Creamy, bright and deceptively simple.

This vegan lemon leek pasta is one of those recipes that looks like it shouldn’t work and then completely wins you over. There is no cream, no dairy, no complicated technique. Just a few humble ingredients that, when given a little time and patience, turn into something that tastes genuinely luxurious. If you are looking for a quick weeknight pasta that happens to be vegan, this is it.

The Magic of Slowly Cooked Leeks

The whole recipe hinges on one thing — not rushing the leeks. Sliced and cooked low and slow in a generous amount of olive oil, they completely transform. They go from sharp and a little grassy to soft, sweet and almost buttery. This is the base of your sauce and it is worth every extra minute you give it. Because once they are properly melted down, everything else just falls into place.

The No Cream Creamy Sauce

Once the leeks are soft, the white beans go in along with the zest of a whole lemon and the juice of half. Then you blend about half the mixture and stir it back in. The blended beans are what create the creaminess in this vegan lemon leek pasta — silky, rich and coating every strand of pasta without a drop of cream in sight. However, the unblended half keeps a little texture and substance so it never feels too smooth or too thin.

The lemon does a lot of the heavy lifting here too. The zest brings a brightness that cuts through the richness of the olive oil and beans, while the juice adds just enough acidity to make the whole thing sing.

What Pasta to Use

Honestly anything works, but I would lean towards something that holds sauce well. A rigatoni, a pappardelle or a good thick spaghetti. You want the pasta to carry the sauce rather than the sauce sliding off it. Also, do not forget to save a little pasta water before you drain it — a splash stirred into the sauce at the end helps everything come together beautifully.

Why This Works as a Weeknight Meal

This vegan lemon leek pasta is made entirely from pantry and fridge staples. A leek, a can of beans, a lemon and olive oil. That is essentially it. It is also naturally vegan and high in plant based protein thanks to the white beans, which makes it a genuinely nourishing meal rather than just a pasta with sauce. If you are already a fan of my Butter Chicken Beans on Toast you will recognise the same blending trick at work here — simple ingredients, one clever step, big results.

Patrice

VEGAN LEMON LEEK PASTA

A creamy, bright and completely vegan pasta made from just a handful of pantry staples. Slowly cooked leeks, white beans and lemon come together into a silky no-cream sauce in under 30 minutes.

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Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Servings: 2

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian, Mediterranean

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 1 leek sliced
• 1 can white beans drained
• olive oil generous amount
• 1 lemon zested
• Half a lemon juiced
• salt and black pepper to taste
• pasta of your choice

Method

 

1. Slice the leek and add it to a pan with a generous amount of olive oil. Cook slowly over low heat until completely soft, sweet and melted down. Do not rush this step — it is where all the flavour comes from.
2. Add the drained white beans, the lemon zest and the lemon juice. Season with salt and black pepper. Stir everything together and let it cook until it all comes together.
3. Take about half the mixture and blend it until smooth, then stir it back into the pan. This gives you a sauce that is partly creamy and partly chunky.
4. Toss with your cooked pasta and serve immediately.

Notes

You can also make this sauce by slowly cooking the leeks in butter and finishing it of with loads of parmesan cheese.