Creamy and full of flavor, this vegan pink pasta (creamy tomato cashew sauce) combines San Marzano tomatoes with pantry staples and a swirl of cashew cream.
Want more creamy pasta? Try my vegan bolognese with sausage tofu crumbles, vegan lasagna soup, or this easy marry me chickpeas with pasta next!
🔍 A Quick Look: Vegan Pink Pasta (Creamy Tomato Cashew Sauce)
- 📝 Recipe Name: Vegan Pink Pasta (Creamy Tomato Cashew Sauce)
- 🕒 Total Time: 40 minutes
- 👥 Servings: 5
- 🎯 Key Ingredients: San Marzano tomatoes, cashew cream, garlic, herbs, pasta of choice
- 🌱 Dietary Info: Vegan, dairy-free, plant-based, gluten-free option
- ✨ Best For: Weeknight dinners, pasta nights, Italian-inspired meals, meal prep, cozy evenings
- 💕 Why You’ll Love It: Creamy, silky, pantry-friendly, kid-approved, and completely dairy-free.
I’ve always had a soft spot for homemade vegan Italian recipes, like my weeknight veg spaghetti sauce or slow-simmered easy marinara sauce with my Impossible Meat meatballs recipe. So, so good.
This dairy free pink pasta sauce is one of those easy favorites that fits into busy weeknights or times when you want something comforting, without a lot of effort. They also happen to fit beautifully into the Blue Zones lifestyle.
While the sauce is simmering, I make the two-ingredient cashew cream and cook the pasta. I give a simmering range of 30–45 minutes, but if you’ve got time, let it go a little longer—the flavor of this sauce gets even deeper and sweeter.
And, if you can use San Marzano tomatoes, they make such a difference in both flavor and texture. For an extra special touch, use vegan parmesan cheese; it’s a delicious finishing layer.
Why This Recipe Works
- Sautéed garlic, onion, carrot, and celery (a classic mirepoix), herbs, and a splash of white wine (or broth) create a full-flavor, layered sauce.
- Cashew cream blends easily into the tomatoes for a silky pink-sauce finish.
- Blend for a creamy sauce or leave it slightly chunky, it's your call.
- Works great for meal prep, it holds up well in the fridge, and reheats without separating.
If you love Italian-inspired flavors, be sure to try this tomato bruschetta recipe and my healthy pizza sauce.
Ingredients & Substitutions
Here’s what you’ll need to make this creamy vegan pink pasta (tomato cashew sauce):
- San Marzano tomatoes: Whole or crushed, both work. They’re naturally sweeter and create a smoother, richer sauce. Any good canned tomatoes work, though, just taste and adjust acidity at the end.
- Mirepoix (onion, carrot & celery): This classic mirepoix gives the sauce a deep, earthy base. Use just onion + garlic if that’s what you’ve got.
- Garlic: In a pinch, sub with 1 teaspoon garlic powder.
- White wine: Use a dry white like Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc. If avoiding wine, vegetable broth works too.
- Raw cashews: Store-bought unsweetened cashew cream works too.
- Pasta: Rigatoni, penne, fusilli, shells — any short pasta holds sauce well.
See the recipe card for the full ingredient list.
Tested Tips
- Add sea salt in stages. Start with a pinch while sautéing the onion, carrot, and celery — it builds flavor as you go. I like to premeasure it in a small bowl ahead of time so I don’t over-salt, and then just grab from there.
- Choose good tomatoes. San Marzano tomatoes are naturally balanced and make the sauce sweeter and smoother.
- Too acidic? Add ⅛ teaspoon baking soda OR a small splash of balsamic vinegar — not both.
- Salt your pasta water. This is your only shot to season the pasta itself. 1 to 2 tablespoons of sea salt in a large pot of water (it should taste like the sea).
- Reserve pasta water. This is the secret to a glossy, silky sauce. Add it a splash when combining pasta + sauce.
- Finishing touch: A drizzle of olive oil right before serving brings everything together and adds a beautiful, rich finish , especially lovely if skipping the vegan parm.
If you love creamy pasta as much as I do, make sure to try this coconut milk sauce with pasta, baked vegan mac and cheese, and my pressure cooker vegan mac and cheese recipe next!
How to Make Vegan Pink Pasta (Creamy Tomato Cashew Sauce)
Find the complete recipe with measurements in the recipe card below.
- Step 1: Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat, add the onion with a pinch of salt, and cook for about 5 minutes until softened. Stir in the carrot and celery and cook for 2-3 more minutes, then add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, stirring to prevent browning.
- Step 2: Pour in the white wine (or broth) and simmer for 1-2 minutes, scraping up any browned bits as it reduces.
- Step 3: Stir in the tomatoes, bay leaves, red pepper flakes, basil, oregano, maple syrup, and a few more pinches of salt. Bring the pot to a light boil and reduce to a gentle simmer, partially cover, and cook for 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally. If using whole tomatoes, crush them gently with a wooden spoon as they cook.
- Step 4: Remove the bay leaves and blend the sauce with an immersion blender if you prefer it smooth, or keep it rustic. Stir in the cashew cream, then add the remaining measured salt.
- Step 5: Give it a final taste and adjust if needed.
- Step 6: Add the drained, cooked pasta and reserved pasta water. Stir gently until everything is coated and creamy. Top with vegan parmesan, fresh herbs, and a drizzle of olive oil, and serve warm.
Make It Your Way
- Spicier? Increase the red pepper flakes for a spicy sauce (¼-½ teaspoon at a time).
