This vegan pesto pasta with pan-roasted cherry tomatoes is rich, saucy, cheesy and packed with flavor. Ready in 30 minutes or less.
This vegan pesto pasta with pan-roasted cherry tomatoes is a meal to get excited about. Like very excited.
It’s beyond easy to make, which is always a good thing. You can have this entire meal ready in 30 minutes or less.
And then it’s fun to make too, there’s a few steps involved but all of them are easy, quick and fun.
And the result is a very pretty plate of food! I mean look at those colors.
This recipe is really a must-try. Aside from how quick and easy it is, always big draw cards for me, there’s also the fact that it is rich, creamy and cheesy.
It’s a rich saucy vegan pesto sauce with pan-roasted cherry tomatoes served over pasta. And if that doesn’t sound delicious, I don’t know what does.
And oh my word you do NOT miss the dairy cheese here. This is cheesy, dreamy, heavenly vegan goodness right here.
Also check out our vegan vodka pasta for another quick and easy pasta dinner.
How To Make Vegan Pesto Pasta
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
So to make this, all you do is put on your pot of pasta to cook. While that’s cooking, throw your pine nuts into a pan and lightly roast them for 5 minutes.
Then toss the pine nuts into a food processor along with some olive oil, green olives, garlic, nutritional yeast, baby spinach and fresh basil leaves and process into a delicious pesto sauce.
Slice the cherry tomatoes in half (sliced lengthwise) and place them into the pan and lightly roast them for around 5 minutes.
Add cooked pasta to a bowl, pour over the pesto sauce, add the roasted cherry tomatoes and toss together.
And your vegan pesto pasta is ready to serve!
See what I mean? This could be done in even less than 30 minutes! It’s really quick and easy.
Serving Suggestions
This meal serves 4-6 for a fantastically satisfying, rich and delicious dinner.
If you add a salad, it will easily serve 6. Try our vegan Greek salad or vegan chickpea salad on the side. Some bread on the side also works great, like our vegan focaccia or vegan garlic bread.
Make It Gluten Free
Of course if you prefer gluten-free, then simply choose a gluten-free pasta. Any pasta will do, but we’re big fans of penne so penne it is.
Storing Instructions
This is a meal that does not need to be served hot at all, so leftovers? Bring it on! Keep leftovers stored in a covered container in the fridge and enjoy within 3-4 days.
More Vegan Pasta Recipes
- Vegan Pasta Bake
- Vegan Pasta Salad
- The Best Vegan Lasagna
- Classic Baked Vegan Mac and Cheese
- Cheesy Garlic Vegan Alfredo
- Vegan Bolognese
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Pesto Pasta
Ingredients
For the Pesto:
- ⅔ cup Pine Nuts (100g)
- ¼ cup Olive Oil (60ml) Extra Virgin
- 10 Green Olives Pitted
- 1 teaspoon Crushed Garlic
- ⅓ cup Nutritional Yeast Flakes (20g)
- 1 cup Fresh Basil Leaves Packed cup
- 1 cup Baby Spinach Leaves Packed cup
- ½ teaspoon Sea Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Black Pepper
For the Pasta:
- 16 ounces Penne Pasta (450g) Dry Weight
- 20 Cherry Tomatoes
Instructions
- Put on the pasta to cook according to package instructions.
- While that’s cooking, place the pine nuts into a pan and lightly roast them at medium to high heat for 5 minutes, stirring regularly.
- When the pine nuts are nicely roasted, add them to the food processor along with the olive oil, green olives, garlic, nutritional yeast, basil, baby spinach, salt and pepper and process into a pesto. Taste test and add more salt and/or pepper as preferred.
- Slice the cherry tomatoes in half (sliced lengthwise) and place them into the pan and lightly roast them for around 5 minutes.
- Pour the pesto sauce over the cooked, drained pasta, add the roasted cherry tomatoes and toss together.
Video
Notes
- Keep leftovers stored in a covered container in the fridge and enjoy within 3-4 days.
- Nutritional information is for 1 serve of 6 including everything, pesto sauce, pasta and pan roasted cherry tomatoes.
- This recipe has been updated with new photos, but the recipe itself is unchanged.
This recipe looks wonderful. However, o even the thought of olives makes me gag (I do use olive oil a lot) I’m sure they add a richness. What would you recommend as possible substitutions?
You can just leave them out Susan.
So good!
Amazing!!!!! This is my first review ever but I had to write one for this recipe because it exceeded my expectations. Quick, easy, DELICIOUS!!!!
Thanks so much Tristan!
That’s delicious! I’ve never cooked a pesto pasta before, cause I thought it would be difficult or I wouldn’t be skilled enough to make it, but this recipe really inspired me! There’s no opportunity to mess up even if you’re a beginner or a kid or me))))I’ve forgotten to add garlic, but the sauce was awesome anyway (so, if you don’t like garlic, you can exclude it, it won’t spoil the dish). I had the best homemade dinner ever, thank you veeery much!
Awesome! Thanks Natalia!
I often have this pasta for dinners because its so easy to make and super tasty!!! I have also made it for so many people who have then asked for the recipe to make it for themselves haha. Thank you for making such beautiful tasty meals that are super easy, every-time i look for a vegan recipe its often followed by your blog name because I trust your recipes so much!! Keep up the amazing work.
Thanks so much Krystal! xoxo
Can you make the pesto in advance and freeze it?
Yes! The pesto is freezer friendly. 🙂
This recipe is so good! I personally hate spinach so I was kind of scared of this recipe, but it tastes really good!
The pine nuts where I live are very expensive, so u only used 50 grams. I also had to use dried basil instead of fresh basil as there was no fresh basil available in our grocery store. And we swapped out the yeast for vegan shredded cheese. It turned out amazing! (:
So glad it was good! Thanks for sharing your adjustments and the awesome review. 🙂
This was without a doubt the best pesto I have ever made. Green olives? How did you even think of that? But they give it an incredible depth of flavour. Another 5 star recipe.
Thanks so much Neil! So happy you enjoyed it! Thanks for the awesome rating. 🙂
Simple, quick and amazing
This was absolutely amazing. I’m not even a pasta person! I made it as a trial run for a dinner coming up, we ended up eating it for breakfast, and it exceeded all my expectations. Simply mouthwatering!!!!! Love, Love, Love! Thank you for sharing all these amazing recipes!!!!
Fantastic news! So happy you loved it and I think pasta for breakfast might be the next big thing! Haha, thanks a million for the awesome review. 🙂
This looks delicious and I can’t wait to try it tonight!
Awesome! Enjoy. 🙂
I’ve made this multiple times and it’s always a favorite of everyone. I’m lazy so I use store-bought vegan pesto (I get mine from Whole Foods), so it’s basically roasting tomatoes, boiling pasta and adding the sauce. Crazy easy.
Hahaha I like how you think! The easier the better! So glad you like the recipe! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
This is so good and so easy!
Simple yet tasty