Learn how to make the most delicious 20 Minute Easy Vegan Dairy-free Alfredo that will blow away all your guests, shock them that it is dairy-free and healthy! Rich, creamy, decadent and just 7 ingredients and without any butter or oil!
EASY DAIRY-FREE ALFREDO
Sometimes the most amazing vegan recipes happen as the result of impromptu recipes. This recipe is one of those times. I was planning on making my Best Vegan Garlic Alfredo for dinner one night, but realized I was too low on cashews (gasp!) and out of lemon juice. So, I decided to just throw together some ingredients and wing it with what I had and holy moly, this one turned out just as rich and so amazing. I double dare you to make this for somebody (don’t tell them it’s not full of butter or cream) and tell me they don’t love it. While I love my original (it’s the most popular recipe on the blog).
HOW TO MAKE DAIRY-FREE ALFREDO
First you need to gather the ingredients to make this vegan alfredo:
- raw cashew butter (I make my own here since store-bought tends to be roasted and with added oil, which will not work well)
- vegetable broth
- brown rice flour
- apple cider vinegar
- some dried Italian herbs
- garlic powder
- nutritional yeast
It’s quite different than my original, which uses a lot of cooked onions and garlic, this one does not. But this one with the rice flour makes it so creamy. My husband scarfed it down SO fast and said “this is the best you’ve ever made”. We both debated on me calling it “Restaurant Style Alfredo”. It is just that good.
You will start out by adding the cashew butter, brown rice flour, apple cider vinegar, Italian herbs, nutritional yeast, salt and just blend them up in your blender. I used my Vitamix.
Add them to a pan and it will be very thin (like water), as in the above picture, but after just a few minutes of cooking, it will turn out creamy and fabulous like this.
I’m not kidding that this dairy-free alfredo sauce comes together in 20 minutes. It took exactly 19 minutes to do the pasta from start to finish and only 12-15 minutes for the sauce. You won’t find a more easy vegan alfredo!
This is also perfect for all of you that don’t have high powered blenders needed for raw cashews in so many sauces.
This healthy dairy-free alfredo sauce is so healthy, gluten-free and 100% oil-free. It is also just 8 ingredients (+salt).
MORE VEGAN CREAMY SAUCES
- Vegan White Wine Sauce
- Vegan Lemon Florentine Pasta
- Vegan Pimento Cream Sauce
- Vegan Lemon, Garlic & Thyme Sauce
If you make this recipe, be sure to leave feedback below and share your pic on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @thevegan8 #thevegan8!
Easy Dairy-free Alfredo
Ingredients
FOR THE PASTA
- 14 oz bag pasta of choice
- 1/2 tablespoon salt
ALFREDO SAUCE
- 2 cups (480g) well-flavored low-sodium vegetable broth (SEE NOTE)
- 1/4 cup (64g) RAW cashew butter with NO added oils or salt (I make my own here because it's practically impossible to find a raw oil-free cashew butter in stores.)
- 1-2 teaspoons (5-10g) apple cider vinegar (I find this can really vary depending on brand of broth used, start with none or 1 teaspoon at first.)
- 2 tablespoons (16g) nutritional yeast (Highly recommend the unfortified Sari brand-no weird vitamin taste)
- 2 tablespoons (20g) brown rice flour
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- optional: any veggies you may want to add
NOTE
- If you would like to use raw cashews (instead of cashew butter) you will just use the same weight amount, which is about a scant 1/2 cup. If you don't have a high-powered blender, then you must soak them overnight in a bowl of water, drain and rinse. Otherwise, your result will be gritty and NOT creamy. A food processor usually works better with soaked cashews versus a blender that isn't very powerful.
UPDATE
- I highly recommend the low-sodium veggie broth by Trader Joe's, if possible or the Pacific brand. Both are so flavorful. If not using nutritional yeast, slightly increase the garlic powder and add a teaspoon of onion powder.
Instructions
- Follow each step closely to have this ready in 20 minutes. You will first need to start your pasta before the sauce. Add 12 cups of very hot water to a large pot and put the lid on (it will come to a boil faster). Turn to high heat and let it come to a boil. Mine took about 10 minutes before it was boiling (yours may be faster). Once it's boiling add the pasta and salt and quickly stir it around to loosen it up. The salt is important because it flavors the pasta. Cook for 9 minutes or until al dente. Yours will vary depending on the pasta used.
- While waiting on the water to boil, add all the "alfredo sauce" ingredients to a blender, starting with just 1 teaspoon of the vinegar. Broth brands greatly vary in flavor and I find depending on the brand used, I may need NO vinegar or only 1 teaspoon. Blend, then taste and decide. Blend until very smooth. It will be very runny, don't worry as it will thicken up a lot when cooking.
