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There’s just something about pasta salad that puts me in the mood for summer. Truth be told, my mom makes THE BEST pasta salad EVER but since she’s been out of town a lot lately and I was craving some good pasta salad, I decided to make my own version (but I’m still hoping to share my moms recipe soon!!).
I really just wanted an excuse to use THIS Vegan Parmesan Cheese recipe that I’ve been REALLY into lately from Minimalist Baker. Actually, I’ve been kind of into all of the recipes from Dana’s blog. She has SO many great healthy and nutritional alternatives to everyday ingredients.
Also- Nutritional Yeast!! Where has this stuff been all my life??! I’ve been sprinkling it on pretty much everything lately as an alternative to salt and cheeses. I have Italian in my blood which means that I’m inclined to put cheese on….everything. So, this nutritional yeast has been a lifesaver for me lately and I’m loving it!
I digress. Back to the pasta salad! I made a big pot of this pasta salad and ate on it for a good few days. I noticed that after a couple days, the pasta salad got a bit dry so I added in a splash or water and a little olive oil before heating it up.
Besides sautéing the garlic a bit, the whole dish comes together in one big pot. The pasta is cooked and the broccoli added in.
Once the pasta and broccoli are fully cooked, the spinach is added in to wilt a bit.
Then the remaining ingredients are added including the lemon juice and zest and a bit of garlic melted in vegan butter (YUM!).
I topped mine with a bit more of the nutritional yeast (because I’m truly obsessed) and a few extra wedges of lemon :D
I’m definitely going to be making this pasta salad a few more times throughout the summer!
More Vegan Pasta Salad Recipes:
One of my latest videos showing you THREE of my favorite plant based pasta salad recipes:
Vegan Lemon Broccoli Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1 pound of rotini pasta, I used gluten free pasta
- 1 ½ pounds of broccoli, trimmed and cut into bite sized pieces
- 4 handfuls of spinach, about 4 packed cups
- 3 tablespoons of vegan butter
- zest and juice of 1 large lemon
- 2-3 cloves of garlic
- 1 cup of vegan parmesan, I use THIS RECIPE from Minimalist Baker
- optional for serving: olive oil for drizzling, extra vegan parmesan and/or nutritional yeast, salt and pepper to taste, lemon wedges to garnish
Instructions
- Boil water, add in pasta, turn down heat just a bit, and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add in the broccoli, stir, and cook for an additional 4-5 minutes or until the pasta is at your desired doneness.
- Drain all of the water and return the pasta/ broccoli to the pot. Add in the spinach and lemon zest, stir, and cover the pot. Let sit for 5 minutes or until the spinach has begun to wilt.
- While you wait, heat the butter in a small skillet. Once just hot, add in the garlic and cook for about 2 minutes. Take off of heat.
- Stir into the pasta the garlic butter mixture, lemon juice, and stir to combine.
- Finally, stir in the parmesan cheese until fully mixed in.
- Serve and garnish with a bit of extra vegan parmesan, a drizzle of olive oil, lemon wedges, and salt and pepper if desired.
I just made this recipe and it is SO GOOD! We used a lemon pasta to give it even more lemony flavor and we will definitely make this again. My husband even said add this to the “best of” list. This recipe is a keeper!