To continue my World Vegan Month series of recipes, here is a crispy pasta topping made from scratch. I devised this as an alternative to Parmesan, since a vegetarian parmesan-style cheese is very difficult to find here. After reading the ingredients on a bought “alternative”, I decided to try making my own. You will need nutritional yeast flakes, which taste slightly cheesy and are an excellent source of protein and B vitamins – sometimes they are even fortified with vitamin B12. (Also low in sodium and gluten-free.)
This is much healthier than a cheese topping, it’s vegan and it’s crispy too!
Crispy Pasta Topping
Chop 1 slice wholemeal bread and 30g (1/4 cup) walnuts in a mixer/blender until you have fine breadcrumbs. Spread out on a small baking tray and put under the grill for a couple of minutes, stirring now and then. You have to stand and watch it as it can burn very quickly. Leave to cool a few minutes.
Now stir in 2 tbsps nutritional yeast flakes, salt, black pepper and 1/2 tsp garlic powder.
Sprinkle over pasta dishes or gratins as an alternative to cheese. 🙂
(Note: It will keep in an airtight container for several days.) 🙂
Tip: This is great on my Garlic Spaghetti and Tofu Bites I posted last week. 😉
That rounds up November as Vegan Month. I will, no doubt, be bringing you more vegan recipes in the future, but if you missed the other vegan recipes I posted to celebrate, here are the links:
Garlic Spaghetti and Tofu Bites
We try to have a vegan day each week, but with pasta we always miss the cheese to sprinkle on top… your crispy topping sounds like just the thing I’ve been looking for!
Oh good, hope you all like it! We are getting quite used to it now and rarely use parmesan at all. The nutritional yeast is a revelation and I hope to experiment more with it in the future.
Am not a vegan but this looks very moreish to me! Do try to cut down on the cheese usage myself 🙂 ! Have to look/see whether we too have a form of ‘Würz Hefeflocken’ ? 🙂 !! Love the violas/pansies at the top!!!
Thank you Eha. I hope you find some nutritional yeast. It’s a great savoury flavouring for all sorts of things!
Good idea, in Sicily they do something similar but without the protein element just my using toasted breadcrumbs. It started as a necessity for the poor who couldn’t afford cheese to put on top of their pasta, your version is a more complete option.
I didn’t realise breadcrumbs were a tradition on pasta dishes, but it makes sense. With some nice wholemeal bread it really adds flavour. 🙂
Agree with you on finding vegetarian parmesan being so tricky so I’m loving your topping
I rarely use parmesan now and we are pretty happy with this as an alternative, so hope you try it too Claire! 🙂
Cathy, This sounds interesting! I didn´t know nutritional yeast flakes and will look for them. 🙂
It´getting cold to December! 🙂
Hi Uta. They are worth seeking out – a nice, almost cheesy flavour. 🙂
Lovely idea!
Thanks Dina! 🙂
Near the end of September we visited Albuquerque, New Mexico, a city of a little over half a million people. I was surprised to find along one stretch of Central Avenue three vegan Asian restaurants. We ended up eating supper twice in one and once in another.
Wow! There isn’t even one in either of our nearest cities! In my opinion Asian food in Germany is not as good as Asian food in England and probably completely different again to what you ate in New Mexico. You must have enjoyed it if you ate there more than once.
Yes, Albuquerque outdid even “progressive” Austin, which is considerably larger. Having expected nothing of the sort, I felt we should take advantage of the rare opportunity, especially because I didn’t know what we would find in the other cities (Phoenix and Tucson) that lay ahead on our trip.
I am always wondering what to do with nutritional yeast (other than make vegetarian gravy) so I can’t wait to try this!
Haven’t tried gravy with it, but want to try a “cheese” sauce at some stage. Hope you enjoy this topping! 🙂 Our dogs love nutritional yeast by the way… they get a little bit sprinkled over their food! 😉
What a wonderful vegan recipe! A welcome punch of flavor from the nutritional yeast really adds to a comforting bowl of pasta.
I have only recently discovered how much I like the nutrtional yeast!
How clever to have made your own, Cathy! It sounds like a really interesting cheese alternative and I’m always eager to try different options. It’s unusual. Thank you. 🙂
While looking for alternatives I saw so many different recipes, but nothing as simple as this one which suits us fine!
This sounds like a yummy twist to an Italian fav in my family…pasta, olive oil and seasoned bread crumbs with garlic and the optional addition of anchovies.
This topping tastes great on lots of different pasta dishes, but garlic is always a favourite of ours too. 🙂
That looks delicious! Thanks for your recipe. I’m going to share this with some vegan friends as well.
Glad you like it. Hope your vegan friends approve too!