Red Pesto Tofu Pasta (Vegan)

Whip up a vegan red pesto using sun-dried tomatoes in 5 minutes. Mix it with your favorite pasta and top it with some fried marinated tofu. It is a truly delicious tofu pesto pasta that you can make in 30 minutes from start to finish. Shall we?

If you love pesto, try our vegan green pesto pasta with nut-free spinach pesto. You can find even more vegan pasta recipes here as you can never have enough inspiration. Am I right?

What to expect from this recipe?

The ingredients of the classic Italian pesto is pine nuts, fresh basil leaves, Parmesan or Pecorino cheese, and a bit of salt. Traditionally, all ingredients are crushed in a mortar and mixed with olive oil. There are many variations including red pesto which is made of sun-dried tomatoes.

Does red pesto taste different to green pesto? Yes and no. You can definitely taste the tomatoes since sun-dried tomatoes have a very strong aroma. But all in all, it will taste like any pesto, which is nutty, oily, herby and garlicky.

No need to add lemon juice or any other juices. Italians never did or do, so we don’t use it either. We love this pesto just the way it is, without any tangy flavor.

Ingredients

You can split this recipe into two actually. First, you need to make a quick basil marinade for the tofu cubes and secondly, you need to make vegan sun-dried tomato pesto. Here is all the ingredients you will need to make this pesto tofu pasta:

Vegan red pesto

• Sun-dried tomatoes -> You can buy them dry or canned in oil. Both can be used in this recipe.
• Garlic
• Vegan Parmesan cheese -> We love using this brand*, but the easiest substitute is nutritional yeast.
• Cashew nuts
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Rosemary
• Salt and black pepper
• Red pepper flakes (optional – but it adds a lovely zing to it)

Marinated tofu

• Tofu -> If you want crispy tofu at the end, definitely choose firm or extra firm tofu. We usually use the firm one as they soak up marinade better than extra firm or super firm, but it is still easy to make the tofu crispy at the end.
• Fresh basil leaves-> You can use dried ground basil as well. ½ cup of fresh leaves more or less equals to 2 Tablespoons of dried.
• Garlic powder -> Powder sticks better to tofu compared to raw minced garlic.
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and black pepper

🛒 You’ll find detailed measurements for all Ingredients in the printable version of the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post.

Which pasta to choose?

You can choose any type of vegan pasta like spaghetti or penne. Even gnocchi if you want something unique.

Please note that pasta, as well as, gnocchi is not gluten-free, so choose the right brand for your diet. Or go creative and use zucchini noodles for example.

Instructions

A quick tip: If you buy pressed tofu, you can skip this step as its water content is already minimal.

Marinating tofu

You can choose to cut tofu into cubes, triangles, or small slices, or tore them with your fingers, or just leave them whole. For this recipe we chose cubes.

1. Take a long thin container and add all marinade ingredients (basil leaves, garlic powder, olive oil, salt, and black pepper) and blend it with an immersion blender.
2. After the tofu is pressed, cut them into cubes.
3. Take a shallow bowl and add the tofu cubes and the blended marinade and mix them well. If you use a container with a lid you can shake it a couple of times.
4. Marinate them for approx. 15 minutes. You can leave it in the fridge to marinate overnight. They will look like the ones in the below picture at the end.

Frying tofu

You can fry, bake, or even air fry tofu, but we choose to shallow fry it in a pan (or skillet) to make this tofu pasta recipe.

1. Pre-heat the frying pan to medium heat. If you use fresh leaves you especially have to pay attention not to overheat them as the basil leaves can turn brown and bitter easily.
2. Add marinated tofu cubes and fry them for approx. 15 minutes. Stir them frequently to ensure all sides are crispy and well-cooked.

Making red pesto

1. Boil water in a kettle. If you use dry sun-dried tomatoes, then soak them in hot water for 2-3 minutes. If you used canned with oil, you can skip the soaking, but drain them.
2. Add all vegan pesto ingredients to a food processor (soaked tomatoes, cashews (not soaked!!!), clove of garlic, vegan parmesan (or nutritional yeast), olive oil, rosemary, salt, and black pepper) and blend until you get a pesto sauce consistency. You can see in the below picture how our red pesto turned out.

