This creamy tomato pasta sauce is not just for vegans. Everyone can have it and I am pretty sure everyone will love it. It’s that good they might even think it has dairy in it.
What to expect: a creamy tomato sauce that’s fresh but still the right level of rich and cheesy, ready in under 20 minutes if you make your base sauce in advance, and delicious served with a rustic artisan shape like trofie or orecchiette.
What makes this creamy tomato pasta sauce vegan?
The only two ingredients that make this recipe vegan are the vegan bechamel and the vegan parmesan cheese.
This means that if you really don’t want to give up your dairy, you can easily replace these two ingredients and make this recipe non vegan.
Is there cream in tomato pasta sauce?
We are making this sauce with bechamel but if you prefer you can replace it with cooking cream. The only difference is that the final result will be a little more liquid and, in my opinion, less creamy.
Can you make this creamy tomato pasta sauce with Greek yogurt?
I think you could make it but I wouldn’t suggest cooking the Greek yogurt. I don’t believe yogurt is meant to be cooked, but only mixed in at the end.
The end result would probably be fresh and very Summery, but not as rich as using a bechamel sauce.
If your concern is that bechamel is too rich and high in calories, using a dairy free bechamel will solve that. I am using Valsoia besciamella, and it’s not high in calories.
Creamy tomato pasta sauce with cream cheese
You can substitute bechamel for cream cheese and still get a very rich and creamy sauce, especially if you like that fresh cheese / yogurt taste. Philadelphia is a good option, and they also have a vegan option. For a richer result you can opt for mascarpone cream cheese.
If you opt for this recipe variation, simply add the cream cheese at the step when we are adding the besciamella, and you can follow the rest of the recipe for a similar result.
Creamy tomato pasta sauce without cream or bechamel
If you stumbled upon this recipe looking for a tomato sauce without cream, I think you will enjoy this authentic Sicilian tomato pasta recipe. It’s called Norma.
Is this recipe a truly homemade creamy tomato pasta sauce?
Yes, it is. We are making the tomato sauce from scratch and we are using trofie. The only think it’s not homemade is our bechamel. If you prefer to make yours from scratch, you can. We don’t have a vegan recipe for bechamel sauce. You can check out the regular bechamel recipe with dairy.
Creamy tomato pasta sauce with passata
The base for this delicious recipe is an authentic tomato sauce made with passata.
This is a staple in Italian cuisine, and I suggest making it in bulk, and storing some in the fridge and the rest in the freezer.
You can use this to make this recipe, but also the traditional tomato dish. Plus, it’s delicious as a spread for Italian pizza, as a base for bruschetta, to spread on sandwiches, or to use for making Italian pies and calzone.
I also enjoy eating it as a dip.
If you are looking for variations of this tomato sauce, you can try making these changes:
- replace garlic with onion
- replace basil with oregano or chilli
- add a teaspoon or two of Balsamic vinegar of Modena at the end
Vegan Creamy Tomato Pasta Sauce Recipe
It’s finally time to make this recipe. I am pretty sure you are really craving it after all this talk :).
The main steps are the following:
- make the base tomato sauce
- cook the trofie
- combine the trofie, cooked tomatoes, bechamel and cheese
The stars of this recipe are an exceptional Italian extra virgin olive oil like Belmorso EVOO and an authentic Italian artisan shape like Belmorso Trofie.
Using an extra virgin olive oil with an intense and genuine flavour will enhance the tomato flavour like no supermarket olive oil could.
In addition to that, you are not going to fully flavour this recipe if your pasta is blunt and doesn’t hold its shape.
Below you’ll find our full recipe with all the creamy pasta ingredients. You can follow on your screen or print it out.
Best Creamy Pasta Recipes
If creamy recipes are your thing, we get you, they are delicious. Here is a list of other recipes you should check out.
Bruschetta orecchiette Italiana
Creamy tomato rigatoni sauce with chicken
Quick creamy tomato sauce with ricotta
Tomato and vegetable orecchiette with cannonata
Answering your questions
I have already answered many of the common questions throughout the first part of this post. Any others I haven’t answered you will find the answer here. If you still have questions left, leave them in the comments and we’ll answer them for you.
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