Recipes

Zucchini Pasta with Creamy Cauliflower Sauce

vegan zuchini pasta recipe

When it comes to weekday dinners, I always go for light and simple dishes. Zucchini pasta paired with a creamy, smooth cauliflower sauce? Doesn’t get any lighter than this!

zuchini pasta veggie spiralizer

I finally, FINALLY got myself a veggie spiralizer. As soon as it came in the mail I made a ribbon cucumber salad and a zucchini pasta/noodles. I topped my pasta with an organic, low-sodium tomato sauce and it was absolutely delicious, easy, AND guilt-free. I searched for different dairy-free options for a sauce and I noticed that there are a whole lot of recipes for an Alfredo-like sauce, made using.. a cauliflower. I love cauliflower, but to be honest I was a bit skeptical about the idea of making a cauliflower sauce. I decided to try Lindsay’s recipe for a Creamy Cauliflower Sauce and I was hooked. I modified it a bit to make it completely dairy-free and it still tasted so creamy that it was hard to believe it didn’t contain any butter or cream.

zuchini pasta recipe

Okay, so maybe I lied. This did contain butter, but a vegan one. Does that count? Now, as you guys know, I’m not REALLY a vegan, but I mostly eat a vegan diet; I try to avoid animal-derived products and ingredients as much as I can. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll finally be ready to make the complete switch. So yesterday after work I stopped by a supermarket to get some groceries and while I was exploring the vegan aisle, I saw that someone left a bloody steak in the vegan-product-fridge (strategically placed right next to tofurki, hehe), and I couldn’t help, but wonder if it was done intentionally. Intentional or not, I found it a little funny (no offense to our vegan friends).

Okay, back to zucchini pasta! If you want to check out Lindsay’s original recipe (or just explore her amazing blog) click here. Here’s my take on it.

Creamy Cauliflower Sauce*

6 cups cauliflower florets
9 large cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons of butter (I used vegan butter, as mentioned above)
6 cups of water
2 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon of freshly cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1/2 cup of almond milk
1/4 cup of nutritional yeast flakes (this will add a great cheesy flavor, if you’d like, you could also use Parmesan instead)

First, saute the garlic and butter on low heat and cook for a few minutes until fragrant, set aside. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add the cauliflower and cook until tender. Without draining the cauliflower, transfer the florets into a blender, following with 1 cup of the liquid the cauliflower cooked in. Add the garlic and butter mixture, milk, salt, pepper, garlic powder and the yeast. Blend until smooth. If your sauce comes out a bit thick adjust it to your liking by adding more water or milk. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve while still hot.

This sauce will also go great with “regular” pasta. For my pasta, I spiralized four small zucchini and came out with four servings. I topped the zucchini pasta with a large serving spoon of the Cauliflower Sauce, more black pepper and some scallions. Next time I really want to try incorporating mushroom into this dish! The zucchini pasta doesn’t taste much different from the “regular” one. It’s almost flavor-less with a little crunchiness to it.

Did you guys try a zucchini pasta/noodles before? I highly recommend it!

zuchini pasta with cauliflower sauce

*adapted from Pinch of Yum

11 Comments

  • Reply
    Marjaana
    August 19, 2014 at 10:07 am

    Yayyyy, you bought it! You’re gonna have so much fun with it ;)! Another good vegan sauce is to fry aubergine and beans with some olive oil and lots of garlic and chili. Even better if you add sesame oil and soy sauce ;).

    Looking forward to all your zucchini pasta recipes, this one looks delicious, I wanna try it asap!

    x Marjaana
    http://addmorecolour.blogspot.de/

    • Reply
      Paula
      August 19, 2014 at 10:12 am

      Yes I did! :D :D I was thinking about it for so long and after I saw that you had it, I was like “ok, let’s give this a try” :D.

      My goodness that sounds divine! I love a good kick of chili and garlic, will definitely give it a try! Thanks :D

  • Reply
    Liz@LamentingLizzie
    August 19, 2014 at 10:54 am

    I have no intention of becoming vegan either, but this recipe looks good. I do like to keep a few vegan recipes handy. Never know who might walk into your life. :)

    http://lamentinglizzie.blogspot.com

    • Reply
      Paula
      August 19, 2014 at 12:19 pm

      Oh I definitely do have an intention of becoming one, just don’t want to go all “cold turkey” haha :) That’s very true! ;)

  • Reply
    Milu
    August 19, 2014 at 1:11 pm

    OMG this looks so amazing! and it just came in the perfect time! my husband and I started a garden this year and we got these huge hugeeeeee zuchinnis! so I’ve been making zuchinni muffins! zuchinni and chickent, zuchinni and rice! haha and can’t wait to make this recipe :) Thanks for sharing!
    I invite you to visit my blog and let me know if you would like to follow each other to stay in touch.
    XOXO

    Milu
    http://www.hellolupi.blogspot.com

  • Reply
    Harriet Jones
    August 19, 2014 at 4:45 pm

    This looks delicious, always wanted to try zucchini pasta, love zucchini fries!
    Harriet
    http://greeneyesandlongblondehair.blogspot.Co.uk

    • Reply
      Paula
      August 21, 2014 at 10:40 am

      Thank you!

  • Reply
    Sophie Sierra
    August 19, 2014 at 6:42 pm

    Utterly divine Paula! Absolutely in awe of yet another magically enchanting recipe of yours :D
    The Zucchini pasta with cauliflower sauce just sounds like my idea of heaven. Any pasta dish is right up my street, but I love how you have once again added your own gorgeous touches to proceedings, the black pepper and scallions really sound lovely :) I’m exactly the same, I like a nice light meal on a weekday (but mine usually consist of frozen fishcakes out of the freezer–so shameless haha!) but this is just sheer perfection! The ideal guilt-free treat ;) And oh my, the photography is BEAUTIFUL!
    Your photos just get more beautiful as time goes by! As always the presentation and layout of the food looks so appetising and lovely.

    I feel we have so many little similarities and outlooks, and I definitely relate to you in regards to the mostly vegan diet. I’m finding it increasingly hard to eat meat these days, in fact Graham and I went to Five Guys earlier and bought hot dogs… but I took out the sausages and gave them to him.. ended up just having a mustard/onion/ketchup “dog” hahaa, I mean who does that?! ;) XD My gosh about the bloody steak in the vegan section though!! I’m so glad you had the guts to see the funny side, if it was me I’d have probably ran down the aisle screaming haha, bloody meat terrifies me :D

    Another gorgeous recipe, you are such a miracle worker! <3 <3

    Sophie xo

    • Reply
      Paula
      August 21, 2014 at 10:40 am

      Thank you so much Sophie! Omg I would kill for some good frozen fish cakes!! Used to eat them all the time when I was little haha! Didn’t compare to the Fish & Chips I had in England, but still so very good!

      Thank you so much, I’m not sure why, but I’ve been struggling a bit with my photography lately. It’s been so gloomy here last couple of weeks and my house is so freaking dark. Really need bigger windows haha, but I’m so happy that you enjoy the photos, even I’m not 100% with them all the time. <3

      Hahahaha that must have been one tasty hot dog! hehe :) That's so funny :) Definitely sounds like something I would do :D

  • Reply
    Christina
    August 20, 2014 at 4:13 pm

    Oh yum!!! I seem to always read these food posts when I’m hungry and then I get even more hungry!! I’ve never tried anything like this, but it looks soooo good! I could probably eat a whole plateful! <3

    • Reply
      Paula
      August 21, 2014 at 10:35 am

      That sauce is so good I’d eat it like a soup if I could! ;)

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