- Check your water to see if boiling yet.
- Add the sauce to a large pan over high heat. Once it starts bubbling all over, immediately turn to medium-low heat and whisk continually while letting it cook 3-4 minutes until thickened. You want to continually whisk around the bottom and sides, so the flour doesn't clump. Don't walk away from it! You don't want to overcook because it will thicken up a lot as it cools. Add any veggies if you like. I sometimes add peas and carrots from the freezer and let them cook a minute in the sauce.
- Once the pasta is done, drain and rinse with water to stop the cooking. Brown rice pasta can stick really badly, so I rinse really well and serve immediately. If using regular gluten pasta, you don't need to rinse it. Add to a plate, then add the sauce and garnish with extra dried Italian herbs or red pepper flakes or anything else you like.
I tried a slight variation on this that was basically the same thing, but with tahini and a little olive oil (only about a table spoon, to help coax the flavors out of the garlic and spices a bit first), and found that tahini, while it changes the flavor a bit, still makes for a delicious sauce! 🙂
Great recipe!
Wonderful Joe, I’m so happy to hear you loved it! I also have a tahini version that is pretty different than this one but still really incredible, creamy and lesser fat! https://thevegan8.com/2016/02/26/nut-free-vegan-garlic-alfredo-sauce/
Oh my word Brandi, why didn’t I listen sooner and buy the Sari nutritional yeast you recommended?!? My life will officially never be the same. I have been vegan 2.5 years, and I have never gotten used to the nutritional yeast flavor. I’ve made this recipe multiple times just hoping I would be able to get used to it since it’s so easy and others (including my omni friends and family) just love it. Well, I finally ordered the non-fortified version, and skeptically made the Alfredo. Just smelling the flakes I knew it was different, but when I had my first bite of the sauce, it was like the heavens opened wide. It was magical. I am officially joining the 20-minute Vegan Alfredo cult following!
Haha, yay! So so happy you’ve joined the cult too Vanessa, haha! Thank you so much for such amazing feedback, it really made my day!! That nutritional yeast is so much better, isn’t it?!
So much better is an understatement. It doesn’t even taste like the same food. I fell asleep last night without packing up the rest of the sauce, and now I’m thinking about making it when I get home from work again (at 12:30). I need to branch out though, because I feel like a whole new world of recipes is reopened to me.
Brandi, thank you for this recipe. Someone posted the link on Facebook and after looking at the ingredient list I thought I’d give it a try. After reading the comments, I decided to serve it to guests without a test run (which I never do). I’m SO glad I did. It was a huge hit with the vegans and non-vegans alike. My husband doesn’t like dairy Alfredo but he really liked this. My Whole Foods was out of raw cashew butter so I did just use 1/2 cup of raw cashews and that worked great. I processed them in my high speed blender but I usually just run them through the spice grinder to get a fine powder. The sauce was very smooth. Awesome recipe.
So so happy to hear that Jaci!! Thanks so much for the wonderful feedback! Yes, even my non-vegan family members say this is “awesome” and “the best alfredo” so people just don’t care if it’s dairy-free or not, it just tastes good, haha!
Could I just use extra cashews instead of the cashew butter?
Yes, I would suggest using 1/2-3/4 cup cashews instead.
I made this yesterday for our dinner and boy am I glad I did! It is the best and easiest alfredo sauce I have ever had. And DH agreed! He requested it again for tonight’s dinner. I’ve tried other alfredo sauce made with cauliflower and tofu and disliked them all. This one is just perfect….the flavor, consistency. And best of all, no heavy cream or butter in it. We had this with peas, roasted oil-free broccoli and steamed Lacinato kale on the side. It was truly delicious. Thank you Brandi for creating delicious, cruelty-free, healthy and simple recipes. You’re the best!
Oh wow Fung, I’m so sorry I missed this comment! Thank you so, so very much for the amazing feedback! I’m so happy you I loved it so much. It is the best alfredo I’ve truly ever had too and the fact it’s healthy, makes it all the better! Thank you!
This was soooo good! My whole family gobbled it up – and that’s saying a lot with an 8 and 4 year old! Thank you for a dinner everyone enjoys! This will go into regular rotation. (I’m also thinking this sauce would be a nice dip/topping for broccoli.) YUM.
That is so awesome to hear Kristie! Thank you so much for the amazing feedback!!! And yes, so yummy I think on so many veggies 🙂
So easy and yummy!
