This week, I’ve been concentrating on dairy free recipes. Did you know that you can easily create a nutty cheese flavor without using any dairy? I use these ingredients in this dairy free linguine recipe. I also have included a dairy free substitute for Parmesan cheese that looks like the real thing!
I use nutritional yeast (a deactivated yeast) in this recipe. Its flavor is commonly described as cheesy, nutty, and/or creamy, which makes it the perfect dairy-free substitute ingredient in cheesy recipes.
A creamy cheesy-tasting gluten-free dairy-free linguine recipe that you'll make again and again.
Ingredients:
- 6 ounces gluten free fettuccine or linguine*
- 1-1/2 teaspoons neutral-flavored oil
- 1/2 pound ground turkey (omit for vegetarian)
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) Earth Balance Buttery Sticks, melted
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast**
- 2 teaspoons potato starch (or cornstarch) (or arrowroot flour), choose in order listed
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- Macadamia nuts, grated, as a substitute for Parmesan cheese
- Minced flat leaf parsley, for garnish
Instructions:
- Cook the pasta as instructed on the package, but be sure it is cooked al dente (a little chewy) as it will continue to cook once mixed with the cheese sauce. Drain the cooked pasta and reserve about 1/2 cup of pasta water and set aside. Return the pasta to the saucepan.
- While the pasta cooks, preheat a skillet with oil and add turkey. Scramble the meat until no longer pink; set aside.
- In a small saucepan or microwave-safe bowl, melt the buttery stick.
- Whisk together the nutritional yeast and starch and add to the melted butter; stir until combined.
- Add grated garlic and stir again.
- Heat in the microwave or on the stovetop to a boil. Stir until nutritional melts into the buttery sauce.
- Pour the sauce over the cooked pasta in the other saucepan and toss gently. Add some of the reserved pasta water to thin out the sauce as desired.
- Season with salt and white pepper, to taste; transfer to individual pasta bowls.
- Using a microplane grater, grate macadamia nuts directly over individual servings. (For a more cheesy flavor, pulse whole nuts with some nutritional yeast and a tiny lemon zest in a small food processor.) Garnish the pasta with chopped parsley.
Tips
*Barilla Fettuccine contains corn and rice. Ancient Harvest brand of linguini contains corn and quinoa. Jovial offers a flavorful tagliatelle egg pasta containing brown rice flour, and egg (may contain traces of soy).
**Nutritional yeast flakes may be ground in a coffee grinder into the form of a powder to make it dissolve faster when cooked.