This Vegan Alfredo Sauce is smooth and creamy and reminds me so much of the non vegan one I used to make but it is so much healthier. It’s all about texture and flavor and trust me when I tell you this one has an amazing silky texture and is bursting with flavor. Tom and I fight over licking the spatula when we make it! It’s a challenge to get a rich tasting sauce without using nuts, seeds or tofu but I did it with simple easy to assemble ingredients that everyone can find. I think this Alfredo Sauce is a game changer for a healthy lifestyle.
I love this Alfredo sauce served over zucchini noodles that I can make in 5 minutes in my own kitchen. It can also be enjoyed by the spoonful right out of the blender – it’s mostly vegetables so why not? Just be sure to save some for the rest of the family because it makes everything taste rich and flavorful!
I wanted you to see just how easy this is to make so we have a video for you with all the details. Last December we actually made a video of me making an Alfredo Sauce but after the taping I decided I wasn’t satisfied with the recipe so we tabled it. I was going to make the recipe again and tweak it to perfection but we got busy with life and new recipes and it remained on the back burner. That is until I came across it in my recipe notebook recently and I had to get back in the kitchen and perfect the recipe. I made it, tweaked it, we loved it and here it is!
The secret ingredient is the ever humble cauliflower! The recipe calls for 1 pound and I do weigh it out. If you don’t have a food scale I highly recommend getting one – you can get one on Amazon for under $15.
I this kitchen scale and it works great!
You can see from the photo about what a pound looks like in a 4 cup measuring cup. I use the 3 QT Instant Pot pressure cooker to cook the cauliflower and garlic. If you don’t have a pressure cooker you can cook it on your stove top until tender. You might need to add more water since you will encounter evaporation when cooking it on the the stove top.
I use this 3 Qt for making batches of quinoa, oat groats and wild rice. It also works to keep sauces warm for a buffet.
The list of ingredients is pretty simple and most plant based kitchens are going to have everything on hand to make this recipe. The Sari brand of nutritional yeast is my favorite. It is unfortified and it has a delicious flavor. Not all brands of nutritional yeast taste the same. Use one that you like the flavor of.
A good tasting nutritional yeast!
Have fun with this Alfredo Sauce and try it over zucchini noodles, potatoes, green beans, asparagus or air fried portabella mushrooms.
Try stuffing a baked potato with steamed broccoli and topping it with Alfredo sauce.
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Vegan Alfredo Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 pound cauliflower florets
- 1/2 cup hot water
- 4 cloves garlic
- 3/4 cup unsweetened plant milk
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon Table Tasty salt substitute or your favorite salt substitute
- 2 tablespoons rolled oats
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes – optional if you don’t like the kick red pepper flakes give a recipe feel free to reduce or omit it.
Instructions
- Place the hot water in the stainless steel liner of a 6 quart electric pressure cooker along with the garlic cloves and cauliflower. Put the lid on and close the valve, set the timer for 1 minute and use quick release. When the pressure comes down remove the lid and carefully transfer the water, cauliflower and garlic to a high powered blender container, add the rest of the ingredients except for the red pepper flakes. Process until smooth and creamy about 1 minute. Stir in the red pepper flakes.
- Serve the Alfredo Sauce over zucchini noodles or your favorite type of noodle. To heat up the zucchini noodles I put them in a microwave safe dish covered and microwave for 2 minutes. You can also heat them up gently in a nonstick skillet until warm. If you cook zucchini noodles too long they will get watery. Garnish with fresh basil if desired.
Notes
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Thank you so much ! I will try it next week and let you know how we liked it….
Wonderful!
Made it tonight and it was delicious! I have been waiting for this recipe and I had all the ingredients. I did use riced cauliflower because that is what I had. I appreciated the Weight info so I could use the proper amount of riced cauliflower.
Thank you! I am so glad you liked it!
Hi Tami,
Are there substitutions for rolled oats and nutritional yeast? And can I use hemp milk for plant milk? Thank you for all the recipes and u-tube videos I watch all of them and appreciate your time and effort.
