Vegan Alfredo Sauce With Fettuccine

Creamy, flavorful, and ready in about 30 minutes, this Vegan Alfredo Sauce is a dairy free twist on your favorite pasta dish! It’s rich and creamy and even the pickiest of eaters will approve!

This vegan alfredo sauce is comfort food at its finest, but it’s secretly healthy!

My lemon garlic cream sauce is still such a popular recipe, but I wanted a vegan alfredo sauce that was just like the real deal. Easy sauces are great and all, but sometimes you just need something straight up indulgent.

But don’t worry, it won’t make you feel weighed down after you eat it. It’s lightened up alfredo, but still indulgent alfredo, ya know?! Kind of like my vegan cacio e pepe! These days, you can buy vegan alfredo sauce in the store, but it’s so much better making it homemade!

This sauce is rich, creamy, easy to make, and completely dairy free. I even managed to sneak some veggies in there, but you would never know by tasting it! Try my cauliflower mac & cheese next!

Key ingredients

CASHEWS & CAULIFLOWER. Cashews are a great base for dairy free cream sauces, but I love to get some veggies into sauces and add in cauliflower too!

ONION & GARLIC. This is where a lot of flavor will come from! You will need a large white or yellow onion for this vegan alfredo sauce.

OIL OR BUTTER. Olive oil or vegan butter works great here!

NUTRITIONAL YEAST. You can use nutritional yeast or my homemade cashew parmesan for that cheesy flavor.

MILK & BROTH. We’ll use some veggie broth to help cook the cauliflower, then some non-dairy milk to help blend the sauce.

How to make vegan alfredo sauce

This recipe calls for cashews, and blending cashews can be a pain if you don’t soften them first. So, the first step is to add the cashews to a bowl and top with boiling water. Let soak while you complete the next steps.

While the cashews are soaking, cook the pasta according to package instructions. If you’re using gluten free pasta, be careful not to overcook since it can fall apart more easily. 

Chop the onion and mince the garlic and add to a large sauté pan with the olive oil. 

Cook on medium/low heat until the onions start to brown slightly, about 5 or so minutes. Add the vegetable broth and chopped cauliflower to the pan. 

Reduce heat to low, cover, and let cook for about 10 minutes or until the cauliflower is fork tender. If you chop the cauliflower pretty small it won’t take too long to cook!

Transfer contents to a high speed blender or food processor with all remaining ingredients, including the drained and rinsed cashews. 

Process until completely smooth, about 1 full minute. Taste and add more salt or pepper if desired. You can use black or white pepper for this recipe, I like to use white to keep the color of the sauce even.

If the sauce is too thick, add more milk, if it is too thin, add in 1 tablespoon of flour and blend again.

Pour the sauce on top of the cooked pasta and stir until well combined. Let simmer for a few minutes to allow some of the sauce to absorb into the pasta so all of the flavors can blend together.

Top with chopped chopped parsley or roasted red pepper flakes and enjoy! 

Serving suggestions

Pasta, chicken, veggies, pasta, pasta! Pasta is obviously my first choice for alfredo. However, this recipe would also be delicious with zucchini noodles, baked potatoes or potato wedges.

You can even thicken it up by leaving out some of the milk or adding extra cashews and using it as a dip for chips, almost like queso!

I love serving this with grilled chicken and peas for added protein and veggies, but it is also delicious exactly as is.

Flavor and ingredient tips

You don’t want to skimp on the onion and garlic! This is where most of the flavor is going to come from.

Traditional Alfredo sauce does not have onion in it, but a decently sized yellow onion is very necessary for the flavor! White onion will also work if you don’t have yellow, but I do not recommend using red.

Be sure your milk is unflavored and unsweetened. Any non-dairy milk will work, but I prefer almond. You definitely don’t want there to be any vanilla in this recipe!

Gluten free pasta attaches to sauces differently than regular pasta and has a tendency to absorb some of the sauce into the noodles.

Flavor wise, this is a good thing, but it can make the sauce stiffen up and dry out as it sits out. To prevent this from happening, I suggest tossing GF pasta with olive oil before adding the sauce.

How to store

This vegan alfredo sauce is best when eaten right away, but can be stored in the fridge for 3-5 days.

If you are going to reheat it, I recommend adding it to the stove with a few splashes of almond milk or vegetable broth to help make it creamier.

Can you freeze alfredo sauce?

Meal prep lover rejoice! You can freeze this alfredo sauce! Only freeze it on it’s own though, not once it is combined with the pasta. Freeze in a jar or tupperware container, leaving some space for it to expand.

When you’re ready to use it, let it thaw in the fridge overnight and then reheat it on the stove.

Try these pasta recipes next!

• Spaghetti Pomodoro
• Vegan Vodka Sauce
• Pesto Pasta
• Dairy Free Mac and Cheese

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