20 Easy Vegan Pasta Recipes You Need to Try!

If you’re plant-based on a budget, then pasta is a fantastic pantry staple. It’s low-cost, filling, and versatile. It’s also perfect for making those ‘clean out the fridge, freezer, and/or pantry’ meals, when needed. However, just because your plant-based pasta dish is low-cost doesn’t mean it has to be low-taste. Below is a list of the 20 best easy vegan pasta recipes for any occasion! 

Along with potatoes, plant-based pasta is one of our favorite comfort foods. No dairy or meat is necessary for a delicious and satisfying meal. Plus, the majority of dried pasta is naturally vegan! Whether you’re in the mood for something cozy and comforting, light and healthy, or even a dish to impress, keep scrolling for our top list of easy vegan pasta recipes (including vegan pasta sauces). 

Even better, the majority of the vegan pasta dishes below are ready in under 30 minutes. This makes them perfect for a quick weeknight meal. Plus, pasta is often meal-prep friendly! You can even have fun and make your own pasta. This doubles as a great activity for a date night, girls’ night or family fun night!

Once you’ve picked and made a delicious pasta dish, you can boost these easy vegan pasta recipes further with some of our favorite garnishes. Try fresh herbs (homegrown for the ultimate low-budget garnish!), ‘parmesan’ (aka nutritional yeast), and red pepper flakes. Then serve the dish as-is or alongside a leafy salad and/or garlic bread!

8 Top Tips for Cooking Pasta

Pasta may seem simple enough to cook. However, there are definitely some tips to making the most of this budget-friendly ingredient. Follow these, and you won’t have to worry about making pasta that’s clumped up, mushy, flavorless, etc., again!

• For extra flavor, use broth: Instead of cooking pasta in salted water, for even more flavor, cook it with vegetable broth!
• Add the pasta to boiling water: Make sure that the water is boiling BEFORE adding the pasta. Otherwise, the pasta may not cook properly and can become mushy. 
• Don’t forget to stir: In the first 30 seconds after adding the pasta to the pan, make sure to stir the pasta to stop it from sticking (to each other or the pot). After that, stir occasionally. 
• Don’t add oil to the pan: A popular tip states that adding a little oil to the pan can help prevent the noodles from sticking. Instead, to avoid a greasy and non-cohesive dish, leave out the oil and just stir it. 
• Make sure to taste while cooking: Check on it 2-3 minutes before their package-recommended time (when using dry pasta) and continuing to test every 30 seconds until ready. For most dried pasta (not fresh or gluten-free and depends on size), 6-7 minutes is al dente, and 8-10 is cooked through. 
• Save some of the pasta water: This is our very top tip! The starchy pasta water is perfect for helping the pasta sauce adhere to the noodles and can even add richness and flavor to the dish. We recommend saving ½ cup at least. You can also save this starchy water and add it to homemade vegetable stock (just be aware of how salty it is!). 
• Don’t rinse the pasta: Unless you’re planning to make a quick cold pasta salad, please don’t rinse the pasta. All it will do is cool it down QUICKLY and remove all the starch that will help the vegan pasta sauce to cling to the noodles. 
• Add the pasta to the sauce immediately: Don’t leave it drained for long periods of time, and pasta is known to cool down and dry out quickly. This will, in turn, cause them to stick together. As soon as you’ve drained the pasta, transfer it to the ready (and heated) sauce, and stir well. 

Easy Vegan Pasta Recipes

15-Minute Cherry Tomato Basil Pasta

This dish combines simple, classic flavors for a quick midweek meal to impress. You can even boost it further into a vegan Caprese pasta dish with the use of vegan mozzarella. Even without it, don’t be fooled by the simplicity of this dish. It’s still delicious!

Vegan Lasagna

Featured in The Friendly Vegan Cookbook, this vegan lasagna is creamy, comforting, and won’t break the bank! While it’s a little more time-consuming than others on this list, this veggie-packed vegan lasagna with tofu ricotta is a comfort food classic that the entire family will love!

Vegan Stuffed Shells

These vegan stuffed shells are stuffed with a spinach and tofu ‘ricotta’ mixture then topped with a rich marinara for a hearty vegan pasta recipe that’s ready in just an hour. This beautiful vegan pasta dish is perfect for serving to family or to impress at dinner parties! You’ll even have meat-eaters asking for seconds!

