Stop right there. Sweet potato noodles? CASHEW SAUCE? First of all, y-u-m.
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I made this recipe for dinner tonight. It was amazing! So much flavor. I loved the cashew sauce. This recipe will be a staple in our home from now on.
Elle
Secondly, it’s true. I’m going fake-vegan-rogue on you today.
In terms of actual real life serious commitments, I’m not a vegan or a vegetarian. But I am a person who likes to try new things and sometimes I get lazy about cooking meat, so a few months ago I bought three different spiralizers – those crazy machines that make vegetables into noodles. I wanted to try them and see which ones were best, and why they were awesome, and become a super healthy person with a few swirls of a spiralizer handle, and eventually talk about it in a post. In these last few weeks, I’ve just been a leeeetle too “busy” to get my act together and actually write about the spiralizers, but ironically, the thing that is keeping me busy is feeding my face bowls and bowls and bowls of spiralized sweet potato noodles covered in cashew sauce. It’s just so weird how that works.
So let’s break this down into a less weird and scary // more awesome and healthy and delicious sort of situation.
To start: sweet potato noodles.
How To Make Our Creamy Spinach Sweet Potato Noodles:
I made my sweet potato noodles with the Paderno spiralizer. Annnnnd I just basically gave away my whole spiralizer post to you right there in one sentence. Just… buy the Paderno. It’s $30 and it has a 4.5 ⭐️ rating from more than 6,000 reviews on Amazon.
(But seriously, more to come on the topic of spiralizers in a week or two if you’re the kind of person who needs major convincing. I see you, and I get you, and I’ll be back for you.)
You COULD make your sweet potato noodles by hand or with a peeler or something, but, I mean, why, really? If that’s your story right now, I’d say just skip the vegetables-as-noodles thing (too much work, friend) and go for either regular noodles or sweet potatoes chopped into easy, quick little pieces and roasted to perfection. File under advice from your Lazy Girl Friend.
That being said, if you do have a spiralizer, those big, sturdy, fat sweet potatoes make the perfect little swoodles <– oh my gosh, TREND ALERT 🚨 look mom I just started a trend —> and they are pretty much the cutest thing ever, not to mention tasty and nutritious.
Did I mention the cutest thing ever? I played with them like little vegetable slinkies for at least ten minutes.
But let’s not get too far on the sweet potato noodles because I need to tell you that there is such a thing in this world called CASHEW CREAM.
And it is divine.
Just try not to turn into a vegan when you look at this picture.
Right? That velvety beauty is CASHEWS and water and salt and a little garlic. And that’s all.
So essentially we have sweet potato noodles that are hopefully almost caramelizingly browned with some gently sautéed spinach and a good dose of creamy cashew sauce, tossed all together for a really comforting weeknight vegetarian/vegan type meal. It’s thick and creamy, it’s super satisfying, it’s totally adaptable to anything and everything.
Bacon? I mean, that idea just came into my mind – it had to be for a reason, and maybe you are that reason. Try it. Add bacon. I dare you.
Or roasted chickpeas. Or caramelized onions. Or more vegetables. Broccoli? I could see it.
This plate of creamy spinach and sweet potato noodles with cashew sauce sitting has your fake-vegan-rogue name on it. Unless you’re a real vegan, and then, well, you win at life.
Sweet potato noodle it up! And then put cashew cream on everything you ever eat from this day forward. ✔️
The End.
Creamy Spinach Sweet Potato Noodles with Cashew Sauce
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 1x
Description
Creamy Spinach and Sweet Potato Noodles with Cashew Sauce – easy to make, adaptable, gluten free, vegan. Divine and delicious!
Ingredients
- 1 cup cashews
- 3/4 cup water (more for soaking)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 4 large sweet potatoes, spiralized
- 2 cups baby spinach
- a handful of fresh basil leaves, chives, or other herbs
- salt and pepper to taste
- olive oil for drizzling
Instructions
- Cover the cashews with water in a bowl and soak for 2 hours or so.
- Drain and rinse thoroughly. Place in a food processor or blender (I got better texture with the blender) and add the 3/4 cup water, salt, and garlic. Puree until very smooth.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the sweet potatoes; toss in the pan for 6-7 minutes with tongs until tender-crisp. Remove from heat and toss in the spinach – it should wilt pretty quickly.
