A few years ago, during my annual AK Zucchini week, I wanted to create a veggie-packed, plant-based pasta that used up fresh spring and summer produce. This easy vegan pasta primavera recipe turned out even more delicious than I could’ve imagined, thanks to the creamiest garlic cashew sauce.
This plant-based take on traditional pasta primavera is absolutely loaded with flavor and fresh vegetables, and I AM OBSESSED. The best part? It packs 19g of protein and over 7g of fiber to keep you full and satisfied without any meat. Kiddos and adults will LOVE this bright, nourishing meal!
What is pasta primavera?
Traditional pasta primavera was actually founded in New York in the 1970s and is basically just pasta with lots of fresh vegetables that’s usually tossed in a buttery, creamy sauce. The options are endless for customizing with tons of different veggies, so of course, I wanted to create my own vegan take on pasta primavera with a creamy cashew sauce, which is basically a version of my jalapeño cashew cream sauce (but without jalapeños!)
Vegan pasta primavera ingredients
You’ll basically just need tons of fresh summer veggies, pasta, seasonings, and cashews to make this simple yet oh-so-delicious vegan pasta primavera:
- Pasta: I like using bowtie pasta (aka farfalle) or penne pasta, but feel free to use any kind of pasta you’d like.
- Oil: you’ll need a little olive oil to cook your veggies till they’re nice and tender.
- Veggies: we’re using red onion, carrot, red bell pepper, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, and zucchini. We’re truly eating the rainbow with this easy vegan pasta primavera!
- Italian seasoning: for a little Italian flavor in the pasta.
- For the cashew sauce: you’ll need raw cashews, water, lemon juice, fresh garlic, onion powder, salt & pepper.
- Optional for serving: I like to serve this pasta with red pepper flakes, extra salt & pepper, and garlic crostini or my famous homemade garlic bread.
Customize your plant-based pasta primavera
- Choose your veggies. Add any veggies you have on hand! In the spring, peas and asparagus would be delicious, and summer tomatoes and corn would be great in here, too.
- Add extra protein. To keep it vegan, feel free to add a can of rinsed, drained chickpeas to the pasta. If you’re not vegan or vegetarian, try adding some grilled chicken, shrimp, or even crispy bacon. A sprinkle of freshly grated parmesan would also be delicious.
- Pick your pasta. Feel free to change it up with your favorite pasta shapes. I recommend rotini or bowties, or even large shells. You can use your favorite gluten-free pasta as well.
How to make vegan cashew sauce
The dairy-free garlic cashew sauce is basically a delicious, plant-based take on alfredo sauce, and I am all for it. To make it:
- Soften the cashews. Soak your cashews in warm water for at least 2 hours. Otherwise, speed this up by adding the raw cashews to a pot with water, bringing it to a boil, then immediately turning off the heat and letting the cashews sit for about 20-30 minutes in the hot water.
- Add to a blender. Once the cashews have finished soaking, drain them and add them to a high-powered blender with the rest of the sauce ingredients.
- Blend until smooth. Blend up all of the ingredients on high until the sauce comes together. Taste and add any additional salt & pepper as necessary. If you want a bit of a thinner sauce, add 1-2 tablespoons more water.
Can I use a different sauce?
Sure! If you have a nut allergy or want a more traditional, non-vegan pasta primavera, make the parmesan cheese sauce from this chicken pasta bake and fold your noodles and veggies right into the sauce.
Vegan pasta primavera in 3 simple steps
- Make the sauce & pasta. After making your creamy garlic cashew sauce, cook your pasta until al dente.
- Cook the veggies. While your pasta boils, you can cook your vegetables in a little olive oil in a skillet or a separate large pot. I recommend cooking the zucchini for just a couple of minutes, and adding the tomatoes last to cook for just a minute so that they don’t get mushy.
- Mix it all together. Add cooked pasta and cashew sauce to the pot or skillet with the veggies and stir to combine. Top with red pepper flakes, and extra salt and pepper if you’d like, and serve with garlic bread or crostini!
Storing tips
This creamy vegan pasta primavera will stay fresh in an airtight glass container in the fridge for about 4-5 days. It’s delicious made ahead of time, too, so feel free to prep it the night before for your weekday lunches.
Tools you’ll need
Get all of my fav kitchen tools here!
