Eric is in love with this creamy cauliflower pasta dish. I mean, in love. In fact, he asked if we could make it together on Valentine’s Day. Who am I to deny a grown man cauliflower? Plus, creamy pasta and Valentine’s Day go hand and hand. Chocolate too, of course. I’d say it’s a win-win.
Traditional Alfredo sauce is mostly made up of butter, cheese, and often, cream. Decadent? You betcha. Hiding a super healthy vegetable? Not so much. I’m happy to say this cauli-power sauce brings us both decadence and nutrition. To be honest, I was super skeptical to try the blended-cauliflower-as-pasta-sauce trend and I wasn’t rushing to try it out. But after whipping up a version in my kitchen, I went crazy for this stuff. And by crazy, I mean standing over the pot of pasta and spooning it into my mouth uncontrollably. Yea that happened. It’s downright irresistible just like you’d hope a creamy pasta to be. Of course, soaked cashews can create a fine alfredo sauce too, but it’s great to have a change from nuts. All you have to do to make this sauce nut-free is swap the almond milk for a nut-free non-dairy milk of your choice. Fun, right?
This sauce makes a lot (3 cups!) which means you can happily drown the pasta with the sauce. No skimping here! It is cauliflower after all. I stirred the sauce into whole grain spelt ribbon pasta which was quite tasty. I gravitate toward meals that leave me feeling good and this certainly made the cut. Not bad for a decadent-tasting pasta, I say.
Cauli-power "Alfredo"
Yield
4 servings (makes 3 cups sauce)
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
This vegan “alfredo” sauce tastes decadent, yet is super light and energizing thanks to the sneaky cauliflower base! The nutritional yeast lends this sauce a rich "cheesy" flavour, while the blended cauliflower creates a creamy, luxurious base. This alfredo sauce is lovely served with pasta, but you can also enjoy it stirred into your favourite roasted or sautéed veggies. I love sautéing seasonal vegetables to serve along with the sauce over pasta. In the photo, I topped my bowl with a lovely spring veggie trifecta of leeks, asparagus, and peas. Thanks to Pinch of Yum for inspiring this tasty recipe!
Ingredients
- 4 heaping cups (460 g) cauliflower florets (1 small/medium cauliflower)
- 1/2 tablespoon (7.5 mL) extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 heaping tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/2 cup (125 mL) unsweetened and unflavoured almond milk*
- 1/4 cup (20 g) nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon (15 mL) fresh lemon juice, plus more for serving
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, to taste
- 3/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt, or to taste
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, to taste
- 1 package (350 g/12 ounces) fettuccine or rotini pasta**
- Fresh minced parsley, for garnish
Directions
- Place cauliflower florets in a steamer basket and steam, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes until fork tender. (Alternatively, you can boil the cauliflower in a pot of water for 8 to 15 minutes until fork tender. Drain well before proceeding.)
- Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain well and add it back to the pot. Set aside.
- Add the oil and minced garlic to a small skillet and sauté over low heat for 4 to 5 minutes until softened and fragrant. Be careful not to burn.
- Add the cooked cauliflower, sautéed garlic, milk, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper to a high-speed blender. Blend until a very smooth sauce forms. Adjust seasonings to taste.
- Add the cauliflower sauce to the pot with the pasta and stir well. Heat over low-medium until heated through. The pasta will tone down the flavours of the sauce so it’s important to taste the mixture and add more seasonings (salt, pepper, lemon, etc.) to taste before serving.
- For serving: Divide the warm pasta into bowls and top with more salt and pepper (to taste), along with a squeeze of lemon and some fresh minced parsley. Feel free to add your favourite cooked veggies such as broccoli, peas, leeks, asparagus, butternut squash, etc.
Tip:
* It’s very important that you use an unsweetened and unflavoured non-dairy milk in this recipe (nothing with vanilla or added sugar, please!).
** If you’re only preparing a couple servings, feel free to cook less pasta and save leftover sauce for another time. The alfredo sauce will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for at least a few days.
To make the alfredo taste extra decadent, add a tablespoon or two of vegan butter to the sauce.
Make it gluten-free: Use gluten-free pasta.
Boost the protein: Use a legume-based pasta such as chickpea pasta.
Make it nut-free: Use a nut-free non-dairy milk (such as soy milk) instead of almond milk. Be sure to use unsweetened and unflavoured milk.
Nutrition Information
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I finally made this tonight. Taste was delicious (even without nutritional yeast) but the texture was soupy. To be fair, my daughter had hers over real pasta and it was much better. I had mine over zucchini ribbons and don’t recommend it. I decided that the leftovers will make an amazing soup for dinner tomorrow night :)
Does this sauce recipe freeze and thaw well? Trying to do some pre baby meal prep :)
Hey Katrina, Congrats on your growing family! I haven’t tried freezing this sauce myself, but other readers have reported it freezes beautifully. If you’re looking for some other meal prep ideas, be sure to check out this post, too. :) Sending you a ton of well wishes!
