Pasta is a classic meal, and while I do love a classic tomato sauce, sometimes I like to mix it up and make a fun sauce. My italian ancestors may not approve of a pasta sauce with tofu in it, but I love adding tofu to my pasta sauces for extra protein. This Vegan High Protein Sweet Potato Harissa Pasta is an amazing and high protein pasta recipe.
Don't worry if you don't like tofu, it blends up in this sauce and you can not taste it. On the chance that you are allergic to soy, don't worry you can sub cashews. This pasta is so good and unique, plus it will keep you satiated thanks to the protein.
I love sweet potatoes! For more delicious sweet potato recipes try my sweet potato banana bread or my sweet potato oatmeal cookies.
Let's get into the recipe.
This spicy vegan sweet potato pasta is
- easy to make
- healthy for you
- plant based, gluten free and dairy free
- high in protein
- vegan
- perfect for dinner
Ingredients for vegan creamy sweet potato pasta
- sweet potato
- garlic
- pasta water
- lemon
- harissa
- tomato paste
- oregano
- paprika
- salt
- pepper
- basil
- pasta
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions to make silken tofu sweet potato pasta
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Add sweet potato and garlic to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Lightly coat sweet potato in oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 40-45 minutes, until sweet potatoes and garlic are browned.
- Add cooked sweet potato and garlic cloves (removed from bulb) to a blender along with the rest of the sauce ingredients. Blend until smooth.
- Mix sauce with cooked pasta and top with basil. Serve and enjoy.
Substitutions
- Silken Tofu - can be subbed with ⅓ cup cashews or coconut cream
- Harissa paste - can be subbed with crushed tomatoes + pinch red pepper flakes
Recipe Pro-Tips
Blend your sauce until it is nice and creamy, you don't want any chunks.
For the best tasting sauce use a good quality silken tofu that actually tastes good. I like the nasoya brand.
Other healthy pasta recipes to try
If you make this Vegan High Protein Sweet Potato Harissa Pasta, please leave me a rating and review on this blog post. This is the best way to support me!
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Vegan High Protein Sweet Potato Harissa Pasta
Ingredients
sauce ingredients
- 1 small sweet potato - cubed about 2 cups
- 1 bulb garlic - top cut off
- 1 block silken tofu
- 1 cup reserved pasta water make sure that is is heavily salted for flavor
- ¼ cup harissa paste
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- salt to taste I recommend ½ teaspoon
- pepper to taste I recommend ¼ teaspoon
- juice from ½ lemon
Other ingredients
- ½ box pasta if you are using banza this makes enough sauce for 1 full box
- ½ cup finely chopped basil or parsley for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Add sweet potato and garlic to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Lightly coat sweet potato in oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 40-45 minutes, until sweet potatoes and garlic are browned.
- Add cooked sweet potato and garlic cloves (removed from bulb) to a blender along with the rest of the sauce ingredients. Blend until smooth.
- Mix sauce with cooked pasta and top with basil. Serve and enjoy.
Notes
Nutrition
Mélodie says
Very delicious! So creamy and just enough spiced. I made this for me and my family and they all loved it. Thank you for the recipe👍😋
Kristi says
Thank you Mélodie!
Melissa says
Do you use soft, medium, or firm silken tofu? Silken tofu comes in all three.
Kristi says
Hi Melissa, I have never seen any variation in the types of silken tofu. I typically buy the nasoya brand from whole foods.
Vic says
Hi! I'm looking to make this for someone who loves pasta but can't eat tomatoes. Is there something I can substitute the tomato paste for?
Thank you!
Kristi says
Hi, you can leave it out. It does help with flavor for the sauce so you may want to try around some extra spices.
Rachel says
Delicious! I love recipes from your site, and how you take what are “regular” recipes and add vegetarian/ vegan friendly proteins to them! I changed the ratios of this a bit to make more to make it through the work week and turned out just perfect for me. (Doubled most of the recipe, roasted a white onion along with the sweet potatoes and garlic, added some wilted kale, and added a bit of chili powder for some extra heat!). I am excited for lunch this week- thank you!
Kristi says
Thanks Rachel!
Renée Russell says
Cant wait to make this!
Praj says
Absolutely delicious recipe. I tweaked it a bit by adding chilli flakes instead of paprika. Highly recommend it.
Kristi says
Thanks Praj!
Greta says
I made this with 2 tbsp of red pepper flake because I didn’t have harissa and it was sooo good and still very spicy. You can thin it out with a good amount of pasta water and stretch it to up to 6 servings if you want (although obviously each serving would have less protein). For sure making this again (perhaps with some leftover homemade pumpkin purée) and highly recommend this easy dinner!
Kristi says
Thank you Greta!