Pasta Meal with Tigernut Flavor: A Quick and Easy Recipe

Pasta lovers, this one’s for you! This delicious tigernut pasta recipe is gluten free, lactose free and nut-free, making a great any-time dish for those with these kinds of allergies and dietary restrictions.

It uses an unexpected ingredient to create the foundation for a classic savory pasta flavor: Natureul Tigernut Spread. Our organic tigernut spread is paleo-friendly and contains no preservatives, making it a perfect ingredient for a wholesome breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

This recipe, like our spread, is incredibly allergy-friendly and sure to please even the pickiest of eaters. Tender pasta, earthy tigernut, and vibrant herbs make it one you’ll be reaching for again and again when you need a quick, easy, and tasty dinner!

How to make Pasta with Tigernut Flavor

This tigernut pasta dish is super easy and requires very few ingredients–ideal for a quick healthy meal! Making this recipe is as simple as boiling water and blending a few key ingredients to create a nut-free pesto-style sauce, suitable for vegans and non vegans alike. 

Serve as an entree or pair with a few other sides and main dishes to please a crowd. Because it uses only a handful of staple ingredients and is ready within 10-15 minutes of active cooking time, this tigernut pasta is great as a carry-in dish for potlucks and parties.

Pasta

This recipe calls for fusilli, but you can easily substitute your favorite shape of pasta: cavatappi, spaghetti, penne, rigatoni, bowtie, cavatelli, etc. This will change the texture of the final product but shouldn’t affect the flavor much, if at all. 

Vegetables

Are you a veggie lover? Trying to pack your meals with more fiber, vitamins, and minerals? This tigernut pasta recipe is great with the addition of almost any vegetable! Adding steamed broccoli, beets, or squash, sauteed garlic and onions, or fresh peas is a great way to create more texture, appealing color, and various nutrients to this delightful pasta dish.

You can also customize the flavor by adding more soft herbs to the sauce like chives, coriander, parsley, mint, dill, or tarragon. If you’re craving a more complex flavor profile, experimenting with your favorite spices can yield unexpectedly delicious results!

Protein

This pasta pairs especially well with cooked chicken or poached eggs, but you can add your favorite protein (plant or animal based) to round out the dish and increase the satisfaction factor. Keep in mind that adding animal protein will, of course, change the status of the dish from vegan to non-vegan. Vegan chefs will want to add plant-based proteins like legumes, seitan, or tofu.

Ingredients for Tigernut Pasta

Serves 2-3

• 1 ⅓ cup uncooked gluten free fusilli pasta
• 6 cups water
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ cup Natureul Tigernut Spread - Classic flavor
• ¼ cup nutritional yeast
• ½ cup fresh basil leaves
• ½ cup fresh spinach leaves
• 6-8 cherry tomatoes, quartered
• Ground black pepper and finishing salt for serving

Step-by-Step Recipe

1. Add water and salt to a pot and bring to a boil. Add dry pasta and cook according to package directions – usually around 6-8 minutes for al dente pasta.
2. Once cooked to your preference, strain the pasta, reserving ¼ cup of the past water and setting aside. Do not rinse the pasta. Turn off the heat and add the pasta back to the pot.
3. In a food processor, combine the Tigernut Spread, basil leaves, spinach, and nutritional yeast, pulsing to form a thick paste. Once combined, stream in the pasta water two tablespoons at a time while pulsing to incorporate until you reach the desired consistency. You should have a thick green sauce.
4. Add the mixture to the pot with the sliced tomatoes and pasta. Stir to coat the pasta and tomatoes in the sauce. You may need to turn the heat back on to a low setting to warm the tomatoes and sauce, but as long as your noodles are still fairly hot during this step, it probably won’t be necessary. 
5. Plate and serve with whole basil leaf, ground black pepper, and finishing salt to taste!

Storing Instructions

Once cooled to room temperature, store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Best eaten within 2-3 days.

