Last Updated on February 14, 2021

Do you have a bag of frozen corn in your freezer? Try this Spaghetti with Corn Cream Sauce! It’s made with cashew cream sauce with sweet yellow corn. This vegan pasta sure is comforting and satisfying.

The Inspiration

“Corn Potage [コーンポタージュ]”

It doesn’t sound like a Japanese dish, but actually it is…well…ok, it must be a French dish adapted by the Japanese and interpreted to be palatable to cater for them. It’s a creamy corn soup that is rich, comforting, savory and slightly sweet. It’s popular item on a kids menu at family-style restaurants so somewhat a nostalgic dish for the Japanese along with the Spaghetti Napolitan.

Typically, it’s made with chicken bouillon, butter, and milk, in other words it’s far from being vegan-friendly. But we all know that childhood memory of food never fades away!

So this pasta dish has a reminiscence of my (Akiko’s) childhood memory of food!

Update on 5/22/2020: Please note that this recipe makes thin cream sauce (soupy consistency) than the image shows! It’s not an error, we actually aim for the consistency of the corn soup!

About the Yellow Corn

In our kitchen, there are some frozen veggies that we always have on hand which are frozen green peas and frozen corn. So we used frozen corn kernels but fresh one should work just fine, or it may be even better! Always choose organic ones if you can!

The Flavor

Corns are delicious but it needs some base tone as the background flavor to support the sweetness of them! To do so, we cooked garlic & yellow onion with the corn, then blended with cashew cream. To keep the natural sweetness of the corn, we didn’t add any sugar. But to be honest, it was so tempting to add just a hint of it…decision is up to you! We bet it will elevate the sweetness even more!

Another thing we did was to reserve the cooked veggie mixture of the garlic, onion, and corn to set a side before blending with the cashew cream. This way, you can get both goodness of the creamy corn sauce and the sweet & savory bites of corns.

Also, cayenne pepper in the sauce hits your tongue in a very pleasant way. With the amount used for this recipe (1/4 tsp), it doesn’t give you an intense heat but it definitely adds an another dimension to the creamy sauce.

Toppings

It’s always good to have some green color to a dish. Instead of using parsley which is the traditional topping for the corn potage mentioned above, we plated with the only greens we had at the time of cooking…scallions (Asian house hold’s staple.)

The result was…scallions never disappoint us! Yes, it worked very well!

And, don’t forget to dress the pasta with a freshly cracked black pepper!

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Print Recipe

5 from 29 votes

Spaghetti with Corn Cream Sauce

Do you have a bag of frozen corn in your freezer? Try this Spaghetti with Corn Cream Sauce! It's made with cashew cream sauce with sweet yellow corn. This vegan pasta sure is comforting and satisfying.

Update on 5/22/2020: Please note that this recipe makes thin cream sauce (soupy consistency) than the image shows! It's not an error, we actually aim for the consistency of the corn soup!

*Inactive Time (soaking cashews) is not included in Total Time

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Inactive Time8 hours hrs

Total Time45 minutes mins

Course: Entree, Lunch, Dinner

Cuisine: Japanese Inspired, Italian Inspired, Vegan

Servings: 2

Author: Plant-Based Matters

Ingredients

Soaking Cashews

• 1/4 cup raw unsalted cashews
• 3/4 cup water

Corn & Onion Mixture

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 cup diced yellow onion
• 1 1/2 cups frozen yellow corn kernels
• 1/2 cup water

Corn Cream Sauce

• Soaked cashews (see the above)
• 2 cups water
• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup cooked corn & onion mixture

The Rest

• 8 oz spaghetti
• 1 scallion finely chopped (garnish)
• Black pepper

Instructions

• In a large pot, start boiling water for cooking spaghetti.
• Meanwhile, start preparing corn & onion mixture. Heat up a frying pan at medium high heat. Pour extra virgin olive oil and add garlic. Cook for 1-2 minute until aromatic and golden brown and slightly crispy. Add yellow onion and cook for 3-4 minutes, then add frozen yellow corn. Cook for about 2-3 minutes until the corn is defrosted. Adjust the heat to avoid burning.
• Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooked corn & onion mixture and set aside. Add 1/2 cup water to deglaze the pan and remove from the heat. Set aside.
• Prepare corn cream sauce. In a high-speed blender, combine soaked cashews, water, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and reserved (1/2 cup) cooked corn & onion mixture. Blend for a minute or so until smooth. Set aside.
• Start cooking spaghetti for 9-11 minutes (or follow the instruction on the package.)
• In the meantime, transfer the cream sauce back to the pan. Cook it over low to medium low heat. Stir occasionally to avoid burning. When it starts to thicken, continue to keep warm at low heat or if it’s thickening to quick, turn it off.
• Once the spaghetti is cooked, drain well add to the sauce. Give a quick toss.
• Serve immediately with finely chopped scallions and crack some freshly ground black pepper on top.

Notes

• Cayenne pepper gives a good definition in the creamy sauce.
• If you like sweeter taste, add some sugar to the sauce or use white wine to deglaze the pan instead of water. Using wine will also add some depth to the flavor.
• Feel free to substitute frozen corn kernels to fresh ones.

Did you make this recipe?Mention @plantbased_matters or tag #plantbased_matters!