Dreamy Vegan Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce
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This rich, creamy, and totally dreamy cauliflower alfredo sauce recipe is 100% dairy-free. You’ll be amazed at how delicious vegan food can be!
This cauliflower alfredo sauce is EVERYTHING! Seriously, it’s a game-changer. With all its cream, butter, and cheese, regular alfredo sauce is pretty darn awesome, but my jeans are feeling a little tighter just thinking about it!
This Alfredo sauce is made from the highly skilled impersonator, cauliflower. It’s cooked with some onions and garlic, then blended into a smooth, creamy sauce with some veggie stock.
We’ve flavored it with a bit of nutritional yeast … that weirdly awesome flaky stuff that tastes a little like Parmesan cheese.
This sauce has been a lifesaver. Whip up a batch in 15 minutes, then slather it on everything from spaghetti squash to pumpkin alfredo noodles to casserole.
What does cauliflower alfredo sauce taste like?
Since we’re eat-everything-arians, we’re pretty picky about imitations of ‘real’ food. That’s why this sauce is such a dream; it’s the best knockoff Alfredo sauce ever.
Does it taste EXACTLY like cream and butter-loaded alfredo? No, but it’s unbelievably close.
It’s super creamy, even though there’s not a drop of cream in sight. The flavor is mild, with a touch of garlic and a little cheesiness, thanks to some nutritional yeast.
Troubleshooting cauliflower alfredo sauce
The sauce is too thick. This can occur if too much stock evaporates during cauliflower cooking. If needed, add a little extra stock or water to the blender.
The sauce isn’t smooth. This can happen if your blender isn’t powerful. In this case, pour the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve to remove any pieces that didn’t blend properly.
The sauce needs more flavor. When making the sauce, start with 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast, then add more as needed
Ideas for serving cauliflower alfredo sauce
Pasta is the obvious choice here. Linguine, fettuccine, or even penne or fusilli all pair well with this sauce. And you can add extras like spinach, steamed broccoli, peppers, peas or any other veggie that you like. It’s also the base of my dairy-free chicken alfredo recipe.
This is also a great ‘base recipe”. You can use it to build a special dinner. Here are a few ideas:
- Add some roasted garlic.
- Pour it over steamed or roasted broccoli.
- Make some vegan mac and cheese pasta.
- Use it as a dip for nachos.
- Pizza sauce!
Dreamy Vegan Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- ½ yellow onion (chopped)
- 3 cloves garlic (crushed)
- 3 cups (12 ounces) chopped cauliflower
- 1 cup vegetable stock or water
- 1-2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (see notes)
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1-2 teaspoons sea salt
- ½ teaspoon soy sauce
- Optional: 1 tablespoon butter (vegan or regular butter both work, use what you have on hand)
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a medium-sized pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and let it cook for 3-4 minutes, or until it is soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the cauliflower and the vegetable stock or water to the pot, cover with a lid and let the cauliflower steam for 5 minutes, or until it is soft.1 teaspoon olive oil, ½ yellow onion, 3 cloves garlic, 3 cups (12 ounces) chopped cauliflower, 1 cup vegetable stock or water
- Transfer everything in the pot to a blender (a high-powered blender will make the smoothest sauce, but any blender will work) and blend on high until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients (starting with 1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast and 1 teaspoon of sea salt) and blend again. Taste and add more nutritional yeast and sea salt, if you'd like. If you are using the optional butter add it now and blend once more.1-2 tablespoons nutritional yeast, 2 teaspoons lemon juice, 1-2 teaspoons sea salt, ½ teaspoon soy sauce, Optional: 1 tablespoon butter
- Either use the cauliflower alfredo right away or pour it into a pan to keep warm until you are ready to use it.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.
This has become one of my go-to recipes over the last couple years. I make it so often and everyone I’ve made it for loves it! So so good, def recommend!
I normally don’t write comments but I just had to let you know that this is the best Alfredo Sauce I have ever made! I’m vegan and it is extremely hard getting just the right flavor. I tried making Alfredo using cashews a few times but it literally tasted like bandaids to me LOL. This was amazing. I don’t even think that I needed to add the nutritional yeast because it was great even before I added it in. And I love the lemon. It really pulled everything together. I will be making this a lot! I’ve even shared this recipe to my vegan facebook groups. Thank you! 🙂
Thank you so much! I’m so happy that you liked the recipe. Hooray! And thank you for sharing it!!
