Nowadays, more people are leaning towards a healthier lifestyle. Whether it be transitioning from staying on the couch to going for late-night walks or searching for healthier alternatives for your favorite meals, we try to do it as long as we think it’s good for our health. Many people like pasta, there’s no denying it, and luckily, there are multiple ways to make vegan pasta.
If you are a pasta-lover like everyone else, here’s your chance. In this article, you will be learning how to make your favorite pasta into a healthier one, the vegan style. So, prepare your apron and learn how to make vegan pasta for a healthier you.
What Is A Vegan Pasta?
Traditionally, pasta is made of three primary ingredients, the egg, various types of flour, and olive oil. On the other hand, vegan pasta usually skips the egg. Most premade boxed pasta in the market are vegan, but making one at home is quite simple and easy to make; even beginners can master it.
Whether it is store-bought or homemade vegan pasta, they both use semolina flour, a coarser type of flour made out of durum wheat. Semolina flour is the key ingredient that makes the pasta elastic because of its gluten content.
As a result, this vegan pasta recipe isn’t gluten-free or a great alternative for people with specific allergies. Furthermore, you can have an alternative for semolina flour, gluten-free flour, and incorporate it with xanthan gum to provide an elastic attribute to the pasta.
How Long Does It Take To Cook Vegan Pasta?
This recipe is quite light in texture and consistency, much like traditional pasta with eggs. Furthermore, this recipe can only take you 2 to 3 minutes to cook or as soon as the pasta rises or boils over on top of the water. It is a good indication that your pasta is already cooked and ready to be topped. Although this might be the vegan style, it closely resembles the al-dente pasta!
Eggless Pasta Dough
While there is plenty of premade eggless pasta dough in the market, nothing beats the classic by making your very own eggless pasta. When you are making traditional pasta, it comes with eggs.
However, in this vegan pasta, we don’t use eggs. You only need a few ingredients such as flour, water, semolina flour, and a pinch of salt. It takes to make the pasta dough to simply knead it until it forms into soft pasta dough. After that, you can chill it in the fridge for around 30 minutes to an hour to achieve the desired result.
Homemade Vegan Pasta Recipe
This quick and easy recipe is a great addition to all pasta lovers out there, and, at the same it is vegan. Here’s a simple procedure on how to make vegan pasta.
Ingredients:
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 ½ cup of all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup water
- One and ¼ cups of semolina flour
Instructions:
Step 1:
In a food processor, mix your water, olive oil, and both flours. Process the mixture until it turns to a crumbled consistency or texture. For people who don’t have a food processor, the step is mixing both of your flours at first, then create a small opening at the middle and pour in all your liquids.
Carefully stroke the mixture in a circular motion and adding a little bit of water every turn. Once your water is incorporated and absorbed, you are done. Proceed to the next step.
Step 2:
Once your mixture is done, place flour on a flat surface, then put in your dough. With your hands, slowly knead your dough until you find the consistency you are looking for when you are kneading your dough when it dries up.
Add in a little bit of water and knead again, and when it is too wet, add a little bit of flour. Kneading your pasta dough should take you around 7 to 12 minutes, depending on your pace.
Step 3:
When you have kneaded your dough successfully, wrap it into a ball and onto a plastic wrap. Let it rest in the freezer for 30 to 45 minutes at most.
Step 4:
After resting your dough for around 30 to 45 minutes, go back to your floured surface again and cut the ball dough in half to make things manageable when you form your pasta.
Use your rolling pin to flatten out the dough until it resembles the thickness of normal pasta or is thin enough for your liking. Repeat the process on the second dough.
Step 5:
Drizzle a little bit of flour on the dough and slowly roll it. Get your knife and carefully cut the dough to your desired size and thickness. Whenever you slice one part of the pasta, unroll it to take the form of pasta noodles.
Once set, repeat the process until the number of pasta noodles is reached. Do not lay them out straight. Let them be. In other cases, you can make pasta styles with the help of a pasta maker to create that fettuccine, lasagna, or ravioli look.
Step 6:
In a large pot of boiling water, add a pinch of salt, then pour in your pasta noodles. You will know once your pasta is cooked if they float on top of the water. It should take around 2 to 4 minutes before each floats, so be wary of your time.
Once every pasta is done, you can now top it with your selected toppings and pasta sauce. That’s it. Learning how to make vegan pasta is easy, right?
Conclusion
More and more people are turning vegan these days, and what way to enjoy some of life’s sumptuous pleasures is by learning and making your very own vegan alternative recipe. Learning how to make vegan pasta is quite easy and simple.
However, what will turn your vegan pasta into a delicious one relies heavily on the toppings you go for. Hopefully, this guide has helped you learn how to make vegan pasta to always eat healthily. Find out for more pasta here!