Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce - The Plant Based School (2024)

Table of Contents

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Serving suggestions
• Variations
• Storage
• More pasta recipes
• More cauliflower recipes
• Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce Recipe

Love Alfredo sauce but are looking for something lighter and healthier to feed your family? You’ll love this easy and tasty cauliflower Alfredo sauce!

You can make this recipe in less than 30 minutes with a few simple ingredients.

What makes this recipe light, ultra-creamy, and nutritious is cauliflower, steamed, or boiled. We slightly prefer steaming because that cauliflower gets less watery and preserves a little more antioxidants.

Once the cauliflower is very soft, you can blend it with the other ingredients, which can vary depending on how tasty you want the sauce to be.

We recommend adding parmesan cheese, ricotta, garlic, mustard, nutmeg, salt, and black pepper.

For a vegan version of cauliflower Alfredo, you can blend in vegan cheese or nutritional yeast and vegan ricotta or butter.

Blend everything for a minute or two until velvety smooth, and toss it with your favorite pasta. This is a quick, light, and delicious sauce that will make you feel great! Enjoy.

Ps. To make this recipe even more delicious, oven–bake or air fry a bunch of cauliflower or broccoli florets and toss them in. I did this once, and Louise wouldn’t have it any other way!

Cauliflower

Fresh cauliflower is best for this recipe because it gets less watery. However, if you don’t mind a more watery sauce, you can also use frozen cauliflower florets.

You can steam or boil the cauliflower. Both methods work well for this cauliflower sauce, so pick the one you are more comfortable with.

Note: We prefer steaming because the cauliflower gets less watery that way. Also, steaming preserves more nutrients than boiling, although there isn’t a substantial difference in nutrient loss, so if you don’t have a steamer basket, go ahead and boil the cauliflower.

Garlic

You can add as much garlic as you like. Start with half a clove, taste the sauce and add more if you wish.

Mustard

We don’t add mustard in our original Alfredo sauce; however, cauliflower Alfredo benefits from the extra savory and tangy flavor of Dijon mustard.

You can substitute American mustard for Dijon.

Nutmeg

Nutmeg marries exceptionally well with cauliflower and adds a warm subtle aroma that takes this sauce up a notch.

Milk

We recommend unsweetened soy milk for this recipe, although you can also use dairy milk if you prefer that.

Milk and blended cauliflower replace the heavy cream in the original alfredo sauce.

We tested the sauce with water and vegetable broth too, and Louise really liked it.

Coconut milk and almond milk work too, althoug they add a flavor that makes this sauce too different from traditional Alfredo sauce.

Parmesan cheese

Grated parmesan adds flavor and richness to the sauce that otherwise would be very watery and tasteless.

You’ve got to add something with fat and flavor; otherwise, you’ll end up eating something that is not nice. For us, that’s good quality grated parmesan cheese. It melds perfectly with cauliflower.

If you are vegan, you can substitute vegan cheese for parmesan. Alternatively, you can use nutritional yeast.

Ricotta

Ricotta is the best cream and butter alternative for a lighter cauliflower Alfredo sauce. You can use regular ricotta cheese or dairy-free ricotta.

If you don’t have ricotta, adding a little butter or oil helps. You can use unsalted butter, vegan butter, or extra virgin olive oil.

Salt and pepper

This sauce needs salt (sea salt or kosher salt) and freshly ground black pepper.

Pasta

Serve the sauce with your favorite pasta. We love egg-free fettuccine, linguine, or bucatini, but you can use any shape.

For gluten-free, use gluten-free noodles.

Fresh parsley

Finely chopped flat-leaf parsley on top makes this recipe more interesting. Parsley, cauliflower, and parmesan are incredible, so try to add them if you can.

Extra veggies

While cauliflower Alfredo sauce is delicious as is, you can make this dish more complete by adding roasted or air-fried cauliflower or broccoli.

Cut the cauliflower into chunks, then steam or boil it until fork tender.

