Simple, practical, and full of everyday flavour, Vegan Pepperoni Pasta is a vegan, vegetarian Italian dinner made with pasta, vegan butter, and garlic in about 35 minutes. The recipe lays out the ingredients and each cooking step clearly, so you can adjust seasoning, texture, and serving size for your own kitchen.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Cook time: 25 minutes
  • Total time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 2
  • Category: dinner
  • Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients

  • 6 ounces pasta (, use Glutenfree if needed)

For the sauce:

  • 2 teaspoons vegan butter (or olive oil)
  • 2 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 2 tablespoons onion (chopped)
  • ½ teaspoon crushed fennel seeds
  • ½ teaspoon pepper flakes
  • 1 cup chopped pepperoni (I use my gluten-free chickpea flour pepperoni, or use store bought vegan pepperoni or sausage)
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • Zest of ½ lemon
  • ½ cup pasta water
  • ½ cup frozen spinach thawed
  • 1/3 cup vegan parmesan (,divided)
  • ½ teaspoon dried basil or 2 tablespoons fresh basil to add later
  • Optional (add some toasted pine nuts for garnish)

Method

  1. Cook your pasta according to instructions on the package if you haven’t already. Rinse in cold water and set aside
  2. Make the sauce: Heat butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the butter is hot and melted add the garlic, onion, fennel seeds, pepper flakes and pepperoni and toss well.
  3. Cook over medium heat until the onion, garlic and pepperoni are golden. Stir occasionally
  4. Then add in the tomato paste, zest, spinach and ¼ teaspoon salt and mix in. Add in pasta water and half the vegan parmesan and mix in. Now bring to a boil. Add basil and the pasta and toss well then switch off heat.
  5. Taste and adjust salt and flavor and then top it with the rest of the vegan parmesan and pine nuts if using. Cover and let it sit for another 2-3 minutes for the parmesan to kind of soften a little, then serve immediately.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.