Recipe Tutorial for Tigernut Ice Cream

This creamy and delicious dairy free tigernut ice cream comes together quickly in one short afternoon. With minimal effort, you’ll be savoring rich, decadent spoonfuls of chocolatey, velvety smooth plant-based ice cream with lush ribbons of tigernut butter. Yum! The longest part of the preparation process is waiting for the mixture of ingredients to freeze. While you’re waiting, you can prepare the rest of the very few ingredients it takes to create this delectable dessert and dream of the toppings you’ll add to the final product!

The rich flavors of this ice cream are created thanks to the addition of two scrumptious raw vegan products from the Natureul line of tigernut-based snacks: Tigernut Kasha - Crunchy Cacao Flavored and Natureul Tigernut Spread - Classic are both in the mix! Our Tigernut Kasha and Tigernut Spread are both made with the highest quality vegan ingredients. They’re naturally gluten free, lactose free, and are made with no preservatives. Because the main ingredient in both is ground organic tigernut (a tuber from the sedge family, not actually a nut!), both products are nut free as well! Their applications span far beyond just ice cream, and they can be used in any number of recipes or on their own. In this recipe, the kasha adds great texture and cacao flavor to the ice cream base and the spread adds further intrigue with swirls of nutty goodness.

Tips for the best Tigernut Ice cream

Want to use an ice cream maker instead of a blender? Simply put all the ingredients minus the tigernut spread into your ice cream maker and follow the instructions for your particular brand of machinery. Once the mixture has the consistency of ice cream, stop the ice cream maker and hand-fold the Tigernut Spread in until the ripples reach your desired thickness. For thicker ribbons, do less folding (but make sure the spread is evenly distributed throughout the ice cream). For thinner swirls, do more folding. Happy churning!

Want to increase the chocolate factor? Easy! Simply add mini chocolate chips while folding in the Tigernut Spread, or, if you’re using an ice cream machine, toss them in at the beginning with the other ingredients.

Try this alternate Flavor Combo! Swap out the Tigernut Kasha - Crunchy Cacao for the Carob and Cinnamon flavor. Go the extra mile by swapping the classic Tigernut Spread for the Aromatic Carob flavor as well, and prepare yourself for carob overload!

If you wish to make this recipe completely nut free, you can do so by substituting all of the coconut milk (canned and regular) for oat or flax milk, and then doubling the amount of Tigernut Spread. Add it to the other ingredients before freezing and be sure to stir it well — it thickens the mixture considerably and helps hold it all together.

Ingredients

Serves 2-4

• 1 ½ cups canned coconut milk
• ½ cup regular coconut milk, plus more for texture refinement
• ¼ cup Natureul Tigernut Kasha - Crunchy Cacao
• ¼ cup Natureul Tigernut Spread - Classic
• ⅓ cup sweetener - we like maple syrup to keep things vegan but you can use coconut sugar, cane sugar, or honey as well!
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Allergy information: This recipe contains coconut.

Instructions - How to make Tigernut Ice Cream

1. Whisk together the regular coconut milk with the Tigernut Kasha until completely incorporated. The result should have the consistency of a very thin batter and should be very runny. If it’s too thick, add more coconut milk until it has reached the desired consistency.
2. Thoroughly stir in the canned coconut milk, sweetener, salt and vanilla extract.
3. Pour into ice cube trays or small silicone molds and freeze for 1-2 hours or overnight.
4. Once frozen, remove the trays and empty the frozen cubes into a high-speed blender. Blend on high until smooth until it reaches desired consistency.
5. Remove from the blender and pour or spoon into a large bowl. Quickly but gently fold in the Tigernut spread.
6. If the mixture has become too liquid, freeze for 5 minutes at a time until the desired consistency is reached.
7. Serve immediately! Add your favorite toppings or eat by itself. Coconut shavings, cacao nibs, chocolate chips, vegan hot fudge, caramel sauce, cookie dough, or even Tigernut Granola — the options are endless.

Storing

We advise eating it immediately, but you can freeze it for up to one month and lightly thaw before consuming.