Dairy free substitutions are not always easy, especially when a recipe uses multiple dairy ingredients. It can make some recipes that rely on familiar tastes and textures like creamy pasta sauces and cheesy dips seem intimidating or near impossible for those who do not eat dairy. This delicious spinach and artichoke pasta dish was my opportunity to try out a few creative dairy-free substitutions.
In this case report, I aim to demonstrate that there are more options than one might think for dairy free modifications, and casually breaking barriers for the dairy-free community.
Method
Recipe source:
Budget Bytes Spinach Artichoke Pasta: https://www.budgetbytes.com/spinach-artichoke-pasta/
Note: I wanted to add protein to this dish so I added some cubed baked boneless chicken breast (baked on a sheet pan with olive oil and some spices at 350 for about 30 minutes until it reached 165F).
If you want a more chicken-forward dish, try: Budget Bytes Spinach Artichoke Chicken https://www.budgetbytes.com/creamy-spinach-artichoke-chicken/
Dairy-Free Modifications:
Buckle up!
1. Sour cream: Fortunately, I realized in advance that I did not have sour cream, so instead I made cashew cream. A couple of hours before I started to cook, I added 1/2 cup boiling water to 1/2 cup raw cashews. After I let them soak for a while, I blended them up. It became a silky, slightly sweet, and thick cream! It yielded slightly more than the 1/2 cup of sour cream this recipe called for. Not quite the texture of sour cream, but I knew we'd be heating it up in this recipe so the purpose was more for the creaminess. You can totally adjust the ratios of water to cashews (depending on the capacity of your blender), and add salt for savoriness, or vanilla for a sweeter use.
2. For the cream cheese, I used the Violife Original Cream Cheese. I have also been really enjoying it paired with toast and pumpkin muffins.
3. Instead of milk, I used a mixture of Trader Joe's Almond Beverage. If you wanted to really amp up the creaminess, you could use a plant-based milk with a higher fat content, such as cashew milk, soy milk, or coconut milk. However, some plant based milks have stronger flavors which may affect the final taste.
4. Instead of parmesan, I used Good & Gather Plant Based Non-Dairy Mozzarella Style Shreds. Of course, now there are several non-dairy parmesan style products on the market. None of them, however, were in my fridge at the time of cooking. This was not too unfortunate, because first of all, many non-dairy cheeses kind of taste the same, and also, the purpose of the cheese in this recipe is to provide texture and saltiness. I think these little shreds did a great job.
Steps: Once we had the dairy-free substitutions set, it was pretty easy from here! I made the sauce in advance, and made the pasta fresh when we were ready to eat (well, not from scratch, that would have certainly taken this recipe up many notches. I do have a vegan homemade pasta recipe up my sleeve- any interest?).
1. Warm stuff up on the stove.
2. Melt your cheese in. Observe the meltability.
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3. Add in your spinach and artichoke, and in my case, chicken too.
4. I poured it into a baking dish for easy reheating in the oven.
5. Make your pasta according to package directions (or in our case, intentionally several minutes past al dente), then serve.
Results:
The picture does not do this justice, but I can vouch for the deliciousness.
One dairy eater reviewed, "you MADE this alfredo sauce?"
Discussion:
Results demonstrated that even a recipe calling for multiple dairy ingredients can be made dairy free and deliciously. Results also highlight how sometimes, substitutions do not have to be exact replicas. We successfully substituted sour cream, milk, cream cheese, and parmesan!
This recipe brought to light two issues with dairy free recipe adaptations.
First, as mentioned above, sometimes substitutions do not have to be exact replicas. With cooking a sauce, there is more flexibility with adjusting quantities as well as textures. I exercise more caution with baking.
Second, cooking and baking dairy free often requires purchase of several different types of ingredients. It can be time consuming and expensive to acquire dairy free ingredients. This is in addition to the time and mental effort of researching products and stores, and reading ingredient labels. Fortunately, with the proliferation of brands and growing recognition of allergies and intolerances, there are certainly more widespread options available.
I also hope that in a small way, this blog does serve as a short cut in your journey.
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