More fresh pasta recipes to try
- Vegan Caesar Pasta Salad
- 30 Minute Vegan Stir Fry Sesame Noodles with Chickpeas & Basil
- Creamy Sweet Corn & Brown Butter Ricotta Pasta
- Burst Cherry Tomato Basil Chicken Rigatoni
- Herby Chickpea and Feta Pasta Salad
Get all of my pasta recipes here!
I hope you love this easy vegan pasta primavera recipe! If you make it, be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked it. Stay tuned for more zucchini recipes all week, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Vegan Pasta Primavera with Creamy Garlic Cashew Sauce
Ingredients
- 12 ounces penne or bowtie pasta (or sub any kind of pasta you’d like, including gluten free)
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ medium red onion, sliced
- 1 large carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks
- 1 medium red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
- 2 cups small broccoli florets
- 1 ½ cups cherry tomatoes, halved
- 2 medium zucchini, cut into matchsticks (or sliced and quartered)
- ½ teaspoon italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- For the sauce:
- ¾ cup raw cashews
- ½ cup water
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic (or sub 1 teaspoon garlic powder)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- Freshly ground black pepper
- For serving:
- Red pepper flakes
- Extra salt and black pepper, if desired
- Garlic costini/garlic bread
Instructions
- First make your sauce: soak the cashews in 2 cups of warm water for at least 2 hours; otherwise, I've found that you can easily speed up the process by adding the raw cashews to a pot with water and placing over high heat. Bring water to a boil, then immediately turn off the heat; let the cashews sit for about 30 minutes in the hot water, then drain.
- Once the cashews have finished soaking, you'll be ready to make the sauce: add drained cashews, ½ cup fresh filtered water, fresh lemon juice, garlic, salt, onion powder and black pepper to a blender. Blend on high until sauce comes together. If you want a bit of a thinner sauce, add 1-2 tablespoons more water. Set aside until ready to use.
- Next, cook your pasta until al dente, according to the directions on the package. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water.
- While your pasta boils, cook your vegetables: Add olive oil to a large pot and place over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, red bell pepper and broccoli; saute for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Next add in the zucchini and cook for 2 to 4 minutes, or until all the veggies are tender, but still have a little crisp to them. Finally stir in the tomatoes, italian seasoning and salt and pepper, and cook for 2 minutes more.
- Add the cooked pasta to the pot with the vegetables and cashew sauce to the pot with the veggies and stir to combine. Add a splash or two of the reserved pasta water to thin out the sauce as needed to make it creamy to your liking. Serve with red pepper flakes, if desired. I love enjoying this with a side of garlic bread or with garlic crostini!
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on August 3, 2020, republished with new photos on June 24, 2021, and republished on April 29th, 2026.
I love this pasta!! It’s delicious and helps me get a lot of veggies in while still being filling and comforting.
Absolutely! So glad you love it 🙂
Moving towards a more WFPB diet and AI recommended this recipe. I have been skeptical of the cashew “cheese” idea, but this was absolutely amazing! I would love to know how people would convert this to a nacho style dish!
So happy to hear that! Try my cashew cheese sauce here 🙂
I made this recipe per the instructions and it was so so good! We aren’t vegan, so it was my first time making a sauce with cashews. Not only was it delicious, it was a pretty dish! My vegan neighbors were impressed! I’ll make this again, and again… 😊!
So happy to hear that! Such a great, veggie-packed dinner even for non-vegans 🙂
A delicious pasta – I made mine gluten free and subbed more broccoli for the peppers 🙂 highly satisfying start to the week!
Easy and delicious! Glad you enjoyed!
This was Soo good, with mushrooms and spinach as the veg. Next time, I’ll make the sauce thinner. But flavors were wonderful!
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed!
My Son and Daughter In Law are vegan and they love this dish. I make it often. And I love it too.
So happy to hear that!
This is one of my favorite recipes, wonderful flavor!
So glad you love it!
This was INCREDIBLY good! We didn’t change anything – we loved this! Thanks for the recipe!
So happy to hear that! Perfect plant-based meal 🙂
Oh my goodness! This was AHHHH-MAZING! I made a few changes such as ommiting the tomatoes and prepping the carrots and zucchini the same way (matchsticks) and it was so so good! Such a great way to get in a lot of veggies without compromising taste or it feeling too “wet” from cooked veggies.
Perfect! So happy you loved this one!
