This creamy and “cheesy” 6 Ingredient Vegan Alfredo Sauce is made with cashews and nutritional yeast but still tastes like traditional alfredo! While I love a good hearty pasta dish, I also appreciate a lightened up version that tastes just as delicious … which is why I love this easy vegan alfredo sauce.
And for me personally, a dairy free alfredo sauce just settles better. Plus, thanks to add-ins such as fresh minced garlic and lemon, this Vegan Alfredo Sauce is just as flavorful!
And if you’re looking for another sauce + pasta recipe for a cozy night in, these Vegetarian Spicy Tahini Rice Noodles recipe totally blew up on Pinterest (and for good reason)!
Ingredients in Dairy Free Alfredo Sauce
Raw Cashews – The base for this vegan cashew alfredo sauce! The cashews blend into a creamy sauce and have a great neutral flavor that doesn’t mask the cheesy-ness of this alfredo.
Nutritional Yeast – Adds the “cheesy” flavor to this alfredo while keeping it entirely vegan and dairy-free. This is my favorite brand for Nutritional Yeast and it’s also a great source of protein, vitamins, and minerals!
Lemon Juice – I recommend using fresh lemon juice. The lemon really elevates the flavor of this vegan alfredo pasta dish and adds a little bit of zing!
Garlic – Fresh cloves are a must for this cashew alfredo sauce.
Fresh Parsley – While it is optional, I love the touch of green and slight flavor of fresh parsley to truly make this the best vegan afredo sauce!
Pasta – You can use any type of pasta that you’d like, I personally love to make this as a vegan fettucine alfredo!
How to Make Vegan Alfredo Sauce
1. To a Vitamix or high-speed blender, add the raw cashews, water, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, and salt. Blend for 4-5 minutes on medium until you reach a smooth consistency. Set aside.
2. While the cashew mix is blending, heat a large sauté pan to medium and add 1 tbsp olive oil. Add minced garlic and cook 1-2 minutes until it just starts to brown.
3. Add the cashew cream mixture from the Vitamix to the saute pan with the garlic. Cook on medium low for 3-5 minutes, or until sauce has thickened to desired consistency.
4. Add cooked pasta to vegan alfredo sauce. Finish with fresh cracked black pepper and garnish with chopped fresh parsley. Enjoy!
What Goes Well with this Cashew Alfredo Sauce
Once you have the base of pasta and this 6 Ingredient Vegan Alfredo sauce, the options are limitless!
If you’re looking to add more vegetables to your meal, try adding roasted or sauteed broccoli, red pepper slices, zucchini rounds, mushrooms, or even cherry tomatoes right into the pasta and alfredo mix.
And if you’re not vegan and would like to add some protein, grilled shrimp, seared scallops, baked salmon, or any meat would work as well. You could also try adding hemp hearts or toasted sesame seeds on top for more plant based protein!
Alongside this vegan alfredo pasta dish I’d suggest serving warm bread, a refreshing salad (like this Tabouli Salad), or even another form of vegetable like roasted nutritional yeast broccoli!
How to store? Can you make the sauce ahead of time?
You can store this sauce in the fridge for up to 5 days, and yes! You can totally make ahead of time and reheat as needed. This would be perfect as a part of your a meal prep.
Tips & tricks
– Make sure you use raw, unsalted cashews or cashew pieces. I usually buy from Trader Joe’s.
– Don’t skip the nutritional yeast as this is where you get the traditional ‘cheesy’ flavor from. It’s available at most grocery stores these days, including Trader Joe’s + Whole Foods.
– If you don’t need to keep it vegan, feel free to serve this alfredo dish with an additional protein like seared shrimp or chicken breast.
Why This is the Best Vegan Alfredo Sauce
Besides the delicious flavor and ease of only 6 ingredients (!) this Vegan Alfredo is the best because:
– You can use raw cashews, which I love, because then you don’t need to soak overnight or even do a quick soak!
– As I mentioned, it’s just 6 ingredients and takes less than 20 minutes to make this easy alfredo sauce.
– The vegan cashew alfredo sauce is creamy + delicious, no one will know this sauce is made with better for you ingredients!
– As long as you use gluten free pasta, this is a vegan + gluten free recipe that will be perfect for everyone!
And I mean honestly, what’s not to love about pasta + a “chessy” sauce?!
If you’re in the mood for more pasta, check out this Thai Coconut Curry Shrimp Noodles Recipe that will satisfy your pasta cravings with a pop of flavor!
Or for a not-so-traditional “pasta” dish, check out this Vegetarian Spaghetti Sauce Recipe that I paired with zucchini noodles (you could use regular pasta as well).
If you try this recipe, please let me know by leaving a comment and rating in the boxes below! I always love to hear from you and it helps other people find this recipe when they search online for the BEST 6 Ingredient Vegan Alfredo Sauce 🙂
Ingredients
- 12 oz pasta of choice cooked according to package directions
- ½ cup raw cashews
- 1 ½ cups water
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- ⅓ cup fresh parsley chopped, optional
- cracked black pepper
Instructions
- To a Vitamix or high-speed blender, add the raw cashews, water, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, and salt. Blend for 4-5 minutes on medium until you reach a smooth consistency. Set aside.
- While the cashew mix is blending, heat a large sauté pan to medium and add 1 tbsp olive oil. Add minced garlic and cook 1-2 minutes until it just starts to brown.
- Add the cashew cream mixture from the Vitamix to the saute pan with the garlic. Cook on medium low for 3-5 minutes, or until sauce has thickened to desired consistency. Taste and season with additional salt if needed.
- Add cooked pasta to vegan alfredo sauce. Finish with fresh cracked black pepper and garnish with chopped fresh parsley. Enjoy!
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Delicious!
I had left over cashew cream from the quiche recipe so turned it into this sauce. I’ve had a lot of pasta already this week so had the sauce drizzled over cooked spinach & mushrooms with some air fried tofu cubes on top. The spinach in particular was perfect with the sauce.
I’ll definitely be making this again.