Wow, wow, wow! Look at that colour!! This smoky, spicy beet pasta is pretty much a weekly meal for us. Creamy hot pink noodles topped with spicy mushrooms. Yes please!
This beet pasta sauce is:
Made in your blender
Quick
Creamy
As spicy as you want
So flavourful
And oh so pink!
What Makes This Pasta Special
Sweet roasted beets! That’s what!
If you’ve never roasted beets before, check out our easy how-to for roasting beets. You can also find packaged roasted beets quite easily at most grocery stores!
Beets are:
Wonderfully Sweet
Smooth
And Quite Inexpensive
In this pasta sauce they are paired with:
- Cashews for creaminess
- Nutritional yeast for depth of flavour and slight “cheesiness”
- And topped with smoky, spicy mushrooms!
The Mushroom Topping
You don’t need to make the mushroom topping for this pasta to be tasty but we definitely recommend it! Alternatively:
- You could quickly saute any vegetables you have on hand, blend up your sauce, add you sauce to your veggies and toss in your noodles!
- Or enjoy this dish like a hot pink mac & cheese!
The Spice Level
You can easily adjust the spiciness of this recipe by either omitting the chilli flakes and cayenne pepper OR adding slightly less than the recipe calls for. Taste as you go and add more spiciness if you want a bit more of a kick!
The Smoky Flavour
Smoked paprika and liquid smoke are the secrets to the wonderful smoky flavour of this beet pasta! If you don’t have either, you can certainly make a tasty pasta without them, but they are fantastic additions to your pantry that can add a lot of depth and fun to your dishes!
Soaking Cashews
Soaking cashews in water is the key to making this sauce really thick and creamy! For an in depth intro to soaking cashews head to Karissa’s blog! We prefer to use the quick soak method:
- Measure out your cashews in a heat resistant measuring cup or bowl
- Boil water in your kettle
- Pour the boiled water over your cashews
- Allow to soak for 15-20 minutes
Nut Free Version
You can omit the cashews in this recipe and add more milk instead. Your sauce will be thinner so go slow and maybe even add 1 more beet to bulk up the sauce a bit. Another option would be to add about half a block of silken tofu which will definitely give you that creaminess and protein!
Recipe Cost
Using our homemade veggie scrap broth this smoky, spicy beet pasta costs us: CAD $8.96 ($1.49/serving). And with store-bought broth the price of this recipe becomes: CAD $9.15 ($1.52/serving).
If you haven’t checked out our post about making your own veggie broth from the vegetable scraps you already have, take a look! Taste the tastiness and watch the savings pile up!
Alrighty, give this colourful, smoky, spicy, beet pasta a try and let us know what you think in the comments below!
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Spicy Beet Pasta – Pinkest Pasta In The World
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This smoky, spicy, beet pasta is a weekly staple for us! Quickly make the hot pink beet sauce in the blender and top with spicy mushrooms!
Ingredients
- 454 g pasta noodles of choice
Mushrooms:
- 227g cremini mushrooms (or mushrooms of choice)*
- ¾ tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp vegan worcestershire sauce (or sub extra tamari)
- 1 ½ tbsp tamari (or soy sauce)
- 1 tsp liquid smoke
- ¼ tsp chilli flakes (less or more for desired heat)
Sauce:
- ½ cup raw cashews (soaked in boiling water for at least 15 min)
- 1 medium beet (roasted)*
- ½ – 1 cup almond milk (or plant milk of choice)
- ¼ – ½ cup vegetable broth (homemade for extra savings!)
- 3 cloves garlic
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper (or less if you prefer less spice!)
- ¼ tsp salt and pepper
*Fresh ingredients you need that are not part of our pantry and freezer tips.
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.
- If you have not pre-soaked your cashews, boil 1 cup of water in a kettle. Place cashews in a glass measuring cup or bowl and pour boiled water over them. Leave them soaking in the boiling water for at least 15 minutes to soften.
- To prepare your mushrooms, combine all the marinade ingredients in a bowl. Thinly slice your mushrooms and coat in the marinade. Once your oven is hot, spread the mushrooms on a baking sheet and bake for 18-20 minutes (flipping mushrooms over at the 10 minute mark).
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil for your pasta and cook the pasta according to the package instructions. While your pasta cooks, start the sauce.
- If you’re still waiting for the cashews to finish soaking, prepare all the other sauce ingredients in your blender. Start with the lesser amount of broth and milk. When cashews are done, drain them from the water and add them to the blender. Blend until creamy and smooth. Add more milk or broth if the mixture is too thick to blend easily (the sauce should be quite thick but still pourable).
- Pour the blended sauce into a large saucepan and heat through on medium low. Stir frequently so it doesn’t burn. All you want to do is heat it up, not boil it. When your pasta is done, drain it, and add it to the heated sauce. Taste and add more milk or broth for creaminess, nutritional yeast for cheesiness, or cayenne for heat.
- Top with spicy mushrooms. Garnish with more chilli flakes, parsley, breadcrumbs, or my Easy Vegan Parmesan and serve with garlic bread!
Notes
*Approximate cost: using store-bought broth $9.15 ($1.52/serving) / using homemade broth $8.96 ($1.49 per serving).
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Blender, Oven, Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Maria
This is the pinkest, prettiest, most perfect pasta sauce! Loved the mushrooms. The combination of flavours is superb and it has quite the kick.
Kathryn Alexandre
Haha fantastic! It sure is pink and I’m so glad you loved the flavour combo! Thank you for trying it!
Spencer
Came across your recipe on YouTube and it is absolutely delicious 😋. Made it for the family and everyone loved it! The mushrooms are such a perfect complement with the eye popping pasta leaving a subtle touch of heat in your mouth. I’ve just become a fan for life and can’t wait to try your other wonderful recipes.
Kathryn Alexandre
This is so nice to hear! Thank you so much for trying it and leaving such a lovely comment and star rating. This is one of our favourites that we always come back to and I feel that people can be hesitant with beets sometimes so I’m so glad that you all loved it! I’m glad we’ve made you a fan for life and I hope you enjoy some other recipes you find on our site. If you have some leftover beets and are feeling courageous try the beet chocolate smoothie! It’s so surprisingly sweet and delicious!
Jo
Just made this for dinner and WOW it was delicious! We added some extra cayenne for more of a kick and it was DELISH! This is going into our regular rotation BOOM!
Kathryn Alexandre
hahaha that definitely would have kicked it up a notch! So glad you loved it and embraced the spice! Thank you so much for trying it and taking the time to write a great star review!