Not a vegan, but this stuff’s mighty tasty. Better for you than the cheesy kind I’m sure!
So nice to have lighter alternatives to favorite recipes, isn’t it? I’m not vegan either, but I love this sauce, too. 🙂
Kristen, thank you soooo much for sharing this easy and scrumptious recipe! You’re right this vegan Alfredo is eeeeverything! Long story short, I am not a vegan and I loooove Alfredo. I make it from scratch all the time and I am adopting this recipe into my meal plan for all time. I will be definitely be replacing regular Alfredo with this recipe. It is so delicious and such an amazing alternative it’s a no brainer.
Since I do eat Parmesan I thought I would try adding some in my second batch to see if it would be “perfect if only it had some parmesan cheese in it” and it was NOT. I have high quality Parmesan cheese which I typically use to make my Alfredo and adding it to the sauce was a mistake. There is something about the way this comes together without dairy that makes adding dairy to it no good, in my opinion. I even tried eating some pasta with this sauce and some Parmesan sprinkled on top and that was equally as bad.
This IS perfect just the way it is, thanks again!
I’m so happy you like it just the way it is!!!
Awsome, delicious, and easy! Thank you so much!
I’m so happy to hear you liked it!!
YUM! Kristen! This is so good! Thank you 🙂
Will defs be a regular in my weekly meals now! Thanks again! 🙂
I’m so happy to hear you liked it!!
This sauce was delicious! Used my Vitamix and it came out nice and creamy, Thank you for the recipe!
You are so welcome! I’m so happy you liked it!!
Delicious!
Used my food processor and texture was nice and smooth.
Thinking about making another batch and freezing it?
Do you think the texture would hold up?
I haven’t tried freezing it yet. I suspect that the texture would hold up ok. My only concern would be that the cauliflower taste might get to be too much. I’ve frozen cauliflower to make cauliflower rice with and it always ends up being quite strong tasting. If you try freezing it I’d love to hear how it turns out!
This sauce is delicious, I will definitely make again. I have a nutribullet and it worked great but if you use a nutribullet or any other blender with a screw top lip BE CAREFUL!!!! I didn’t think to wait for the cauliflower to cook before blending it and it created a suction and then exploded when I unscrewed the lid. I have second degree burns on my chest and I just want to save someone else for making my mistake!
Oh no! I hope you are recovering ok! Hot liquid and blenders can definitely be dangerous. I’ve had a few close calls when blending soups. Thanks for sharing the warning!
My second time making a vegan cauliflower alfredo sauce and my first time using the recipe. I’m definitely going to be using this one for now on. It was perfect!! Thank you! It was just what I wanted- a comforting, delicious meal. I even added some Gardein chicken trips, it was so good. Thanks!
I’m so happy you liked it!!
So easy and yummy… my dad didn’t even realize it was plant-based
Haha don’t you love it when that happens! Thank you so much for featuring it. I’ll pop over and have a look now. 🙂
THIS IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!! I JUST MADE THIS I did add in some yellow mustard and miso like the other commenter mentioned. Love LOVE LOVE THIS!!! Thanks so much!!! cheers
Yaaaaaa! So happy you like the recipe as much as I do!!!
Great recipe. Nice and light sauce. Thanks
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe!
this looks delicious. Do you think I can make it with frozen cauliflower?
It would definitely work to create the sauce, but I’d be worried about the flavor. Whenever I’ve frozen cauliflower before, the flavor becomes very strong and not very pleasant. If you don’t mind the flavor of frozen cauliflower, then it could work for you. 🙂
Hello Kristen – must you blend the liquid with the cauliflower? Just got a bit confused in the instructions. Thanks 🙂
That’s right … add the cauliflower and whatever liquid that is still in the pan to your blender. 🙂
Do you blend up the onions and garlic as well or leave those out and just blend the cauliflower with the spices and leftover liquid?
Blend it all up!!
What are the lemon juice and coco Aminos for? I see them in ingredients but not in the directions
I’m sorry that wasn’t more clear! They are added in step 2 with “add the remaining ingredients.” Hope that helps!
I was pleasantly surprised at how well this turned out. We served it over homemade potato gnocchi, and it was delicious! It honestly does taste like Alfredo… it’s a miracle! Thank you!
I’m so happy to hear you liked it! Homemade gnocchi sounds amazing. 🙂