- Want it cheesy? Add 1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast to your cashew cream.
- Rustic: Skip blending and keep the tomatoes chunky. This gives you more texture and feels very “Sunday sauce.”
- Protein-packed–Stir in cooked lentils, tofu sausage crumbles, and/or these instant pot garbanzo beans at the end.
- Oil-free–skip the oil and sauté your veggies in a splash of broth or water instead, to make this whole food plant-based.
- Fresh herbs: Finish with fresh basil, oregano, or parsley for extra layered flavor.
Storage and Meal Prep
- Refrigerator: Store in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
- Freezer: Freeze the sauce without pasta for up to 3 months.
- Reheat: Warm gently on the stove with a splash of water or broth to loosen.
- Meal Prep: Double the batch and portion it for quick pasta nights. For more vegan meal prep check out how to meal prep vegan, or take this 3-day plant based challenge.
Vegan Pink Pasta (Creamy Tomato Cashew Sauce) FAQs
Traditionally, pink sauce is a mix of tomato sauce and heavy cream. This dairy-free version gets its creaminess from cashew cream stirred into slow-simmered tomatoes, giving you the same silky finish without the dairy.
Blend soaked cashews with a little water to make cashew cream. It thickens the sauce naturally and melts right into the tomatoes. Oat cream works in a pinch, but cashew cream gives the closest texture to classic cream sauces.
You can, but canned San Marzanos give you a sweeter, smoother, more dependable sauce. If using fresh tomatoes, simmer a bit longer and taste for acidity before adding the cashew cream.
It’s usually called “pink sauce” or “rosé sauce.” When vodka is added, it becomes vodka sauce. This recipe is simply a dairy-free rosé sauce made with pantry ingredients.
Add your cashew cream once the heat is low and the sauce has finished simmering. Cashew cream won’t curdle like dairy, but gentle heat keeps the texture extra smooth.
Did you try this recipe? Let me know what you thought by leaving a comment below and sharing it on Instagram, Facebook, & Pinterest! 💛
📖 Recipe
Vegan Pink Pasta (Creamy Tomato Cashew Sauce)
Ingredients
For the Sauce
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, extra virgin
- 1 onion, medium-size, finely chopped
- 1 carrot, medium-size, shredded
- 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
- 1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt, divided (place in a small bowl for easy layering)
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ cup dry white wine, Use a dry white like Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc. Or just use vegetable broth
- (2) 28-ounce cans whole or crushed tomatoes, San Marzano if possible
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano
Cashew Cream
- ½ cup raw cashews, unsalted, unroasted, soaked in hot water until soft
- ½ cup water
For Serving
- 1 pound pasta, rigatoni, fusilli, or penne work well
- ½ cup reserved pasta water
- vegan almond parmesan, optional
- fresh basil leaves, optional, torn
- 1 generous drizzle of olive oil, optional, extra-virgin
Instructions
- Soak the cashews: Place cashews in a bowl and cover with hot water. Set aside to soak while you begin the sauce.
- Sauté the mirepoix: Sauté the mirepoix: Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat, add the onion with a pinch of salt, and cook for about 5 minutes until softened.
- Add carrot, celery, and garlic: Stir in the carrot and celery and cook for 2–3 more minutes, then add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, stirring to prevent browning.
- Deglaze the pot: Pour in the white wine (or broth) and simmer for 1-2 minutes, scraping up any browned bits as it reduces.
- Add tomatoes and seasonings: Stir in the tomatoes, bay leaves, red pepper flakes, basil, oregano, maple syrup, and a few more pinches of salt.
- Simmer the sauce: Bring the pot to a light boil and reduce to a gentle simmer, partially cover, and cook for 30–45 minutes, stirring occasionally. If using whole tomatoes, crush them gently with a wooden spoon as they cook.
- Meanwhile, cook the pasta: Boil the pasta in heavily salted water (about 1-2 tablespoons of sea salt) and cook until al dente. Reserve ½ cup of pasta water, and drain without rinsing.
- Meanwhile, blend the cashew cream: Drain and rinse the soaked cashews and blend them with the ½ cup water until completely smooth and creamy.
- Blend the sauce (optional): Remove the bay leaves and blend the sauce with an immersion blender if you prefer it smooth, or keep it chunky.
- Finish the sauce: Stir in the cashew cream, then add the remaining measured salt. Give it a final taste and adjust if needed.
- Add pasta: Add the drained, cooked pasta and reserved pasta water. Stir gently until everything is coated and creamy.
- Serve: Top with vegan almond parmesan, fresh basil leaves, and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve warm.
Video
Notes
- If using whole tomatoes: Break them down in the pot with a wooden spoon as they cook until they reach your preferred consistency.
- Tomato flavor varies: San Marzano tomatoes are naturally sweeter and lower in acid.
- Cashew cream tip: Blend until completely silky to avoid graininess. A high-speed blender works best.
- If sauce tastes sharp: Add ⅛ teaspoon baking soda to soften acidity.
Nutrition
Julie Gaeta is a plant-based recipe creator, certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, and mom of nine who's been plant-based for over 20 years. She's cooked approximately 4,382 pots of beans and can't vacation without her juicer and pasta pot. Her work has been featured in HuffPost, Yahoo, YourTango, and other major outlets. She helps others simplify wellness and feel good again through her blog, coaching, and weekly newsletter.
Julie Gaeta says
This is one of those sauces I could eat almost every day. It’s creamy, comforting, and packed with flavor. Just the right amount of cozy for any pasta night.