Thank you so much Julie, so glad you enjoyed it!
ok..here’s the requested feedback. Let me preface it by saying we are not young people here…72 and 68….without vegan experience but needing to make changes for health issues. Husband a NYC meat and potatoes doctor. Me…Italian artist/organic farmer. I had to make the change to vegan about a month ago and don’t mind because I’ve always been pretty veggie friendly however, it has presented challenges for me in the area of no dairy no eggs etc. I really had to hit the ground running in learning to eat vegan. I’m pretty ok except we can’t just keep eating salads and raw veggies and hummus! I have to learn how to cook as well so have been leaning heavily on sites like yours to help me. I made the vegan alfredo with no difficulty and made my own cashew butter. I dished it and and told my husband he didn’t have to eat it if he didn’t like it….that I would give it to the chickens. First few bites all I heard was “uummmmmmm! This is delicious!!!” He went on to ask how it was possible to make something this good and have it be vegan 🙂 I too very much enjoyed this dish. It was also my first time trying something other than the “normal” pasta and it was great! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe and I’ll keep trying more!
Thank you so very much Linda for such amazing feedback! Wow, it made me smile! Thank you so much for sharing!!
Wow, this was great! I call this ‘blender spout lickin good’. I’ve made a few cashew based white vegan sauces in the past so wasn’t expecting anything spectacular, you know, but this was by far the best. The flavor balance is just perfect. Most are the basic – onion, garlic, cashews, lemon flavor. But this was really a level above the others. Made it exactly as stated, except had regular sodium broth so cut back on the added salt a bit.
Added a whole 12 oz bag of frozen peas and carrots which felt like the perfect amount.
Bf kept saying “this is really good”, “that was really good”, over and over. 🙂
And so easy! Often these sauces have sauteeing prior to blending so it was nice to just throw everything in and throw it on the stove. I wasn’t in a huge time crunch, so just followed what I figured was the basic pattern of blender -> stovetop -> heat it up til thick (did about med-med high), throw in veggies, let warm up again. Got the noodles started after the sauce, and it all worked out fine. This one is really pretty foolproof. Even with my roundabout methods, was still quick and easy compared to most recipes.
You really have a gift! I always look forward to your recipes (this just took #1 place, before that had been the chili cheese fries).
🙂
Such a sweet, sweet comment Kate! Thank you so much for your kind words! I’m so happy to hear you loved this so much, thank you kindly for letting me know!
WOW. I am newly vegan, and when I first made the switch I tried quite a few “cheese” and “cream” sauces. I didn’t like any of them. Since I’ve tried a few of your other recipes and loved them, I thought I’d give this a shot. I was skeptical, and waited until I’d made all my other meals for the week before trying this one. It. Is. SO. GOOD. It tastes like the real deal, and I just don’t know how you did it. I don’t even like nutritional yeast, but everything in this recipe is spot on. Thank you so much for your hard work developing these tasty recipes. You make my life just a little bit easier.
Wow, thank you so much for such awesome feedback Crystal! I’m so happy to read it! So thrilled to hear it’s such a hit and that it makes things much easier for you 🙂
Brandi! This was awesome! And seriously JUST what we needed for lunch today! Quick, easy, satisfying, and delicious. I’ve made something similar but not exactly your combo and it was delicious. I’m not a huge nutritional yeast fan, but it worked really well in this recipe. We served it over pasta with some roasted broccoli. So good! And of course I made two batches of the recipe, like I always seem to do when I try your recipes out since I know they’ll be delicious =) Thanks for the great recipe! It’ll definitely be in our rotations. I posted on IG!
Thank you so much Anjali for your amazing feedback, it made me smile! I loved your pic on Instagram too, so glad it was such a hit, thank you very much for making it and sharing it!
We adopted a plant based diet a year ago. I made this last week, adding peas, carrots and mushrooms and used brown rice instead of pasta. I moaned when I took my first bite!! I haven’t eaten anything this creamy in a year and it was delightful. I really liked the rice, hubby said he would prefer pasta but this is easy enough to accommodate both! Thanks so much.
Haha, awesome Tracy! Moaning is a good sign! 🙂 I’m so happy to hear this was such a hit, thank you so much for leaving feedback, it made me smile!
I forgot to add that I did use cashews and no salt and we had peas & carrots mixed in (Sierra & the hubs had mushrooms 🙂
Oh yes, I almost always do the peas and carrots too!
