Ten of the best vegan pasta recipes with tips for making the prefect pasta every time.

Hearty Pasta

Everyone loves a hearty bowl of pasta, but it's the sauce that makes it, from a light dressing to pesto and rich flavourful sauces.

Today I'm sharing my top 10 best ever pasta sauces as enjoyed by my family and friends. These are the recipes I return to again and again. I am pleased to share them with you and your family.

All ten recipes are vegan, although one of the recipes gives ingredient options for both vegetarian and vegan as they are easy swaps.

I hope you enjoy them and try one or two of these recipes.but before I share the recipes I'd like to share my top pasta tips with you.

Top 10 pasta tips and tricks

1. Choose the right shape of pasta for your sauce. There are some great pasta guides online.
2. Always use a large pot to cook pasta and fill it deep with boiling water, the pasta needs room to move. If the pot is too small or there isn't enough water your pasta will stick together and cook unevenly.
3. Always salt your water.
4. Don't add oil to your water, it doesn't need it and you'll just be left with an oily mess. If your pot is big enough, you have plenty of rapidly boiling water and give the pasta a stir, it won't stick.
5. As soon as you lower your pasta into the rapidly boiling water give it a good stir, to prevent it sticking and give a stir regularly as it cooks.
6. Check the time suggested for cooking on the packet and test the pasta before the time suggested is up. You want your pasta to be al dente, which is cooked but still firm. Overcooked pasta is just nasty.
7. Scoop out a cup of the pasta water before draining the pasta to add to your sauce. It will make your sauce silky. You don't need to use it all, just add a little at a time.
8. Drain it quickly, don't leave it sitting about or it will dry out and stick together. Give it a quick shake to remove the water then toss through the sauce.
9. Make sure your table is set and the sauce is ready once the pasta has been tossed in the saucem it should be served right away.
10. If you are making pasta salad, cook the pasta until al dente, then drain in the colander and cool under running cold water.  This will stop the cooking and leave you with glossy firm pasta. If you don't run cold water over the pasta until it is cold, it will go stodgy, which is most unpleasant.

10 Best Ever Vegan Pasta Recipes

1. Vegan Spaghetti Bolognese

A rich bolognese sauce for pasta, filled with lots of veggies to help with your five-a-day and enriched with red wine. Make a big batch, eat some and freeze the rest for anther night or two. Serve over freshly cooked spaghetti.

2. Simple Spaghetti with Olives

A simple spaghetti dish for one. Simple but full of flavour and easy to double up for two. Try it next time you want to eat something quick and easy that's really comforting!

3. Creamy Cauliflower Macaroni Cheese

A comforting macaroni dish with a smooth cauliflower and cheese sauce. Imagine cauliflower cheese with lots of pasta. Yep! You are going to love this one. Includes vegetarian and vegan ingredients.

4. Rich Mushroom and Lentil Ragu

A rich mushroom and lentil ragu served with tagliatelle the Italian way. An easy your family and friends will love.

5. Kale and Cashew Pesto Spaghetti

A creamy green sauce for spaghetti that's super silky and coats the pasta beautifully. The pesto is homemade from kale and cashews.

6. Spaghetti with Mushrooms and Artichokes

A wonderful week night spaghetti dish that is quick and easy to make but packs a flavour punch. A simple dressing mixed through spaghetti, with sauteed mushrooms, artichokes and fresh herbs.

7. Best Tomato and Basil Pasta Sauce

A really tasty fresh tomato sauce with the aromatic flavour of fresh basil. Fabulous on pasta or served with a nut loaf. This is my go-to pasta sauce that I've been making for over 25 years now. Yes I am that old!

8. Creamy Chestnut Mushroom and Fresh Herb Pasta Salad

An easy pasta salad with chestnut mushrooms as the star of the show.

It's the perfect dish to take on picnics or to serve at a BBQ. Messicani pasta with mushrooms and fresh herbs in a light creamy sauce.

9. Summer Greek Pasta Salad

A fresh pasta salad with the flavours of Greece and a zingy dressing. Made in 12 minutes, the dressing and salad are prepared while the pasta is cooking.

10. Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Sauce

A rich spaghetti sauce, sweet with the flavour of tomatoes, with some warmth from a little spice and the smoky flavour of roast red peppers and red onions.

pin it for later

If you are looking for a super quick but really tasty spaghetti sauce, try my Red Pepper and Olive Spaghetti Sauce that can be made while the pasta is cooking in a blender or food processor.

Pin this to return to later. I hope you enjoyed these pasta dishes and try some of them.If you have a favourite pasta dish or tip why not share it with us in the comment section below.

More vegan recipes

For more simple recipes, visit my recipe index which contains hundreds of easy vegetarian and vegan recipes divided into categories with free printable recipes.

Also follow my board Tinned Tomatoes on Pinterest (it's a great visual guide of my recipes) then pin my recipes to try later.

For another quick pasta try - Vegan Microwave Mug Macaroni Cheese

Pasta in 2 minutes

I tried a new pasta this week and thought I would share it with you.

For those of you needing a quick fix during the week. McIntosh of Strathmore now have a kids tomato and pulses pasta in a herby tomato sauce. 

• low in salt
• good source of protein
• one of your five-a-day
• approved by the Vegan Society.

Heated in 2 minutes. Zap! Ready and on the table.

It's a fresh ready meal that can be heated in the microwave, but you could easily warm it up gently in a pot.

Kids Pasta or Calorie Counting

This tasty pasta is for kids, but it's pretty darn tasty and a nice wee portion if you're watching your weight at only 261 calories per portion. 

Serve it with some green salad for a tasty quick dinner.

Want to receive my posts by email? Scroll to the bottom of the page and sign up or why not sign up for my newsletter and get my monthly newsletter full of recipes and an update on what I've been doing? My latest newsletter was full of summer picnic recipes. See the link on my sidebar (look right).