I used the quick soak method for the cashew sauce and it came out beautifully!
Perfect!!
This was delicious. I made it with broccoli, red onion, carrots, and bell pepper and doubled the sauce as many people suggested. I boiled water and let the cashews soak for 30 min as you suggested and my sauce was perfectly smooth. I didn’t miss cream or Parmesan cheese at all. Plus the rainbow veggies were beautiful with the pasta!
Love it! Such a great, veggie-packed meal!
This was absolutely delicious. It really hit the spot for that creamy alfredo craving ove been having since going Vegan a year ago. It was refreshing with the lemon and I could see the sauce being used in many ways. Thank you for a quick, easy and tasty recipe.
Absolutely! So glad you found this one 🙂
This was sooo good! I will definitely make this again!
So glad you loved it!
I thought this dish was plain. It’s creamy, but it doesn’t taste like much at all.
I added habenero cheese to try and give it more oomph, but still found it to be lacking. I thought this recipe was going to be more flavourful given the high reviews and am quite dissapointed.
Sorry to hear that! Feel free to add more salt next time to taste as that will bring out the flavors even more. I mention doing this for serving as everyone’s salt preferences are different.
This was DELICIOUS! I absolutely loved it. I used the TJ’s egg GF fettuccine, in case it’s helpful to anyone 🙂
Amazing! Glad you loved it!
Soooo good! The sauce is amazing! I added mushrooms, but otherwise followed the recipe as is. Will definitely be making again!
Great idea to add mushrooms! One of our fav plant-based meals 🙂
When I was a kid, my grandma made vegan pasta primavera for Easter… but I don’t remember the recipe. So this Easter I have tested 4 different recipes. This is hands down the winner. Thanks for your work in making and sharing this recipe! It’s going to become a tradition in my house!!
Amazing! So glad it was a hit!
I have made this recipe probably 20 times! It is one of my husband and I’s all time favorite recipes! It’s healthy, easy, and so satisfying. Sometimes I will add some starchy water from the pasta to thin the sauce a little, but that is the only adjustment I make! Such an amazing recipe!
So happy to hear that! And great idea to reserve some pasta water for the sauce.
Amazing! Everyone in the family enjoyed it.
So happy to hear that!
This was one of the best vegan recipes I’ve made yet! The garlic cream sauce is to die for. My family ate this up and went back for more. Did use the boil method to soften the cashews faster and it worked like a charm, but I used our vitamix blender so that may also have contributed to the success.
Made a few modifications on veggies to include our faves but will definitely be keeping this one in the rotation. Thank you for such a great recipe!
This one’s great for customizing with any veggies you have on hand! Glad everyone loved it 🙂
So yummy and so very easy! I love that I can use any veggies that I have in the kitchen. My young kiddos are love it!
Absolutely! Glad this one’s a hit with the kids!
SO delicious. Easy to make. Came together beautifully. Love that it’s vegan but actually tastes like a cream sauce. And the veggies! Healthy weeknight dinner. Used Banza chickpea pasta.
PERFECT! Glad this recipe is a hit and it turned out amazing for you 🙂
Im learning to be plant based and i was delighted to dind this recipe. It was my first time using soaked cashews for a sauce and the 3/4 cup became more than 1 cup. I used them all and found i wanted a bit more lemon juice. I followed someone’s suggestion to drizzle the sauce rather than mixing it in – that was a great suggestion My usual prima vera is just a lemon and white wine sauce so I squeezed a bit of lemon over the veg at the end and topped the dish with the cashew cream and some fresh basil. Not only was it beautiful to look at, it was delicious! Thank you for what will become a regular item on our dinner table.
Of course! I am so glad you gave this recipe a try and are loving it, Susan!
This recipe was great! If I’m being honest, I really just used the cream sauce part because I used frozen veggies(I needed a really quick dinner and didn’t have alot of veggies on hand) but the cream sauce was good. I did add a little garlic powder for an extra kick but my 2 and 4 year old loved it!
Kiddo approved is ALWAYS a win in my books! Glad this recipe (especially the cream sauce 😉) turned out great for you!
Awesome!!!! Cool a lot and don’t leave reviews but this is amazing. Used quick soak method on cashews, perfection.
Yay! So glad this recipe turned out great for you, I appreciate your review!
