Vegan Basil Cream Sauce. Dairy-free, oil-free, gluten-free and made with cashews and fresh basil and just a few simple ingredients.
VEGAN BASIL CREAM SAUCE
This is for all of those people who LOVE basil! A creamy, rich, decadent sauce bursting with fresh basil flavor. I couldn’t stop just eating it with a spoon.
Most vegan creamy sauces call for raw cashews. Just like my super popular garlic alfredo. This is because they make sauces rich and creamy just like dairy does. But this amazing basil cream sauce is completely dairy-free.
HOW TO MAKE A BASIL SAUCE
For this incredibly easy and fast recipe, you will need just 8 ingredients (+ salt and pepper):
- fresh basil
- raw cashews or for a lower fat/higher protein option, sub half the cashews with cooked white beans
- low-sodium vegetable broth
- onion powder
- garlic powder
- nutritional yeast
- fresh lemon juice
Step 1. Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Halve the tomatoes and add to the pan with the cut side facing up. Season with salt and pepper. Bake for 15-20 minutes until juicy and bursting.
Step 2. Cook your pasta of choice, according to the package directions.
Step 3. Add all of the sauce ingredients to a high-powered blender and blend until 100% smooth and no bits of nuts remain. If you don’t have a powerful blender, you may need to soak your cashews in a bowl of hot water for several hours or boil for 10 minutes. Drain and then proceed.
Step 4. Taste and add any additional seasoning, if desired. Pour the sauce over cooked pasta and top with the tomatoes. Garnish with extra chopped basil!
MORE VEGAN CREAMY SAUCES
- Best Vegan Garlic Alfredo
- 20 Minute Vegan Alfredo
- Pimento Cream Sauce
- Vegan Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
- Creamy Chili Sauce with Zucchini and Spinach
Basil Cream Sauce
Ingredients
TOMATOES
- 10 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved
- salt and pepper
SAUCE
- 1/2 cup (75g) raw whole cashews
- 1/2 cup (75g) drained/rinsed cooked white beans
- 3/4 cup low sodium vegetable broth
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2-4 tablespoons nutritional yeast (to desired taste)
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 3/4 cup (15g) packed fresh basil
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- If you don't have a powerful blender, you may need to soak your cashews in a bowl of hot water for several hours or boil for 10 minutes. Drain and then proceed.
- Preheat an oven to 425°F and line a pan with parchment paper. Halve the tomatoes and add to the pan with the cut side facing up. Season with salt and pepper. Bake for 15-20 minutes until juicy and bursting.
- Begin cooking your pasta of choice while the tomatoes are roasting.
- Add all of the "sauce" ingredients to a high-powered blender and blend until 100% smooth and no bits of nuts remain.
- Taste and add any additional seasoning, if desired. Pour the sauce over cooked pasta and top with the tomatoes. Garnish with extra chopped basil.
Excellent!!! Just made the sauce!!! Next time may add additional herbs
Let’s just say that I can’t wait to eat the leftovers for lunch today! I made this last night and served it over a legume-based pasta. I love how quickly it all came together, and the roasted tomatoes on top added such a lovely flavor. You are the sauce queen!
Made it tonight and served over gnocchi with sundried tomatoes and olives instead of over pasta. Drool worthy! Keeping this in my regular sauce rotation!
Yay Lue, I’m so happy to hear you loved it!!
This sounds fantastic! Do you think this would work well as a cold pasta dish? Thank you so much!
I haven’t tried it but I think so!!
Hi Brandi,
I would like to make this tomorrow. I have a lot of basil outside and I would love to make up a few batches and freeze them. Do you think that would be okay?
Hi Laina! I have never tried freezing it personally, but I think it would be okay since it’s just whole food ingredients. I would just thaw it overnight in the fridge and reheat on low over the stove. Cashews do cause things to thicken up a lot but reheating at a low temp should make it saucy again.
