This delicious Vegan Lemon, Garlic and Thyme Sauce with Pasta and Roasted Tomatoes is dairy-free, oil-free, gluten-free and full of a rich and creamy lemon sauce. Fresh herbs take this dish up a notch and make it a healthy plant-based dish for any night of the week!
To all my lemon lovers out there, I wish you could see the giddy movement of my fingers typing out this post, because this recipe is so delicious! I mean, really delicious. I am a HUGE lemon lover, so I really wanted a strong lemon flavor here and it’s so lemony that it gives that almost pucker reaction tasting it straight out of the blender, but it’s total perfection mixed in with pasta.
I don’t think it’s any secret how much I love pasta, due to the high amount of pasta posts I have on my blog. They are some of my most popular recipes. Case in point, the #1 recipe of all-time here, the Best Vegan Garlic Alfredo. We eat pasta weekly around here. So, when Explore Cuisine reached out to me asking if I wanted to create a pasta dish using several fresh ingredients and it be a really simple and fast dish, it practically screamed my blog theme, haha. As you know, I rarely ever do any of these types of post, but hey, I love pasta, so I was all in.
I have tried all 3 pastas and I really liked the Red Lentil Penne the best. It had a really nice firm texture that did not turn mushy like many gluten-free pastas can do. It does not taste like wheat pasta, rather, it has a slight grainy mouthfeel. However, it’s barely detectable in the finished product.
I wanted something a little different, but lots of flavor and lots of freshness in every bite. They wanted me to use 5 or 6 fresh ingredients. So, I decided a lemon sauce really bold in lemon flavor would be amazing. I added a twist of fresh thyme, fresh garlic, pine nuts for buttery-ness and lathered it all over their fresh Red Lentil Penne Pasta. Then I tossed it with fresh parsley and sweet, blistery roasted cherry tomatoes.
WHAT I LIKE ABOUT EXPLORE CUISINE PASTA
- they are great for those wanting healthy gluten-free options
- they are packed high in protein, beans, lentils and/or chickpeas
- high in fiber
- organic and vegan
- healthy, fresh and cooks super fast
- different shapes and styles to suit your individual tastes
- cooks within 10 minutes
HOW TO MAKE A VEGAN LEMON GARLIC SAUCE
First, you will need to gather these 7 simple main ingredients:
- Explore Cuisine Red Lentil Penne Pasta
- fresh lemon juice
- raw pine nuts
- garlic
- fresh parsley
- fresh thyme
- fresh cherry or grape tomatoes
Thank you to Explore Cuisine for sponsoring this post! All opinions are completely my own.
Vegan Lemon, Garlic and Thyme Sauce
Ingredients
- Two 8 oz boxes Explore Cuisine Red Lentil Penne Pasta
LEMON GARLIC THYME SAUCE
- 1 cup (150g) raw pine nuts (make sure they are fresh and not old, as old pine nuts will taste very rancid/bitter)
- 6 tablespoons (90g) fresh lemon juice
- 6 tablespoons (90g) water
- 4 large cloves garlic, peeled (16g)
- 5 long sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt and 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Remaining ingredients
- small handful fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 1 cup (200g) fresh cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F and line a pan with parchment paper.
- Bring a large pot of water to boil. Once boiling, salt the water well and add the pasta. Cook until al dente, 8-10 minutes. If you don't salt your water, the pasta will be bland.
- While waiting on the pasta, add the sliced tomatoes to the lined pan and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 10 minutes. The tomatoes should be bubbling and the bottoms have a nice charred color. Both the tomatoes and pasta should be done about the same time.
- While the pasta and tomatoes are cooking, make the lemon sauce.
- Add all of the ingredients listed under "Lemon Garlic Thyme Sauce" to a Vitamix. The best way to remove thyme leaves is to slide them off in the opposite direction they are facing. They will slide right off this way. Blend the ingredients until smooth. You will need to scrape down the sides and lid a couple of times. Blend again until 100% smooth and no bits of nuts remain. It should taste creamy, buttery and a wonderful pucker of lemon!
- Once the pasta is done, drain and add to bowls with desired amount of lemon sauce. Toss with some of the fresh parsley (as much as desired) and garnish with the tomatoes and extra pine nuts. I chose to toast extra pine nuts since they add more flavor. Either briefly do this in a toaster oven or over low heat in a pan on the stove, stirring often on the stove. Watch closely as they toast quickly in a couple of minutes.
gluten-free
I’m wondering if I could use walnuts instead of the pine nuts
Hi Patricia! I do not think walnuts would taste very good-they are quite strong in flavor and have skins that might make the texture mealy. I’d use cashews instead.
