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!
Would never Be able to tell it has cauliflower! This was so delicious, satisfying, and creamy. Totally fills the craving of the rich Alfredo we all know and love. First time having anything like this after going vegan for a year and I am so happy and impressed with this recipe! I added black pepper and next time might add more lemon juice and some zest for a brighter flavor.
I made this with high skepticism. Although I’ve made many recipes from this blog and have never been disappointed, so I trudged on. And oh my goodness I’m so glad I did! This was surprisingly creamy and didn’t have a cauliflower taste to it at all! Although still not EXACTLY like Alfredo, but it’s pretty close and not nearly the amount of calories. Delicious and also super easy and quick to make!
I don’t need another cashew-based alfredo sauce recipe ever again! I use this as my base for regular alfredo, rasta pasta alfredo, mac and cheese…everything!
I meant cauliflower-based!
Hi there
I have no nutritional yeast left any suggestions or will I be okay to leave out? Plan to make this this evening looks great!
It will likely be missing a little something if you leave it out, but it should still be pretty tasty.
I’ve tried so many of the faux cheese sauces over the past few years. This is seriously the best I’ve had. And I don’t really even like cauliflower that much! You don’t even know that’s the main ingredient. I omit oil/butter and add about a quarter cup cashews or sunflower seeds for a creamy boost. The recipe consistently turns out delicious – a scrumptious sauce to be used on pasta, nachos or veggies. Wicked good. The soy sauce/aminos are brilliant in this recipe. Thank you so much for creating and sharing!!!
You’re so welcome!!
I am swimming in bags of frozen riced caulifl can I use one of those instead of fresh, whole cauliflower?
I think they should work. Sometimes I find that frozen cauliflower has a stronger taste, so just expect that it might be a bit more cauliflower-y if you use frozen.
This was so delicious. Non vegan family and friends loved it. I also cannot believe how easy and simple this recipe is. It is way lighter than your regular Alfredo yet it tastes just as delicious. I can eat a whole bowl or two and not feel like crap. I will never miss non-vegan Alfredo with this recipe. It’ll definitely be a staple from now on. Thank you so much for sharing! 🙂
I seem to be the only
Person who thought this was awful. I had to redo dinner because I refused to feed this to my family.
I’m sorry to hear that the recipe wasn’t a hit!
This was so good! I couldn’t believe it. So creamy and rich. I don’t even like regular Alfredo sauce that much, but this was awesome.
I’m so surprised by how good this tastes. I’m on a very limited diet before an operation so this was a great recipe to come across. I put it on zucchini noodles and it was delicious. Will definitely be making again!
I had two heads of cauliflower. One, for this recipe. The other I had intended to roast in the oven for later. But this sauce turned out SO amazing that I immediately used the other cauliflower to make a second batch. Lunch tomorrow is going to be such a treat!
Good, though I’d not mistake it for either alfredo or bechamel sauce. Maybe some miso instead lemon juice, to sub for parmesan?
This sauce was so easy to make and really delicious. I skipped the oil and optional butter and it was still so good. I used the 2 tsp of salt as suggested and was a little worried when I tasted the sauce on its own that it might be too salty but when I put over pasta and veggies it was seasoned perfectly. I didn’t have to add any additional seasoning to my plate. Thank you for such a great recipe.
You’re very welcome!!
Do you blend the cauliflower with the stock or do you drain the stock off
Add both the cauliflower and the stock to the blender. 🙂
Okay, I don’t think I have ever reviewed a recipe before, but I HAD to review this one. This was amazing. I in no way expected this to taste anything like alfredo sauce. My expectations were for a rich cauliflower sauce that tasted good, but only slightly resembled alfredo sauce. But this sauce was so good and tasted so much like alfredo sauce!!! I think the soy sauce/coconut aminos were just as important as the nutritional yeast. I would not skip it. Thanks for sharing. ♥️♥️♥️
Why add soy sauce?
For flavor. 🙂