Check out quick and easy Alfredo sauce recipes! All vegan! You don’t want to miss out on some great healthier alternatives to this amazing dish!
What Is Alfredo Sauce?
Quick and easy Alfredo sauce recipe makes the fantastic base to create absolutely delicious and popular dish: Alfredo fettuccine pasta. But it’s much more versatile than that. You can totally see Alfredo sauce in pizza, chicken, shrimp, seafood, and so on…
My friend told me that when she went to Italy and ordered Alfredo pasta, none of the restaurants she visited had it. So is this one, not authentic Italian food? The answer is no.
Fettuccine Alfredo is a dish that was created by an Italian chef back in the 20th century with only 3 simple ingredients: butter, parmesan cheese, and water.
Later, the Alfredo sauce recipe was brought to the States and changed a bit. Hence we’ve got the current Alfredo sauce we are familiar with today.
It is more like an American version inspired by Italian cuisine and has a few modifications compared to the original one. The added heavy cream and a few extra seasonings are thicker. This type of Alfredo sauce has a very rich, creamy texture and savory buttery flavor, and in my opinion, so tasty!
Why Is Healthy Vegan Alfredo Sauce Better?
Traditional Alfredo sauce uses many dairy products. Most of the time, people use full cream options to make the dreamy creamy texture, and they often have high-fat content.
Not to mention the cheese and seasonings potentially contain a lot of sodium. In the long run, consuming it too much might not be a good idea for your weight, heart, or digestive system.
Quick and Easy Alfredo Sauce with Vegan Variations
If you are a fan of dairy products, the quick and easy Alfredo sauce recipe is definitely for you. But what if you’re lactose intolerant? Sometimes you just want to indulge yourself with cheesy and buttery food, but you must suppress your craving because you don’t want a gassy night, right?
Problem solved! I completely understand your struggle because I am one of them. And I am gladly telling you now that I have found not 1, not 2, but 3 amazing vegan Alfredo sauce recipes so we can all also enjoy our food worries-free!
Everything is entirely plant-based and gluten-free, too. It also has less fat and excess calories, making it a greater choice for overall health and well-being.
1. Vegan Alfredo Sauce Recipe with Cashew
The most popular way to make a quick and easy Alfredo sauce in vegan style is by using cashew nuts. You will be amazed how you do not need any source of milk to make this sauce so creamy and smooth.
Reminder: This vegan Alfredo sauce recipe is not for people who are allergic to nuts. Be aware!
Time to prep | 15 minutes | Servings | 2-4 |
Time to cook | 30 minutes | Skill Level | Easy |
Vegan Alfredo Sauce Ingredients:
- 1 cup unsalted raw cashews
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1/2 tbsp fine garlic powder
- 1 tsp Mediterranean sea salt
- exotic peppercorn
Directions:
- Boil cashews for 10-12 minutes.
- Strain cashews and reserve 1/2 cup of cashew water.
- Add cashews, olive oil, garlic, fresh lemon juice, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, cashew water, sea salt, and some exotic peppercorn into a blender and blend until creamy (add more olive oil to get a creamy texture).
- Add fresh chopped parsley and give it a whisk.
- Mix with pasta or any other food. Serve immediately. Enjoy!
Tips and Praise for Alfredo Sauce Recipe
Ella L., “Just a little tip: If you put the lid on the pot, the water will boil faster (it’ll save you energy, too). Also, you don’t need to cook the cashews for that long; just give it a quick boil and let them then soak for a couple of minutes in that hot water – they’ll become soft enough to blend it afterwards (again, this will also save you energy and time).”
Sada Ahmed, “I like roasting real garlic – like garlic confit- in the oven w oil until the garlic in light brown and then pureeing everything w the cashews instead of adding just oil and garlic powder. It just adds an extra oomph! And if you can afford it, roasted kampot white pepper is awesome! Add in dried basil, thyme, and oregano + a little bit of lemon juice and you got the best alfredo sauce possible.”
Travels &Tastes, “Hello greetings from Las Vegas! Awesome recipe, vegan alfredo sauce. Love it with spinach.”
Christiane Carson, “Thank you, thank you, thank you for not throwing the stalks and leaves away!!! It never ceases to amaze me why people think it’s inedible? This Alfredo looks amazing, will definitely be doing it this weekend!”
