Creamy Garlic Pasta
This creamy garlic pasta is the perfect dinner for a date night in! Pasta is tossed with a rich vegan garlic cream sauce, sautéed shiitake mushrooms, and sweet burst tomatoes—and it all comes together in well under 30 minutes.
Hands up—who has a consistent date night every week? Okay, if your hand went up, serious kudos to you. This is something that, if I’m being honest, we struggle with in our household, especially now that we’re parents. But date night in? Date night in is doable! Especially when creamy garlic pasta is on the menu.
This creamy vegan pasta has restaurant vibes, but it doesn’t even take 30 minutes to make. It’s become my go-to for impromptu date nights. We usually throw a tablecloth over the table, put on some cute clothes, and sometimes even light a candle. (Okay, we don’t ever light a candle. But you COULD light a candle.)
Why You’ll Love This Creamy Garlic Pasta Recipe
- Easily vegan. While I do love a cashew-based pasta sauce (as in my creamy tomato pasta), this creamy garlic pasta is made with vegan cream cheese, so it’s easier to throw together on a weeknight. No soaking needed!
- Lightning fast. I timed this recipe from start to finish—yes, that incudes prep time too—and it took me 22 minutes. It’s hard to get a decent dinner on the table much faster than that!
- Restaurant flavour at home. With the rich, creamy garlic sauce, sweet and jammy burst tomatoes, and earthy shiitake mushrooms, this is exactly the kind of pasta dish I’d order at a restaurant.
Notes on Ingredients
Scroll down to the recipe card to find the ingredient quantities and recipe instructions.
- Shiitake mushrooms – Remove the stems (they’re too tough to eat!). If you’d like, you can use another mushroom variety instead of the shiitakes.
- Grape tomatoes
- Pasta – I highly recommend a fancy bronze die cut pasta; the sauce clings to it better. Linguine is my go-to for this creamy garlic pasta recipe.
- Vegan butter – Use store-bought or homemade vegan butter.
- Garlic
- Sea salt and ground black pepper
- Vegan cream cheese
- Vegan Parmesan – I like a grated Parmesan that melts into the sauce. Homemade vegan Parmesan works well as a garnish, though!
- Pasta water – AKA the water from the pot you cooked the pasta in.
- Chopped basil – Don’t substitute dried! Fresh has a superior flavour.
- Olive oil
How to Make Creamy Garlic Pasta
- Cook the pasta. Boil it in salted water according to the package directions for al dente. Reserve 3/4 cup of water before draining.
- Cook the vegetables. Melt the vegan butter in a skillet set over medium-high heat. Stir in the garlic, tomatoes, and shiitake mushrooms. Cook for 5-6 minutes.
- Crush the tomatoes. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to gently press on each tomato to burst it. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the salt and pepper.
- Make the sauce. Stir in the vegan cream cheese, Parmesan and ¼ cup of the pasta water.
- Finish. Add the pasta, tossing to coat, and the rest of the pasta water 1/4 cup at a time. Once the sauce is thick and coats the pasta, season to taste.
- Serve. Plate the pasta with the fresh basil, a drizzle of olive oil, and extra vegan Parmesan.
Tips for Success
- Salt the water for cooking the pasta. It’s okay to salt it generously—you’ll pour most of it down the drain anyway. Salted pasta water yields a much more flavourful pasta.
- Don’t forget to reserve the pasta water. It’s better than using plain water because it’s starchy, which helps thicken the sauce.
- Use tongs for tossing. I’ve found that tongs do a great job when tossing the pasta into the sauce and making sure the noodles don’t stick together. They’re also excellent for serving pasta!
Variations
- Wilt in some spinach. Once the sauce is smooth but before you add the pasta, stir in a few handfuls of baby spinach.
- Make it gluten-free. To make this creamy garlic pasta gluten-free, swap in your favourite gluten-free pasta. (I really love the ones made with bean or lentil flour, since they work in a little extra protein too!)
- Use roasted garlic. Instead of fresh garlic cloves, add an entire head of roasted garlic to the sauce for a more mellow, caramelised flavour.
- Add (vegan) chicken. This vegan chicken would be delicious to bulk up the pasta.
What to Serve With This Recipe
This creamy garlic pasta is perfect with a side of crusty roasted garlic bread or slices of olive bread to soak up the creamy sauce left on the plate. A light side salad is always good too—try this vegan Caesar salad or keep it easy and use a store-bought bag of greens with your favourite dressing.
How to Store
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat in the microwave or in a skillet set over medium-low heat. The sauce will thicken quite a bit in the fridge, so I recommend adding a splash of broth or water to loosen it up. I don’t recommend freezing this recipe, as the pasta will become mushy.
More Vegan Pasta Recipes
Enjoy friends! If you make this creamy garlic pasta, please snap a photo and tag #jessicainthekitchen on Instagram! We’d also love it if you would leave a comment below, and give the recipe a rating! Thanks so much!