Thanks,
Hi Judy
I don’t know of any substitute for Nutrtional Yeast – I guess you could try leaving it out – it does impart a cheezy flavor – so the end result won’t be the same but it could still be tasty! You might be able to use Quinoa Flakes instead of the oats or maybe a tablespoon of cooked white potato – I tried a version using white potato and it was too thick and pasty but perhaps a small amount would work. The oats just help add a creaminess and a little thickner to the end product. You could try it without and see how it is – I think it would still be fine. The ingredients list is what I have found to be the best combination after trying many different variations so the end result is going to be different when you start subbing ingredients so just keep that in mind when you make it with changes. As I said in the recipe you can use your favorite plant milk – I used unsweetened almond milk. I haven’t tasted hemp milk so I don’t kow if it will impart any flavor or not. If it’s neautral in its flavor it should be fine. Have fun experimenting! Tami
I prefer unsweetened hemp milk. It’s neutral and delicious.
This looks AMAZING!! Will definitely try. Thank you so much for all your recipes, they make it easy to stay on plan.
Thank you! Happy Cooking!
Thank you for following us!
Tami, thanks for this recipe – it sounds great. Do you think you could use frozen cauliflower if you decreased the cooking time and perhaps increased the oats?
Hi Pat,
I don’t know because I didn’t try it with frozen cauliflower. It would have more water because of being frozen so perhaps reduce the amount of water when cooking the cauliflower. Start with a smaller amount of plant milk. Too much oats makes it too thick and more like gravy than a silky sauce. Play around with it and see how it turns out – I think it will still be delicious. Please come back and leave a comment about what you did and how it turned out. It helps others who also have the same questions!
Happy Cooking,
Tami
I didn’t try it with frozen cauliflower and it would have more water when cooked so perhaps decrease the amount of water used when cooking the cauliflower and perhaps just heat it up on the stove top or the microwave. I think you can make it work but I didn’t try it myself. But it’s worth a try!
This is so goooddddd!!!
Thank you so much! We love it too!
We can’t wait to try this tonight! Loved the YouTube video. My husband, newly retired and trying cooking, feels like he’s capable of doing this one. So we’ll see.
I had some trouble printing out the recipe. It generated 8 pages, the whole blog post, instead of just the recipe. Any suggestions on that? Thanks for all you do. It is very helpful.
Hi Debbie,
Thank you so much for your nice comments – we really appreicate it. I love that your husband is cooking for you!
I am sorry about the print function. If you hover the curser over the text you don’t want to print it allows you to delete all but the recipe. It isn’t the best print program and we are looking into buying a different one to use. We will have to enter all of the recipes individually into the new program so it wont’ be an instant fix but something we will be working on. You can also copy and paste just the recipe into a word document and print it that way too.
Thank you so much for the feedback we really appreciate your comments.
Happy healthy cooking,
Tami
I love your Alfredo Sauce. It’s delicious! Thank you so much.
Thank you Gerri!
This is delicious and my favorite Alfredo Sauce! Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Oh Tami, this sauce is absolutely delicious!!! Can’t wait to try it on other foods. I made smashed potatoes this time which was great. I only made half to see what i thought but wish i had made a full recipe!
Hi Betty,
I am so glad you like the recipe – we love it too!
Happy Cooking,
Tami
I made this again as we loved it and decided to double batch it! Do you think it will freeze ok?
Hi Shawna,
I am so glad you like the recipe so much. I haven’t tried freezing it myself so I don’t know. I would try freezing a small amount
and see how it does. Let me know if you try freezing it!
Happy Cooking,
Tami
This looks so good. However, I am hesitant to try any recipe that involves a “high powered blender” as I don’t have a Vitamix. Will this do okay in a regular blender? My husband is not a fan of cauliflower so I don’t want chunks. My daughter has a Vitamix so I could perhaps borrow it. Thanks.
Hi Linda,
I only have the high powered blender so I can’t answer for sure but I do think you need one to make it very smooth.
Best regards,
Tami
Hi Tami and Tom.
Thanks so much for this delicious recipe. I was getting bored with tomato based food. This is just what I was missing for my taste buds. Delish! even tho I made so many mistakes, it still came out great..
I love watching your YouTube channel and your blog and your Amazon page.. Thanks for everything.
Hi Kathy,
I am so glad you liked it!
Happy Cooking,
Tami
Wonderful sauce, very tasty and healthy – almost an impossible combination… thank you!
Thank you so much!
I tried this sauce a few weeks ago and it has quickly become a staple; it is awesome. I also use it on romaine lettuce as a kind of “ceasar” dressing.
I’m so glad you like it!
Hi Tami! This is delicious. But I can’t get through it all!! Does it freeze well???
Thanks
Karen
Hi Karen,
I don’t know because we always eat it all so I have never had to freeze it. Try it – I think it would freeze ok.
