Vegan Whole Wheat Tortellini

Homemade, fresh pasta dough, filled with a delicious blend of cashews, spinach and artichokes. Shaped into informal tortellini, served with marinara sauce, making it a filling, comforting meal.

Vegan stuffed pastas, such as ravioli or tortellini, can be hard to find in the store. If they aren’t hard to find, they can be very expensive.  Not only that, I’ve purchased some prepared vegan ravioli, and it was just not good. 

With that being my experience with store bought vegan stuffed pasta, I’ve taken to making my own at home. Thankfully, I’ve found lots of success making my own pasta and filling and, by some miracle, shaping them. 

In this recipe I’m sharing how to make Vegan Whole Wheat Tortellini at home. This is a great recipe if you are a beginner pasta maker, even if you’ve never made it before.

Why Whole Wheat?

Whole wheat flour is packed with nutrients. I like using 100% stone ground Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat flour. But here’s a secret, I don’t use whole wheat to make pasta because it’s heathier. I use it because it’s EASIER. Whole wheat flour has lower gluten density than white flour, and that means the dough will be less elastic. Less elasticity, means easier to work with! Making whole wheat pasta dough for ravioli or tortellini is perfect for a beginner pasta maker for this reason.

You can substitute  the whole wheat for white flour, however it may require a little less water. 

Shaping Vegan Whole Wheat Tortellini

Making your stuffed pasta into tortellini doesn’t require any extra equipment other than a biscuit cutter (however you can even use the top of a glass to cut out the rounds if needed.) Tortellini are shaped by hand. However, you can shape this recipe into ravioli, as I have many times. I’ve made very informal, free formed ravioli, in a mezza luna (or half moon) shape, and I’ve also used a ravioli press. Shaping the pasta into tortellini this time was very satisfying and I was very pleased with the results. Here’s how I did it:

1. Rolled out the dough (by hand since I don’t have a pasta machine) as thinly and evenly as possible.
2. Cut out rounds from the rolled out pasta with a 3″ biscuit cutter.
3. Placed 1 teaspoon of filling into the center of the rounds.
4. One at a time, folding the round in half and sealed the edges together (using water as needed to get a tight seal).
5. Brought the corners together, allowing the edge to flip up (so that it sort of resembles a pirates hat)
6. Then I sealed the corners together. 

Take it slow and keep trying! It doesn’t really matter what they look like, as long as the pasta has encased the filling and it is sealed, the pasta will survive boiling process and will taste delicious regardless!

Vegan Whole Wheat Tortellini

Homemade pasta and a delicious filling made of cashews, spinach and artichokes.

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Prep Time 1 hour hr

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Servings 4 Servings

Ingredients

  

Whole Wheat Pasta

• 4 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 1/2 Cups Water
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 teaspoon Salt

Filling

• 1 1/2 Cups Raw Cashews, soaked soaked up to 3 hours, then drained and rinsed
• 1/2 Cup Water
• 1 Garlic Clove
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt or to taste
• 2 Tablespoons Nutritional Yeast
• 5 Ounces Frozen Spinach, thawed about 1/2 a frozen pack
• 7 Ounces Canned Artichoke Hearts drained, about 1/2 a can

For serving

• 4-6 Cups Marinara Sauce
• chopped fresh Parsley optional
• Shredded Vegan Parmesan optional

Instructions

 

Prepare the Whole Wheat Pasta

• Add the flour to a large bowl (mixing can either be done by hand or in an electric mixer with a dough hook).
• Create a well in the center of the flour and pour in the water, salt and oil.
• Being to mix the ingredients together until a dough mass forms.
• Knead the dough by either continuing to mix with the dough hook, or tip the dough onto a surface and knead until the ingredients are well combined, adding more water or more flour as needed to create a nice smooth dough.
• Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest on the counter for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Make the Filling

• In a high powered blender, add all the filling ingredients.
• Blend until creamy, but with some texture (so that it resembles ricotta cheese)

Assemble the Tortellini

• Roll out the dough as thinly as possible (or use a pasta machine to roll sheets of pasta).
• If you are rolling by hand and you notice the pasta springing back too much, step away and let it rest for 5 minutes and then come back and continue rolling.
• To shape into tortellini, use a 3" biscuit cutter to cut out rounds from the sheet (or sheets) of pasta.
• Add 1-2 teaspoons of filling to the center of each of the pasta rounds that were cut out.
• Taking one round of pasta, fold the pasta in half and seal the edges, making sure there is no air inside, using water if needed to get a tight seal.
• Bring the two corners together, flipping up the edge of the pasta around the filled center (it will resemble a pirates hat) Press the two corners together and seal.
• Set the tortellini aside on a parchment lined baking sheet, dusting with flour if needed.
• Repeat until all tortellini have been shaped.
• At this point, the tortellini can be frozen (in a single layer), or covered and placed in the refrigerator until you are ready to boil them. (They can be boiled right away).

To serve

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
• Once boiling, salt the water.
• Add the tortellini to the pot and boil. If the tortellini are fresh, boil for 3-5 minutes (until they float). If they are frozen, boil up to 10 minutes (or until they begin to float.
• Drain and serve with warmed marinara sauce and top with parsley and Vegan Parmesan cheese.

Keyword vegan fresh pasta, vegan tortellini, whole wheat pasta