Vegan Pasta Salad Recipes

Mediterranean Couscous Salad

Go light and bright with fresh Mediterranean veggies and flavors. Combine with tiny and chewy couscous, and protein-packed chickpeas for a simple, nutritious, versatile, and flavor-packed mid-week meal!

Mediterranean Pasta Salad

Pasta salads are quick, simple, and truly versatile. Whether you’re looking for a dish for family or something to impress at potlucks, BBQs, and garden parties, a good pasta salad will never go out of style. The same goes for this recipe. It’s fresh, fun, and packed with low-budget in-season cherry tomatoes and other fresh veggies. Top it off with a simple vinaigrette, and the entire dish will disappear within minutes!

Vegan Pasta Sauces

Vegan Pesto

Homemade pesto sauce is delicious and ridiculously simple to make, with just a handful of ingredients and several minutes. This vegan walnut pesto is packed with fresh and herby flavor and saves a ton of money by relying on walnut instead of regular pine nuts. Combine with the noodles of your choice and optionally extra veg for a quick, simple, and flavor-packed plant-based pasta recipe. 

Basil Sunflower Seed Pesto (Without Pine Nuts)

Yes, another vegan pesto pasta option! I mean, I did say I am obsessed, right?! For this vegan basil pesto, we’ve taken a nut-free approach, using sunflower seeds for a creamy and flavorful pesto perfect for enjoying with warm or cold pasta dishes and combining with the seasonal veggies of your choice for a delicious and nutritious meal in under 15 minutes! 

Bean and Pasta Soup

If you’re looking for cozy, warm, and comforting, this bean and tomato pasta soup is perfect for the cooler months when you’re craving comfort food. However, it’s also enjoyable year-round with the use of budget-friendly, pantry-friendly, tinned ingredients – like vegetable broth, tinned beans, chopped tomatoes, and pasta!

Easy Lemon Orzo Salad Recipe

This simple, flavorful orzo chickpea salad is packed with Mediterranean flavors and just 6 ingredients (plus salt and pepper). The combination makes for a refreshing, summery appetizer or side salad. Perfect for any potluck, BBQ, picnic, or garden party!

Sweet Potato Pasta Sauce with Spaghetti

With just a handful of ingredients, you can prepare a wonderfully creamy veggie-packed vegan sauce for pasta and spaghetti. Then, make it even more nutritional with extra veggies for a low-budget, high-nutrient midweek meal!

Tandoori Pasta

Take the flavor profile in another direction with this bold tandoori pasta. The twist of warming Indian spices will shake things up if pasta dishes start feeling old. (But, can they really?)

Broccoli Pasta Sauce

I love veggies but I also love a recipe where I can hide even more veggies for those with a veg-aversion! You’d never know you’re getting a hearty serving of broccoli in this delicious pasta sauce.

Creamy Pumpkin Pasta

Try this Pumpkin and Lentil Pasta from Get Set Vegan for a comforting weekend dinner. This vegan pasta recipe is versatile, filling, and easy to prepare. It is the ultimate vegan comforting food anyone desires for their dinner. 

Vegan White Sauce Pasta

This healthy 30-minute dinner from Nutriciously has serious potential to become your next go-to clean-out-the-fridge recipe! Sauté colorful veggies and serve with a simple vegan white sauce over pasta of your choice. 

Creamy Mushroom Pasta

This is the most creamy vegan mushroom pasta from The Conscious Plant Kitchen, made with a delicious cashew cream and packed with umami flavor. This vegan comfort dinner is also rich in plant-based proteins. 

More Vegan Recipe Roundups

• 18 Cozy Vegan Soup Recipes to Warm You Up!
• 16 Savory Tofu Recipes You Need to Try!
• 59 Ways to Use a Can of Beans
• 14 Delicious Zucchini Recipes You Need to Try!
• 9 Mouthwatering Vegan Burger Recipes to Try!
• Favorite Green Recipes for St. Patrick’s Day Fun

More Helpful Vegan Ingredient Guides

• A Complete Guide to Lentils
• Guide to Avocado
• Guide to Zucchini
• Kale 101: A Guide to Kale
• A Complete Guide to Quinoa
• Guide to Tofu and Tofu Pressing
• A Guide to Brown Rice
• A Complete Guide to Carrots

You can also browse through our entire collection of pasta recipes for more vegan pasta sauces and dish inspiration!