Description
This Vegan Alfredo Sauce is a creamy, dairy-free alternative to traditional Alfredo made with soaked cashews, nutritional yeast, and almond milk. It’s perfect for tossing with fettuccine or your favorite pasta and can be customized with various plant-based milks and toppings.
Ingredients
Scale
Pasta (optional)
- 12 ounces fettuccine pasta
Sauce
- 1 1/2 cups raw cashews
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 medium sweet onion, chopped
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups unsweetened almond milk
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Instructions
- Cook the Pasta: Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add the fettuccine pasta and cook according to package instructions. Drain the pasta and return to the pot, covering it until the sauce is ready.
- Soak the Cashews: Boil 4 cups of water and pour it over the cashews in a bowl. Let them soak for 5 minutes to soften.
- Sauté Onion and Garlic: While the cashews soak, heat olive oil in a small pan over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and minced garlic, sauté for 5 minutes until fragrant and the onion is translucent, then remove from heat.
- Blend the Sauce: Drain the soaked cashews and discard the water. Add the cashews to a high-powered blender along with the sautéed onions and garlic, unsweetened almond milk, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, and salt. Blend until very smooth and creamy.
- Combine and Serve: Pour the sauce over the cooked pasta and stir well. If the pasta is hot, the sauce may not need further heating. If desired, warm everything together on low heat until heated through, thinning with a little water if the sauce becomes too thick. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Use gluten free pasta to make this recipe gluten free.
- For a cashew-free option, substitute raw slivered almonds or sunflower seeds, though cashews provide the best buttery and cheesy flavor.
- You can replace almond milk with other unsweetened and unflavored plant milks such as soy, cashew, or coconut milk.
- For a vegan “chicken” Alfredo, add cooked vegan chicken nuggets like Gardein brand sliced on top.
- The sauce freezes well; store in freezer-safe containers leaving room for expansion and reheat on the stove or microwave.
- Nutritional yeast can be omitted if you don’t prefer its flavor.
- This Alfredo sauce is versatile and also great drizzled on baked potatoes, pizza, spaghetti squash, or cooked vegetables.
- Calories listed do not include the pasta and are for one-sixth of the sauce.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6 of sauce
- Calories: 180 kcal
- Sugar: 2 g
- Sodium: 400 mg
- Fat: 14 g
- Saturated Fat: 2 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 12 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 10 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 6 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
