Creamy Tomato Silken Tofu Pasta Sauce

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This Creamy Tomato Silken Tofu Pasta Sauce is absolutely delicious yet healthy and easy oil-free sauce. Bonus: this plant based and oil-free sauce comes together in only 5 minutes! Simple ingredients, big flavor, and minimal effort—what more could you ask for?

Meet my latest hyper fixation sauce: Creamy Tomato Silken Tofu Pasta Sauce! So flavorful, smooth, and fits my criteria of whole food plant based, no oil or sugar, low fat, and low calorie too.

This creamy tomato tofu sauce is modeled after a famous creamy pasta sauce that includes an adult drink, but since I don’t drink and I never have that stuff in my house, I felt no need to include it in my recipe nor call it by that name.

Also, it has almost none of the ingredients that a traditional Italian creamy tomato sauce, but, like, it’s still REALLY good and REALLY delicious.

I’ve been putting this sauce on everything lately, but my two favorite things to put it on are pasta and spaghetti squash. It’s funny, spaghetti squash (and squash in general) is one of those things I used to hate and now love. Amazing how tastebuds change!

ANYWAY, this sauce is incredible and you need to make it immediately. Sorry to be dramatic, but it’s that good.

Luckily it can be made in minutes, requires only a few ingredients, and is super versatile.

Ingredients

See the recipe card below for the full ingredients list (with amounts) and instructions.

• Silken Tofu: This recipe calls for 16 ounces of silken tofu. You can find 16-ounce packages of silken tofu in the refrigerator section at your local grocery store, that’s where I buy mine even in my little town that has almost nothing. But if you can only buy your silken tofu in the shelf-stable 12-ounce aseptic containers, you can either use 1 + ¼ of those, or just use one pack and add 2-4 tablespoons of soaked raw cashews, soaked raw sunflower seeds, cooked white beans, or dehydrated potato flakes. OR use one pack and decrease the rest of the ingredients by 25%.
• No Salt Added Tomato Sauce: I use canned no-salt-added tomato sauce (link) for this recipe. I prefer the no salt variety and then I add my own seasonings.
• Nutritional Yeast: This both helps thicken the sauce and gives it a savory boost. It’s not a particularly cheesy sauce, like my silken tofu cheese sauce is.
• Lemon Juice: I prefer fresh squeezed lemon juice but I have to be realistic and tell you I don’t always have it. Or sometimes I’m honestly too lazy to squeeze it. I LOVE the Italian Volcano brand of lemon juice (it’s organic and so much better than any other brand I’ve tried), which I often purchase in a 2-pack from Costco.
• White or Yellow Miso Paste: This is to replace the salt in the recipe, but I also love the little hint of umami flavors. Per Dr. Michael Greger of NutritionFacts.org, the soy in miso has a protective effect so the sodium in miso paste will not affect us negatively. Please feel free to omit or use a pinch of salt if that is what you prefer.
• Spices: In this recipe, I used granulated onion, granulated garlic, dried Italian seasoning, and regular/sweet paprika.

Substitutions

• Silken Tofu: If you can only find soft or regular tofu (don’t use firm), you can use this and just add a little plain unsweetened non-dairy milk (just enough to blend). If you don’t want to use tofu at all, you can do 1+½ cups drained and rinsed canned (or cooked from dried) white beans, or 1 cup of either soaked raw cashews or soaked raw sunflower seeds (and you will need water or plain unsweetened non-dairy milk to blend, and how much depends on how long you soaked them so start with equal parts nuts/seeds and liquid and adjust from there.
• No Salt Added Tomato Sauce: I’ve attempted this silken tofu pasta sauce recipe with other canned tomato products such as no-salt-added stewed tomatoes, no-salt-added crushed tomatoes, and no-salt-added diced tomatoes and they all seem to work quite well! Just make sure you read the ingredients label since I’ve discovered that some brands add sugar when they remove the salt *insert eye roll*.
• Nutritional Yeast: If you can’t eat nutritional yeast, try a little extra miso (just a smidge), onion, and garlic.
• Lemon Juice: Bottled works too! You can use a little white wine vinegar (start with 1 tablespoon, blend, and taste) if you don’t have any fresh or bottled lemon juice on hand.
• White or Yellow Miso Paste: If you’re fine eating salt (or if you eat the potassium chloride salt substitute) you can go ahead and use that. If you are totally avoiding added sodium, you can leave it out. Maybe add an extra tablespoon of lemon juice and/or some dulse flakes!
• Spices: You can mess around with the spices if you want but I can’t guarantee the results. 😉