Editor’s Note
All the quick and easy Alfredo sauce vegan recipes can be used for many other dishes besides pasta. You can use the sauce as a base for Baked Potatoes, Roasted Chicken.
You can also use the vegan Alfredo sauce as a dipping sauce to use with either boiled/steamed or roasted vegetables.
2. Vegan Alfredo Sauce Recipe with Cauliflower
This second quick and easy Alfredo sauce is no joke. Roasting the cauliflower with the garlic and onion gives the sauce bags of flavor. Just use them for your favorite type of pasta, and voila, it’s the ideal midweek meal!
Time to prep | 20 minutes | Servings | 4 |
Time to cook | 30-40 minutes | Skill Level | Easy |
Ingredients:
- 1 medium cauliflower
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 onion
- 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 cup almond milk
- 6 tbsp nutritional yeast
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp maple syrup
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- handful of curly parsley, finely chopped
- salt & pepper to taste
- olive oil
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC / 356ºF.
- Break cauliflower into florets and cut it into bite-size pieces. Transfer the cauliflower to a large baking tray.
- Slice the onion into eight pieces and add it to the baking tray and the garlic cloves (skin on).
- Season with a pinch of salt and pepper, drizzle with oil and toss them well.
- Roast the veggies in the oven for 20 minutes until cooked and tender.
- Add a third of the florets and the sliced stem to a blender. Remove the skins from the onion and garlic, and add them to the blender.
- Add the almond milk, mustard, nutritional yeast, lemon, maple syrup, nutmeg, and a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Blend until completely smooth.
- Pour the creamy sauce into the saucepan. Add the remaining cauliflower and stir well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Add parsley and freshly ground black pepper. Serve with pasta or any other food you like. Enjoy!
3. Vegan Alfredo Sauce Recipe with Coconut Cream
I save the best for last, really. I love everything coconut, so when I have a chance to incorporate coconut cream to create a vegan version of quick and easy Alfredo sauce, I cannot resist. It gives the sauce extra richness, which, I think, is even better than the traditional Alfredo sauce recipe. Let’s go find out!
Time to prep | 15 minutes | Servings | 2-4 |
Time to cook | 30 minutes | Skill Level | Easy |
Ingredients:
- 2 cans coconut milk
- 2-4 cloves garlic , minced
- 6 ttbsp nutritional yeast
- 3 tbsp cornstarch
- 2-3 cups water to boil pasta
- 6 Tbsp vegan butter
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 cups crumble veggies or other protein
- 1/2 cup mushrooms and spinach
Directions:
- Heat a med-deep frying pan over medium heat with vegan butter.
- Add garlic and sauté until golden brown.
- Pour in coconut milk and nutritional yeast. Stir well until there are no more lumps.
- Mix cornstarch and water in a separate bowl. Slowly pour into the pan and mix well. Keep cooking until the sauce is thickened to the right consistency.
- Season the sauce with salt, black pepper, and Italian seasoning.
- Add in veggies and mushrooms. Cook for another 5-7 minutes.
- Mix the cooked pasta in and serve hot immediately.
How to Distinguish Alfredo Sauce from Other Similar Sauces?
If you just take a brief look, quick and easy Alfredo sauce is quite similar to some of the other white sauces that people often use in cooking. I can name a few so you can be clearer from now on and not make mistakes. Ask me how I know! I’ve learned my lesson the hard way, so you don’t have to.
The biggest mistake I’ve heard of is Alfredo sauce and Carbonara sauce. They both look very alike, sound Italian and are used for pasta, so I can see why.
However, Alfredo sauce is a simpler sauce with a thicker texture and is made of cream, parmesan cheese, and parsley.
Carbonara sauce, on the other hand, is a tiny bit more complicated to make and has ingredients like egg yolks, cream, cheese, pancetta, onion, and garlic. The cooking technique is also quite different, too.
Another big look-a-like one is béchamel sauce. This sauce is from French cuisine. Even though it’s also rich, the color is whiter than Alfredo sauce. The most distinguishing factor is that Béchamel sauce is made with milk and four.
Besides the yummy Alfredo sauce recipe, how about you check out these other mouthwatering recipes to change it up sometimes and make your meal more fun and exciting?