I actually did use the walnuts and it was delicious. I’m sure it’s much better with pine nuts but I didn’t have them on hand and they’re so expensive.
I just made the sauce and added it to roasted vegetables, avocado all topped with a big fried portobello.
So tasty and delicious and full of flavour – thank you so much
That is wonderful to hear RG!
This sounds incredible, but pine nuts are $$$ for me. Is there another nut that would work…walnuts? Or cut the pine nuts down to 1/2 cup and use some cannellini beans? Thanks Brandi 🙂 xo!
You can use cashews!
I made this sauce exactly as-written (but with a brown rice pasta I had on hand) and served with roasted asparagus, which all plated beautifully. It was so incredibly creamy and delicious! I wanted to have leftovers for lunch the next day, but my husband and I couldn’t stop ourselves until every bit was gone. I have a file of favorite recipes that only the best-of-the-best go into, and I’m adding this. Good thing Sams Club sells raw pine nuts (organic, 16 oz, $20)!
This is so wonderful to hear Laurel, thank you so much for making it!
Looks delish! We are having a dinner party, and I would like to make this earlier in the day. Will the sauce reheat well? Should I leave out the lemon until just before serving so it maintains that really fresh flavor?
Oh it’s totally fine to make it as is, no need to hold off on the lemon. It reheats well! Just reheat on low heat.
Made this tonight and it delivered in spades! It was fast, easy, and most of all, delicious. Will be a regular at our house. Thank you so much! You are a genius in the kitchen.
Oh this is so wonderful to hear Mary, thank you so much for the glowing review!!
MAKE SURE YOU PINE NUTS ARE FRESH!! I bought pine nuts from a “cheaper” store, I made one of the sauces before I tested them out and they were rancid! The sauce had to go in the garbage.
Oh yes, rancid nuts, especially pine nuts are the worst! Sorry you got some bad ones Linda!
I’m loving it!
I think I have way more sauce than I’ll need for the pasta. Any other suggestions for uses?
I bought your book too, can’t wait to dive in!
Hi Jessica, so glad to hear it! You could use it just on leftovers and make more pasta or even over yukon gold potatoes. I love to just cook up a bunch of potatoes in the oven and drizzle creamy sauce over the top. So simple and delicious!
Question: Is it okay to heat up (cook) or warm up the sauce before adding it to your pasta?
Sure, you can if you like, but it’s not really necessary if you’re adding it directly to the warm pasta. The pasta heats it up perfectly. But for leftovers, yes, just gently heat it and stir during a couple of times so it doesn’t get clumpy.
Your recipes always look amazing. Are all or most of your recipes oil free? Thank You
Yes! I never use oil as an ingredient in my recipes. I use nuts or Fruit or coconut instead of oil.
This looks like a really tasty pasta recipe! This is something my girlfriend would LOVE!
What a delicious and easy meal! We’ve eaten plant-based for over a year and I love your recipes. Simple. Delicious. Healthy!!
Awesome, so glad you loved it and my recipes in general!!
This was fantastic! I made it just as written and it couldn’t have been better. Even my husband enjoyed it and he’s usually a meat and potatoes guy.
Thank you so much Melissa for coming by to leave a review, I’m so happy you both loved it so much!!
This looks super yummy! So fresh, easy and love that pasta for extra protein! Beautiful pics too as always!
Thanks so much girl!
Super recipe that checks all the boxes: delicious, easy, fast, flexible* (see note, below), comfort food…..overall awesomeness!
* Flexible, how? Brandi’s done the hard stuff in the recipe design. But I had no thyme! So I swapped for basil. I also had no tomatoes, but I did have zucchini. This is the genius of thevegan8! The foundation is there, and with a bit of cooking knowledge, modifications can be made to suit. ❤️ I can’t wait to follow the recipe 100%.
I’m so glad you loved it Anna, thank you for the lovely review! Basil would be yummy as well here! Thank you so much for making it so quickly!
Is it ok to substitute cashews for the pine nuts? And would you recommend this sauce recipe for a salad dressing? (I hope so!)
Hi there, it will make the sauce thicker and sweeter but I imagine it would still be delicious! The pine nuts give a buttery taste and lovely texture but let me know what you think of the cashew version! And yes, it is totally delicious as a salad dressing, especially since the lemon flavor is so strong. I’ve used it on tacos too and it’s amazing!