About Vegan Green Pasta and How to Hide Broccoli
Not many people know this, but I am a total pasta groupie.
Seriously, one of my absolute favorite things to devour for lunch is pasta.
Maybe it's because my mother was born in Italy, or maybe it's because I used to be an endurance athlete—I've always been drawn to recipes featuring rich, wonderful pastas with diverse and delicious sauces.
Surprisingly, I don't have many pasta recipes on the blog, so here I am righting that wrong.
A bit about vegan and whole-wheat pastas
It's true that fresh pastas usually contain eggs and therefore aren't vegan, but dried pastas typically don't contain eggs, making them vegan-friendly.
I prefer eating whole-wheat pasta simply because the protein and dietary fiber content are higher, making it more satiating. However, there’s no health-related reason to avoid regular pasta.
If the kids insist or you just really feel like it, go for it.
Regarding sauces: (the tricky part)
A pasta sauce can be the Achilles' heel of the dish, often containing a staggering amount of calories and fat.
Back in my non-vegan days, I loved making pasta with a pesto cream sauce that I can now estimate at about 1000 calories or more per serving.
The vegan version before you is very similar in taste to that pesto cream sauce but made with vegan ingredients that are lower in calories yet still rich in protein and calcium. (Can't complain about that, right?)
Now comes the best part of this post
In this dish, I managed to disguise broccoli—specifically Sunfrost broccoli rice/flakes—by blending it thoroughly with plenty of basil, silken tofu, and olive oil.
Trust me, no kid will be able to tell they are eating broccoli – guaranteed.
I tested this recipe on one particularly sweet boy who hates broccoli; he inhaled it and even asked for seconds. What do you think? Should I tell him?
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How to eat this?
A single portion of this pasta can be a perfect solution for a rich and nutritious lunch, or alternatively as a dinner on days when you have endurance training in the morning—or just when you feel like having something special.
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Nutritional values by fitness coach and nutritionist Noam Bechar:
One 300g serving of pasta contains:
420 kcal
20g protein
45g carbs
16g fat (of which 2g is saturated fat)
10g dietary fiber.
If you swap the tablespoon of olive oil for a teaspoon, you'll save 50 kcal. But it's not a must.
Another recipe with basil? How about baked tofu cutlets?
Vegan Green Pasta
Ingredients
- 200 g whole-wheat pasta (cooked weight)
- 200 g silken tofu
- 40 g fresh basil (approx. 1 cup)
- 200 g broccoli rice/flakes (such as Sunfrost)
- 4 cherry tomatoes
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
Instructions
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Start with the sauce.
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Place the broccoli flakes/rice in a colander and thaw them under lukewarm running water.
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In a high-powered blender, add all the sauce ingredients, except for the cherry tomatoes, and blend thoroughly until a smooth, fragrant sauce is formed.
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Prepare the pasta according to the manufacturer's instructions.
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Transfer to a deep bowl and mix with the sauce.
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Garnish with a few halved cherry tomatoes and serve.
Chef's Notes
You can upgrade the dish by adding a tablespoon of nutritional yeast for a cheesier flavor or sprinkling some ground almonds "parmesan style" on top.
