The secret to pasta that tastes like it came straight from a fancy restaurant? Take the time to caramelize the onions.
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That slow cooking turns them sweet, rich, and packed with flavor that blends beautifully with garlicky chili oil.
It’s the kind of small step that makes a big difference—and once you taste it, you’ll understand why I never rush this part.
This vegan caramelized onion and chili oil pasta is bold, comforting, and just a little addictive. It’s weeknight-easy, yet impressive enough to serve to guests. And yes, it’s the dish that made even my onion-skeptic friends ask for seconds.
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Why You’ll Love This Vegan Caramelized Onion Pasta Recipe
- Restaurant Quality – You are going to absolutely love how this dish tastes like it came right out of the kitchen of your favorite Italian Asian fusion restaurant (is that a thing?)
- Meal Prep Friendly – this recipe only gets better as it sits and allows the flavors to merry together. It lasts up for 5 days in the fridge, so just go ahead and double the batch so you can have more leftovers
- Creamy – I love a good creamy vegan pasta, and this dish just hits all the right notes!
Ingredients for Caramelized Onion Pasta Recipe
Gather your ingredients! See my recipe card below for a complete list of the ingredients with measurements.
- Onions – We are using yellow onions for this recipe. They have a great flavor, hold up well for caramelizing, and aren’t expensive.
- Substitute:
- Garlic – we love using garlic for the base of the recipe as an aromatic, but we are leveling it up in this recipe for our garlic lovers and using the entire bulbs.
- Option: Just use 3-5 cloves if you want to use garlic but doing want a lot.
- Spaghetti – We are using a long noodle for this recipe to soak up are sauce and because our kids love to slurp up the noodles on a good creamy pasta.
- Substitute: You can use any desired noodles for this recipe, including whole wheat or gluten free
- Chili Crunch – this is a type of Chinese hot sauce made with fried chili pepper and other ingredients and then infused in oil. It makes for a great spicy/umami flavor that you aren’t going to get from other hot sauces.
- Substitute: We’d recommend some additional oil from the sun dried tomatoes and then mix together some red pepper flakes and sesame seeds
- Coconut Milk – most popular caramelized onion pastas call for heavy cream. In order to keep this vegan and still super creamy, we’re using full fat coconut milk
- Substitute: Other non-dairy milks will also work, but you may need to let it cook down longer and/or add in some cornstarch/arrowroot powder to thicken the sauce
- Sun Dried Tomatoes – just for a little something extra, we’re adding in some sun dried tomatoes. We use the ones that are in oil.
- Vegan Butter and Oil – The variation is to prevent the vegan butter from burning, but also still add richness while we are caramelizing our onions
- Soy sauce and balsamic vinegar -Adding in some umami flavors, but also these help to deglaze the pan right when we need too!
- Spices and Parsley – we’re using a combination of dried spices and fresh parsley in order to heighten this dish
- Add-ins – this dish in not particular protein heavy and just focuses on the pasta being a great meal. However, if you want to add in some other things, here’s a few suggestions: mushrooms, cauliflower or broccoli florets, carrots, chickpeas, tofu, chickpeas, or seitan.
We do not recommend other substitutes unless you are 100% aware of how it could alter the taste of the dish.
How to Make Caramelized Onion Pasta Recipe
- In a large skillet (preferably with high walls) over medium low heat, add 2 tablespoon olive oil and 2 tablespoon vegan butter. Once butter is melted, add in your 5 thinly, evenly sliced onions. Sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt. Stir together until all the onions are well coated with the oil.
Let the onions cook for another 35-40 minutes, stirring every 4-5 minutes, careful to not burn the onions.
*If you notice they seem like they are burning, turn your heat lower and add more oil or a splash of vegetable stock if needed.
**Start your 12oz uncooked pasta after the onions are done, so it’s done around the same time as the sauce.
- Add in your bulb of minced garlic, ¼ cup sun dried tomatoes, and 2 tablespoon chili crunch oil and stir together. Add in 1 teaspoon each oregano and basil, ½ teaspoon parsley, ¼ teaspoon each thyme, rosemary, marjoram, sage, and garlic powder, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir together again.
Add 2 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce and 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar. Switch to a wooden spoon if not using and scrape the bottom of the pan.
- Add in a 13.5oz can of coconut milk and stir together well. Let cook for 3-4 minutes. Add cooked pasta and ¼ cup vegan parmesan and careful stir together, coating all of the pasta noodles with the sauce. Use the reserved pasta water a few tablespoons at a time if needed to thin out of make sure the sauce spreads evenly.
- Top with more vegan parmesan, chili crunch oil, and parsley if desired.
How to Store Onion Pasta Recipe
If you have leftovers, you’ll want to let them cool completely, then store in an air tight container. Place in the fridge to store for up to 5 days.
To reheat: Place in a microwave safe container and heat for 2-3 minutes or until warmed through. Alternatively, you can add a little stock to a pan on the stove over medium heat and heat on the stove.
