Once the weather starts to warm up, we all start craving light, summery sides. Preferably ones that don’t have us firing up the oven. Here’s one that always has an invite to our summer picnics and cookouts: vegan pasta salad. It’s not overloaded with ingredients. Nope, we kept it simple with mixed peppers and onion. Instead of heavy mayo, though, we made a creamy cashew sauce to coat everything.
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Vegan Creamy Cashew Pasta Primavera
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 cups raw cashews
- 2 cups boiling water
- 1 cup sweet peppers, cut into 1-inch slices
- 1 large green bell pepper, de-seeded and cut into 1-inch slices
- 1 yellow onion, cut into 1-inch slices
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- Juice from 1 lemon
- 1/2 pound pasta, cooked
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, add raw cashews and top with boiling water. Soak for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, cashews will be warm and soft. Add cashews, water, and nutritional yeast into a blender or food processor. Blend until silky smooth.
- Bring a large skillet to medium heat and add the cooking oil. Once warm, add peppers, onions, garlic, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine and sauté for 5-6 minutes or until fragrant and just beginning to brown. Turn off heat.
- Add cooked pasta into the pan of vegetables and stir to combine. Then, pour the cashew sauce on top. Squeeze in the lemon juice and stir until fully mixed and incorporated.
- Turn heat back on to medium and stir for an additional 3 minutes to reheat everything. Serve immediately while warm and enjoy!