Vegan Pesto Cream Pasta

This is one of my all time favorite meals. It’s everything I love. It’s thick pasta noodles, creamy pesto and grilled chicken. My chicken is vegan, of course.

I don’t eat this very often because it is quite calorie dense and very fatty, but that is what makes it so delicious. I have made this for both vegans and non vegans alike and everyone loved it!

You could use any vegan chicken substitute you wish. It would also be good with vegan sausage or tofu. I used the MEATI brand chicken breasts. I grilled them on a foreman grill and cut them ito pieces. I have to say that these vegan chicken breasts are very convincing in both look and taste. The texture is pretty good but does feel a bit more like tuna than chicken. It does really taste like chicken.

You can use any pasta you like. I prefer long thick noodles such as pappardelle. I buy pappardelle nests at Trader Joe’s. There are some vegan pestos around. There’s a very good one at Trader Joe’s that is vegan and made from kale. It’s very popular and often wins customer favorites polls. I make my own pesto. There is a blog post on this blog that explains how I do it. https://www.americanvegan.cooking/blog/vegan-pesto-pasta-with-garlic-toast

This pesto cream sauce is different than a lot of vegan pesto cream sauces because it does not involve making a roux. A roux is oil heated up in a pan and flour added to it to thicken sauces. This recipe instead uses the fat from vegan heavy cream and shredded cheese to make the sauce thick.

I really hope you try this recipe. I promise It is easy to do!

For this recipe you will need the following ingredients:

• approximately 8 oz of pasta of your choosing

• 3/4 cup of vegan heavy cream

• 1/4 cup of pesto either store bought or home made

• approximately 8 oz of vegan chicken substitute

• 1 tablespoon of oil

• 1/2 of a medium onion

• 1 tablespoon of minced garlic

• a pat of vegan butter

• a handful of shredded vegan cheese[I recommend parmesean]

  To begin this recipe thaw your frozen vegan chicken or cook up your vegan chicken breasts and cut them into bite size pieces. set this aside for later.

  cook your pasta according to the package directions and set it aside for later.

  In a large pan put the oil and butter and saute the onion in it until the onion pieces become translucent. Now is the time to add the minced garlic. saute that for just long enough for the garlic to begin to smell good. over cooking or cooking on too high of heat will burn the garlic.

  Now add the chicken and cook it to get it heated through and I like to get the edges a little brown. Once you feel satisfied with that add in the cream and pesto. Saute that for a bit to get it all incorporated. Now add the pasta and mix that in and finish by adding in the handful of vegan shredded cheese.

  When you serve this dish, sprinkle another bit of shredded cheese as a garnish.

  Enjoy!