I just made this and put it over brown rice spaghetti noodles and it was DELICIOUS! Even my mom, who is not vegan, loved it! Thanks for the recipe!
Yay! SO glad to hear both you and your mom loved it Moriah, thank you so much for leaving feedback!
Thank you for your blog. I love your recipes in general but this sauce is amazing. I have tried it both ways and I think roasting the cashews gives a superior flavor. I have also substituted cilantro for the basil. Yum! Try it!
I’m so happy to hear you loved this so much, thank you so much for the awesome feedback!!
Soooooo creamy and yummy, Brandi! It may even-dare I say it-rival your garlic Alfredo sauce! This sauce is so thick and rich, a little bit in some gluten-free pasta did the trick. Thank you so much for creating these terrific recipes! If there is a way to calculate the calories for one serving, please let me know. Thanks!
Thank you so much Colleen for the amazing feedback, I’m so happy to hear you loved this so much! I will work on getting the nutrition stats up on this!
Is there one particular brand of nutritional yeast you recommend? I have read that there can be quite a bit of difference between brands.
Hi Erin! I just used Braggs nutritional yeast, but I’ve tried the kind from the large bulk bins and that works too. For this, I really think any brand will work. Let me know when you try it!
OH YUM! I would totally marinade everything in this deliciousness. Basil is my JAM! 🙂
Loving your blog! I tried this recipe and it was amazing!
Awesome!! Thank you so much for letting me know! I love getting feedback 🙂
I made this tonight, and it was amazing. I also loved how quickly it all came together. Great recipe!! I will make this often because it’s so versatile, and delicious!
Wonderful Gretchen! I’m so glad to hear and thank you so much for leaving me feedback!
I made your tasty sauce & ate it on buckwheat pasta! It was just divine, Brandi! it was superb even! xxx
Thank you so much Sophie! Sorry, I just saw ths message. So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Is basil the best, or what?! I can totally see imagine this sauce slathered onto savory pancakes!
Thank you Annie!
Thank you Anne 🙂
Thank you so much Cindy!
Mmmmmm, Brandi, I love anything packed with basil! This totally would taste amazing on pancakes, or waffles, or pasta, or meat…or anything!
I think you’re right Nancy 🙂
Basil seriously makes the world go round. I friggin’ love it! I make this AWESOME Artichoke dish with a basil dressing (olive oil, mustard, basil & onion) – it’s KILLER! This one looks like it could kill to!!! 😀
Oh dang, basil and artichokes…I love you!! Lol! 🙂
I have fallen SO in love with nut based cream sauces!! My mom made one with walnuts the other day and used herbs from the garden and it was heavenly!! The fattiness is just SO rich and delicious!! This looks AMAZING!
You can use walnuts for sauce too ? Amazing !!!!!
I’ve never tried it with walnuts so I have no idea how it would affect the flavor. Cashews are really creamy, so I think the walnuts would produce a different flavor/texture.
Where do you buy your cashews? Looks delish!!!!
Hi Bev! I just buy them in the bulk section at my local HEB grocery store. I get the raw unsalted ones to use in all my recipes.
I could eat this by the bowl full, it looks great, I would love it on roasted potatoes. Basil is my favorite herb, this is amazing!
Thank you Suzanne…I love basil too. It’s so delish!
Oh wow, I could demolish that whole bowl of creamy basil veggies!!! The sauce looks absolutely divine… so good to be able to eat something creamy and delicious that’s actually good for you! I’m making pasta tonight so if I can get enough basil I’m going to give this a go. My little plant outside has probably only grown the equivalent of 1/8 of a cup so far (!) so I don’t want to kill it, haha! xx
Thank you so much Laura! It is soooo good and fresh!! I hope you get a chance to make it!
Yummm Brandi this sounds restaurant-worthy! Now I just need my roommate’s basil plant to go on overdrive so I can harvest 3/4 cups worth… 🙂 I definitely want to try this gorgeous, healthy sauce!
Thanks Erika so much!