Easy Vegan Tomato Pesto Pasta (GF)

posted by Britt Berlin on Feb 22, 2019 (last updated Apr 6, 2022) 0 comments »

This vegan sun-dried tomato pesto pasta is incredibly easy to make for a week-night meal or meal prep ahead! It packs in loads of flavor and protein for a well-rounded meal!

Get ready for the best bowl of vegan tomato pesto pasta you’ll ever taste! Filled with veggies and packed with plant protein, it’s SO satisfying and filling while leaving you feeling light and happy 🙂

I’m actually serious. It’s not too good to be true. It’s legit. Oh, and it’s gluten free too!

This vegan sun-dried tomato pesto pasta is incredibly easy to make for a week-night meal or meal prep ahead! It packs in loads of flavor and protein for a well-rounded meal!

The nutrition of this tomato pesto pasta bowl:

Guess how much protein is in this bowl. Just guess. Okay you know what, I’ll just tell you!

Over 20 grams. Yep. A vegan tomato pesto pasta that is packed with protein. Want to know why? Because I decided to opt for a bean-based pasta! In using a bean-based pasta (specifically, I used chickpea pasta from Tolerant Foods– they’re the best that I’ve found so far, although I really do like Banza as well!). I’ve actually found this pasta cheaper in stores by several dollars, so don’t freak out at the price on Amazon! When you’re making this sun-dried tomato pesto pasta, I highly recommend just popping over to your local grocery store and purchasing the Tolerant Foods (or your favorite bean pasta) there!

But I included the link here because I wanted you to check it out, especially those ingredients- just organic chickpea flour, which is actually just dehydrated and ground chickpeas! A lot of other bean pastas use gums to help the binding of the pasta, which I’m not fearful of- I think there are far worse things that we need to be wary of in this world haha! I just don’t think it makes for the best texture.

When I’ve cooked with bean pastas that include gums, I always find the pasta comes out…gooey. Not attractive, right? This pasta still holds up nice and firm, even after a day of refrigeration (I made this two serve two and we had leftovers! So this vegan sun-dried tomato pesto pasta is a great meal prep dish!).

I absolutely love how flavor packed this tomato pesto pasta is too. You’d think that the pesto might be fighting too much with the sun-dried tomato sauce (I like to call if my Sunday Sauce- it’s so good!), but it’s just the right amount.

The sun-dried tomatoes add a really nice smokey flavor punch to the tomato pesto sauce, and the basil adds a decent amount of freshness, which is why I think this dish feels so light!

I had this meal two nights in a row and felt so good afterwards, which is how you want to feel after you eat a meal!

Speaking of which, let’s get into the ingredient details of this vegan sun-dried tomato pesto pasta!

Vegan Tomato Pesto Pasta Main Ingredients:

Sunday Sauce Ingredients (aka Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta!)

Crushed Tomatoes: The base of the sauce, of course. I love buying a big 16 oz jar of crushed tomatoes by Jovial- it’s a great brand and really pure ingredients. You can find them at almost any grocery store, but feel free to use your preference here!

Sun-dried Tomatoes: The flavor punch here. These sun-dried tomatoes add a really nice flavor to the vegan tomato pesto pasta that’s not too smokey, but just the right amount to add some excitement to the dish. Look for a brand that doesn’t have any citric acid or fillers (I feel that tastes the freshest), and remember to give them a little rinse before adding them to the sauce.

Vegan Pesto: So guess what?! I actually have my own vegan pesto recipe! It’s what I used in this recipe and what I recommend using for the sauce. However, this would definitely make this vegan sun-dried tomato pesto a Sunday meal-prep, since you’ll be using a lot of machines. In which case, feel free to purchase a vegan pesto at your local grocery store! If you’re in the NYC/tri-state area, I love Gotham Greens’ vegan pesto, which is local. If you’re out of state, check your refrigerated section- you always want a refrigerated pesto because that means it’s fresh and not made to be “shelf-stable.”

Then you just need some spices to finish off the sauce for this vegan tomato pesto pasta! Now onto the rest of the ingredients…

Vegan Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto PASTA Ingredients:

Chickpea/Bean Pasta: As I mentioned above, I love Tolerant Foods, or Banza, whichever you prefer, but Trader Joe’s also has some great bean pastas! It doesn’t have to be chickpea either! Lentil pasta is also packed with protein, as is black bean pasta. I find chickpea pasta to be the most neutral in flavor, but it’s whatever you prefer! If you’re not going for a gluten free pasta because that’s not your jam, feel free to use your favorite pasta here!

Not every meal has to be packed with protein, especially if you’re getting enough protein throughout your day, but I always like to add in a decent amount at dinner time. Protein is really important for a healthy metabolism, as the body works harder to break it down, so it’s a good macronutrient when you’re trying to repair a slower metabolism. I talk more about that in my Healing 360 course so I’ll save you the time reading that here, but I just thought it’s a fun fact! Protein isn’t just about building muscle!

Vegetables: For this bowl specifically, I used compari tomatoes (the larger tomatoes from the cherry tomato, but smaller than a steak tomato), spinach, mushrooms (excellent vitamin D!), and more sun-dried tomatoes to bring out the flavors in the vegan sun-dried tomato pesto sauce! I sautéed it all in some coconut oil, but if you don’t have that, feel free to use olive oil!

Then you just need some sea salt and pepper for flavor!

Labelling this tomato pesto pasta vegan:

So I wanted to bring up the fact that I call this sun-dried tomato pesto pasta vegan. Just because I label a dish vegan, gluten free, paleo, dairy free, sugar free, etc…(the list is long!) doesn’t mean that if you don’t fit into that neatly little defined box, you can’t have the dish.

I try to include a range of different dishes for different ways of eating because I want to show you that you don’t need to follow a label. Just because you eat something that’s considered “paleo” doesn’t mean you can’t have gluten. Just like if you eat a plant-based meal, it doesn’t make you vegan.

What would happen if you lived by no food rules? If you just lived your life with freedom, both in food and your life? You didn’t worry about whether or not your current and future meals would fit into this strictly outlined (which ironically keeps on changing…I mean, look at how much the definition of ‘paleo’ has changed in the past 5 years) rules.

How cool would that be?

I ate this protein packed vegan tomato pesto pasta bowl without guilt. Not a worry went through my mind about the amount of calories I was ingesting because I knew that I would stop when I was full, I didn’t freak out that oh my goodness, I ate a bowl of pasta, I’m going to wake up 20 million pounds heavier! Instead, I just sat there, in gratitude for the meal before me, and ate it with complete enjoyment.

I created a free Food Freedom to Ultimate Freedom guide for you that you can get sent to your email below. Feel free to check it out, it’s actually within a free resource library that contains more free downloads that I created just for you!

And thanks for reading through this very lengthy description of my new favorite pasta recipe: the vegan tomato pesto pasta! Cannot wait to see your recreation of it!

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