- Add half of the herbs and half of the sauce to the pan and toss to combine. Add water if the mixture is too sticky. Season generously with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil, and top with the remaining fresh herbs.
Notes
This recipe makes MORE than enough sauce – enough for at least 6 or 8 servings, if not more. I left the amounts that way because it seemed silly to make the sauce with only about 1/2 cup of cashews – it wouldn’t even really be enough to get going around in the blender, and I promise you’ll be able to find ways to use the remaining sauce. It’s extremely versatile.
The biggest thing that affects how many servings you’ll get in this recipe is the size of the sweet potatoes. Keep in mind that they will cook down a bit and one large sweet potato can be sometimes twice as big as a small sweet potato. Just use common sense in terms of serving size and sauce-to-noodles ratios! 🙂
Also, this recipe is sort of a comforting, neutral starting point for those of us who need tons of flavor in everything – so add whatever herbs or flavors you want to the sauce if you want to give it more of a punch. I love the idea of adding chipotles or sriracha, bacon, roasted garlic, caramelized onion… the list could go on…
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: sweet potato noodles, healthy recipe, spinach and sweet potatoes, vegan noodle recipe, vegan recipe
Disclaimer: this post contains an affiliate link for the Paderno spiralizer which is the one I recommend after trying several different brands.
MORE:
- 12 Magical Ways to Use a Food Processor
- 8 Life-Changing Ways to Use a Spiralizer
- 10 Simply Genius Ways to Use a Blender
- 10 Easy Recipes You Can Make in a Dutch Oven
- 12 Easy Recipes You Can Make in a Slow Cooker
- 12 Creative Ways to Love Your KitchenAid Mixer
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our yummy spinach recipes page. Check it out!
I guess you got a really good deal, but I went to Amazon and the spiralizer is now 79 dollars. Ugh! Does anyone else sell it for less that you know of?
It seems like mushrooms might work in this. Does that sound right to you?
My neighbor just had a baby. I realize that I don’t know her food profile – vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, etc.
The dish seems packed with nutrition – so I’m hoping it will check all of the boxes for a new mom.
Hi! Yes, you can definitely add mushrooms to this. 🙂
This sounded so good but we were disappointed. Followed the directions exactly and the sauce was delicious, however once we mixed everything together it was completely void of flavor.
We’re sorry to hear that, Taylor! We appreciate the feedback.
I loved the recipie of the sweet potato. I am definitely going to try it.
I made this last night for dinner, but it wasn’t for me. First, I know the size of potatoes can very a lot but I think 4 large sweet potatoes is way too much. I ended up only using 3 and that was still too much. Second, because it’s basically just a pile of potatoes and some spinach, and because sweet potatoes get pretty soft when cooked, I didn’t enjoy the texture if trying to eat just this for dinner.
Thank you for posting it though, Lindsay!
This was delicious! Thanks for the nudge to spiralize my sweet potatoes, as I’ve never done. Sure, I’ve purchased them, but they are so much better when they’re fresh! The creamy sauce meets the comfort food need. I made it twice that week because it was just delicious. I made enough sauce so do it twice. Even easier the next time. Thanks again!
Enjoyed this. However 4 large sweet potatoes would have been way too much. 2 provided 3 servings easily. Also the recipe said there would be an abundance of cashew sauce however mine wasn’t even enough for the 3 servings. I did only let my cashews sit for about an hour instead of the recommended two so maybe that hadn’t absorbed as much water but the listed potatoes and cashew butter were significantly off for servings in my experience. Combo of flavors was delicious though! Would make again cutting potatoes in half and doubling cashew sauce.
So amazing and yummy potato noodles recipe. This is very unique and best comb o of potato and noodles. I really like it. Thank you for sharing this amazing noodles recipe.
This was PERFECT. I’m newly on a high carb low fat sitch struggling to find easy delicious meals. This hit the spot! (I only had to leave out the oil) The cashew sauce is incredibly tasty despite it’s humble ingredients. It will now be my go to dressing, sauce, lifeline. Not even close to kidding. Bless you!
Non longer starving,
Kami
So happy to hear this, Kami!
I really like this amazing potato sweet noodles recipe. This is looking so delicious and yummy. I will surely try this. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
If you don’t like cashews, can walnuts or peanuts be used? I’d like to try this recipe, but don’t like cashews any way you fix them. Plus, cooking for a diabetic, I try to keep the sugar and carbs down. Cashews tend to be sweet, which is probably why I don’t like them.
