Lemon Zucchini Pasta with Beans

This creamy lemony zucchini pasta is a healthy version of the classic pasta al limone. It is vegan and therefore made without Parmesan, cream, cheese, and butter, but with zucchinis (zoodles), white beans, cashews, garlic, and basil. These changes turn the vegan pasta al limone into something special, while it is still a quick and easy recipe.

Lemony food

I’ve been stumbling across lemon spaghetti from time to time recently. Wow, how good, I thought. I like lemon in my food. Like in this Greek lemony spinach rice “Spanakorizo” or the lemony fennel pasta. As it’s (usually) important to me to have “something healthy” on my plate, a classic pasta al limone wasn’t perfect enough for me.

At the same time, I also felt like eating zoodles (spiralized *) zucchini “noodles”) again – although these are almost “too healthy” for me. Ha! Why not combine the two? So my first attempts were a combination of lemon pasta and zoodles.

The beans were added later. Step by step, I arrived at this pasta with lemon meets zucchini pasta and pasta with beans. If this version existed in Italy, it would probably be called “Pasta al Limone con Zucchine e Fagioli”. Oh, everything sounds so much better in Italian.

Ingredients for vegan lemon pasta

Usually, pasta al limone contains lots of lemon, of course, but also fat in the form of parmesan, cream, and butter. None of these are options for a vegan dish. Of course, all of this is already available in vegan form, but as I said, it’s not nutritious enough for me and it’s also too simple – copying the original and translating it to vegan.

If you like, you can add some homemade vegan almond feta on top – it just goes so well with it. Alternatively, you can grate vegan Parmesan over your lemon pasta.

Update on the preparation

Update in July 2024: I have tinkered with the recipe again. Originally, I used 150 ml vegan cream or coconut milk. However, as I now own a mini blender *), I have changed the recipe so that I blend soaked cashews with water – now my favorite combination when I want it to be creamy.

And when I start the blender, I also add a few more beans to make it even creamier. Because they made it too thick, I also add a little more water. I also blend in the lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, pepper and fresh basil at the same time – because blending is even quicker than chopping by hand. This way, you have made good use of the time while the pasta is cooking and have everything ready at once if you need it quickly.

Although I love my homemade vegetable stock powder, I now leave it out (it was 1 tsp if you’re looking for the “original recipe”) and add a little nutritional yeast *) instead, as a kind of counterpart to the usual Parmesan.

One small thing I have changed is that I cut the zoodles in half. Zoodles that are one meter long are very funny and cool, but don’t necessarily make the lemon spaghetti any easier or more elegant to eat.

Now I’ve told you what I’ve adapted. I’ll show you how to make the lemon zucchini pasta with beans next, with all the details, in the recipe card at the end of this post.

In case you’re wondering whether you can reheat this pasta the next day. Yes, you can, I’ve already done that. But it tastes best fresh.

The vegan lemon zucchini pasta tastes particularly good on a warm summer evening. And if you’re wondering what would go well with it: a cold white wine. Cheers.

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Yield: 2 portions

Creamy Vegan Lemon Zucchini Pasta with Beans, Basil, and Garlic

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Creamy vegan lemon pasta with zucchini (zoodles), white beans, basil, and garlic: a quick and easy recipe for a special vegan pasta al limone.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp cashews
• 200 ml (6.8 oz or 0.85 cup) water (plus more for cooking the pasta)
• 250 g (8.8 oz) spaghetti
• 2 tbsp and 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 2 zucchinis (not too thick and large so that they fit well in the spiralizer)
• 1 organic (!) lemon
• black pepper
• approx. 30 basil leaves (put a few on the side to garnish)
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast *)
• approx. 200 g (7 oz) cooked white beans (see note)
• 3 tbsp olive oil (plus a little more for garnishing)
• some dried chili if desired

Instructions

1. First, put 3 tablespoons of cashews in the blender jug and soak them in 200 ml (0.85 cup) hot water.
2. Then bring water with 2 tbsp salt to a boil in a pan and cook the spaghetti according to the packet instructions until al dente.
3. In the meantime, finely chop the garlic and pass the zucchini through a spiralizer *) (I use the thin side). Now you have so-called “zoodles”. They are often very long, making them impractical to eat, so cut the zoodles in half twice with a knife.
4. Grate the lemon zest and add to the cashews (keep a little to one side for garnish). Squeeze the lemon and add the juice (this should be about 4 tbsp) to the cashews, as well as 1/2 tsp salt, some freshly ground pepper, the basil leaves (keep a few for garnish), the nutritional yeast and 4 tbsp of the beans. Blend *) until creamy.
5. Heat the olive oil in a pan and sauté the chili and garlic for about ½ minute over medium heat.
6. Turn the heat up to high and add the zoodles.
7. After about 1/2 minunte (don't fry the zoodles any longer, or they will become mushy) turn off the heat, add the cooked and drained spaghetti and the blended lemon, cashew, and basil mixture.
8. Stir, and leave to stand for 1–2 minutes.
9. Serve the lemon pasta on a plate, garnish with a little lemon zest and finely chopped basil, and drizzle with olive oil. If you like, you can grate some vegan Parmesan over it. Or even better: homemade vegan almond feta.

Notes

• Either use already cooked beans from a can or jar. Or soak 100 g (3.5 oz) of beans overnight and cook them the next day until soft, what I usually do with "white beans" from the Turkish supermarket You can also use another type, like Cannellini beans.
• Dill would also work well instead of basil.