Making pesto pasta with tofu

The only thing left really is to toss the cooked and drained pasta together with a couple of Tablespoons of pesto. Mix well and add the fried basil tofu cubes and any toppings you want.

But here is our top tip on how to mix pesto and pasta perfectly since pesto is usually cold and pasta is hot. Here is what we recommend:

1. Cook pasta in a large pot of water according to the package instructions.
2. When pasta is cooked, drain it but reserve some pasta water.
3. Take a skillet or frying pan and heat it on low/medium heat.
4. Add cooked pasta and the pesto with a bit of cooking water.
5. Mix while you warm them up over low-medium heat.

At first, it may seem that the pesto is too thin because of the cooking water, but as the dissolved starch in the cooking water is activated, it coats the pasta nicely and evenly.

Toppings

There are many things that go great with a tofu pesto pasta. Our favorite ones are the following:

• Sauteed mushrooms 
• Pan-fried oyster mushrooms
• Roasted asparagus and mushrooms
• Sauteed broccoli or even better broccolini
• Green peas
• Sweet corn
• Olives (kalamata or green)
• Legumes (beans, lentils) like white/cannellini beans, red kidney beans, chickpeas (roasted or cooked)
• Nuts and seeds (almond slices, pepitas, pistachios, or any leftovers from making the pesto)
• More vegan parmesan, or nutritional yeast
• Vegan feta cheese crumbles or vegan mozzarella
• Vegan bacon bits

Let us know in the comments what is your favorite topping!

FAQs and substitutions

Can you make pesto without basil?

Sure you can. This vegan sun-dried pesto is delicious without it and it delivers the quintessential pesto taste. Even some of the green pesto variations use other greens like mint, cilantro, or parsley. More creative recipes even use carrot greens or sage.

What can you use instead of cashews?

If you are not fond of cashews, you can substitute them with any other nuts or seeds.

If you have almonds, pecans, or walnuts in your pantry, just use those. They will deliver on the nutty taste albeit there may be slight differences.

If you have a nut allergy, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, pepitas (pumpkin seeds) or hemp seeds work just fine. Just like we did in our vegan spinach pesto recipe where we used sunflower seeds to create a nut-free alternative.

How to store leftovers?

You can keep any homemade pesto in the fridge for 3-4 days without a problem. Oil will help preserve it longer. If the oil has a pungent odor or the taste is off, don’t use it. We don’t recommend storing the pesto mixed with pasta since it can get dry after a while.

Can you freeze it?

Any type of pesto is perfect to store in the freezer for up to 6 months. Since it is quite rich and filling, you don’t need a lot per serving. Using an ice cube tray to freeze them in small portions is a popular option. You can transfer it to a freezer-safe storage bag to save space.

Allergen info

This Red Pesto Tofu Pasta recipe is meat-free, dairy-free, and egg-free. 

• Vegan – All ingredients are supposed to be vegan.
• Nut-free – You can use sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds as an alternative. Pesto originally has pine nuts which are botanically not a nut, but an expensive ingredient. Check for cross-contamination issues in any products you buy.
• WFPB-friendly (whole foods plant-based) – It is not a compliant recipe since we use oil to marinate tofu and to make pesto.
• Gluten-free – You need to choose gluten-free pasta and pay attention to what kind of vegan parmesan cheese you use. We used this brand*. Other than that all other ingredients are supposed to be gluten-free, but always check the packaging for cross-contamination info.
• Soy-free – The vegan red pesto is soy-free since the vegan cheese brand* we used uses coconut oil, but you need to choose other toppings than tofu.

More vegan tofu recipes

If you love tofu, check out the most flavorful tofu marinades or choose from from the below list:

More vegan pasta recipes

We have a collection of more than 30 easy and delicious vegan pasta recipes, or check out the below ones:

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