For a winning meal, serve this Easy Vegan Alfredo Sauce topped on freshly-cooked pasta. It'll be a surefire hit with a hungry crowd and will take you no time at all. Just 25 minutes! The base is made with cauliflower and cashews which creates an ultra-creamy and luxurious sauce (nut-free option available).
If you're looking for a quick and easy meal with a gourmet flair, you've gotta make this sauce! It's perfect for a romantic dinner or a busy weeknight meal.
I adapted this from my 30-Minute Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo which is made with potatoes and cashews as the creamy base. The cauliflower version is just as luxurious and delicious.
The cauliflower flavor is very subtle, but if you're not a fan at all, you may want to make the potato-based version. You'll love it!
How to make Vegan Alfredo Sauce
* This is a quick overview with step-by-step photos. For the complete ingredient amounts and instructions, scroll down to the recipe card.
- Chop cauliflower head into florets.
- In a large pan/pot, sauté garlic in butter until lightly golden
- Add vegetable broth, cauliflower, and cashews. Bring to a low simmer and cover for 12-15 minutes or until cauliflower is fork-tender.
- Add everything from the pan into a high-speed blender, along with soy milk, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, granulated onion, and salt. Blend on high until smooth and creamy. Taste for seasoning and add more if needed.
Success Tips
- If you don't have a high-speed blender, the sauce may not get completely smooth. I would suggest cooking the cauliflower longer until it's really soft (add a few splashes of broth if needed). You can also try pre-soaking the cashews in cool water for 1-2 hours before cooking (or overnight).
- The consistency of the sauce should be thick and creamy. If it seems thin, you can cook it down a few extra minutes on the stove to thicken up. If you want it extra thick, you can add a cornstarch slurry. Add 1-2 teaspoons of cornstarch to 1 tablespoon of water. Combine well before stirring into the sauce. Cook for a few minutes until it thickens.
The Best Way to Use Alfredo Sauce
Pour it on pasta! This yields enough sauce for 1 pound of pasta and It's perfect with fettuccine noodles! If you decide to use this sauce for pasta, you can boil the water and cook the pasta while you are preparing the Alfredo sauce. Drain the noodles and drizzle them with olive oil to prevent sticking. Add the noodles to the sauce and gently combine. Top with fresh-cut parsley, crushed red pepper flakes, freshly cracked pepper, and Vegan Parmesan Cheese if desired.
More Delicious Ideas:
- Top it on Vegan Pizza
- Use it for Casseroles
- Make it into a Dip
- Use it for Vegan Lasagna
Can you freeze the sauce?
Yes, this sauce freezes really well. Just let it thaw out in the fridge overnight and heat it up in a saucepan over medium heat. I usually add a few splashes of vegetable broth to thin it out a bit. Stir often to prevent burning. It should take 3-5 minutes to heat throughout.
Nut-Free Option
Just add 1 ½ tablespoons of Tapioca Starch/Flour to the blender (along with the soy milk, nutritional yeast, onion, and salt). After blending, return the mixture to the pan over medium heat. Cook for a few minutes until the sauce thickens up nicely.
If you LOVE cauliflower, you may want to check out these 20 Game-Changing Vegan Cauliflower Recipes. There are so many tasty ones to choose from!
I love to hear from you
If you make this Vegan Alfredo Sauce, let me know what you think by ★ star rating it and leaving a comment below. It would really make my day. You can also follow me on Instagram and share your creation with me. Just tag me @veganhuggs and hashtag #veganhuggs so I don’t miss it.
Easy Vegan Alfredo Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 pound cauliflower , cut into florets (about 1 medium head)
- 2 tablespoons vegan butter
- 4 cloves garlic , minced
- ½ cup raw cashews , unsalted
- 1 ½ cups vegetable broth , low sodium
- 1 ½ cups soy milk , unsweetened (or any plant-based milk)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice , fresh squeezed
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast , more to taste
- 1 teaspoon granulated onion
- ¾ teaspoon salt , more to taste
Instructions
- In a large pan or pot (that can be fitted with a lid), heat the butter over medium heat. When melted, add the garlic and saute for 1 minute until lightly browned.
- Add the broth, cauliflower, and cashews. Raise heat to bring to a boil. Now turn the heat down to a low simmer and cover with lid. Cook for 12-15 minutes until cauliflower is fork tender. Remove from heat.
