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!
Made this for dinner tonight and I didn’t expect my husband to like it but he actually asked me to make this again tomorrow with mushrooms and zoodles tomorrow! I did change one thing. I added a spoonful of miso paste and it really kicked up the savoriness a notch! Thanks so much! It’s been interesting trying to find low carb recipes for him that are also dairy and gluten free so I can also enjoy them. 😄
I’m not vegan but this sauce is awesome! Trying to avoid dairy as much as possible!!
I didn’t tell my family about the ingredients- simply that it was Alfredo Sauce. They LOVED it!! I was shocked.
My husband figured out it wasn’t real Alfredo sauce – he ended up calling it Alberto sauce. I subbed in lactose free milk, threw in some frozen quinoa I had on hand, added some Parmesan cheese (low in lactose). I also used brown rice noodles since my daughter is lactose and gluten intolerant.
I tried this recipe because I had a head of cauliflower that was getting black spots and wasn’t nice to serve plain and I was craving something creamy and cheesy. Being dairy free, finding something that actually tastes like real cheese and has a nice creamy texture is difficult. This recipe does both. My husband even asked me to make chicken broccoli alfredo using this sauce!
Can I make the sauce the night before, refrigerate it and heat the next day?
I find that it tastes the best the same day that it’s made. The cauliflower flavor intensifies by the next day. It’s still good, but just something to note.
Hi. We made this last night to serve over Zoodles and it was yummy. One question: There is lemon juice in the ingredient list but we couldn’t find where in the instructions to add lemon juice so we left it out.
During Step 2 you add the remaining ingredients. In smaller print it lists the lemon juice along with the the soy sauce, etc.
I make this on a regular basis and eat it with sauteed mushrooms, spinach and zoodles. It stays good in the fridge for several days, so I usually make a double batch to use a full large head of cauliflower.. I keep cut up mushrooms and pre-spiralized zoodles in the fridge, too… then toss everything in a pan for a quick heat and top with cracked pepper. Super fast lunch for me every day for a week, plus I use a good 1/3 of it with macaroni noodles in a thermos and that’s school lunch for my kids for a couple of days!!
This was simple and really delicious. A keeper for sure.
This recipe is soooo delicious. It is super creamy, which I did not expect with just cauliflower. So glad to have found a dairy free creamy based sauce that is not super high in calories.
Excellent sauce! Steamed the cauliflower with garlic and blended with about 1 1/2 cups non fat milk. Used all other ingredients in your recipe. Makes a great base for Mac and cheese., just add cooked pasta and grated cheddar and bake about 30 min @ 350.
WOW! Not even vegan and this was divine. Added half a cup of oat milk when I puréed up in my vitamix. Delicious.
It was yummy. I might add extra yeast but then I’m a yeast freak having grown up with Marmite but it’s perfect as it is.
Best cauliflower pasta sauce I’ve made! It’s actually creamy. I did add a bit of almond milk too.
Thank you for this. I’m currently restricting my diet and although I omitted the fats, it tastes delish! I added spinach and mushrooms and used on spaghetti squash, and i only wish I’d found this recipe sooner!
I’m with you, I don’t used oil or other processed fats, so I water sauteed the onion and garlic, and instead of adding “butter” at the end I just boiled up a 1/4 cup of cashews with the cauliflower… to placate the rest of the crew who requested more “creaminess”.
Insanely good!!!!!
Absolutely delicious. I used the two tablespoons of nutritional yeast, coconut aminos and all the salt and then a little more than a cup of vegetable broth to get the right consistency. It’s just so good. The lemon gives it that little bite like there’s real Parmesan cheese in there. Omg just so so good.