Super Cheesy Vegan Pesto Pasta

I have one of the easiest recipes ever to share with you today.

Easy and tasty – the perfect combo, don’t you think?

I was craving pasta not long ago, but I wasn’t in a very creative mood, so I looked online for some inspiration.

Pesto pasta kept popping up everywhere, and since I had just made a batch of it the day before for a salad, that’s what I decided to make. I was excited to have such a simple dish for lunch. Cook pasta, add prepared pesto, eat. Easy.

But, as I reached into the fridge to grab the pesto, I noticed the jar of nacho cheese sauce that I’d made for our quinoa & black bean burgers  a few days prior.

Hmmm – “do I dare?”, I asked myself.

And dare, I did.

I warmed up the nacho cheese, then added it to the cooked pasta, along with the pesto. I mixed it all together, crossed my fingers, stuffed a bunch of pasta in my face..

and just about died from the deliciousness.

The spicy nacho cheese with the cool pesto was a surefire winner!

Lunch was awesome that day. Which reminds me, I need to make another batch of pesto…

Super Cheesy Vegan Pesto Pasta

 

Print

Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

Creamy, cheese, pesto-y. This dish has it all! Serve it up for lunch, dinner - heck, why not breakfast? You'll find it hard not to stuff your face with this cheesy pesto pasta, regardless of what time of day it is!

Author: Vegan Insanity

Recipe type: Pasta

Serves: 4

Ingredients

Pesto

• 1½ cups fresh basil
• ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil (or hemp oil)
• 1 cup pine nuts*
• 4 medium garlic cloves
• ⅓ cup nutritional yeast
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Nacho Cheese

• 1¼ cups water
• 1 cup raw cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• heaping ¼ tsp paprika
• heaping ½ tsp onion powder
• heaping ½ tsp garlic powder
• 1½ tsp salt
• 1 large roasted red pepper
• ¼ cup nutritional yeast

Pasta

• 3 cups pasta noodles of your choice (I used spelt spiral noodles)

Instructions

Pesto

1. Add all ingredients to a food processor and process until just a little bit chunky. Set aside.

Nacho Cheese

1. Add all ingredients to a food processor or high-powered blender and process/blend until smooth. In a small saucepan on low-medium heat, warm the cheese sauce, whisking constantly for about 5 minutes, or until thickened. Set aside.

Pasta

1. Cook according to package directions. Set aside.

Assembly

1. Add your pesto and nacho cheese sauce to the cooked pasta. You will likely not use as much as you prepared, so just add a bit of each at a time, and stop when it gets to where you want it.
2. Season with a bit more salt & pepper, if desired.

Notes

*Almonds also work well in a pesto. As do cashews or walnuts.
*Prepare the nacho cheese sauce and/or pesto in advance to save on prep/cooking time!

3.2.2925

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