Vegan linguine with clam sauce! This is a vegan summer seafood pasta for any time of the year, truly. Here is how I remember it: a spicy, garlicky, lemony pasta with chewy bits and whole clams scattered on top. Served at every clam bar in Sheepshead Bay. Sometimes the menu called it Linguine alle Vongole. Most of the time it was just pasta with clam sauce. It’s the dish I associate with summer on the bay, sitting outside under those awnings. Or inside where everything was loud and grandpa colored. Heavy ceramic plates with little fishing boats painted on them, heavy accents, heavy buttons on the juke box to play your favorite Neil Diamond songs.
The years go by and I miss it. The part of my brain that processes vegan versions of things starts to tingle. What if the clamshells on top were….edible? Potatoes, sliced thin into ovals. Crispy like clamshells but you can eat them. And once again I get to put potatoes in pasta, which is my favorite pastime.
To re-create the chewy, clammy parts: the classic trick of shiitake mushrooms equal any seafood. The addition of lentils lends texture while soaking up flavor. Of course some bursting cherry tomatoes and plenty plenty plenty of garlic.
Tips for Spicy Clam Bar Linguine
Potato size matters. Try to get Yukon golds that are between 2 and 3 inches (5 and 7.5 cm) long so the slices come out clamshell-shaped. Anything bigger and you will want to halve them lengthwise before slicing thinly. Smaller potatoes work too, they just look more like seashells than clams.
Dry the potatoes well. After soaking off the starch, pat them down with paper towels until they are as dry as you can get them. Wet potatoes might steam instead of crisping.
Plate them like clamshells. Stick the potato slices into the pasta swirls at angles so they look like they are sitting in the dish, not on top of it. For full effect, put two slices together so they fan out like an open clamshell.
Kelp powder substitute. If you do not have kelp powder, crumble a small piece of nori or use dulse flakes for the same briny ocean flavor. You can skip it entirely and the dish will still taste good, just less marine.
Use canned lentils. Canned lentils are the perfect soft texture for this linguine, plus they’re already cooked. Use the leftovers for a salad.
A Lesson In Pan Sauce Building
This recipe is a small lesson in pan sauce building, which is one of those skills that makes you feel like an actual cook once you have it. You won’t even need to look at a recipe.
The mushrooms come out of the pan first. After searing the shiitakes, set them aside so the rest of the sauce has room to layer in cleanly. They go back in at the end, which keeps them from getting soggy.
The garlic goes in two waves. Sliced garlic first, before the onion, so it gets a moment alone with the olive oil to toast into golden crispy bites that show up later in the pasta. Then the onion follows, slowly turning translucent and building the base. Minced garlic comes in after the onion, the second wave, raw and pungent, which gives the sauce its really garlicky flavor. Toasted garlic for textured toasty bites, minced garlic for taste that is laced throughout. You want both. You need both.
Toasting the nutritional yeast in the pan after the garlic gives the sauce a parmesan backdrop. That deep nutty savoriness is the same thing cooked-down parmesan does in an Italian pan sauce. It also thickens the sauce a little and makes it a bit more clingy. Sprinkling it in at the end will not get you there. The minute in the pan is worth it every time.
The white wine deglazes the pan, lifting the yummy stuff off the bottom and adding that fancy-Italian-restaurant note that makes a sauce feel finished.
The cherry tomatoes burst at the very end, which is what keeps this from being a heavy tomato sauce. They add fresh acid and pop without weighing the dish down. The final pasta is bright, briny, and a little spicy. Not a heavy marinara. Mwah.
More Flavorful Pastas To Try
Spicy Clam Bar Linguine FAQ
What is vegan clam sauce made of? My vegan clam sauce uses shiitake mushrooms for the chewy seafood texture, brown lentils for briny depth, kelp powder for that ocean note, and bursting cherry tomatoes for brightness. The vegan linguine gets topped with crispy potato slices that stand in for clamshells. Together this vegan pasta with clam sauce tastes like the linguine alle vongole I remember from clam bars in Sheepshead Bay, just without the actual mollusks.
