Creamy Veggie Sausage Pasta
This one is a proper weeknight hero in our house. We came up with it when we wanted all the comfort of a big creamy sausage pasta but completely plant-based, and honestly it delivers every single time. The veggie sausage meat breaks down into the sauce and gives you these gorgeous little flavour-packed bits throughout, and the cashew cream makes it incredibly rich without being heavy. It comes together in about 35 minutes, which means you can have something that feels really special on the table on a Tuesday night. Trust us on this one, it's going straight into your regular rotation.
Before You Start
- Powerful blender
- Small bowl for soaking cashews
- Cashews soaked in boiling water for at least 10 minutes
- Large pan
- Large pot for pasta
Ingredients
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 1 tbsp harissa paste
- 6 plant-based sausages - at room temperature
- 2 red onions
- 2 red bell peppers
- 140g cashews
- 120ml almond milk
- 1 garlic clove
- 2 x 400g can(s) of chopped tomatoes
- 4 portions of dried pasta - (we use rigatoni)
- olive oil
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp Nooch
- basil leaves
- pepper to taste
Method
Prepare the ingredients
- Slice open the sausages and remove the “skin”
- Spoon the sausage meat into a bowl and crush using a fork
- Peel and dice the onions
- Finely cube the peppers
- Place the cashews into a small bowl and cover with boiling water, leave to soak for at least 10 minutes
Prepare the sauce
- Place a large pan over a medium heat and add a drizzle of olive oil
- Once warm, add the diced onions, peppers and a pinch of salt
- Mix well and cook for 5-10 minutes until soft
- At this point, crumble in the sausage meat and stir for 5 minutes
- Mix through the dried herbs and paprika and cook for another minute
- Drain the cashews and place into a powerful blender, along with the garlic clove and almond milk
- Blend until smooth and creamy
- Pour the cashew cream into the pan, along with the tinned tomatoes, tomato purée and harissa paste
- Mix well and leave to simmer for 10 minutes
Cook the pasta
- Add a big pinch of salt to a big pot of boiling water, add the pasta and cook according to the package instructions (approx 9-11 minutes, depending on the pasta)
- Once cooked, drain (reserving some of the pasta water)
Finish the pasta
- Pick the basil leaves and thinly slice
- Mix the drained pasta through the sauce
- If the sauce feels too thick, mix through some pasta water until smooth and creamy
- Sprinkle half the basil over the pasta, stir the pasta into the sauce until well covered
Time to serve
- Spoon the pasta into serving bowls, season with nooch and pepper, garnish with the remaining basil and serve immediately
Tips & Variations
- Use good quality sausages: The better the plant-based sausage, the better the pasta. We love Heck or Richmond vegan ones here, they crumble really well and have loads of flavour.
- Don't rush the cashew soak: We know it's tempting to skip this but give the cashews a full 10 minutes in boiling water at least. It makes the sauce so much smoother and creamier.
- Save your pasta water: Before you drain the pasta, scoop out a mugful of the starchy cooking water. Add a splash to the sauce at the end to loosen it up and help everything cling together beautifully.
Why This Works
The trick is soaking the cashews first and blending them into the sauce, because that's what gives you that silky, creamy texture without any dairy. The other thing that really makes this sing is crumbling the sausage meat out of the skin and letting it cook down properly so it caramelises a bit and gets those crispy edges. Those little bits of sausage are everything.