Creamy, cheesy, grain free spaghetti with butternut squash sauce and lightly fried kale. Vegan.
I’ve always been very fond of big bowls of creamy spaghetti. I remember always choosing spaghetti a la carbonara at restaurants as a child and when I was even younger I just wanted spaghetti with butter and occasionally parmesan. I simply loved those two dishes and it was a great way of being sure I liked what I got.
Sometimes I wish I could still do the same; just choosing after what I like and not giving a sh*t how healthy it is. Because when I found out how unhealthy carbonara, alfredo and “butter-spaghetti” are I got scared of them and didn’t as much as look at it for years. I would simply skip the pasta section on the menu card.
Luckily I am over the fear-the-pasta-period again. Being a vegetarian, I wouldn’t choose the carbonara today because of the bacon, but nevertheless, I did miss my creamy spaghetti dishes. The only solution was creating healthy version, and here it is.
I couldn’t believe it when I discovered nutritional yeast some weeks ago. It’s sorcery. There is no other explanation. Those little flakes from paradise just melt into the most boring substance on earth and instantly makes it so creamy and cheesy, not even the best author on earth will ever be able to describe it. Pure magic.
Oh and it’s so so so so so healthy. There’s a reason it’s called nutritional yeast. It contains all the essential amino acids (“protein building blocks”) we need (essential amino acids are those which the body can’t produce itself and therefore has to get through the diet), and a shoit load of B-vitamins, which can be hard for vegetarians and vegans to get – some brands even add the impossible-to-get-for-vegans vitamin B12 to the yeast (source).
The sauce for this pasta is made from delicious butternut squash (which also happens to be extremely healthy), beans for protein and the nutritional yeast which makes it sooo cheesy. I used bean pasta for this recipe, but really, use any pasta you want.
Cheesy Vegan Butternut Squash “Alfredo”
Ingredients
SAUCE
1 butternut squash
2 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp. coconut oil
1 cup (240mL) cooked white beans or butter beans (or 1 can, drained)
½ cup (120mL) almond milk
¼ cup (60mL) nutritional yeast
½ tsp. salt
Dash pepper
KALE
½ head Tuscan kale (or just kale)
1 tbsp. coconut oil
PASTA
1 package bean pasta (400 grams)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C / 390°F.
- Peel the butternut squah and cut it into smaller pieces. Place butternut squah and garlic on a baking sheet with baking paper and add one tbsp. coconut oil. Put in the oven for a couple of minutes for the coconut oil to melt and give it a stir. Bake for 15 minutes (or longer depending on the size of the butternut squash pieces).
- Place garlic, butternut squash, beans, almond milk and nutritional yeast in a blender and blend un high until completely creamy. You might have to add a bit more almond milk or water depending on how thick you want the sauce. Season with salt and pepper.
- Boil the spaghetti according to the instructions on the package.
- For the kale, melt the coconut oil in a big pan and fry the kale lightly just until it collapses. Add on the spaghetti and sauce and stir thoroughly. Cook for five minutes just until it’s warm.
- Serve right away. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days.