Can I make vegan clam sauce without kelp powder? Yup yup yup. Crumble a small piece of nori into the vegan clam sauce, or use dulse flakes, or skip it entirely. The sauce will still taste good, just less marine. Kelp powder is the most direct substitute for the briny ocean note that real clam sauce has, but it is not the only way to get there.
Can I double this spicy clam bar linguine? Yes, for sure. Just use a bigger pan. A wok will work great.
Can I use a different pasta? For sure. Linguine is traditional because the long noodles catch the vegan clam sauce well, but spaghetti, bucatini, or fettuccine will all work too. For a gluten-free version of vegan linguine alle vongole, any GF long noodle does the job.
Can I make this vegan clam pasta ahead? Not really, no. The components of this vegan clam pasta hold up well separately. Roast the potato clamshells up to a few hours ahead and re-crisp in a hot oven before serving. The vegan clam sauce can be made earlier in the day and reheated, just add the linguine and parsley right before serving. Putting it all together and refrigerating is not great because the potato clamshells will get soggy.
Is this a summer pasta? Hells yeah. This vegan summer pasta has all the bright flavors of a summer night by the bay: lemony, briny, garlicky, and not weighed down by heavy sauce. But I make this vegan pasta with clam sauce year-round because I am a hopeless romantic for clam bar food, and there is no off-season for that.
How did I end up here? You searched for vegan clam sauce or vegan linguine alle vongole or some version of vegan summer pasta and Google brought you to me. Bookmark this. You’re in the right place.
Spicy Clam Bar Linguine
Ingredients
For the potato clam shells:
- 12 ounces Yukon gold potatoes cut lengthwise into ¼-inch-thick slices
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the rest:
- ½ teaspoon salt plus more as required
- 8 ounces linguine
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 12 ounces shiitake mushrooms stems trimmed, caps sliced in half
- ¼ cup sliced garlic
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium yellow onion thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
- 1½ cups cherry or grape tomatoes
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes plus more to finish
- ½ teaspoon kelp powder
- ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 cup dry white wine
- Generous amount freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- ¾ cup cooked brown lentils (half a can is great)
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- Lemon wedges for serving
- ¼ cup very finely chopped parsley plus additional for garnish
Instructions
- For the clamshells:
- First roast the potatoes: Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Put the sliced potatoes in a bowl with enough cold water to submerge them. Let them soak for a minute or so to rinse off the starch. Drain completely and dry with paper towels as best you can.
- Drizzle the baking sheet with the olive oil and salt. Add the potatoes and toss to coat, then arrange in a single layer. Bake for 30 minutes, flipping once, until browned and crispy.
- Start the sauce and pasta:
- Bring 6 quarts (5.7 liters) salted water to a boil in a large pot. Boil the pasta until al dente according to package directions, then drain and set aside.
- Preheat a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the oil and sear the mushrooms for about 5 minutes, sprinkling them with a little salt and tossing frequently. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Sauté the sliced garlic in the remaining 2 tablespoons oil for about 1 minute, until lightly browned. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and toss to coat. Cook until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Add the minced garlic and sauté for about 3 seconds more. Then add the nutritional yeast and toss to coat, lightly toasting it for about 1 minute to bring out the flavor.
- Add the tomatoes to the pan and toss around, letting them break down a bit for about 2 minutes. Add the bay leaves, thyme, red pepper flakes, kelp powder, ½ teaspoon salt, and oregano. Stream in the wine and toss everything around with a wooden spatula to deglaze the pan. Raise the heat and add a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper as the wine reduces and the tomatoes break down further, about 3 minutes.
- Lower the heat back to medium and add the vegetable broth and lentils to heat through. Add the lemon juice and parsley and mix well. Return the mushrooms to the pan along with the linguine and let cook for about 3 minutes.
- Place on a serving platter family-style and stick the potatoes strategically into the pasta swirls so they resemble clam shells. Sprinkle with a little additional parsley and serve with lemon wedges and more red pepper flakes.