Other must try pasta dishes:
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Vegan Caramelized Onion Pasta Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon vegan butter
- 5 yellow onions, thinly, evenly slices
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 bulb garlic, minced (about 8-10 cloves)
- 12 oz uncooked spaghetti noodles, (340g) [+ reserve ½ cup pasta water for stretching/thinning sauce if needed at the end]
- ¼ cup sun dried tomatoes in oil, (50g)
- 2 tablespoon chili crunch oil
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon basil
- ½ teaspoon parsley
- ¼ teaspoon thyme
- ¼ teaspoon rosemary
- ¼ teaspoon marjoram
- ¼ teaspoon sage
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- Salt and pepper to taste, start with ⅛ teaspoon each
- 2 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 13.5 oz canned coconut milk (380g)
- ¼-1/2 cup vegan parmesan (25-50g)
- fresh parsley, chopped, optional
Instructions
- In a large skillet (preferably with high walls) over medium low heat, add 2 tablespoon olive oil and 2 tablespoon vegan butter. Once butter is melted, add in your 5 thinly, evenly sliced onions. Sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt. Stir together until all the onions are well coated with the oil.Let the onions cook for another 35-40 minutes, stirring every 4-5 minutes, careful to not burn the onions.*If you notice they seem like they are burning, turn your heat lower and add more oil or a splash of vegetable stock if needed.**Start your 12oz uncooked pasta after the onions are done, so it’s done around the same time as the sauce.
- Add in your bulb of minced garlic, ¼ cup sun dried tomatoes, and 2 tablespoon chili crunch oil and stir together. Add in 1 teaspoon each oregano and basil, ½ teaspoon parsley, ¼ teaspoon each thyme, rosemary, marjoram, sage, and garlic powder, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir together again.Add 2 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce and 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar. Switch to a wooden spoon if not using and scrape the bottom of the pan.
- Add in a 13.5oz can of coconut milk and stir together well. Let cook for 3-4 minutes. Add cooked pasta and ¼ cup vegan parmesan and careful stir together, coating all of the pasta noodles with the sauce. Use the reserved pasta water a few tablespoons at a time if needed to thin out of make sure the sauce spreads evenly.
- Top with more vegan parmesan, chili crunch oil, and parsley if desired.
Notes
Video
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions:
Yes! Use gluten free pasta, make sure you have a soy free butter, and for the coconut milk use whatever is safe for you, but creamy ones like oat work best. For the soy sauce – depending on what you can have, use coconut aminos, liquid aminos, tamari or a no soy soy sauce.
This vegan pasta recipe will last 3-5 days in the fridge. You can make a half batch if that is better for your needs.
You can freeze the sauce, but we would not recommend freezing the pasta with it. To freeze, store in a freezer safe, air tight container in the freezer for up to 3 months.
I’m just gonna leave my husbands comment during dinner:
“this is EXTREMELY good!”
I loved the heat level, just that perfect amount of heat while eating but not burning level of spice. 10/10!
*subbed oat milk for the coconut milk and 2 large yellow onion plus a few shallots for the 5 yellow onions since that’s what I had on hand and didn’t have any issues!)
OMG thank you so much! We’re honored that you and your husband both loved the recipe so much. Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with it!
I have made 2 recipes and this was one of them! Totally blown away, totally. It had superlative taste. Thank you!! I did wonder about the amount of Olive oil I ended up putting in….there was a lot of oil visible in the final dish. Just wondering how to keep the flavor, but cut back the oil…is that possible? I am trying to eat less oil and still cook flavorful vegan dishes. I am a huge Fan, now and will continue experimenting with all the recipes here…thank you for making Vegan eating Amazing!!!
Thank you so much for the incredible review, we’re so glad you loved the dish! Your kind words truly mean a lot.
You’re absolutely right that this recipe uses a bit more oil to help the onions fully caramelize and carry all that chili-oil flavor, but you can definitely reduce it while keeping things delicious. A few easy tweaks:
Start with 1–2 tablespoons less oil and add only if the onions start sticking.
Use a splash of vegetable broth or water during caramelizing to help things along without adding more fat.
Stir in a touch of pasta water at the end to keep everything saucy and flavorful even with less oil.
Thank you so much! That is exactly what I needed to know. I want to keep making this dish, but I am trying to watch my weight and eat better. Thank you!
Welcome!
Absolutely delicious recipe! I added some pre-cooked red lentils for extra protein but they went undetected in the finished dish.
Thank you so much! Love the idea of adding in those extra red lentils too!
My family really loves this recipe! The first time I made it, my house was smelling like onions for over a week lol. Now I just use one or two big onions and add in some other veggies to give it more of a veggie packed punch! Thanks for much! Making it tonight for the umptenth time.
HAHA, love that! Some glad everyone’s enjoying
One of our favorite pasta dishes. Definitely worth making!!
OMG thank you so much! We’re so happy that you enjoyed the recipe!
This pasta dish is a party in your mouth. I am making it for the second time this week in order to retain it in my mind (and on our collective taste buds). Thank you!
Hahaha I love that!
OH my word!! So delicious , my family totally enjoyed it. Grandson asked that it be made again. Beautifully balanced flavors and amazingly creamy. Will be working my way thru your recipe box. Yum.
We hope you love everything!