Roasted Garlic Butter Pasta | Gluten-Free
This dish is all about the sauce that is bursting with flavor and tastes fabulous on almost anything–pasta, potatoes, grilled vegetables, or even spread on bread. Amazingly, this Vegan Roasted Garlic Butter Pasta is gluten-free and similar to an alfredo.
The secret to the creamy sauce is caramelized roasted garlic cloves. Roasting garlic cloves requires long, slow cooking that mellows the garlic’s strong taste and leaves a rich, deep flavor in its place.
We love this garlic butter sauce for pasta because it’s…
- Versatile
- Wholesome
- Saucy
- Perfect with pasta
- Delicious
How to roast garlic without oil
Roasted garlic is great in soups, dips, and many other dishes. It sounds mysterious until you make it for yourself and see how simple it really is.
The recipe card at the bottom of the page has the full list of ingredients with measurements and instructions.
Why roast garlic? Roasted garlic adds tremendous flavor and depth to recipes. Roasting the garlic mellows it out and makes for a sweet and delicious flavor.
Roasting garlic can be done in these easy steps:
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Start by peeling off the loose skin of each garlic head.
Next, cut off the head of the garlic. You want to make sure that all of the cloves are exposed. If your knife misses a couple of cloves, just use a paring knife to cut the tips off.
Place heads in a baking dish, add about 4 tablespoons of water to keep moist, and place lid on top. Another option is to simply wrap the garlic heads in parchment paper and then an outer layer of foil instead of using a baking dish. This method keeps them quite moist.
Bake in the oven for approximately 40-45 minutes, until cloves begin to pull away from the garlic skin.
Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Once the garlic is finished cooking and cooled, you can easily squeeze out the cloves by pressing upwards from the root.
Basically, this is just squeezing the individual cloves out of the head. They will be soft and mushy and ready to add to other recipes.
Freshly roasted garlic cloves are soft and tender and can be used as a Garlic Butter Spread for bread right out of the clove.
Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates (460-375 BC)–known as The Father of Medicine–actually used to prescribe garlic to treat a variety of medical conditions. Modern science has recently confirmed many of these beneficial health effects.
How to make garlic butter sauce for pasta
Garlic sauce ingredients include:
- roasted garlic cloves
- almond milk (other plant milk)
- nutritional yeast flakes
- potato starch (or another thickener)
- lemon juice
- onion powder
- garlic powder
- smoked paprika
- basil
The recipe card at the bottom of the page has the full list of ingredients with measurements and instructions.
Simply add all ingredients in a saucepan, whisk together, and allow to come to a boil until thickened to desired consistency.
Tips for making this dish
- Pasta- For this recipe, I used Pad Thai rice noodles, but any pasta can be substituted. For those with gluten sensitivities, stick to rice noodles or other gluten-free products.
- Add-ons- Spritz with the juice of fresh lime wedges and add cilantro to really knock this vegan, gluten-free dish out of the park.
Other pasta dishes
- Mushroom Stroganoff
- Lentil Pasta for 5 in 10-Minutes and Less Than $15
- Chili Mac with Elbows
- Veggie Udon Noodles with Sweet Ginger Sesame Sauce
- Easy Vegan Alfredo Sauce
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Roasted Garlic Butter Pasta | Gluten-Free
Ingredients
- 3 medium heads fresh garlic
- 1.5 cup almond milk or other plant milk
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
- 1.5-2 tablespoons potato starch or another thickener
- 3-4 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- salt to taste
- 8-10 oz pasta of your choice
- lime wedges for topping
- Fresh cilantro chopped, for topping
Instructions
Roasting the Garlic Heads
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees, and begin to prep garlic heads.
- Start by peeling off the loose skin of each garlic head.
- Next, cut off the head of the garlic. You want to make sure that all of the cloves are exposed. If your knife misses a couple cloves, just use a paring knife to cut the tips off.
- Place heads in a baking dish, add about 4 tablespoons of water to keep it moist, place lid on top. Another option is to simply wrap the garlic heads in parchment paper then an outer layer of foil instead of using a baking dish. This method keeps them quite moist.
- Bake in the oven for approximately 40-45 minutes, until cloves begin to pull away from the garlic skin. While these are cooking, cook pasta according to package directions.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool. This is what we call 'garlic butter' because it is so creamy and can be spread on bread.
Making the Garlic Sauce
- While the garlic heads are cooking, go ahead and put the water on to begin cooking the pasta according to package directions.
- Once the garlic is finished cooking and cooled, you can easily squeeze out the cloves by pressing upwards from the root. Place them in a medium-sized saucepan.
- Place all other sauce ingredients (except lime wedges and cilantro) in a saucepan and turn to medium heat.
- Whisk together, and continue to stir frequently as it begins to thicken. When desired consistency is reached, remove from heat.
- When pasta has finished cooking, drain and rinse under cool water.
- Add cooked pasta to the creamy garlic sauce and mix well. Squeeze the lime wedge over top and add fresh chopped cilantro. Serve warm.
Video
Notes
- Pasta- For this recipe, I used Pad Thai rice noodles, but any pasta can be substituted. For those with gluten sensitivities, stick to rice noodles or other gluten-free products.
- Add-ons- Spritz with the juice of fresh lime wedges and add cilantro to really knock this vegan, gluten-free dish out of the park.
Nutrition
Disclaimer
To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information provided is accurate, complete, and useful.
About Terri Edwards
Hi guys! I am the content creator behind EatPlant-Based and a licensed Food for Life instructor with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. I am passionate about sharing healthy recipes and tips to empower others to get healthy. I’m so glad you’re here! Read More…
SOOOO GOOOOODDD!!!! Just made this and next time around I will be doubling the recipe …I’m sad it’s all gone already!!!! WOWWWW!!!
YAY! So glad you loved it too! 😀
If I don’t have the yeast or potato starch, can I substitute anything?
Any thickener can be substituted for the potato starch. Some good ones might be cornstarch, arrowroot powder, etc.Nutritional yeast gives it the nutty cheese flavor. You might blending all the garlic sauce ingredients in blender with some cashews to get a bit of the flavor.
Do you think this sauce could be frozen?
That’s a good question, and I really don’t see any reason it couldn’t be frozen. If you try it, please let me know and I’ll add that information to the article. Thanks!
I just made this today, it is VERY garlicky! I love garlic but 3 heads of garlic seems a little much for the amount of sauce. I also ended up blending it before I heated it, I didn’t want all the chunks of garlic in there. I froze individual portions of this (part of my meal planning for the school year) so hope it’s going to be ok.
It could also depend on the size of the garlic heads being used, as they come in varying sizes. I’ve edited the recipe card to recommend medium-sized heads to narrow that down a bit.
Can you use minced garlic instead? If so how much? Thank you!
The sauce for this is made by first roasting whole garlic cloves. They are a lot different than the minced garlic. Though I like to use the garlic from a jar in other recipes at times, it really wouldn’t work for this recipe. Sorry about that, but I’m betting you will love the roasted garlic.