How to Make Creamy Tomato Silken Tofu Pasta Sauce

1. Add all ingredients to the blender: I like to plop in the tofu first (drain the package of excess water, then scrape the container out with a spatula), then add liquids, then spices.
2. Blend: Sometimes my spices like to stick to the sides of the blender. If this happens to you, stop the blender and scrape down the sides with a spatula. Then continue blending.
3. Taste: Stop the blender and stick a spoon in there. Taste the sauce. If it’s not salty enough, add more miso. Not flavorful enough? Add more nutritional yeast, granulated onion, and granulated garlic. Blend again if you add anything.
4. Use: Pour on cooked and drained pasta (I usually put it on my favorite pasta, Chickapea brand, as well as spaghetti squash which I also love it on!), potatoes, steamed or roasted veggies, or anything you like! If you need to heat the the silken tofu sauce, you can microwave it in a microwave-safe dish or pour it into a small nonstick pot and heat gently over low heat until warmed.
5. Store: If you heated the sauce, let it cool to room temperature. Store in an airtight jar (I find food tastes better when stored in glass) in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Use the sniff test if not sure. I store it in a jar and shake up the jar before using. When reheating, pour the amount you want to use either in a small microwave-safe dish or pour it on your food and then heat it up.

Serving Suggestions

My absolute go-to way to use this oil-free sauce is on cooked pasta. You can use whole grain pasta, a bean or legume based pasta, or whatever pasta you like. My favorite pasta with this plant based creamy sauce is Chickapea brand penne pasta. Or any shape, hah.

It’s also seriously delicious on spaghetti squash, cooked potatoes (Yukon gold are my favorite), roasted or steamed vegetables (I love it on broccoli, cauliflower, etc.), grain bowls, and more.

More Oil-Free Sauce Recipes to Try

• Silken Tofu Cheese Sauce
• Oil-Free Hummus
• Sweet Lime Oil-Free Vinaigrette
• Silken Tofu Ranch Dressing
• Plant Based Nacho Cheese Sauce
• 3-Ingredient Plant Based Chocolate Sauce
• Oil-Free Balsamic Vinaigrette
• Edamame Guacamole
• Oil-Free Pesto

Creamy Tomato Silken Tofu Pasta Sauce

Liz

This Creamy Tomato Silken Tofu Pasta Sauce is absolutely delicious yet healthy and high protein. Bonus: this plant based and oil-free sauce comes together in only 5 minutes! Simple ingredients, big flavor, and minimal effort—what more could you ask for?

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Total Time 5 minutes mins

Course Sauce

Cuisine American, Italian

Servings 8 servings

Calories 61.7 kcal

Equipment

• 1 Blender or a food processor may be used, but how smooth it gets depends on the strength of your machine
• 1 Blender spatula not necessary, just makes it easier to get all of that silken tofu pasta sauce goodness out of the blender!

