Vegan Rasta Pasta Urban Farmie

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Variations & Substitutions

Penne pasta. This recipe works with whatever pasta you have at home. I’ve tried macaroni, fettuccine, farfalle, rigatoni, fusilli, and bucatini. The possibilities are endless! Bell peppers. I used orange, green, and red bell peppers for a colorful rasta pasta. The colors of the dish are meant to reflect the colors of the Jamaican flag: yellow pasta, blackened jerk chicken, and green bell peppers, and cilantro. Protein. You can easily add any kind of faux meat to this recipe. For instance, vegan chik’n, plant-based crumbles, etc. You can also add mushrooms to give it a more umami flavor. I love serving with my vegan drumsticks. Coconut cream. You can substitute coconut milk for coconut cream for a lighter version of this pasta. Alternatively, you can also make a roux with plant butter and some flour and then add full fat coconut milk or soy milk to make this creamy sauce. Parmesan cheese. I used vegan parmesan cheese, but you can also use regular parmesan cheese or even mozzarella cheese. Homemade jerk seasoning: Though this seasoning is available in most grocery stores these days, it’s also super easy to make at home. To make it, mix 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, 1 tablespoon each of garlic powder and onion powder, 2 teaspoons of dried thyme, ground allspice, and ground ginger, and 1 teaspoon each of cayenne pepper, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, smoked paprika, ground cloves, and ground white pepper.

Season generously. When it comes to cooking rasta pasta, don’t hold back on the seasonings! Go ahead and be generous with them so that your dish has a robust flavor. Use a good quality jerk seasoning. This makes all the difference to the dish! Look for a brand that is authentic and has a good reputation. I love the Walkerswood brand (made in Jamaica, comes in mild and spicy versions!) or better yet, make your own at home! Adjust to your spice tolerance. This dish is generally quite balanced due to the combination of spicy seasoning and cream. It’s very easy to adjust the amount of spice to your desired levels!

🍴 How to serve Jamaican rasta pasta

Serve rasta pasta with vegan dinner rolls, garlic kale salad, or roasted vegetable salad. Then, finish with Jamaican sweet potato pudding for dessert.

Packed with flavor. Rasta pasta is full of flavor thanks to the combination of herbs and spices used in the recipe. The dish is also very versatile, so you can add or remove ingredients to suit your taste. Quick and easy to make. This dish only takes 30 minutes to make, which makes it a perfect weeknight meal! Vegan version of a classic. Typically, Rasta Pasta has blackened chicken as a key ingredient. This version is a meat-free, dairy-free vegan rasta pasta (that can be made vegetarian by using equivalent dairy products).

If you consume dairy, you can use heavy cream instead of coconut milk and vegetarian parmesan cheese instead of vegan hard cheese.

🍴Storage and reheating suggestions

Store leftover rasta pasta in the fridge for 2-3 days in a sealed airtight container. Reheat it by popping it into a microwave for a minute or two, or by adding it back to a skillet, with a small sliver of plant butter. Please note that reheating the coconut milk or cream can sometimes cause it to break and result in a bit of a grainier texture, so I don’t recommend storing or freezing it for too long.