Happy Cooking,
Tami
We really liked this! I followed your recipe closely but did use 1/4 tsp salt because we didn’t have any salt substitute and I left out the pepper since my husband doesn’t like it. We ate it over baked potatoes with stir fried veggies but I see many possibilities for this sauce. Thanks from just west of you in Woodland, CA.
Hi Marne,
I am so glad you liked it! It can be used in a variety of ways.
Happy Cooking!
Just made this for the first time! Delicious! I’m having it tonight over potatoes and broccoli.
Hi Char,
I am so glad you like it!
Tami
I would love to try this but I don’t have a pressure cooker. Would it be the same if I steamed the cauliflower and added 1/2 cup of the steaming water to blend?
Hi Sara,
I think that should work fine.
Happy Cooking,
Tami
Delicious! I’ve been having the Alfredo sauce over steamed veggies almost every day for several weeks. It comes out perfectly every single time. I’ve been eating a lot more veggies since discovering this sauce. Thank you!
Hi Cathy,
That makes me so happy!
Tami
Hi Tami.
The VEGAN ALFREDO SAUCE was amazing! I did serve it with fried chicken breasts though…….. I have a very strong gag reflex to vegetables and zucchini squash and other vegetables. i
Any suggestion on how to get rid of my gag reflex? As a family we don’t eat a lot of meat; mostly chicken….. I’m also allergic to tofu and soy products. any suggestion ?
Hi Lynnette,
I am glad you liked the Alfredo Sauce. I don’t have any suggestions for you regarding the gag reflex. Perhaps a consult with a plant based physician is in order?
I know that the plant based doctors at True North Health Center in Santa Rosa CA are doing phone consults. https://www.healthpromoting.com/clinic-services/health-services
Warm regards,
Tami
Tami, this recipe is absolutely brilliant! I caught your cooking demo on the Better Life Summit this weekend, and couldn’t wait to race over to your blog to try it. I love plant-based alfredo sauces, but now that I’m really trying to lose weight in addition to eating plant-based, it’s so amazing to find a delicious sauce to smother my veggies in that isn’t cashew- or tofu-based! I can’t wait to try some of your other sauces and recipes. Thank you so much for the work that you do!
Hi Emilie,
I am so glad you enjoyed the Alfredo. I think some scrumptious sauces can made a big difference of our enjoyment of simple nutritious plant foods.
Thank you for your kind comments.
Happy Cooking,
Tami
Morning Tami I am in Canada just discovered you and I am so exited for your site I just started eating a plant based life style two week ago and lost 31/2 lbs.already only 8more to go but will continue this way of eating as I have always had a clean diet (no animal products just fish ) I am 72yrs old with no medical issues I appreciate your recipes and advice thank you so much and god bless your family stay safe ….Patricia 🙏🏼❤️👏🦋
Sounds like you are doing great! Keep up the good work and continue to enjoy the benefits!
Hi Tami,
I have been using your Alfredo in my Lasagna twice already.
Today I served it over different steamed veggies and potatoes.
You know you found a very good recipe when your 16 year old omnivore and cheese loving son praises it!
A beg thank you and blessings from Germany!
Hi Birgit,
Thank you so much for your comments. I am delighted to know that your 16 year old son is a fan of the Alfredo Sauce – that is indeed high praise. I have thought about using it in my lasagna recipe so thank you for letting me know it works well for that.
Happy Healthy Cooking in Germany!
Tami
Wow, just wow. I was very suspicious of a low fat Alfredo sauce that tasted good. Tami, you knocked it out of the park. I’m so glad that you kept working on this one, because whatever tweaks you made perfected this recipe. Chefs kiss.
Hi Kandis,
Thank you so much for letting me know how much you liked this recipe! I love it too.
Happy Cooking,
Tami
Wow this is fantastic!! I can’t believe this is made with simply cauliflower. I’m sitting here just eating the sauce with a spoon and I can’t stop haha! Thanks for another awesome recipe Nutmeg Notebook!
HI Jess,
I am so glad you like it enough to just eat it by the spoonful!
This was so easy to make and so very yummy! I used frozen cauliflower and I somehow overlooked the nutritional yeast when making it. Even so, it was delicious! I’ll have to be sure to use the nutritional yeast next time and I think I’ll double the recipe. Thanks, Tami!
I am so glad you liked it! Have a beautiful day!