I can not even remember the last time I had Fettuccine Alfredo… SO many years ago! Brandi’s meals get major thumbs up in our house. Pasta happens once in a while in our house and Alfredo has never happened, until this recipe! and this is made about every other week in our house. This Alfredo is the most light and creamy, rich and flavorful sauce, it is amazing! This is restaurant worthy. Not only was it super quick and easy to make (and I mean done before the pasta quick) I would definitely recommend the Italian seasoning and follow the instructions! 🙂
Wow, thanks so much for the awesome feedback Tami! So happy you loved it so much, it’s one of our favorite meals around here now!
Another delicious winner this was so easy and so tasty and only 54 cal for a quarter of a cup amazing thank you again
Thank you so much Judy for the wonderful feedback!!
Made this a few days ago and everyone loved it. It truly is so quick and easy! I tend to make a lot of complicated and time consuming, dirty dish creating recipes, so it was so refreshing to be done in 20 minutes with a meal that you’d have to be crazy not to like!
I added corn, peas and tomatoes to mine and was able to sub 1/2 cup of raw cashews successfully. Cashew butter is not something I keep on hand, and although I do have a food processor, I was too lazy to make it! By comparing calories I figured out that 1/4 cup cashew butter is about a (scant) 1/2 cup of cashews, so I just added the cashews and the rest of the sauce ingredients to the vitamix and blended it up before cooking. It turned out great!
Thanks for another great recipe!
Thank you so much April for the wonderful feedback! So happy it was a hit and so happy to hear the cashews worked in place of the cashew butter, thank you so much for making it!
INCREDIBLE! Best vegan alfredo I’ve tried! This will become a weekly meal for sure!
Whoop! Thank you so much Kacy! So glad to hear!
This RIch ✨CReamy ✨#alferadosauce by @thevegan8 is so yummy and healthy. Perfect sauce for #pasta. I mixed it with some brown rice and even that came out so delicious. Can drool over this #yuminthetum alferado sauce all over again and again ??. All the ingredients are #guiltfree following the vegan recipe. Thanks #thevegan8, can’t wait to try your creamy tomato bisque ?❤️.
Aww thank you so much Jaspreet for your wonderful feedback! I’m so happy to read this, thank you so much for making it!
I saw this recipe on Instagram when you first spoke of it, I’ve been wanting to try it from that very moment! This is the first of your recipes that I’ve made and it was absolutely DELICIOUS, EASY and QUICK! My 18month old even loved it, and I didn’t have to feel bad about him eating something so processed.
Do you have any idea how this recipe stores in the refrigerator? I had some leftover and hope that it will store for a day or two and reheat just fine.
Thanks for a great website and I look forward to trying more recipes soon.
PS we aren’t vegan/vegetarians but try to live a healthy, whole lifestyle and I know that when we come to your site we’ll get recipes for real food that will nourish our bodies!
Hi Faith! Thank you so very much, I’m so happy to hear that, thank you for your feedback and kind words! Yes, this stores great in the fridge! It will thicken up a bit because of the cashew butter, but just gently reheat it on low and maybe add a tiny bit more broth if necessary to thin out! I do it all the time 🙂
Thanks again for the awesome feedback and if you wouldn’t mind, doing the star rating right here at the comments, I would greatly appreciate it, I just added it today, haha! Thanks again Faith!
Excellent alfredo sauce!!!! It’s turned out perfect both times I’ve made it! Can’t wait to use it in our Christmas alfredo lasagna!
Thank you so much Katie, I’m so happy to hear that!
This looks amazing! I can’t wait to try it.
Brandi, this sounds incredibly delicious! I’ve never had actual Alfredo pasta as it’s apparently not known over here but yours looks SO good.
Just one question: I don’t have cashew butter on hand and was wondering if you’ve had success making your own in the Vitamix, too? I don’t own a food processor so that’s no option for me. I saw you said this recipe might work subbing soaked cashews for the butter but I’d really like to make my own if possible :).
Hi! If you have the wide vitamix container, you can try it, but it does not work in mine personally because I have the smaller container vitamix. I only have success making it in my food processor. But you can try it in your vitamix. It may take awhile, you want to make sure it get to the VERY, VERY smooth texture, almost pourable and like a really soft buttercream consistency, not stiff. Let me know if you try this!
AMAZING!! Seriously the best vegan alfredo, and ridiculously easy! Thank you!!
Yay, so happy to hear that, thank you so much Rebecca!
Wow! Tried this last night and it came out great! Both my kids (4yr and 2 yr) loved it and after I gave my husband a taste he said he wanted a bowl! He even requested I pack it for lunch for him! Thanks for your website, I followed the recipe exactly and was more than pleased, this will definitely be a weekly meal.
I’m so, so happy to hear that Liz! Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback, loved reading it!