We haven’t texted this recipe using walnuts or peanuts, but I’d imagine peanuts would be the best option due to their flavor and creamy texture when broken down and blended. If you give it a try, let us know how it worked!
Was very yummy but my sweet potato turned out more of a mash potato 🙁 Not sure why maybe I may have spiralize them to thin?
What is disheartening is getting notices on this recipe about new postings, a tempting button that says reply, and it dumps you to the BEGINNING of comments, and there’s over 400. Paging and paging and paging to try to get to the recent, isn’t worth it. If you come to look at the comments the most recent few should be the ones you see with the option to page BACK. Now… this recipe is amazing. A lot of people are not on a low salt diet and not used to having a dish not jump out at you. Cashew cream by itself is pretty bland. That said, a dash of miso, some roasted garlic, some red pepper flakes, even fresh cracked/ground black pepper will definitely punch this one up. A bit of soy sauce will give a note of ‘meat’ without meat. I like this one plain or with a bit of fresh cracked black pepper, and a little roasted garlic added to the cashew sauce. Using a spiralizer is mandatory, and the thickness of the spirals is very important, thinner is better.
Fiz essa receita 2×. Ficou incrivelmente delicioso.
Made this tonight for dinner and I don’t see what the buzz is about. The cream sauce had no flavor and just globed on the noodles. I added water but that just diluted any flavor that was there. Many people rated this recipe 5 when they hadn’t tried it yet and much of the discussion was about spiralizers. Many added bacon and sausage which tells you how much the flavor will have to be amped up. The size of my noodles are the size in the picture rather than angel hair size. Will not make again.
So sorry to hear this dish didn’t turn out for you, Cheri. 😕 Thanks for taking time to share this feedback with us – we appreciate it!
I made this tonight and I really love it! I used 4 small-medium sweet potatoes which was about the perfect amount for the sauce. I found I needed to add a little water to the pan and cover it to steam the sweet potatoes a bit and ended up cooking them for more like 10-12 minutes. I’m sure it depends on how thick your spiralizer makes the swoodles. I stirred in some fresh basil and topped it with a basil oil I threw together. A good helping of fresh cracked black pepper and sea salt and it’s perfect!
Glad you enjoyed this, Amelia! 😊
Bonjour je viens juste de faire la recette je testerai demain mais ça a l air très bon et original Je n ai ni basilic ni ciboulette je tenterai peut être avec du persil. Merci pour la recette. Pour info je n ai pas de spiraliseur,j ai utilisé une mandoline avec une grille spécifique
This was vile. Threw it in the garbage
Flavorful and simple! My 3 year old enjoyed it, too. I look forward to making it for my next Whole Food Plant-Based Meetup potluck event! Cheers!
So happy to hear you enjoyed this, Sharon!
Such a good recipe! I made sweet potato gnocchi instead of noodles and added fire roasted tomato and onions. Probably one of my favorite meals now!
Okay, that sounds amazing! YUM!
Hello! I’d love to try this but have little time and no spiralizer. I’ve seen spiralized veggie noodles in the produce section in stores now. Can you give an estimate of how many cups of “noodles” the four sweet potatoes make?
Hi, Courtney! Love your quick time-saver idea! We would recommend 4-5 cups of sweet potato noodles.
So I loved the idea of this recipe. I don’t have a spiral so I grated the sweet potatoes. Got 4 mega large ones, doubled the cashew, used bacon, onion, lots of garlic, zucchini , mushrooms ,fresh oregano and sage. Took extra time to sauté everything and used multiple pans but then added it all to a baking dish poured cashew on top and made quite the casserole 🙂
Thanks!!!
YUM. Love everything you added to this, Susie! 🙂
Made this tonight. Delicious!! Added carmelized onion and baked prosciutto and it was fantastic!!! Will make again for sure
How do I best store the extra cashew sauce?
It freezes pretty well – we’d probably opt for that!
I tried this and not only is it super easy and quick (minus the soaking time for the cashews), but it is SO delicious. You totally cannot tell that the sauce does not have dairy in it. It tastes like an alfredo sauce!
Sometimes, to have cashews soaked more quickly, you can put them (and the 3/4 cup Water) in a blender and pulse until the cashews become much smaller pieces. Then you can have them soaked in 15-20 min.