This vegan cauliflower Alfredo sauce turns a nutritious vegetable into the base of a delightful, creamy dairy-free pasta sauce! You can store the sauce or use it to make an easy vegan Alfredo pasta with spinach.

There’s nothing like diving into a comforting bowl of pasta for dinner. When that meal is also easy and nutritious, it’s even better.

This creamy cauliflower Alfredo sauce and pasta is exactly such a meal, and I’m so happy to share it.

I’ve seen a bunch of recipes for cauliflower Alfredo sauce over the years. Most recently, I stumbled on this one from the folks at Purple Carrot, which looked great.

I loved the idea of adding spinach to the finished pasta. I try to add greens to my meals whenever I can, and pasta is a good vehicle for them.

In the last few weeks, I’ve experimented with a few batches of creamy, cauliflower Alfredo sauce. I decided to add a nut or seed to the sauce—more on that below—and I’m really happy with the result.

Cauliflower Alfredo sauce ingredients

I love this recipe for its nutrition and flavor. However, I also love the simplicity of its ingredients.

Cauliflower

Is there anything cauliflower can’t do?

Here, it provides a creamy and nutrient-dense base for a garlicky sauce. I’d love to try the cauliflower Alfredo sauce with broccoli in place of cauliflower at some point, but the color would of course be very different.

Nuts or seeds

I’ve made this sauce a few times, which means that I’ve had a chance to add different nuts and seeds.

They increase the creaminess of the cauliflower Alfredo sauce, and they also add healthful fat and overall good nutrition.

For example, I’ve added tahini and cashew butter to the sauce. Each works well for creaminess. Cashew butter is a little sweeter, while tahini is slightly more bitter.

I’ve also tried adding a few tablespoons of shelled hemp seeds, which are a great source of protein.

Finally, I’ve tried the cauliflower Alfredo sauce with soaked, raw cashews. Cashews are the basis of my simple cashew cheese and cashew cream. They work magic in creamy, dairy free recipes.

Nutritional yeast

Nutritional yeast adds a “cheesy” flavor to the cauliflower Alfredo sauce.

Garlic

The garlic in this recipe can be adjusted to taste. I’m sensitive to strong garlic flavor in cooking, so I have a light touch with it. If you love garlic, you should certainly add as much as you’d like.

White miso

Miso adds both saltiness and some umami to the cauliflower Alfredo sauce. If you don’t have white miso at home, you can omit it and add a little extra salt to the sauce instead.

Non-dairy milk

Unsweetened plant milk is another source of creaminess for the Alfredo pasta. I like to make this recipe with unsweetened oat or soy milk; the latter will add some protein. Unsweetened cashew milk is also a good choice for the recipe.

How to make cauliflower Alfredo sauce

Ease of preparation is one of the best things about this pasta. My goal when I made it was to combine as many steps as possible.

Step 1: steam the cauliflower

In this first step, you’ll bring a few inches of water to boil in a large pot. Fit that pot with a steamer attachment and steam the cauliflower until it’s quite tender (8-10 minutes).

Step 2: cook the pasta

In this step, you’ll remove the steamer attachment from the pot and add salted water. Bring this water to a boil and cook your pasta according to package instructions.

Step 3: blend the sauce

While the pasta cooks, you can prepare your sauce.

The base of this sauce will be your cooked cauliflower. Remaining ingredients are non-dairy milk (I use unsweetened soy, which will contribute some protein), nutritional yeast, miso, lemon juice, a nut or seed, garlic, and sea salt.

Blend the sauce for 1-2 minutes in a high-powered blender, or until the sauce is smooth.

Step 4: add spinach to the pasta

I love adding vegetables to pasta as it cooks. While it isn’t possible to condense steps like this in every recipe, it’s a great way to save time.

Here, you’ll add some spinach (or kale, or another green) to the pasta a few minutes before it finishes cooking.

Step 5: combine ingredients

Once the sauce is ready and the pasta and spinach have been cooked and drained, you’ll add all ingredients back to the pot you’ve been using.

Mix the ingredients well over low heat. When the pasta is creamy and hot throughout, as well as evenly mixed, you’ll be ready to enjoy this meal.

Preparation & storage

You can use the cauliflower Alfredo sauce with pasta immediately after you make it. You can also store it for future use.

The sauce will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days after you prepare it.

Can cauliflower Alfredo sauce be frozen?

Yes, you can definitely freeze the cauliflower Alfredo sauce!

I like to do this in large, wide-mouthed mason jars. I’m careful to leave some head space at the top of the jar, which prevents the jar from cracks as the liquid inside freezes and expands.

The sauce can be frozen for up to six weeks.

Variations & additions

Spinach adds color and nutrition to an already wholesome pasta. However, you can add additional vegetables as you like.

Broccoli florets, additional steamed cauliflower florets, cut green beans, peas, steamed zucchini or summer squash, and steamed kale would all make wonderful additions.

I hope that this simple pasta meal will bring you the same comfort and good nutrition it has brought me in the past few, hectic weeks.

The cauliflower Alfredo sauce itself is a versatile keeper. Use it with any pasta shape, drizzle it over baked potatoes or steamed greens, and so on. It’ll deliver on nourishment and creamy goodness no matter what.

xo

This post was originally sponsored by the Seed Daily Synbiotic.