This was delicious! Made 4 truly large servings because of all the amazing vegetables. I made the sauce using about 1/3 cup of cashew butter because that’s what I had, and some leftover kite bill cream cheese. Added extra garlic too. In the future I would make this sauce again using raw cashew butter, it’s just so much easier because my blender isn’t very good at making smooth cashew cream.
YUM! Glad you are loving this recipe and it turned out great for you ❤️
Hi there, my cousin sent this to me with top notch reviews, but I’m allergic to cashews. Any ideas what I can substitute? Maybe chickpeas? Thanks in advance.
We used peas and asparagus and this was really good. Not a huge fan of the cashew things I’ve made in the past, but was very glad I gave this a try it was wonderful. Will keep in rotation.
Excellent vegan recipe. I made it for vegan friends, but I would make it again for my family. I made the sauce the day before. Added a few tablespoons of pasta water to thin it a bit at the end.
Really wanted to like this recipe. There are better vegan sauces and pasta dishes out there. Kinda plain tbh.
Is there an exact amount of what a serving size is? (in oz or cups)
This recipe is amazing! It was my first time making a vegan recipe – I’m not vegan but wanted to branch out, eat healthier and consume less meat and dairy. My boyfriend and I both loved this! It is a must try for both vegans and non-vegans.
This recipe is so good! I added some nutritional yeast to the sauce and mushrooms to the pasta. My husband who is not vegan loved it as well. I loved all the fresh veggies in it. I enjoy all your vegan recipes!
Thanks so much, Michelle! I’m so happy you both enjoyed it 🙂
This recipe is truly one of the best vegan recipes I have tried thank you for making my day!
So happy to hear that!
This was a total hit with my meat eating family~~ they said it was one of the best meals
I missed 3 months of the AK dinner party, so I made all three recipes this past week. I love how it took my mind off what to make for dinner on busy weeknights. This pasta was so tasty and creamy, you would never know it’s vegan. Will definitely add to the “make again” list!
Omg I’m SO HAPPY you made all three of them — just saw your other reviews! Thank you! So thrilled to hear you loved all of them 🙂
This was delicious and a great way to eat loads of veggies!
So happy you enjoyed it, Erin!
Made this for the April #AKDinnerParty it was delish and super easy! Tasted great as leftovers too.
SO happy you loved it, Stef! Thanks for commenting!
So delicious! This recipe looked so good and the actual meal did not disappoint. Super creamy and satisfying without any dairy. My family members had no idea about the cashew sauce and they gobbled it up.
OK so this is coming from someone who never considered themselves much of a pasta person… I can’t get enough of this recipe.
I think I must have cooked it three times in the past fortnight (or less!) and it is now lodged firmly in the official lunch rotation! That SAUCE. How can so few ingredients come together to create THAT?
I’ve come across few other recipes that offer so much “bang for your buck” in terms of flavour KAPOW for time and effort.
I made a few adaptations to the recipe, just based on personal tastes and what I had on hand:
– Red lentil fusilli
– For the sauce, I find the shortcut boiling method to work better than overnight soaking.
– Additional ingredients: Chicken, haricot beans, fine green beans, a small handful of spinach (stirred in just before serving), baby plum tomatoes instead of cherry, and garnished with finely chopped flat-leaf parsley and a handful of roasted cashews for a little crunch!
– Rather than stir-frying the broccoli, I pre-blanched in simmering water with the green beans then tossed back in at the end to heat through.
– MORE SAUCE!!! The batch size as written came to around three servings and I also reserved some of the pasta cooking water to reach the desired consistency.
As many times as I’ve made this, I’ve badgered family members to get on it many more! Delectable – keep ‘em coming!
#AKDinnerParty
Whoops, accidentally posted before rating! There you go!
Hi, Rachel! Thank you SO MUCH for this review. I’m thrilled to hear you’re loving the recipe! All those subs/additions sound fabulous, too 🙂
#AKDinnerParty
So rich and creamy that I didn’t even miss the dairy. Full of veggies. Delicious
I’m so glad to hear that!! Thanks, Krysia!
This came together easily. I made the cashew sauce in my individual smoothie blender and it worked perfectly (easier cleanup than big blender). Finished it with a sprinkle of parmesan (not vegan) and fresh basil. Very tasty, filling, and veggie packed! #AKdinnerparty
Yay!! So happy it turned out amazing. Thanks for the review, Amy!