Name: Creamy Vegetable Pasta
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Ingredients: 350 g pasta (organic); 25 g butter (organic); 300 g mushrooms (sliced); 1 courgette / zucchini (organic, sliced thinly); 1 clove garlic (peeled & crushed); 200 g cherry tomatoes; 300 g broccoli or 1 head of broccoli (florets cut small); 200 g garden peas; 125 ml vegetable stock (organic); 300 ml single cream (organic); 60 g parmesan cheese (finely grated); 1 dash black pepper (fairtrade); 4 tbsp fresh parsley (finely chopped)

A Creamy Vegetable Pasta is delicious, filling, and ready in just 20 minutes. You can use a variety of vegetables and just stir in a lovely cream sauce flavoured with parmesan. The vegetables and sauce are ready in just the time it takes to cook the pasta!

creamy vegetable pasta in bowl topped with parmesan cheese

Creamy vegetarian pasta is an easy go-to recipe at any time of the year. It's great for using up leftover vegetables and you can easily adapt the recipe and use any vegetables that cook quickly.

If you have leftover chicken, you can add that in or you might like Creamy Chicken Leek and Mushroom Pasta. Other easy weeknight pasta recipes include Easy Vegetable Pasta Bake or Mushroom and Lentil Vegan Ragu or why not substitute the beef and try an Easy Quorn Bolognese.

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Ingredients
Instructions
Substitutions
Sustainability
Storage
Reheating Creamy Veg Pasta
📖 Recipe

Ingredients

Creamy pasta with vegetables is a great opportunity to use loads of vegetables. See substitutions below for ideas of other vegetables you could substitute.

Pasta - You can use any pasta or noodle shapes or even tagliatelle, spaghetti, or linguine. I've used spiral shapes as the sauce sticks to the swirls nicely. Once you've cooked your pasta, keep back a cup of the water. This can be used to loosen up the sauce at the end of cooking. The pasta water contains some starch so is more effective than just adding boiling water.
Mushrooms - Any type of mushrooms will work in this dish. When preparing the mushrooms, just wipe the tops clean. Don't soak them in water or this will alter their texture. You don't need to peel them. Slice them lengthways with the stem.
Cream - I've used single cream in this recipe but you could also use a heavier cream if you like. You may need to add more pasta water at the end of the cooking time if the sauce is too thick.
Parmesan Cheese. Adding parmesan helps to thicken the sauce and also brings great flavour.

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

This creamy veggie pasta recipe is very easy so chop all your vegetables before you start. Make sure to chop the broccoli into small florets.

Put the pasta on to cook as per the packet instructions. Once cooked drain the pasta but keep a cupful of the pasta water.

Add the butter to the pan and when it is bubbling, add the sliced mushrooms. Spread them out and fry for 2 minutes turning occasionally. Try not to move them around too much.

Add the sliced courgette/zucchini and fry for another minute.

garlic and tomatoes added to mushrooms and courgette in pan

Add the garlic and tomatoes and fry for a further minute.

Cook the broccoli and frozen peas in the pasta water for the last few minutes.

stock and cream added to pan with mushrooms courgette and tomato.

Pour in the vegetable stock and cream and stir until the sauce has thickened.

parmesan cheese added to cream and vegetables for creamy vegetable pasta

Stir in the parmesan cheese and season with pepper.

pasta and vegetables in pan with cream sauce

Stir in the cooked pasta, broccoli and peas until covered by the sauce. If the sauce is too thick, add a little of the pasta water to loosen it.

Hint: Cooking the broccoli and peas with the pasta saves energy.

Substitutions

Vegetables - vegetable creamy pasta is great for using up leftovers. Other vegetables that go well in this recipe include green beans, mangetout, asparagus, aubergine, and edamame beans.
Cheese - Parmesan cheese or Parmigiano-Reggiano is a hard strong-flavored Italian cheese. You could also use Grano Padano which is similar and usually slightly cheaper. The important thing is to buy a block and grate it yourself. pre-grated parmesan cheeses are often low quality and contain cornstarch which means they won't melt easily and can stay lumpy in your sauce. Parmesan also adds salt to your dish so only add salt after you've added the parmesan if you need to.
Gluten Free - you can easily make this dish gluten-free by just using gluten-free pasta.

vegetable creamy pasta in bowl close up topped with parmesan cheese

Sustainability

Using local vegetables in season will help to reduce your carbon footprint. Adapting the recipe to use up what you already have in will help reduce your food waste. Try to buy all your vegetables lose without any packaging.

Storage

Because of the cream, this dish doesn't freeze well but you can store it in the fridge for 3 - 4 days.

Reheating Creamy Veg Pasta

The best way to reheat a creamy pasta dish is on the hob or stovetop rather than a microwave. Once cold, the sauce will thicken slightly so you may need to add a little milk to loosen it and bring back the creamy texture. Reheat over a medium heat and keep stirring so it doesn't stick.