Pasta Florentine is traditionally a rich creamy dish. In this post I share my Vegan Baked Pasta Florentine recipe that uses plant based alternatives to cream, butter and Parmesan. Get the recipe below.
Simple suppers
This Vegan Pasta Florentine is one of those easy dishes you can whip up in no time. Creamy pasta sauces are always ones you want to throw together last minute so that the sauce is just heated through and doesn't have time to split.
With this recipe a little cream goes a long way. It's rich and delicious without your pasta swimming in a lake of cream. But Pasta Florentine isn't just about the cream it's traditionally also made typically made with butter, Parmesan, white wine, garlic, and fresh spinach.
How to make Vegan Baked Pasta Florentine
Substitutes
Cream, butter and Parmesan are clearly ingredients which aren't vegan but the good news is there are lots of good substitutes on the market now.
For this recipe my preferred vegan cream is Elmlea Double Plant Based Cream but Oatly also do a good vegan cream. I just find that Oatly is a little more thin so you may want to add some cornflour to help it thicken though that's not essential.
My favourite butter substitute is Flora Plant Based Unsalted Block but you can use any vegan spread it just won't have the same buttery flavour.
For the Parmesan you have a few options. The first is to find a vegan hard cheese but they seem to be a little more difficult to come by. My preferred option is my homemade vegan Parmesan. It's made with a mix of nutritional yeast, garlic powder, onion powder and ground almonds which is seasoned with a little salt. If you don't have all the necessary ingredients you could just use nutritional yeast and get a similar effect as it will dissolve into the sauce.
Once you've got your substitutes it's pretty easy to make from there.
Oven baked
There are three key steps to making this recipe. (1) Cook your pasta and veggies; (2) make your sauce; and (3) combine them all together and bake.
I love the fact that this is a baked recipe because it means you get lovely crispy edges and the Parmesan gets a chance to melt and go golden brown. The sauce also continues to thicken while it cooks. What's not to love.
The recipe
Vegan Baked Pasta Florentine
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 450 g penne pasta
- 4 tablespoon non-dairy butter
- 1 onion chopped finely
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 450 g fresh spinach
- 1.5 tablespoon cornflour
- 350 ml vegan cream
- salt and pepper to taste
- 8 tablespoon vegan Parmesan
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 175 C / 350 F / gas mark 3.
- Bring a large pan of water to the boil and season with a little salt and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil.
- Add the pasta and cook for 10 minutes or until just tender.
- Melt the butter in a large pan and add the diced onion with a pinch of salt.
- Cook over a medium high heat for 8 minutes or until translucent.
- Add the minced garlic, and cook about 1 minute.
- Reduce heat to medium-low and add spinach.
- Cover and cook 5 minutes or until spinach is wilted, stirring occasionally.
- Pour the spinach and onions over the pasta and stir.
- Mix the cornflour with just a few tablespoon of the cream and stir until you have a smooth slurry. Add this to the now empty pan along with the rest of the cream, salt and pepper and half of the vegan parmesan.
- Stir until the cream has thickens slightly and the vegan parmesan has melted.
- Pour the sauce over the pasta then transfer into an oven dish.
- Sprinkle over the remaining parmesan and bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
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