This vegan Alfredo sauce is just as good as one made with cheese or butter! Creamy, rich, and flavorful, it's a great recipe for a classy date night in.
If you love creamy pasta that 1) tastes great and 2) makes you feel great, then you need this vegan Alfredo sauce in your life. It’s just as silky and rich as the classic kind, but it’s made with 100% plant-based ingredients. Nutritional yeast adds cheesy flavor, and lemon juice brightens it up. And instead of cheese, cream, or butter (or even vegan butter!), a secret ingredient gives it its ultra-creamy texture.
Any guesses?
It’s…cauliflower! If you’ve been following the blog for a while, you’re probably not surprised. I love blending this versatile veggie into creamy sauces that are smooth and luscious, but pretty darn good for you, too.
This vegan Alfredo sauce recipe calls for 10 ingredients and comes together in minutes. Whip it up on a weeknight, or serve it for a classy date night in. It’s simple, healthy, and absolutely delicious. Whether you’re vegan or not, I think you’re going to love it.
Vegan Alfredo Sauce Recipe Ingredients
You only need 10 ingredients to make this vegan Alfredo sauce:
- Cauliflower – It creates the sauce’s luscious creamy texture.
- Cashews – Along with cauliflower, they make the sauce thick and creamy without any dairy. Make sure you use unsalted raw cashews in this recipe. Roasted cashews will give it a cashew-y taste.
- Garlic – For sharp, savory depth of flavor.
- Nutritional yeast – With its cheesy flavor, it replaces the Parmesan that you’d find in regular Alfredo sauce.
- Lemon juice – For brightness.
- Dijon mustard – It gives the sauce a savory, tangy kick.
- Extra-virgin olive oil – It makes the sauce rich and smooth.
- And salt and pepper – To make all the flavors pop!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Vegan Alfredo Sauce
This vegan Alfredo sauce recipe is super easy to make! Here’s how it goes:
First, cook the cauliflower and the cashews. Yep, you read that right! I like to boil the cashews with the cauliflower so that they’re easy to blend. It has the same effect that soaking the cashews would, but it’s way quicker.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the cauliflower and cashews, and boil for about 8 minutes. When the cauliflower is tender, drain the cashews and cauliflower and place them in a high-speed blender.
Next, blend! Add the olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper to the blender. Pour in 1/2 cup water, and blend until the sauce is smooth and creamy.
Finally, serve! Cook a pound of fettuccine (or any pasta you like) in a large pot of salted boiling water. When the pasta is al dente, drain it, reserving 1 cup of the starchy pasta water.
Transfer the pasta back to the pot, pour in the sauce, and stir to coat. Add the pasta water, as needed, to thin the sauce to a smooth, silky consistency. Season to taste, and enjoy!
Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo Serving Suggestions
I love to serve this vegan fettuccine Alfredo with focaccia or crusty bread. That way, I can mop up any sauce that’s left at the bottom of my bowl! Then, I round out the meal with a salad or vegetable side dish.
To make a simple green salad, toss mixed greens with lemon vinaigrette, Italian dressing, or Greek salad dressing. Otherwise, serve this vegan fettuccine Alfredo with one these salad recipes:
- Caesar Salad
- Pear Salad with Balsamic and Walnuts
- Green Bean Salad
- Caprese Salad
- Shredded Brussels Sprouts Salad
Not in a salad mood? Pair your pasta with sautéed mushrooms, roasted broccoli, or Brussels sprouts instead!
More Delicious Vegan Pasta Recipes
If you love this recipe, try one of these vegan pastas next:
- Creamy Butternut Squash Pasta
- Vegan Mac and Cheese
- Creamy Pasta Pomodoro
- Spaghetti Aglio e Olio
- Creamy Vegan Pasta
- Easy Pesto Pasta
- Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe
Vegan Alfredo Sauce
Ingredients
- 12 ounces cauliflower florets*
- ½ cup raw cashews
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ cup water
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 (16-ounce) package fettuccine pasta
- Chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the cauliflower and cashews and boil until the cauliflower is fork-tender, about 8 minutes. Drain and transfer to a blender. Add the olive oil, water, garlic, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, salt, mustard, and several grinds of pepper. Blend until creamy.
- Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water according to the package directions, or until al dente. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the starchy pasta water.
- Transfer the pasta back to the pot, pour the sauce over the pasta and toss to coat. If the sauce is too thick, add some of the reserved pasta water until it’s creamy.
- Sprinkle with parsley and season to taste.
Thick, creamy, garlicky and light. In the future I will try alter the cashew to cauliflower proportions for more body and add more nutritional yeast for cheesiness. A nice option for dairy-free white sauce with hidden vegetables. We had ours with fettuccine, mushrooms and broccoli.
Can I use a food processor for this recipe?
Hi Ruth, the cashews won’t get creamy enough in the food processor so I highly recommend a blender.
SO delish! My husband was skeptical but we are both fans of this creamy, rich, tasty sauce.
I’m so glad you both loved it!
