Spinach Pasta Sauce
Spinach Pasta Sauce is creamy and delicious, packed with nutrients, and ready in just 5 minutes! This 8-ingredient (including spices!) spinach sauce is flavorful, healthy, and great on top of pasta, potatoes, veggies, and more.
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Looking to sneak in veggies or make a fun sauce? You’ll love this spinach pasta sauce! It’s so creamy and easy, plus it’s healthy thanks to the secret ingredient: silken tofu!
If you’re new here, hi, I’m Liz, and I’m obsessed with using silken tofu as the base for creamy sauces and dressings! It’s just so creamy, low fat, high protein, and silky smooth that it just makes the perfect creamy base. In fact, I probably make a silken tofu sauce every week!
My favorite recipes with silken tofu include my Silken Tofu Cheese Sauce, Silken Tofu Ranch Dressing, Creamy Tomato Silken Tofu Pasta Sauce, Plant Based Nacho Cheese Sauce, and my newest Silken Tofu Alfredo Sauce. I even use silken tofu in baking sometimes, like with my Protein Buns!
I found my love of using silken tofu as an oil-free sauce base through trial and error, really. I’ve made sauces with white beans and/or potatoes, but they turn out too starchy and not as creamy as I’d like (not to mention they’re more calorically dense than silken tofu).
And making creamy sauces with raw cashews is absolutely delicious, but unfortunately nuts are way too high in fat and calories for me to use while I’m still on my weight loss journey.
Silken tofu is low in fat and calories, high in protein, and not all that starchy, which makes it a great base for creamy dressings and sauces.
But let’s get back to this creamy spinach pasta sauce. It’s a great way to add in veggies for picky eaters, and it’s pretty fun too!
I love putting this spinach sauce on pasta, but it’s also great with potatoes, tofu, veggies, or whatever else you want to put it on! You can also use it as a dip or even a sandwich spread.
This spinach pasta sauce tastes like pesto and cheese sauce had a baby, so let’s make it!
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 10 or 12-ounce aseptic containers, you can either use one and a half of those, or just use one pack and add 2-4 tablespoons of soaked raw cashews, soaked raw sunflower seeds, cooked white beans, or cooked potatoes, dehydrated potato flakes. OR use one pack and decrease the rest of the ingredients by 25%.
- Baby Spinach: This recipe works with either fresh or frozen spinach. If using frozen, thaw it and squeeze out most of the excess liquid. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but a lot of extra water may dilute the thickness and flavor of your spinach pasta sauce.
- 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.
- Nutritional Yeast: This both helps thicken the sauce and gives it a savory boost.
- Herbs and Spices: I used granulated onion, granulated garlic, dried basil (fresh basil is great; I just didn’t have it. If you do, use three times the amount, so about a tablespoon or more to taste), and salt. If not using salt, 1-2 teaspoons of white miso paste works well in this recipe.
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.
- Baby Spinach: Baby kale would work well in this recipe instead of spinach (or you could do half and half). If you have regular kale (such as curly kale or lacinato kale), I would lightly steam them before blending if you don’t have a high powered blender like a Vitamix, just to ensure it gets thoroughly incorporated in the sauce.
- Lemon Juice: Bottled works too! You can use a little apple cider vinegar (start with 1 tablespoon, blend, and taste) if you don’t have any fresh or bottled lemon juice on hand.
- Nutritional Yeast: If you can’t eat nutritional yeast, try a little yellow or white miso paste (just a smidge) and a little extra granulated onion, and granulated garlic.
- Spices: You can mess around with the spices if you want but I can’t guarantee the results. 😉
How to Make Spinach Pasta Sauce
- 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 the spinach, liquids, and spices.
- Blend: Sometimes the spinach or the 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 salt or miso. Not flavorful enough? Add more nutritional yeast, granulated onion, and granulated garlic. Blend again if you add anything.
- Use: Pour your spinach pasta sauce on cooked and drained pasta (I usually put it on my favorite pasta, Chickapea brand, or the edamame pasta I’ve been loving because it’s loaded with protein, 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 sauce pan and heat gently over low heat until warmed. If you’re using a high powered blender, you can also blend for about 2 minutes and that will warm it up.
- Store: If you heated the sauce, let it cool to almost room temperature. Store in an airtight jar or container (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
Obviously from the name, this spinach pasta sauce is incredible on pasta.
But you can also serve it on cooked potatoes, steamed or roasted veggies, air fried or baked tofu, grain bowls, and more!
This creamy spinach sauce even works well as a sandwich spread or dip for veggies, crackers, and more.
More Oil-Free Sauce Recipes
- Miso Gravy
- Silken Tofu Alfredo Sauce
- Oil-Free Pesto
- Grape Tomato Pasta Sauce
- Silken Tofu Cheese Sauce
- Oil-Free Balsamic Vinaigrette
- Silken Tofu Ranch Dressing
- Sweet Lime Oil-Free Vinaigrette
- Plant Based Nacho Cheese Sauce
- 3-Ingredient Plant Based Chocolate Sauce
- Creamy Tomato Silken Tofu Pasta Sauce
Spinach Pasta Sauce
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 spinach pasta sauce goodness out of the blender!
Ingredients
- 16 Ounces Silken Tofu drained, see Notes section below for substitutions
- 2 Cups Baby Spinach packed
- 2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
- 2 Tablespoons Nutritional Yeast see Notes section below for substitutions
- 1 Teaspoon Granulated Onion
- 1 Teaspoon Granulated Garlic
- 1 Teaspoon Dried Basil
- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt or use 1-2 teaspoons yellow or white miso paste
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 the spinach, liquids, and spices.
- Blend: Sometimes the spinach or the 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 and Adjust: Stop the blender and stick a spoon in there. Taste the sauce. If it's not salty enough, add more salt or miso. Not flavorful enough? Add more nutritional yeast, granulated onion, and granulated garlic. Blend again if you add anything.
- Use: Pour your spinach pasta sauce on cooked and drained pasta (I usually put it on my favorite pasta, Chickapea brand, or the edamame pasta I've been loving because it's loaded with protein, 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 sauce pan and heat gently over low heat until warmed. If you're using a high powered blender, you can also blend for about 2 minutes and that will warm it up.
- Store: If you heated the sauce, let it cool to almost room temperature. Store in an airtight jar or container (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 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 10 or 12-ounce aseptic containers, you can either use one and a half of those, or just use one pack and add 2-4 tablespoons of soaked raw cashews, soaked raw sunflower seeds, cooked white beans, or cooked potatoes, dehydrated potato flakes. OR use one pack and decrease the rest of the ingredients by 25%.
- Silken Tofu Substitution: 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.
- Baby Spinach: This recipe works with either fresh or frozen spinach. If using frozen, thaw it and squeeze out most of the excess liquid. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but a lot of extra water may dilute the thickness and flavor of your spinach pasta sauce.
- Baby Spinach Substitution: Baby kale would work well in this recipe instead of spinach (or you could do half and half). If you have regular kale (such as curly kale or lacinato kale), I would lightly steam them before blending if you don’t have a high powered blender like a Vitamix, just to ensure it gets thoroughly incorporated in the sauce.
- Nutritional Yeast: If you can’t eat nutritional yeast, try a little yellow or white miso paste (just a smidge) and a little extra granulated onion, and granulated garlic.
