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 was skeptical to try the recipe but it really was delicious ! And so easy to make !
Thank you
I love this recipe! I made it today and it is absolutely delicious! The only thing that I had to adjust a bit was to add more liquid since the original recipe wasn’t liquidy enough for my taste. I think next time I’ll reserve a bit of the cooking water from the cauliflower since I ended up using more almond milk and it might have dulled the amazing flavour somewhat. Thanks for sharing this, it will definitely be in my regular dinner rotation from now on!
This is delish! Never thought cauliflower could taste so creamy! Didn’t have any onionpowder so sauteed half a red onion with the garlic and it turned out great.
Loved every recipie I have tried from this blog so far, never had that before. Keep it up!
Thanks for the recipe, it tastes realy delicious!
But I have to notice that it has nothing in comon with the original italian “Pasta Alfredo” which is just Pasta with butter and parmigiano. (which is realy difficult to adapt in a vegan version). Probably the American Pasta Alfredo is different.
But it tasted fantastic anways. Yummy!
OMG! This was SO tasty! We had some left over and we ate it with a spoon right out of the blender! Thanks, Angela!!!
Thank you for this recipe! I made it tonight, and we enjoyed it. I think you are right about including some peas in the final presentation. A touch of green would be nice. We had a vegan Italian sausage with it. One thing I didn’t think through was the size of our pasta portions. We eat 1/2 portions, so a 1/2 portion of sauce would work well. Again…Yum!
A funny/cautionary tale about this recipe….I made this recipe with unsweetened vanilla almond milk. My husband and I both thought the taste had potential but it was sweet. Haha! I made my discovery when I did dishes. Looking forward to trying again. It sure had a great consistency. Thanks for the recipe.
Licked. The. Plate. Clean…. literally.
I added sauteed/steamed mushrooms and broccoli and served it over zucchini noodles (no particular reason why that over pasta – I got a spiralizer for Christmas and finally tried it out!). Might be in my top 10 recipes Oh She Glows Recipes…I think I might try substituting cauliflower for cashews in your mac and cheese recipe (still my all time fav!) since it worked out so well!
Hi Angela, I have never tried a recipe of yours that I didn’t love! Thank you for that :) Question: Can I make this recipe without the nutritional yeast? Do you think it will still have that creamy cheesy texture?
Thanks!
I love this idea! Making this weekend!
I just made this and…YUMMY! I made exactly as directed except I did not use the nutritional yeast. I love yeast on my popcorn but learned when I made the Butternut Squash Mac N Cheeze that I do not like the nutritional yeast in sauces. I already liked cauliflower so I will have to try this on my husband who does not. Thank you for posting this recipe! I am new to non-dairy and am an awful cook so this was perfect for me. Super easy, fool proof and gives me a creamy pasta dish to be excited about.
I made this for dinner tonight and it was SO good! I’m not a huge Alfredo or cauliflower person but really enjoyed this. I sent the recipe to my friend and she also made it and put it over spaghetti squash noodles. Love your blog and can’t wait for the book!
I’m also loving the cashew egg nog from the bonus material :)
Just made this for dinner. I was very skeptical!! We LOVED it and will make it again!! I would say it’s more like a carbonara then alfredo, esp. the texture. I did add the cremini mushrooms, after sauteing them with minced garlic. I really liked the mushrooms in this dish. Next time, I will double the cauliflower though to make more sauce so we have more leftovers for lunch the next day!
Will definitely be adding this to the “rotation”! Thanks Angela for another winner!!
I just made this. The sauce is so creamy and delicious and surprisingly quick to make. I added a bit more sea salt, but I do that to everything anyway. I will definitely make this again!
Just made this and it tastes like stale beer! Yuck… Where did I go wrong???
are you sure you used nutritional yeast and not brewers yeast? they are 2 VERY different things and aren’t interchangeable. google nutritional yeast to see what it looks like (yellow & flakey).. you can get it at health food stores.
I just made this tonight for the third time! I love this recipe so much! Even my boyfriend who is not a vegan, absolutely LOVES it!
To mix it up a bit, I threw a handful of sun-dried tomato halves into the blender! It’s a perfect balance of savory/tangy as a sun-dried tomato alfredo!
Thanks!
Dream-a-licious..cannot wait to make this tonight, I actually have all the ingredients on deck…Love when that happens <3
I made this last Friday for me and my boyfriend and we both loved it! … we are making it again tomorrow. Huzzah for end of the week pasta comfort.
I would recommend a bit less yeast and a bit less garlic, other than that it’s great!
Angela – this dish was fantastic!! I made it last week for dinner, it was super easy and really tasty! We used the gluten-free fettuccine noodles and I sauteed up some fresh broccoli to add to it, so good. The sauce was really creamy and had a nice flavor! I think next time I might try adding in some basil to make more of a pesto alfredo! Thank you so much for another wonderful recipe that I can share with friends and family! I refer your site SO often to friends who like my “foodie pics” and who are interested in a more vegan/plant-based way of eating :)
Hey Emily, Awesome, so glad you enjoyed it! :) Thanks for your feedback! I love your idea of pesto alfredo…omg…I will have to try this out! Thanks