dairy-free creamy pasta salad

While we were in the mountains last weekend, we had the most wonderful (and dairy-free!) pasta salad while in Frisco at the Butterhorn bakery. I couldn’t get it out of my head and was determined to make at least a comparable version. I miss the creamy things in life!

Most of the dairy free and creamy things I make involve mayo as nutritional yeast is just not my thing. So, armed with mayo (eggs and olive oil) and some earth balance butter, I was set to go.

What you’ll need for this Italian-inspired dish is:

Basics:

-Italian sausage (I used chicken sausage but pork would work just as well)

-bell peppers

-grape tomatoes

-shell pasta

Sauce:

-1 cup mayo

-1/8 earth balance butter, melted

–salt, pepper, parsley, garlic (2 cloves)– to taste

How to:

Turn on a pot of water over the stove to boil.
Begin cooking the sausage in a skillet over medium heat on the other burner. While that’s cooking, cut the bell peppers.
Once the water in the first pot is boiling, begin cooking the pasta
Once the sausage is cooked, add the bell peppers. Once those are sauteed, turn down the burner to warm to prevent from it burning.
While the pasta is cooking, begin making the sauce. Add the cup of mayo into a small bowl and add two cloves of crushed garlic. Melt the butter and add to the mayo. Add other spices and stir. Taste and add more spices to bring sauce to desired flavor.
Drain the cooked pasta, turn off the burner, and add the pasta back into the pot. Add the cooked sausage and bell peppers.
Chop the tomatoes in half and add to the mixture.
Add the sauce to the pasta and meat mixture and stir until it’s evenly coated.
Place the entire thing into a bowl and refrigerate for a few hours before eating.
Enjoy!

5 COMMENTS

Olivia
10 years ago

Wow, that looks amazing. I use Earth Balance too but recently noticed that some of the varieties use soy (which I don’t eat) so I found the red carton works best for me. Also I use So-Delicious coconut milk to replace dairy now in most everything. (Spoiler alert, it doesn’t work well in popovers).
- Kristen
  10 years ago AUTHOR
  
  Haha, I’ve realized that depending on what you want to make it requires a different kind of non-dairy milk! I once tried to make a stroganoff with coconut milk and it tasted like very confused and gross Thai food. 😭
Olivia
10 years ago

I get the unsweetened coconut milk in the dairy case rather than canned. It has zero taste and works in everything. I was so happy when it came out in stores. Hard or impossible to find in Europe when I visit though, so I bring some (it’s sold in unrefrigerated containers too).
- Kristen
  10 years ago AUTHOR
  
  Good to know!
pinkiebag
10 years ago

Hi. This looks delicious. J would never have thought of using Mayo for the cream sauce, great tip. Thanks for sharing, Chloe.
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