High Protein Chick’n & Mushroom Alfredo

Have you tried making Alfredo sauce from silken tofu yet? This is an absolute game changer for hitting your macros, especially when you’re watching your calories! Silken tofu is the perfect ingredient to swap out for more fattening ingredients, such as heavy cream, mayonnaise, sour cream, etc.. If you haven’t tried using silken tofu for pasta sauce yet, this is a great dish to get you started! This High Protein Vegan Chick’n and Mushroom Alfredo uses silken tofu and nutritional yeast for the pasta sauce, and red lentil pasta, which adds even more protein!

This is a great recipe if you’re meal prepping. Sometimes I will make a large batch to have for dinner for multiple nights, other times, I will just make a double batch, and take the leftovers for lunch the next day. If you are trying to add in more plant-based meals, this would be a great Meatless Monday dinner that even non-vegans would enjoy. This is also great for anyone who is dairy intolerant, because we still get the creaminess that you would have from a dairy sauce, because of the silken tofu/cashew base.

This recipe could also be made Whole Food Plant Based (WFPB) very easily by substituting out the vegan chicken with either seitan or tofu, or just omitting it altogether!

Ingredients

Pasta Sauce

• Extra Firm Silken Tofu – I used extra firm silken tofu, specifically the brand Mori-Nu for this recipe. There are two types of silken tofu that you can find at most grocery stores -the type in the refrigerated section, and the shelf stable variety that you can find in the international food aisle at most grocery stores in the US. If you can’t find either option at your grocery store, you can also buy the shelf stable variety online. There are different firmness levels as well. I specifically used extra firm, mostly because the macros are better. But if you can only find a firm silken tofu, that’s fine too. Your macros and calories might just very slightly from what’s listed in the recipe card. Make sure you are using silken tofu for this recipe, though, or it might not be as creamy and smooth.
• Cashews – I used raw, unsalted cashews. It is really important to get the raw and unsalted cashews, as opposed to the cooked/roasted cashews. If you use roasted cashews, I think it’s not gonna taste very good, so don’t do that. Preparing the cashews will be important for blending them, so we have two options. The first option is to let them soak overnight in water. The second option, which is my preferred method, is to put them in boiling water for about 10 minutes.
• Soy milk – this is my preferred non-dairy milk to use. Especially since this is a high-protein Alfredo recipe, I like to use soy milk because it has the best protein per calorie compared to the other non-dairy milk options. You could use a different nondairy milk if you don’t like soy milk or you just don’t have access to it, but just note that the calories and macros might change slightly. Also, if you are going to substitute the soy milk, I would use a nondairy milk that is a little bit thicker, kind of like oat milk, so that the texture of the sauce remains thick and creamy.
• Nutritional Yeast – if you’re new to vegan cooking, you might not be very familiar with nutritional yeast. This is the ingredient that is most often used to give a cheesy and savory flavor to vegan recipes. Nutritional yeast is a shelf stable ingredient that you can find it almost any grocery store, and you can also purchase it online. Additionally, it also has surprisingly great protein macros. This is the one ingredient you cannot sub out, so make sure you have it.
• Onion – I used a sweet onion for this. We are going to cook the the onion before we add it to the sauce, and I think it adds a really nice flavor. So unless you have a strong disdain for onions, I would keep this in the recipe!
• Garlic Paste – I used garlic paste in this recipe because it’s quicker than using raw garlic but you still get a fresh garlic taste. If you don’t have garlic paste, you could always use raw garlic and cook it with the onions, or you could just use extra garlic powder in the sauce. We’ve got options here (unlike with the nooch)!
• Apple Cider Vinegar – I use apple cider vinegar for this, but you could also use a different vinegar if you don’t have this. If you’re going to sub this out, I would focus on a more subtle vinegar such as rice vinegar or white wine vinegar. I think the sauce definitely needs a vinegar of some sort, though to add that sharpness that dairy has.
• Onion powder, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and salt – these are the seasonings that I chose to use for the sauce. If one of these is something you don’t like, feel free to sub it out or adjust to taste.

Other Stuff

• Baby Bella mushrooms – I use baby Bella mushrooms, mostly because they’re adorable. Any mushrooms will work fine for this recipe so just choose whichever you prefer!
• Plant-based chicken strips – I used Sweet Earth Mindful Chick’n Strips for this recipe. If you are trying to eat more whole food plant-based, or if you just can’t find these, you could sub in some kind of seitan or tofu, or you could just omit this all together, and it will still taste awesome. Just note that if you make substitutions or omissions, your calories and macros may vary slightly from what’s listed in the recipe card.
• Red Lentil Pasta – I use red lentil pasta almost every time I cook pasta, because the macros are pretty decent, and, in my opinion, unlike chickpea pasta, the texture is more similar to normal pasta. If you don’t like red lentil pasta, or don’t have access to red lentil pasta, you can sub this with either chickpea pasta or just normal pasta. The only thing that will change is potentially the calories and macros. For the pasta, I used spaghetti for the shape of the noodle, but you can really use whatever shape you like.

Instructions

• First, we must take care of the cashews. We will be softening them with one of two methods. The first is to let them soak overnight in water; this method takes longer, and you have to remember that you want to make those the day before. The second method, which is my preferred method, is to put the cashews in boiling water for about 10 minutes. This step is vitally important to make sure the cashews blend well and don’t end up gritty in the sauce. If you don’t have a high-powered blender, like a Vitamix, you may want to soak your cashews for a little bit longer to make sure that they blend well.
• In a medium-heat pan, sauté the diced onions for about five minutes until they become translucent and lightly browned. I like to use a nonstick pan for this. If you don’t have a nonstick pan, I would probably spray it with a little bit of oil to make sure the onions don’t stick. You also want to keep an eye on this and stir regularly to ensure the onions don’t burn.
• Boil a pot of water and cook your pasta per the package instructions.
• In a blender, blend all of the ingredients that are listed in the recipe card under pasta sauce until they are well mixed and smooth. These include the extra firm silken tofu, the softened cashews, soy milk, nutritional yeast, cooked onion, garlic paste, apple cider vinegar, onion powder, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and salt.
• In a medium-heat pan, sauté the sliced mushrooms until the liquid has been cooked out of them; this will take about 5 to 10 minutes. Make sure to wash and cut your my mushrooms beforehand.
• Once all the liquid has been cooked out, add in the vegan chicken strips and continue to cook for another five minutes. If you are not using the vegan chicken strips that I used, you might need to cook whatever you choose for longer, whether that’s tofu or seitan. The vegan chicken strips that I’m using are already pre-cooked and I’m basically just heating them up.
• Once the mushrooms and vegan chicken are well cooked, add the pasta sauce to your pan, and cook on low heat for an additional five minutes. Stir regularly so you don’t burn the sauce at the bottom of the pan.
• Add the (cooked) noodles in and stir everything together.
• Serve! You can even sprinkle on some vegan parm if you’re feeling fancy. Fun fact, my old boss grew up thinking parmesan cheese was called sprinkle cheese, and didn’t find out the real name of the cheese until she was in high school, on a date at a pizza place and asked her boyfriend to pass the sprinkle cheese. I actually like the name sprinkle cheese better personally; I think it’s more fun!

Silly Little Haiku

High Protein Pasta

It’s just a Nooch vehicle

Never too much Nooch