Gluten Free
Pink Sauce Pasta (Beet Pasta Sauce)
Prep
10 minutes
Cook
35 minutes
Yield
2 -3
This beautiful pink sauce pasta is fun, kid-friendly, and full of hidden health benefits and veggies from the beets.
Not only is this pink sauce pasta super adorable but it’s also loaded with hidden veggies and health benefits making it perfect for your kiddos. This can be a fun recipe to make for a mommy or daddy date with your kids on Valentine’s Day, or just for any occasion that you want a fun pink pasta.
Why you’ll love this pink pasta:
- Hidden Veggies: Even the pickiest of eaters get benefits from this beautiful pink pasta with its hidden veggies
- Kid-Friendly: Make this fun, playful beet pasta recipe with your kids. They’ll love the fun pink color
- Easy: Have this pink beet pasta ready in just 45-minutes
Ingredient Notes:
Cashews: To get the beet pasta sauce nice and creamy I love to use cashews instead of heavy cream that you’ll find in most creamy pasta recipes. Cashews, once soaked and blended, make a great base for a healthier creamy pasta and adds some additional protein to the pasta sauce.
Beets: Beets are a great root veggie to add to your diet in the fall and winter. They are full of nutrients, great for your digestive health, can support brain health, and even help keep your blood pressure in check.
How to make pink sauce recipe:
- Preheat the oven to 425F.
- Soak cashews in boiling water for 30 minutes or boil for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse.
- Prepare the beets by tossing the peeled and cut beets on a parchment-lined sheet pan with 2 tbsp olive oil, a big pinch of salt and pepper, thyme from 2 fresh sprigs and roast for 25 mins – 30 mins until fork tender.
- While the beets are cooking, cook the pasta in salted water according to package directions. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of pasta water.
- Once the beets are done cooking, make the pink sauce recipe in a blender. In a blender, combine beets, rinsed and drained cashews, nutritional yeast, garlic cloves, lemon juice, salt, pepper and 1 cup pasta water. Blend on high for 2 minutes or until smooth. Add more reserved water to help blend if needed.
- Add pink sauce recipe to a medium frying pan and bring to a simmer, simmer on low until warmed through, just a few minutes and adjust seasoning with more salt and pepper if needed. Thin with more reserved water if desired.
- Add in pasta and stir noodles until coated. Serve topped with a mixture of walnuts, shredded parmesan cheese and fresh thyme.
Expert Tips & FAQ:
Want to use another kind of pasta? Try penne or fusilli. Use gluten free pasta if desired.
Forgot to reserve the pasta water? Try vegetable broth or warm water, you may just need to add a bit more salt when adjusting the seasoning.
Leftovers: Store leftovers in the fridge for 3-5 days.
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Pink Sauce Pasta
Ingredients
For the pasta
- 1/2 cup raw unsalted cashews, soaked in boiling water for 30-60 minutes
- 2 beets, peeled and cut into sixths
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt & ground pepper
- 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 150-200 g mezzi or regular rigatoni pasta
- 1 – 1 1/2 cups pasta water
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 garlic cloves
- juice of half a lemon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground pepper
For the topping
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts and/or pecans
- 1/3 cup vegan or regular shredded parmesan cheese
- 2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425F.
- Soak cashews in boiling water for 30 minutes or boil for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse.
- Prepare the beets by tossing the peeled and cut beets on a parchment-lined sheet pan with 2 tbsp olive oil, a big pinch of salt and pepper, thyme from 2 fresh sprigs and roast for 25 mins – 30 mins until fork tender.
- While the beets are cooking, cook the pasta in salted water according to package directions. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of pasta water.
- Once the beets are done cooking, make the pink sauce in a blender. In a blender, combine beets, rinsed and drained cashews, nutritional yeast, garlic cloves, lemon juice, salt, pepper and 1 cup pasta water. Blend on high for 2 minutes or until smooth. Add more pasta water to help blend if needed.
- Add pink sauce to a medium frying pan and bring to a simmer, simmer on low until warmed through, just a few minutes and adjust seasoning with more salt and pepper if needed. Thin with more pasta water if desired.
- Add in pasta and stir noodles until coated. Serve topped with a mixture of walnuts, shredded parmesan cheese and fresh thyme.
I made this for a Barbie party. It was soooo good! Even people who don’t like beets loved it and went back for seconds. I used toasted pistachios for the topping and that was great too! So beautiful!
That sounds absolutely amazing!!!! Thank you so much for the love.
My family loved this pink pasta sauce, my sauce somehow turned not as creamy as the photo, but the flavour was great!
I love to hear it!