Thirty-five minutes and one skillet, plus the pot the fettuccine cooks in. Fourteen ingredients, and four of them are the reason this dish is vegan rather than merely vegetarian.
A can of artichoke hearts, drained and quartered, is the component the bowl is built around. They go in early enough to warm through and late enough to stay in quarters.
Why This Recipe Works
- Reserving half a cup of pasta water gives a way to loosen the sauce without thinning its flavour.
- Thirty seconds of garlic is all it takes before the artichokes go in to warm.
- Cashew cream carries the same body dairy cream would, so the sauce coats fettuccine ribbons.
- Nutritional yeast supplies the savoury, cheese-like note without any cheese.
- Lemon juice added off the heat stays sharp instead of cooking flat.
Ingredient Notes
- Artichoke hearts
- One 14 oz can, drained and quartered. The defining visible component of the finished bowl, and quartered so they stay recognisable pieces.
- Cashew cream
- A cup of unsweetened cashew cream or plain plant-based cooking cream. Unsweetened matters — a sweetened plant cream would change the sauce entirely.
- Nutritional yeast
- Two tablespoons. This is where the savoury, cheese-like depth comes from, and it is not cheese.
- Fettuccine
- Twelve ounces, verified egg-free. Not all dried pasta is; the packet is worth checking.
How to Make It
Pasta, and keep the water
Cook fettuccine in salted water until al dente; reserve 1/2 cup pasta water.
Garlic, then artichokes
Heat olive oil in a skillet and cook garlic 30 seconds. Add artichoke hearts and warm 2 minutes.
Build the pale sauce
Stir in cashew cream, broth, nutritional yeast, lemon zest, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.
Toss, loosening as needed
Add drained pasta and toss until coated, loosening with reserved pasta water as needed.
Lemon juice off the heat
Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice.
Parsley, and the topping
Finish with parsley and, if desired, a verified vegan Parmesan-style topping.
What Makes This Vegan
The sauce looks like dairy cream and the dusting looks like Parmesan, on a plate of pasta ribbons. Every row below says exactly what they are, and each is an ingredient the recipe already lists - nothing here is a suggestion to swap something yourself.
| In the recipe | Usually | Here | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| The pasta | Fresh or enriched pasta made with egg | 12 oz fettuccine, verified egg-free | Dried fettuccine is usually flour and water, but not always - enriched and fresh varieties carry egg. This is the one row where the change is invisible on the plate and entirely on the packet, which is why the recipe says verified. |
| The cream | Heavy dairy cream | 1 cup unsweetened cashew cream or plain plant-based cooking cream | This is what makes the sauce look the way it does. Cashew cream has enough body to coat fettuccine ribbons rather than running off them, which is the job dairy cream would otherwise do. Unsweetened and plain: a sweetened or flavoured plant cream changes the sauce. |
| The savoury, cheesy note | Grated Parmesan stirred into the sauce | 2 tbsp nutritional yeast | Parmesan is not vegetarian, let alone vegan, and it is also the flavour a creamy pasta sauce is usually built on. Nutritional yeast supplies that savoury depth from the sauce itself rather than from cheese. |
| The dusting on top | More grated Parmesan | 2 tbsp vegan Parmesan-style topping, verified - and marked optional | The parmesan-like dusting visible in the photograph. The recipe marks it optional and asks for it to be verified, because Parmesan-style toppings vary in what they are made from. |
| The broth | Chicken broth | 1/2 cup vegetable broth | The smallest of the five and the easiest to overlook. Half a cup of the wrong broth undoes the whole claim. |
Success Tips
- Keep the pasta water — it is the only thing that loosens the sauce without diluting it.
- Warm the artichokes rather than frying them; two minutes is enough.
- Take the pan off the heat before the lemon juice goes in.
Serving Ideas
Four white bowls of fettuccine ribbons in the pale creamy sauce with the quartered artichoke hearts through it, chilli flakes and parsley over the top and a lemon wedge alongside.
Frequently Asked Questions
What actually makes this vegan?
Four things: egg-free fettuccine, cashew or plant-based cream instead of dairy cream, nutritional yeast instead of Parmesan, and a verified vegan Parmesan-style topping if you use one.
Can I use dairy cream instead?
Not in this recipe. The pale creamy appearance is created with plant-based cream, and swapping it out would remove the thing this dish is built on.
Why is the lemon juice added last?
Simmered, it loses its sharpness. The zest goes into the sauce and the juice goes in off the heat.
