One-pot pasta dishes are some of my favorite meals because they’re incredibly easy and quick to throw together. This vegan creamy tomato spinach pasta checks all the boxes; it’s filling and delicious, healthy, and super simple to make!
This creamy tomato spinach pasta uses coconut cream as the base for the sauce, combined with roma tomatoes along with fresh spinach and basil. You for sure don’t need dairy to make a delicious, creamy, velvety pasta sauce! This recipe is great all year round, but I especially like making this in the Summer or early Fall when tomatoes are in season.
What I love about this one-pot creamy tomato spinach pasta:
- It doesn’t involve a lot of prep, chopping, or measuring
- You only need 30 minutes to make it
- It uses simple, plant-based ingredients
- It’s a one-pot recipe, hence the name, reducing dishes and cleanup
- The ingredients can easily be substituted with what you have on hand
- It’s 100% vegan!
One-pot dishes were my go to when I first became vegan in college, and they’re still my favorite type of recipe to make on busy days! After a long work day I rarely have the energy to cook an elaborate dinner with multiple pots and pans; all you need for this creamy tomato spinach pasta is one pot or pan and a spoon!
Check out some of my other one-pot recipes:
If you’re busy or short on time, this creamy tomato spinach pasta can be made in just 30 minutes! This is the perfect dinner for both hectic weeknights and carefree weekends. Keep reading for the ingredients, substitutions, and instructions for this dish!
Ingredients for vegan creamy tomato spinach pasta:
- Pasta: I recommend using fettuccine or linguine. I haven’t tested this recipe with other types of pasta, so the cooking time and consistency could vary if you use another type of pasta.
- Olive oil: We’ll use olive oil to cook the garlic at the beginning. To make oil-free, you can cook the garlic in a little vegetable broth or water.
- Coconut cream: I used the coconut cream from Trader Joes. You can also use a regular coconut milk if you can’t find the cream, but the sauce will turn out a litter thinner.
- Vegetable broth: We’ll combine this with the coconut cream to make the sauce. You can also use water if you don’t have any vegetable broth.
- Roma tomatoes: I normally gravitate toward roma tomatoes because they’re cheap and great for sauces, but you can use any type of tomato!
- Spinach: For this recipe, I use fresh baby spinach. I haven’t tested the recipe with frozen spinach, but that would probably work fine! You may need to cook it a little longer if you use frozen.
- Basil: Fresh basil is always best, but in a pinch you can use dried or partially dried.
- Garlic: A little garlic will add lots of flavor to this dish! You can always use dried if you don’t have fresh garlic, although I strongly recommend using fresh!
- Salt/pepper: Adjust to your liking!
Optional Add-Ons:
If you’d like to boost this dish’s protein a little more, some great options would be baked tofu or tempeh, or chickpeas. I’ve made this dish before with baked tempeh and it worked great! I just diced up some tempeh, drizzled on some olive oil, sprinkled some salt/pepper and baked for 15 minutes. I added the tempeh to the pasta at the very end when I added the basil.
If you have extra veggies on hand, feel free to throw them in! This dish tastes great with the classic combination of tomato, spinach, and basil, but some other veggies that would go great are bell pepper, broccoli, and asparagus.
How to make vegan creamy tomato spinach pasta:
First, mince the garlic, chop the basil, and dice the tomatoes. Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to a large pot or pan and turn to medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
Add in the coconut cream and vegetable broth. Stir to combine.
Add the pasta and turn the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Cook for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, add in the spinach, diced tomatoes, and salt/pepper. Stir and cook for an additional 5 minutes, covered. Top with the chopped basil and stir. Serve hot with salad or garlic bread. Enjoy!
One-Pot Vegan Creamy Tomato Spinach Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 13.5 oz can coconut cream
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 8 oz fettuccine or linguine pasta
- 1 cup diced roma tomatoes
- 2 cups spinach
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground pepper
- 1/2 cup fresh basil chopped
Instructions
- Prep: Mince the garlic, chop the basil, and dice the tomatoes.
- Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to a large pot or pan and turn the heat to medium. Add the minced garlic and cook for one minute.
- Add in the vegetable broth and coconut cream, and stir to combine. Add in the dry pasta and turn the heat to medium-high. Bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes, covered. Stir occasionally to make sure the pasta cooks evenly and no ingredients are sticking to the pot.
- After 15 minutes, add in the diced tomato and spinach, salt, and pepper, and stir to combine. Cover and cook for an additional five minutes.
- Add in the chopped basil and stir. Serve hot with salad or garlic bread.
This post was all about how to make creamy tomato spinach pasta.
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Lyn says
I agree, you can’t beat one-pot pasta for quick, delish comfort food! Will give this one a try!