- To a high-speed blender, add soy milk, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, granulated onion, salt and the cooked contents from the pan. Blend on high until smooth and creamy. Taste for seasoning and add more if needed. Pour mixture back into the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes on medium heat to warm up a bit. If the sauce seems thin, let it cook down for a few minutes to thicken up.
Useful Tools To make This Recipe
- Large Pan or Pot
Erin Murphy
This sauce is my absolute favorite! It's a staple in our house! My go- to for just about all the things! My kiddos love it too!!!
Melissa Huggins
Hi Erin, I'm so glad you like it! Thank you for making it and sharing your feedback 🙂
Licia
I made this sauce and used for a vegan lasagna (noodles, tomato sauce, sauteed veggies, alfredo sauce). My husband (who is vegetarian but not vegan) loved it. I had some leftover alfredo sauce, so decided to make potatoes Au gratin. I sauteed some spinach and mixed it with the leftover alfredo sauce. Sliced the russet potatoes about 1/4 thick, layered the slices on an ovenproof dish (1 layer of potatoes, a sprinkle of salt, alfredo sauce with spinach -- repeated this 3 times) and baked it covered for about 1 hour. It was delicious!!
Sheri
Beyond my expectations! Delicious!! I will make this sauce for pasta, dips, pizza sauce. It’s soooo good!!!
Melissa Huggins
Such a nice compliment! Thank you for trying it out 🙂
Shandra
Can you make this without yeast?
Melissa Huggins
You can, but it won't have the slight cheesy flavor. It also helps thicken a little. You can try adding white miso instead (about 2 teaspoons).
Claire
Hi! Can't wait to try this out! Quick question for you... How long do you keep it in the fridge? Could I freeze it? Thanks!!
Melissa Huggins
Thank you, Claire! It should stay fresh in the fridge for 4-5 days and you can freeze it for 3-4 months. You may need to thin it out on the reheat with a few splashes of vegetable broth or water. 🙂
Elizabeth
I made it for dinner and it was really good. I made a small mistake by adding a little bit of flour to thicken the sauce. After you blend the sauce and warm it up on the stove, it thickens on its own! Don’t add flour! One thing I do recommend on adding is extra seasonings like basil, parsley, etc. (to taste of course). Other than the little mistake I made it came out delicious.
Melissa Huggins
Hi Elizabeth, I'm so glad you liked it! Thank you for sharing your tips 🙂
Tiffany
I just made this for my family tonight and holy smokes, this was PHENOMENAL!! Served with penne pasta, roasted broccoli & mushrooms and this delicious gorgeous sauce covering everything 😍😍😍 Thank you so much for this recipe! I will be saving it and making it regularly. Super easy too!
Lea
How is your sauce stark white , mine turned yellow from the broth?
Melissa Huggins
I use a light colored broth. I used the Sprouts brand for this one. Do you have one nearby?
Kiley
This recipe was seriously amazing! So quick to make and delicious. Keeps well too. Honestly the only problem I had was that the instructions themselves are unclear in places and could use a bit of editing.
Melissa Huggins
So happy to hear this! Thank you for making it! Let me know which parts of the recipe are unclear and I will make sure to fix it up. Thank you for letting me know 🙂
Kiley
Looks like you fixed step 2, that's the one I was referring to the most. But you also never mention when to add the granulated onion. Everything else is super easy to follow! (:
HimalayanSalt
Thanks for sharing such a nice and easy to make recipe.
Liliana Gonzalez
Greetings from Puerto Rico!
I made this sauce and I loved it
Kim Howell
To make this taste more "authentic", you have to add a little nutmeg! All real alfredo sauces have a dash of nutmeg. So yummy!
Jennifer Lynne Bilous
This is delicious! I used 3 tablespoons of nutritional yeast and 2 tablespoons of concentrated lemon juice. Added to pasta with greens and broccoli. Thanks for this.
Melissa Huggins
Thank you, Jennifer! I'm so happy you liked it! Have a wonderful weekend 🙂
Johnny R.
My favorite pasta dish! I'm gathering my ingredients to make this tonight.
Melissa Huggins
So happy to hear this! Thank you! 🙂
DJ HIXSON
Easy Vegan Alfredo Sauce, the amount for a serving please
Melissa Huggins
That's about one cup of sauce 🙂