Creamy Sage Pasta Sauce (Non-Dairy!)

I can’t count how many times it’s been less than an hour until dinner time and I’m frantically looking through our cabinets with no idea what we are going to have. Sometimes that frenetic pace results in something that’s just barely edible, but other times it’s lead to some of our favorite meals! I knew we had pasta the other night but not a whole lot else, so I set out to make a non-dairy cream sauce that would be good with some leftover sausage and peas I dug out of the freezer. The results were so good I wrote the recipe down so I could make it again and again!

Creamy Sage Pasta Sauce (Non-Dairy!), Serves 2

2 tablespoons non-dairy butter
4 cloves of garlic minced (I like a lot of garlic but you can do less)
2 tablespoons of flour
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 cup cashew milk (or other non-sweetened non-dairy milk)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons vegan parmesan cheese (store bought or I use this recipe)
4 ounces sausage
5 ounces frozen peas

I used about a quarter of a 16-ounce box of rotini pasta, but you can stretch it further depending on how saucy you want your noodles to be.

Boil water to start cooking your pasta and get your sausage browning in another pan while we start the sauce. Break up the sausage into crumbles as it starts to cook.

For the sauce, add your non-dairy butter to a large saucepan or skillet over medium heat and add your minced garlic once your butter is hot. Sautée the garlic for about 2 minutes until it starts to brown and becomes fragrant (i.e., it smells really good!). 
Add flour to your butter and whisk together to form a thick paste. Add your chicken broth and non-dairy milk, whisking to combine, and allow to simmer for 2-3 minutes until it thickens up a little.

Stir in your garlic powder, dried sage, salt and pepper, nutritional yeast, and non-dairy parmesan and taste to see if you want to add in any more spices or seasonings. Lower the heat to low and add in your browned sausage and your frozen peas and cook for another 2 minutes to warm up the peas.

Add in your drained noodles and stir to combine the noodles with the sauce—serve sprinkled with non-dairy parmesan cheese.
I love that this sauce tastes creamy and a bit cheesy without tasting like I just dumped a can of nutritional yeast onto some pasta and called it a day—like some recipes I’ve tried. You could sub out other veggies or toppings with the pasta, but the sausage and peas go so well with the sage and it reminds me of a meal we used to eat sometimes as a kid, so this is extra yummy for me. I think this accidental meal will be something we make for a long time to come! xo. Laura

Credits//Author and Photography: Laura Gummerman. Photos edited with A Color Story Desktop.