To a blender, add steamed or boiled cauliflower, milk, parmesan, ricotta, garlic, mustard, grated nutmeg, salt, and black pepper.

Blend at high speed until perfectly smooth.

Cook the pasta al dente in a large pot with plenty of heavily salted water. Reserve one cup of pasta water before draining the pasta.

Add the cauliflower Alfredo sauce on a large skillet on medium-low heat, toss in the pasta, and, if necessary, a ladleful of reserved pasta water.

Toss for a minute, add more parmesan if you want to, and toss until the pasta is fully coated in the sauce.

Note: you can serve up to about 1.20 pounds of pasta (540 grams) with this sauce – that’s about 6 portions of 2.8 ounces (80 grams) of pasta each. Use about 1 ladleful of cauliflower Afredo sauce per portion of pasta. Store leftover sauce in the fridge or freezer.

Serve immediately with a sprinkle of finely chopped parsley and freshly ground black pepper.

Serve with a side of fresh greens and salads, such as these palate-cleaning ideas:

• Fennel salad with pomegranate seeds and orange wedges.
• Easy side salad ready in 5 minutes.
• Zucchini salad with tomatoes and a refreshing lemon vinaigrette.
• Avocado salad with fresh greens and a creamy mustard dressing.

Or, roast some veggies and serve them with the pasta. Try:

• Roasted cauliflower fits perfectly with cauliflower Alfredo.
• Garlic-roasted broccoli brings green color and crispy veggies to your pasta.
• Roasted artichokes are just delicious!
• Grilled asparagus or roasted asparagus add a vibrant green color and a ton of flavor.
• Or have a look at our mixed roasted veggies platter for more ideas.

Double-cauliflower Alfredo sauce

Who said one can only have double-chocolate something? Double-cauliflower Alfredo sauce is delicious, so we encourage you to try it! To make it, toss some cauliflower florets in olive oil and salt, and roast them in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Toss them in with the pasta and the sauce, et voilà. A delicious double-cauliflower Alfredo sauce that is tasty, crisp, and will make you feel awesome.

Cauliflower Alfredo sauce with broccoli

To make this dish even tastier and more fulfilling, try adding steamed or roasted broccoli florets.

Broccoli and cauliflower together are perfect, and the tender-crisp texture of the broccoli is a pleasant addition to this pasta dish.

Mushroom Alfredo

Feel like something even tastier – and definitely fatter? (We need that too sometimes, don’t we?). Check out our full-fat, full-flavor Alfredo sauce with sautèed mushrooms.

This is probably the tastiest Alfredo sauce in the world, and you can either make it with real cheese, butter, and cream; or turn it vegan and do it with dairy-free alternatives.

In any case, check out our mushroom Alfredo recipe.

Sauce: leftover cauliflower sauce stores well in a airtight container or jar in the fridge for up to 3 days. To use it, warm it up in a pan with a ladleful of pasta cooking water. You can also freeze the sauce for up to 3 months, then thaw it directly on a pan with pasta water.

Pasta: store leftover pasta in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Reheat on a pan with some water, or olive oil.

More pasta recipes

If you liked this cauliflower Alfredo recipe, you might also enjoy these creamy pasta dishes:

• Easy mushroom pasta with chewy mushrooms and fettuccine pasta
• Roasted red pepper pasta: perfectly creamy roasted red pepper sauce in 20 minutes!
• Eggplant pasta alla Norma with authentic Italian flavor
• Pasta Pomodoro with a 15-minute tomato sauce

More cauliflower recipes

Love cooking with cauliflower? Get more inspiration from these easy and wholesome cauliflower recipes:

• Cauliflower pasta with garlic and parsley sauce
• Easy cauliflower soup with a cheesy and creamy texture
• Mediterranean cauliflower and lentil salad
• Cauliflower salad with roasted chickpeas and tahini dressing

For many more pasta ideas, check out our pasta category page.