.
The best part about cooking vegan when I have to, is that none of my non-vegan friends realize they’re eating vegan foods! That’s so important to me. Just because we live with allergies, doesn’t mean that our food choices have to suffer! It’s a wonderful thing to have the opportunity to experiment and come up with great dishes for your family to enjoy. :)
So forget the usual spaghetti and meatballs or spaghetti and sauce dinners and go for this instead! This dish in particular brings me back to the days when my parents would make us a very similar version, using macaroni noodles, lots of yogurt, and garlic! Yum..!
This meal is so simple to make and it’s a perfect addition to your cooking repertoire!
Recipe
Vegan Cheesy Spaghetti
A take on a pasta dish I grew up eating! This one is vegan, much healthier, and just as tasty as the one my parents used to make :)
- Cook
- 10 mins
- Total
- 12 mins
Ingredients
Instructions
- 1Add pasta noodles to a pot of boiling salted water and cook for 10 minutes, until al dente. Drain, reserving 2/3 cup pasta water.
- 2In a large skillet, add the cooked pasta and cheese and cook over medium heat.
- 3Tear up the basil leaves and add to the spaghetti along with the dried parsley flakes and reserved pasta water.
- 4Stir just until the cheese has emulsified with the pasta and its water. Avoid leaving the spaghetti on the heat too long so the cheesy sauce does not dry out.
- 5Add minced garlic and season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste. Complete the skillet steps in less than a minute after boiling the pasta.
Notes
This recipe serves 4-6 people. *I use Quinoa spaghetti noodles. It tastes just the same, but is so much healthier and gluten-free to boot!
Instructions
1. Begin by cooking pasta noodles. In a pot of boiling salted water, add pasta noodles and cook for 10 minutes, until ‘al dente’. Drain pasta but reserve 2/3 cup pasta water.
2. In a large skillet, add cooked pasta and cheese, and cook on medium heat.
3. Next, tear up the basil leaves and add to spaghetti, along with the dried parsley flakes, and reserved pasta water.
4. Stir spaghetti just until cheese has emulsified with pasta and its water.
Tip: Try not to leave spaghetti on the heat for too long because you don’t want to dry out the cheesy sauce.
Perfection!
5. Finally, add minced garlic and season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste.
These steps happen very quickly. The final product should be done in less than a minute (once you’ve boiled your pasta of course!). My kids LOVED this version of spaghetti! And you know how hard it is to get kids to like anything these days! Hope your family enjoys this simple healthy meal next time you make dinner. Until next time :)
Bon appétit! xo