Loved this! Made it as per the recipe with the addition of a tablespoon of tahini for extra creaminess/cheesiness (in place of the vegan butter angela recommends for such). Also added a little more garlic as we’re garl fiends, and salt! Absolutely delish! Roasted cherry toms, a variety of diff mushrooms and red onion to stir through the pasta and sauce. Used thick, gloriously delish fettuccine pasta. Angela, thank you for this. We’ll be eating often :-)
Thanks for sharing those tweaks, Emma! Gotta love garlic, amiright? ;) So happy you enjoyed the recipe!
This was very, very good! We added peas, carrots, and some sauteed mushrooms. The only other change was adding more garlic – because I <3 garlic :) I will definitely make this healthy-but-feels-indulgent dish again!
Loved this! I was concerned that hubby wouldn’t like the healthy sauce in this but he loved it. I added roasted flat mushrooms which were tasty.
This recipe was amazing. I’ve been vegan for 4-5 months now and I love learning new recipes. This is definitely a keeper. Thank you for taking time to post and with others.
Hey Brittany,
I’m so happy to hear that you loved this dish so much! Thanks for your feedback :)
I made this dish tonight. The boyfriend loved it! the yeast taste was a little strong for me so I added some more lemon juice to cut the taste a bit. It was great!! A definite hit. Now, it did make a lot of sauce so how long can it be kept in the fridge and is freezing it alright too? ?
I’d had this recipe bookmarked for a long time before I actually made it. Though I never expected it to taste exactly like alfredo (and I hoped it wouldn’t be so heavy!), I was so nervous it would turn out tasting watery or grainy.
I made it last night and now I’m annoyed I waited so long. It’s DELICIOUS and I want to put it on absolutely everything. My meat-and-potatoes husband who normally hates cauliflower scarfed down every last bite and said he couldn’t believe how great it tasted. Definitely adding this recipe to the rotation.
This sauce is amazing, thanks for the recipe. Once made, how long does it keep in the fridge? I have leftovers from 4 days ago, and it still smells ok (garlicky for the most part) but there is some liquid that has separated. I am never sure how long blended foods can last.
Hey Ela, I would guess between 4-6 days in an airtight container in the fridge, but I’m not certain as it’s been a while since I’ve made this. Sorry I can’t help you more!
Loved this! Thank you!
Hey Shelly, I’m happy you enjoyed this!
I sautéed your mushroom in garlic a dash of white wine Non dairy butter with small amount of salt and pepper. Then added the mushroom to the blender containing the sauce. It came out ridiculously good. Wow I mean wow on this recipe
That sounds fantastic!! Thanks for sharing :)
There aren’t enough stars for how incredibly delicious, luscious, and comforting this alfredo is!!! I bought a massive 11.5 pound oversized Amish cauliflower today and had no idea how to tackle this bad boy until I found your recipe. I made enough for a plant-based army haha! Thanks so much! ❤❤❤
I’m so happy you love it Tammy!
Wow! This is fantastic!!!! I can’t believe how great this tastes and how easy it is to make. We use it on “pasta” that is equal amounts of pasta and zucchini “noodles”. Makes a lighter but comfortably full meal along with a nice salad and sometimes garlic bread. Thank you for sharing this fantastic recipe…and all your other tasty meals.
Hey Sue, I’m so happy to hear that this one is a hit! I love the half zucchini noodles and half pasta trick…really fools the brain! I’ve been doing this with regular rice and cauliflower rice…really fun and my toddler doesn’t know the difference!
I use this recipe over and over and over. It’s a great low cal way to enjoy something I really like without the bloat that comes along with dairy. I even tricked my husband with it!!
Hey Viv, I’m so happy you and your husband love it so much! Thanks for your review :)
Angela, I actually am a silent reader but oh my, this sauce is amazing!! Thank you so much for the recipe, I could literally drink it?
haha I had to laugh at the silent reader comment…I am on some blogs too, but I’m so happy you left a note. So glad to hear that you love it so much. :) Thanks for reading!
Yum! Eating it right now and its delicious :)
May be a stupid question but any reason I can’t use a food processor rather than a blender to make the sauce?
Hey Laura, Not a stupid question at all! I can’t see why a food processor wouldn’t work! Please let me know if you try it out.
I made this exactly as directed and it surpassed my expectations! Served it over brown rice fettucini and sprinkled a little extra nutritional yeast on top before serving. Thank you for this delicious, decadent-but-healthy recipe!
I love the idea of sprinkling nutritional yeast on top…it would also be fantastic with one of my vegan parm recipes. Yum!
Hi Angela, I was wondering if I could use Amy food processor because I don’t have a blender? I look forward to making this yummy dish it sounds great!
Hey Mary, I haven’t tried it, but I can’t see why not! I would just be sure to let the food processor run for a while to make sure it gets as smooth as possible. Enjoy!
Delicious! Leftovers heated up well too.