Creamy Garlic Pasta
Ingredients
- ½ pound Shiitake mushrooms, cleaned, sliced and stems removed
- 1 cup similarly sized grape tomatoes, I love to get a colour assortment
- 8 ounces Pasta, linguine or tagliatelle
- 2 tablespoons vegan butter
- 3 cloves garlic, minced or finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon sea salt and ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2-3 tablespoons vegan cream cheese
- 2 tablespoons vegan Parmesan cheese, grated
- ¾ cup Pasta water
- 1 tablespoon freshly chopped basil
- ½ tablespoon olive oil, the best kind you can get
Instructions
- Bring a large salted pot of water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package directions to al dente. Reserve 3/4 cup of the pasta water.
- In a pan over medium high heat, heat the vegan butter. Add the garlic, tomatoes and shiitake mushrooms, stirring together. Cook for about 5-6 minutes, until the mushrooms are sautéed down and the tomatoes are looking slightly wilted and ready to burst. Using your spatula or wooden spoon, gently press on each tomato to slightly burst it. Lower the heat to medium low and in the sea salt and the ground black pepper. Stir to combine.
- Stir in the cream cheese, vegan parmesan and ¼ cup of the pasta water. Stir gently but swiftly to combine.
- Add in the pasta, then the rest of the reserved pasta water ¼ cup of the time, stirring to combine and create a creamy sauce. The pasta will soak up most of the water, while thickening the sauce.
- Taste the sauce and add more sea salt or black pepper if desired.
- Turn off the heat, top with basil and drizzle the olive oil over. Serve the pasta with extra vegan parmesan on top. Enjoy!
Notes
Disclaimer: Although jessicainthekitchen.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, kindly note that these are only estimates. Nutritional information may be affected based on the product type, the brand that was purchased, and in other unforeseeable ways. Jessicainthekitchen.com will not be held liable for any loss or damage resulting for your reliance on nutritional information. If you need to follow a specific caloric regimen, please consult your doctor first.
Greetings, Jessica – it’s Jessica from DC! I LUV this recipe! Pasta is always a quick go-to for me. It’s usually quick, and it’s filling! In fact, this reminds me of how I first found your blog & recipes – it was your garlic focaccia bread! I was so impressed that I was able to bake FRESH, TASTY, lick-your-fingers, VEGAN bread FROM SCRATCH! You had me from there! And then, of course, your name being Jessica – it was meant to be! I am also commenting to congratulate you on being in the recent Essence.com article on 5 Female Food Bloggers folks need to know. I was SO HAPPY when I got to #5 and saw YOU. In fact, I didn’t even read what they had to say about you cuz I was so excited to see you – I went straight to your site and wrote this comment! Congrats! and I know many more wonderful things are coming your way!
Hi Jessica!!!
Aww wow that’s so amazing and I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed it so much!! Thanks for reminding me that we need to make this again. I can’t believe I’m just seeing this comment. Thanks so much – I remember why I didn’t comment, I didn’t realise I was in that Essence article and I got so caught up in it that I forgot to say thank YOU for bringing it to my attention! I truly appreciate that.
Thanks for being amazing and wishing you all the best!!
<3 Jessica
Absolutely delicious! I can never find vegan cream cheese in our supermarket so I did make my own. Also threw in some roasted garlic along with some fresh. Great flavor, wonderfully creamy sauce! Came together easily too. Will definitely make again. Would also be great with some wilted spinach too. Thanks for the great recipe!
HI Jessica its Roger from Toronto. We have prepared this recipe a lot this past summer to use up loads of cherry tomatoes coming in from the garden. Each meal has been absolutely delicious, yet simple and foolproof. I think the mushrooms and the Parmesan are the secret ingredients that take this dish past expectations. I once added shallots to the initial pan and found a whole new flavour coming through. This has become a regular dish over here and thanks for posting it for us all to enjoy. Very yummy and always cleaned out pans before bedtime.
Wow thank you so much for this glowing review Roger!! I’m so happy to hear that and yes I think those are the key ingredients too! Oh wow, I need to try shallots in it too thanks for the tip. So glad you’ve been enjoying this so much!!
I was skeptical about the secret ingredient (cream cheese) in this recipe, but all of Jessica’s recipe’s I have tested out came out pretty good for me so I said why not just try it out. WOWWWW. High quality tasting dish and it’s so quick and simple and most importantly great. I’ve been raving about this to my friends.
The pasta looks so good~ Thank you so much for the nice recipe!
Thanks for the review we really appreciate it.
This is my absolutely FAVORITE pasta recipe. I normally find recipes and keep it moving, nope, not this one. It’s quick and simple and above all it’s amazing taste. The sauce is unbelievably good and it’s so quick to make.It really will make you look at jar of pasta sauces differently and like me you just may not go back.Thanks so much absolutely enjoy your blog! 🙂
Oh wow Kristen thank you so much! We’re happy that you’re happy!
Hello
Could I use a different type of mushroom in place of the shiitake mushrooms?
R ✌🏾♥️
Sorry I just read the answer to my question, oops 😬✌🏾♥️
No Worries!! Enjoy so much!!
Very good and very easy to cook , with very good ingredients . Very good recepy
We really enjoyed this tonight. I left out the “cream cheese” and pasta because I wanted a side dish without the extra carbs. The flavors were great and with the pasta and cream cheese it would have made an impressive main course. Thanks!