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 16 Ounces Silken Tofu, drained, see Notes section below for substitutions
• 14.5 Ounces No-Salt-Added Tomato Sauce see Notes section below for substitutions
• 1/4 Cup Nutritional Yeast, see Notes section below for substitutions
• 3 Tablespoons Lemon Juice, fresh is best but bottled is fine
• 1 Tablespoons White or Yellow Miso Paste, to taste, see Notes section below for substitutions
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons Granulated Onion
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons Granulated Garlic
• 1 Teaspoon Sweet Paprika
• 1/2 Teaspoon Dried Italian Seasoning

Instructions

 

• Add all ingredients to the blender: I like to plop in the tofu first (drain the package of excess water, then scrape the container out with a spatula), then add liquids, then spices.
• Blend: Sometimes my spices like to stick to the sides of the blender. If this happens to you, stop the blender and scrape down the sides with a spatula. Then continue blending.
• Taste: Stop the blender and stick a spoon in there. Taste the sauce. If it’s not salty enough, add more miso. Not flavorful enough? Add more nutritional yeast, granulated onion, and granulated garlic. Blend again if you add anything.
• Use: Pour on cooked and drained pasta (I usually put it on my favorite pasta, Chickapea brand, as well as spaghetti squash which I also love it on!), potatoes, steamed or roasted veggies, or anything you like! If you need to heat the the silken tofu sauce, you can microwave it in a microwave-safe dish or pour it into a small nonstick pot and heat gently over low heat until warmed.
• Store: If you heated the sauce, let it cool to room temperature. Store in an airtight jar (I find food tastes better when stored in glass) in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Use the sniff test if not sure. I store it in a jar and shake up the jar before using. When reheating, pour the amount you want to use either in a small microwave-safe dish or pour it on your food and then heat it up.

Notes

• Silken Tofu: This recipe calls for 16 ounces silken tofu. You can find 16-ounce packages of silken tofu in the refrigerator section at your local grocery store, that’s where I buy mine even in my little town that has almost nothing. But if you can only buy your silken tofu in the shelf-stable 12-ounce aseptic containers, you can either use 1 + ¼ of those, or just use one pack and add 2-4 tablespoons of soaked raw cashews, soaked raw sunflower seeds, cooked white beans, or dehydrated potato flakes.
•  Tomato Sauce: I’ve attempted this silken tofu pasta sauce recipe with other canned tomato products such as no-salt-added stewed tomatoes, no-salt-added crushed tomatoes, and no-salt-added diced tomatoes and they all seem to work quite well! Just make sure you read the ingredients label since I’ve discovered that some brands add sugar when they remove the salt *insert eye roll*.
• To Substitute the Silken Tofu: If you can only find soft or regular tofu (don’t use firm), you can use this and just add a little plain unsweetened non-dairy milk (just enough to blend). If you don’t want to use tofu at all, you can do 1+½ cups drained and rinsed canned (or cooked from dried) white beans, or 1 cup of either soaked raw cashews or soaked raw sunflower seeds (and you will need water or plain unsweetened non-dairy milk to blend, and how much depends on how long you soaked them so start with equal parts nuts/seeds and liquid and adjust from there.
• Nutritional Yeast: If you can’t eat nutritional yeast, try a little extra miso (just a smidge), onion, and garlic. 
• Yellow or White Miso Paste:This is to replace the salt in the recipe, but I also love the little hint of umami flavors. Per Dr. Michael Greger of NutritionFacts.org, the soy in miso has a protective effect so the sodium in miso paste will not affect us negatively. If you’re fine eating salt (or if you eat the potassium chloride salt substitute) you can go ahead and use that. If you are totally avoiding added sodium, you can leave it out.

Nutrition

Serving: 0.5 cupCalories: 61.7kcalCarbohydrates: 7.5gProtein: 5.2gFat: 2.4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.09gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.03gSodium: 88.3mgPotassium: 340.9mgFiber: 1.8gSugar: 2.2gVitamin A: 18.41IUVitamin C: 4.52mgCalcium: 43.6mgIron: 1.6mg

Keyword creamy tomato sauce, oil-free, oil-free sauce, plant based pasta sauce, plant based sauce, silken tofu pasta sauce, silken tofu recipe, silken tofu sauce, tofu pasta sauce

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