Creamy Cashew Lemon Pasta with Basil
Rich, creamy, and completely dairy-free — this cashew lemon pasta blends into a sauce so smooth you'd swear there's cream in it. Ready in about 30 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw unsalted cashews
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 lemon zested and juiced (about 3 tbsp juice)
- 3/4 cup reserved pasta water
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt more to taste
- freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- 12 oz spaghetti or fettuccine
- fresh basil torn, for topping
- nutritional yeast or toasted chopped cashews optional for topping
Instructions
- Cook the pasta in generously salted boiling water until just al dente. Before draining, scoop out and reserve 3/4 cup of the starchy pasta water.
- Combine the cashews, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and reserved pasta water in a blender. Blend on high for about 90 seconds until completely smooth. If you taste any grit, stop, scrape down the sides, and blend for another 30 seconds.
- Return the drained pasta to the pot over low heat. Pour in the sauce and toss, adding a splash more pasta water if it's dragging instead of coating.
- Taste and adjust: more lemon if it's flat, more salt if it's still flat, more pasta water if it seized up.
- Top with torn basil, not chopped, so it holds its color once it hits the hot pasta. Finish with a crack of black pepper and a fresh squeeze of lemon right before serving.
Notes
Blender strength matters here. If yours is on the weaker side, the sauce might still have a little grit even after a good long blend. Stop, scrape the sides down, and run it again for another 30 seconds — that second pass is usually what gets it fully smooth.
Don't skip tasting before you plate. This is the step people rush past, and it's the one that actually makes the difference.
Tear the basil, don't chop it. It holds its color better once it hits the hot pasta, and it looks better in the bowl too.
The sauce keeps thickening after you take it off the heat. Don't chase a perfectly thick sauce in the pot — it finds its texture once it's off the stove and in the bowl.