These vegan green goddess pesto pasta bowls feature roasted seasonal vegetables, crispy, “cheesy” tofu, pasta, and green goddess pesto made with a luscious combination of avocado, cashews, and lots of lemon and garlic.
Happy Saturday! I hope you are enjoying your weekend so far! We’re going to stay on the Mediterranean train with this bowl recipe. 🙂
More often than not, our summer dinners look something like this: A protein, seasonal vegetables (usually based on whatever these incredible farmers provide in our weekly Community Supported Agriculture box), a grain, and a flavourful sauce or dressing to add some oomph. These green goddess pesto pasta bowls are one of my favourite bowl recipes to date, and I think you will see why!
These bowls are a spinoff of my Green Goddess Pesto Pasta Salad. Rather than the pesto being combined with the pasta, however, it’s kept separate, and used as a topping for the bowls.
The components of these green goddess pesto pasta bowls are as follows:
- Crispy baked tofu: Again, a spinoff of my Crispy Baked Tofu, only this time, you’ll add some lemon juice and nutritional yeast, which imparts a cheesy flavour. If you follow a soy-free diet, replace the tofu with protein of your choice- poached or hard-boiled eggs or any cooked beans/legumes will do. If you aren’t vegetarian or vegan, wild salmon or organic free range chicken would work.
- Roasted vegetables: You can use whichever vegetables are in season. When I developed this recipe, asparagus was in season, so I roasted a combination of asparagus, broccoli, and mushrooms. Zucchini, red pepper, cherry tomatoes, eggplant, and cauliflower would also be tasty!
- Pasta: Any shape/variety you like. You can replace the pasta with cooked quinoa, rice, farro, buckwheat, polenta, or potatoes if you prefer!
- Green Goddess Pesto: Made with avocado, cashews, nutritional yeast, lemon, garlic, and olive oil. And oldie recipe (I first developed it in 2018) but a goodie!
- Olives: Totally optional. I’m obsessed with them, but feel free to omit if you’re not a fan.
Without a doubt, this recipe has quite a few components, but preparation shouldn’t take longer than 45 minutes. Prepare and bake the tofu first. Next, prepare the veggies for roasting. Roast them while you make the pesto and cook the pasta. The veggies should be ready around the same time as the pasta! And voila, dinner is served!
The other nice thing about these bowls is that leftovers make a lovely lunch the next day. Coming up with lunch ideas can be challenging at any time of the year, but it’s especially difficult in the summer when we’re not necessarily on our regular work week or school schedules! It’s so much easier when you already have containers of yummy leftovers in the fridge.
Well, that’s about all I have to say about these vegan green goddess pesto pasta bowls, folks! Let me know if you have any questions, or how you enjoyed them, by leaving a comment below. And if you post a photo to Instagram, tag me @upbeet.kitchen and #upbeetkitchen so that I can see!
Enjoy!
PrintVegan Green Goddess Pesto Pasta Bowls with Crispy Tofu
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4+ servings 1x
Description
These vegan green goddess pesto pasta bowls feature roasted seasonal vegetables, crispy, “cheesy” tofu, pasta, and green goddess pesto made with a luscious combination of avocado, cashews, and lots of lemon and garlic.
Ingredients
Crispy Baked Tofu
- 1 (14-16-oz) block organic firm tofu
- 1 tbsp tamari
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp arrowroot starch
- 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
Roasted Vegetables
- 1 bunch of asparagus
- 1 bunch of broccoli
- 1/2 a medium red onion, sliced
- 8 crimini mushrooms, chopped into quarters
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Green Goddess Pesto
- 3 cups (packed) fresh basil or parsley
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (from approximately 2 large lemons)
- 1/2 cup raw cashews
- 3/4–1 tsp fine sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium ripe avocado, pitted and flesh scooped out
- 1/4 cup filtered water
For Serving
- 1 lb (454 g) dry pasta of choice OR 4 servings of cooked grain of choice (quinoa, buckwheat, rice, faro, millet, etc.)
- 1/2 cup olives
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Chop the tofu into 1-inch cubes. Place in a bowl. In a small dish, whisk together the tamari, olive oil, arrowroot, lemon juice, and nutritional yeast. Pour this mixture over the tofu cubes and toss to coat. Transfer to the baking sheet and arrange in an even layer. Bake for 25 minutes, remove from the oven, and transfer to a separate dish, since you’ll need two baking sheets for vegetables. Leave the oven on.
- Arrange the asparagus spears on a second baking sheet. (I don’t recommend using parchment for the pan on which you roast the asparagus since it tends to become soggy.) Drizzle the asparagus with 1 tbsp of olive oil, the balsamic, and a pinch each sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Gently rub it into the asparagus and roast for 10-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the stalks.
- Chop the broccoli into small florets and place in a bowl along with the red onion, mushrooms, garlic, remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil, salt, and pepper. Toss to coat and transfer to the second baking sheet. Roast for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the green goddess pesto and cook the pasta while the vegetables are roasting. Place the herbs, olive oil, lemon juice, cashews, salt, pepper, nutritional yeast, garlic, avocado, and water in a food processor. Blend until silky smooth and transfer to an airtight container. Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package.
- To serve, place some pasta, tofu, roasted vegetables, and olives in bowls. Top with desired amount of pesto. Enjoy immediately.
Notes
For a less intensely flavoured pesto, reduce the amount of lemon juice. We love it super tangy!
For a soy-free meal, use cooked beans/lentils, poached or hard boiled eggs, or wild salmon/organic free range chicken in place of the tofu.
For a gluten-free meal, use gluten-free pasta or gluten-free grain/pseudograin of choice, such as quinoa, buckwheat, or millet.
Keywords: vegan green goddess pesto bowls, vegan green goddess pasta bowls, cheesy baked tofu
Allen
Protein, carbs, great taste. it all worked just fine!!
★★★★★