Vegan Cauli-Broc White Wine Pasta

There’s only one week left of my vegan diet for Lent.

Over the past five weeks, I have discovered a lot of tasty recipes that I will likely continue to use over the coming months, even when I go back to eating my regular diet. Today, I want to share one of my favorites with you. I adapted this recipe from one from Minimalist Baker, and I call it Cauli-Broc White Wine Pasta. It’s delicious!

Now, before I share this White Wine Pasta recipe with you, I have to say that going vegan for this long was easier than I thought it would be. I’ve done vegan diets in the past during Lent, but the longest I’ve stuck with them was 3 weeks. Sticking with things even longer wasn’t really much harder. It just meant I had more time to come up with more recipes to experiment with.

While I’d say eating a vegan diet is a bit healthier than my typical diet — mostly due to decreased fats from meat and dairy (which aren’t really all that necessary, are they) — I’m not sure if I’ve been getting enough protein during this time. I think the whole protein thing is a struggle with most vegan diets, at least until you’re familiar enough with them to make sure you’re getting what you need each day. If I were going to continue eating vegan, I would definitely be a bit more intentional about that.

The hardest part of this switch has been not being able to have eggs in the morning. I love eggs for breakfast! Other than that, it’s been fairly easy. I will say, though, I am happy to go back to eating meat and cheese. Oh, and yogurt! Yes, there is a lot of flavor in vegan foods due to using a good bit of spices, but I’ve really missed the flavor that meat and cheese add to foods.

Okay, so with all of this said, I do want to share this easy vegan Cauli-Broc White Wine Pasta recipe with you. This recipe isn’t lacking in flavor and is really easy to make. I probably ate this at least once every 2 weeks!

And in case you’re wondering, no, I didn’t eat all pasta dishes during this period of going vegan. In fact, this is the only pasta recipe I’ve eaten for the past 5 weeks.

Okay, so let’s get to the white wine pasta recipe.

Cauli-Broc White Wine Pasta

Ingredients:

• 16 ounces frozen broccoli and cauliflower florets
• 2 tablespoons vegetable broth
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 pinch each of sea salt and black pepper
• 4 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1/3 cup dry white wine
• 4 tablespoons arrowroot powder
• 1 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 4 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 10 ounces of pasta of your choice
• 1/4 cup of vegan Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Add 2 tablespoons of vegetable broth to a large skillet along with the frozen broccoli and cauliflower sprinkled with salt and pepper. Heat over medium heat. Cook until all broth is absorbed and vegetables have softened and browned slightly. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
2. While vegetables are cooking, bring a large pot of water and 1 tablespoon of salt to boil. Once boiling, add pasta and cook according to directions. When pasta has finished cooking, strain, and set aside while preparing the sauce.
3. In the skillet used to cook the broccoli and cauliflower, add 3 tablespoons of olive oil and chopped garlic. Saute for 3 minutes until fragrant and golden brown. Carefully add the white wine. Stir and saute for 4 minutes until the wine has reduced by half.
4. Add arrowroot powder to the wine and whisk well. Next, add almond milk and whisk again. The sauce will be very clumpy. Transfer this mixture to a high-speed blender. Add nutritional yeast and salt and pepper. Blend on high until creamy.
5. Taste and adjust flavor as needed adding more nutritional yeast or salt and pepper as needed.
6. Transfer the sauce back to the skillet, and simmer over medium-low heat until the sauce bubbles and thickens, whisking well to keep the sauce from burning. Increase heat to thicken the sauce and add more almond milk to thin the sauce as needed. When the sauce has thickened, add strained pasta and cooked broccoli and cauliflower to the skillet. Warm for 2-3 minutes more over medium-low heat.
7. Top pasta with vegan Parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes to add a bit of spice. Serve warm alongside a salad or garlic bread. Enjoy!

Okay, friends! I hope you’ve give this Cauli-Broc White Wine Pasta recipe a try whether you’re eating a vegan diet or not. It really is tasty, and I’d love to know what you think of it. If you enjoy posts like this, definitely let me know. I’m more than happy to share some of my other favorite recipes with you!

Have you ever gone vegan? If so, I would love to know one thing that helped you with the transition the most.