I love when I take a bite of something I’ve made and it is so good that I can’t help saying “holy crap” out loud. Even when I’m alone. This recipe for vegan spicy tomato basil shells on top of a bed of vegan whipped lemon garlic herb ricotta is one of those recipes. It is so easy, my 8 year old helped me make it. Delicious is not a good enough word to describe this meal. Fancy enough to impress someone, simple enough to make for yourself or as a quick weeknight meal. I implore you to make the entire dish, tofu ricotta and all. Everything all in one bite is mind-blowing.
What You Need For These Spicy Shells:
- Tofu, Garlic, Nutritional Yeast, Lemon Juice, Italian Seasoning and Non-dairy Milk: These ingredients are whipped together in a food processor to create this beautiful whipped vegan lemon garlic herb ricotta!
- Olive Oil: To start your sauce.
- Garlic and Onion: Are sautéed first to make the sauce super flavorful.
- Red Wine: You can use some veggie broth if you don’t want to use wine, but if you like to cook with wine, it adds some really good depth to the sauce.
- Tomato Paste: I feel like all good tomato sauces have tomato paste.
- Italian Seasoning: To add much needed herbs.
- Red Pepper Flakes: This is where the spiciness comes from and you can tailor this to your taste. Adding more or less depending on how spicy you like things.
- Canned Crushed Tomatoes: I like to use fire roasted crushed tomatoes.
- Fresh Basil: The sauce is finished off with fresh basil and man, it’s good.
I’ve seen a number of pasta recipes at restaurants that have a base of whipped ricotta at the bottom of the bowl then the pasta on top. I decided a long time ago, that I really wanted to recreate that for all of us rabbits. This really hits the mark for me. I intentionally made this pasta very lightly sauced so that is makes sense with the vegan ricotta on the bottom. If you get a spoon full of the vegan ricotta and some shells, you will absolutely get why these vegan spicy tomato basil shells are everything!
Why Should You Make These Delicious Shells?
- Vegan. Whipped. Ricotta.
- Simple easy to find ingredients.
- Fast AF.
- It is so so so yummy.
- Can be made for a fancy meal or an easy after work meal.
Vegan Spicy Tomato Basil Shells
Ingredients
Vegan Whipped Lemon Garlic Herb Ricotta
- 1/2 Block(7-8oz.) Extra firm tofu
- 2 Cloves Garlic
- 2 Tablespoons Nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon Lemon juice
- 1/4 Cup Non-dairy milk, unsweetened I used soy milk
- A Pinch of Salt and pepper
Vegan Spicy Tomato Basil Shells
- 12 Ounces Pasta shells, medium or large(gluten-free if desired)
- 3 Tablespoons Olive oil
- 1/2 a Yellow onion, diced
- 4 Cloves Garlic, chopped
- 1/2 Cup Red wine, vegan
- 1 Tablespoon Tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1/4-1/2 teaspoon Red pepper flakes
- 14 Ounces Crushed tomatoes, canned
- 1 Cup Fresh basil, chopped
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Make the vegan ricotta first. Drain the tofu and squeeze the half block over the sink to get some of the liquid out. Then add it to a food processor.
- Add the remaining ricotta ingredients and blend in the food processor until completely smooth. I like to let it go a little longer so it is nice and whipped. Set aside.
- Cook the pasta shells according to package directions. Drain when al dente.
- While the pasta cooks, make the sauce. Heat the olive oil on medium high in a large non-stick skillet. Add the onion and garlic.
- Sauté, reducing heat as needed until the onion is translucent. About 3-4 minutes.
- Now, add the red wine and the tomato paste. Stir to combine everything. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 5-6 minutes or until most of the wine has been absorbed by the onions.
- Add the Italian seasoning, the red pepper flakes(either 1/4 tsp or 1/2 depending on how spicy you want it), and a pinch of salt. Stir to combine.
- Next, pour in the crushed tomatoes and stir everything. Simmer for another 5-7 minutes.
- Add the fresh basil right at the end and stir into the sauce. Taste and adjust seasonings.
- Once the pasta is done, add it to the skillet with the sauce and toss to coat.
- Serve with a little bit of the ricotta you made at the bottom of a bowl. The shells on top of that, and top with the extra basil and vegan Parmesan if desired.
I can’t wait to make this
This was amazing!! As a recent convert to a plant based diet, I was skeptical of vegan ricotta, but my husband and I agree that we hands down prefer this ricotta over the dairy version. Also I will be using the red sauce whenever I can, it was fast, easy, and so favorable
my boyfriend can’t eat onions because they upset his stomach. i’m curious if i could just make the recipe simply omitting the onion? or if i would want to replace that ingredient with another? if so, what? this looks amazing & i would love to make it for him! but just wondering if it would still be good without having the onion to absorb the wine, etc? thanks!
Made this last night and just ate the leftovers tonight! Do yourself a few favors with this one: use a decent wine so you can enjoy a glass with it, and use the whole block of tofu to double the ricotta recipe. Trust me, you’ll want it. It’s absolutely delicious. Also, keep some maple syrup on hand. I used a little in both the red sauce and the ricotta to balance the tartness and salt, and it just deepened the flavor. Really great dish!
So we are extremely straight edge and never have wine in the house. Any ideas for a substitute?
You can usually substitute vegetable broth.
My partner and I both loved this! Super tasty. Definitely double the ricotta recipe and use the whole block of tofu. However, there is a LOT of raw garlic in the doubled ricotta recipe (4 cloves) which was intense. Consider halving the garlic unless you’re a big garlic fan!
Made this today! It was really good but tasted a little bland, I was expecting more of the wine or onion to come through.
I like this though because nothing was overpowering. Left me lots of room to tweak it to my individual taste 🙂
Thanks for this awesome recipe
Just made it tonight and loved it. When eating leftovers, do heat the pasta and leave the ricotta cold? Or do I heat up the ricotta too?
You can heat it all up!