Cheesy Protein Pasta Recipe

Cheesy Protein Pasta Vegan

This healthy cheesy protein pasta is vegan and gluten free. One serving contains 41 grams of protein, and this recipe serves two. It’s also high in calcium from the sesame seeds and beans. As nutritional yeast contains all nine essential ammo acids, it provides complete plant protein.

The creamy, velvety cheese sauce is also nut free, oil free and grain free. Try this quick and easy vegan cheesy protein pasta today.

Cheesy Protein Pasta Quick and Easy

Cheesy Protein Pasta Video

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I’m using red lentil fusilli in this recipe. This lentil pasta cooks in about 9 minutes and is firm after cooking, unlike many gluten-free pastas. It’s Made from 100% red lentil flour.

Bean and lentil pasta were only available at health food shops up until recently, but now they are quite inexpensive and available from regular stores. In the UK the pasta works out at 35p a portion! It’s easy to cook and tastes very similar to traditional wheat pasta.

Cheesy Protein Pasta healthy

Here I use sesame seeds in this recipe rather than any plant milk. You can use your favourite plant milk and omit the water if you prefer. When you’re using whole sesame seeds, always place them closest to the blade so that they get completely broken up and combined.

Turmeric helps to give a golden colour and add nutrition to this recipe. You don’t taste it but feel free to leave it out if you prefer. A pinch a black pepper helps activate the turmeric and make it more digestible.

Cheesy Protein Pasta Dairy-free

You can use regular gluten-free pasta if you prefer but for this recipe to have a high protein content do you need to use bean or lentil pasta.

Normal gluten-free pasta is often a mixture of potato, corn and rice flour. While it’s gluten free, it’s full of refined carbohydrates and some stabilisers, so it’s not something that I consider healthy and nutrient dense.

Cheesy Protein Pasta Close up

Use any white bean that you prefer for this I often use cannellini/ haricot/navy or white kidney beans. Either freshly cooked or tinned work just as well but I tend to use tinned is this is a quick and straightforward recipe.

Other bean/lentil pasta that I can recommend are mung bean, black bean, chickpea and green lentil. Let me know in the comments below or on social media @nestandglow if you have tried any other bean or lentil pasta.

Yield: 2 servings

Cheesy Vegan Protein Pasta

Cheesy Protein Pasta Dairy-free

Healthy cheesy protein pasta is vegan and gluten-free. One serving contains 41 grams of protein, and this recipe serves two. It's also high in calcium

Prep Time 6 minutes
Cook Time 7 minutes
Total Time 13 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 can White beans, 15oz/400g
  • 2½ cups / 160g Bean / Lentil Pasta
  • 4 tbsp Nutritional yeast
  • ½ cup / 120ml Water
  • 1 Garlic clove
  • 2 tbsp Sesame seeds
  • ¼ tsp Turmeric
  • 1 tbsp Apple cider vinegar
  • ½ tsp Smoked Paprika
  • ½ tsp Chopped Basil
  • pinch of Salt and Pepper

Instructions

  1. Drain the beans and place everything apart from the pasta into a blender and whizz until combined.
  2. Cook the pasta as per instructions and drain.
  3. Stir in the cheesy bean pasta sauce.
  4. Serve with smoked paprika and basil sprinkled on top.
  5. Store leftovers in the fridge and enjoy within three days.

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Nutrition Information

Yield

2

Serving Size

1

Amount Per Serving Calories 558Total Fat 8gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 6gCholesterol 0mgSodium 776mgCarbohydrates 87gFiber 25gSugar 2gProtein 41g
Cheesy Protein Pasta (Vegan & Gluten-free) - healthy gluten-free pasta in cheese sauce that is very high in plant-protein. Made using lentils, beans and seeds. Nutritional yeast gives vitamin b12 and a cheesy taste to this dairy free meal #vegan #protein #healthy #veganrecipe

If you want this to be gluten free but also healthy and can’t find bean pasta then I recommend buckwheat pasta.

Buckwheat pasta is easy to cook, but you do need to keep an eye on it and rinse it under cold water as soon as it’s cooked to stop it falling to pieces and becoming one doughy blob.

My number 1 tip for all gluten free pasta is to drain and cover with cool water for a few seconds to stop it turning into mush. The pasta will still be warm and hold it’s shape.

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60 thoughts on “Cheesy Protein Pasta”

  1. I have seen a few of these sauces bouncing around the internet. I’m not vegan but I am always trying new recipes and trying to be healthier, so I knew I had to find a vegan ‘cheese’ sauce to test out. I saw many which required cooking the ingredients first, I’m far too lazy for that most days, and I am also one of those people who starts cooking when already hungry LOL. With no real prep required, this recipe was the winner! I’ve just blended it all up and have had a few tastes, very nice so far although I haven’t cooked my pasta yet. I used cannelini beans (lovely), and added a few additional things to season it, including a tablespoon of miso paste, a teaspoon of mustard, a teaspoon of cayenne pepper to give it a kick, a tablespoon of blended Italian herbs, and I used white wine vinegar instead of cider as that’s all I had. I squeezed a wedge of lemon in there too, and added a sprinkling of veggie stock to amp up the savoury flavour. My advice is add lots of herbs and spices to make it tasty, but just taste to avoid over salting the sauce. It doesn’t taste like real dairy cheese sauce at all, but as its own feature it is really nice and definitely healthier than dairy cheese sauce. Currently roasting some herb coated courgette to top our pasta with, very excited to add this to my recipe rota as part of a healthy, easy supper to make! Thanks!

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