I made this recipe after seeing a similar one on a YouTube channel I watch: RebeccaJean; a DIY Er who eats vegan. I was salivating watching her make it; and I finally got to make it too. So yummy!
I’m Sicilian, and love my food; so for me to comment on anything is huge. If u want to try healthy Alfredo, give this a try:)
This was great! My husband is a meat and potatoes kinda guy and I was a bit hesitant to serve this becasue he is very aware when I’m trying to make things that are vegan, but I’ve been trying to serve my family a more plant based diet. Neither my husband or my kids had any idea this wasn’t a cream and cheese based sauce. I added lots of nutmeg (cause I love nutmeg in cream sauces). I will certainly make it again. Another win from your site. Thank you.
Accidently left a comment on the other recipe ~ I made the vegan Alfredo Fettuccine. Who knew there could be a heart-healthy recipe of what is otherwise a “heart attack on a plate”. It was fun making the creamy sauce, and I was not aware that there was a pasta shortage until I tried to find Fettuccine noodles! But after going to three different grocery stores, I got ‘er done, and it was delicious!
Made this Vegan Alfredo Fettuccine last night for dinner. Absolutely delicious, rich, creamy and satisfying. Amazing it is 100% plant based. To top it off the first thing my husband said to me this morning was how good it was! Glad there is some leftover to enjoy again today!
Oops! Forgot to rate! Five stars!!!
Aw, I’m so glad you both loved it!
This was delicious and so quick and easy! The sauce was so creamy, rich but not too rich like sauces with all nuts; the addition of cauliflower was delicious! The store was out of fresh cauliflower so I had to go with frozen; it worked deliciously!! Did I say it was delicious???
Made this for Valentine’s Dinner (served over zucchini noodles for me and fettuccine noodles for my love). I was amazed by the silkiness of the alfredo sauce. Easy to prepare and tasted fantastic. I shared your recipe with a friend, who prepared over the weekend and also loved it! So happy I found you. Looking forward to preparing more dishes from Love and Lemons.
I made this for the February Cooking Club challenge and it was absolutely delicious! Creamy and finger licking good.
Yummy! Lighter than regular Alfredo but just as creamy and delicious!
This recipe is simple and delicious and it’s a great way to get my cauliflower-hating kid to eat cauliflower!
I honestly wasn’t expecting much from a vegan alfredo, but this recipe blew away my expectations. The taste and texture were wonderful. I will definitely make it again. I only made 8 oz of pasta so still have some leftover sauce in the fridge. Can’t wait to throw it on some steamed veggies!
I’m so glad you loved it!
I absolutely love this recipe. My hubby and I have dairy allergies. We thought we would’ve able to have Alfredo sauce ever again. Wrong!
I recently made a similar one from a different website, and I can honestly say, I definitely prefer this recipe!
It’s rich and creamy and is just prefect! One question: How long will it last in the fridge?
Hi Teresa, I’m so glad you loved it! I’d keep it in the fridge for 3-4 days.
As a lifelong lover of fettuccine alfredo, I was pretty skeptical that a vegan version of it could ever fit the bill. There are plenty of vegan versions of things that I like, but I figured there was NO WAY alfredo sauce could be one of them. However, I recently had to cut out fresh dairy for health reasons, so I figured what the heck, I’ll give this a try. IT WAS AMAZING. I’m so thrilled to be wrong! For anyone reading the comments here wondering if this recipe could fool a non-vegan, the answer is YES.
A few things to note that I did differently:
– I did not have fresh lemons (oops), had to use bottled juice
– I roasted about 8 cloves of garlic beforehand and used that instead of the 2 cloves of fresh garlic (highly recommend!)
– My local market only had roasted cashews, so I had to use that instead of raw. It didn’t make the flavor overly cashew-y, but it did add to the richness & depth of the flavor, along with the roasted garlic.
– Added 1/4 tsp nutmeg
Anyway, I never leave comments on recipes (shame on me, I know) but this one was such a hit that I had to. Thank you so much for coming up with this! You’re absolutely insane for using cauliflower to make cream sauce, and yet it somehow works. You rock!
Delicious! Mine wasn’t creamy. What did I do wrong? Maybe need to add water or a little more oil? My cauliflower went bad so I used frozen cauliflower w/ lemon me garlic sauce. Bursting with flavor!
Lemon and Garlic! – not lemon me garlic. Lol
Hi Melanie, if it’s too thick in the blender, you could add more oil, water, (or the starchy cooking water after you cook your pasta), and then blend a little longer.
Made it for dinner and had to throw out the whole thing, it tastes like veggie and garlic hummus, I don’t recommend it
I make this sauce and keep it in the frig for anytime I want a creamy something in a dish. It is a great base sauce that can become sour cream for tacos, tartar sauce for vegan crab cakes, and a cream sauce for pasta…so versatile and yummy! Thanks.
I made this last night… wow. I was very impressed with the alfredoiness (?) of this dish. Thanks for the awesome recipe!
I made extra of the version with Parmesan cheese and froze the leftover sauce. It was delicious. I added basil flowers with the parsley. I own both your cookbooks and usually refer to them after your blog recipes.