Creamy, smooth, and big on flavor this Alfredo Sauce without Cream is easy to make with 6 simple ingredients, and fifteen minutes from start to finish. Did I mention it’s vegan and dairy-free? It’s so much healthier than your average alfredo sauce!
This Alfredo sauce without cream sauce has been a labor of love. It took quite a few trial and error dinners before I was able to tweak this recipe enough to win over my family, even those who still eat dairy on occasion. I also wanted to provide a budget-friendly way to prepare the cashews for this recipe too.
Making alfredo sauce doesn’t have to be difficult or back on the fat and calories! You can have a creamy alfredo sauce that’s dairy-free yet still has an indulgent traditional alfredo sauce finish.
Whipping up dairy-free sauces has truly changed our meals for my family. If you love this Alfredo Sauce without Cream as much as we do, you’re going to love our Buffalo Sauce, Nacho Cheese Sauce, and the Buttermilk recipe.
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💗 Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- No cream!
- No Milk!
- Cashews Make a Creamy Sauce
- Dairy-Free
- Vegan
- Gluten-Free
- Tastes great! You won’t miss the cream!
🥣 Ingredients and Notes
Cashews: This helps make a creamy and rich sauce base. Make sure to use raw cashews to get the creaminess of the sauce without the nutty flavor that you’d get from roasted cashews.
Unsweetened Almond Milk: You can also use any other dairy-free milk of your choice. I suggest using an unsweetened, non-flavored alternative so you can get more of an authentic cheese taste
Vegetable Stock: Vegetable stock pulls a little extra taste to this recipe and is used for cooking the onion in.
Onion: Using onion enhances the rest of the sauce to help provide that authentic aroma and flavor you’re looking for with this sauce.
Garlic: Every good Alfredo sauce needs garlic. It provides a nice depth and authentic taste to your sauce.
Lemon: This helps brighten up your homemade sauce.
Nutritional Yeast: This is what really gives your Alfredo sauce that cheesy flavor without adding in any dairy. It also helps thicken your sauce slightly.
Salt and Pepper: What’s sauce without a little salt and pepper to really enhance the other flavors.
📋 Step by Step Instructions
Step 1: Bring a saucepan of water to a boil. Add the cashews. Boil for 10 minutes. Drain, and set aside.
Step 2: Chop onion and sauté in a saucepan over medium heat with ½ cup of vegetable stock until soft.
Step 3: In a blender combine 1 cup of almond milk, sautéd onions and vegetable stock, 2 cloves of minced garlic, ground cashews, nutritional yeast, salt, and black pepper. Pulse until thoroughly combined and smooth.
Step 4: Pour the mixture into a saucepan. Stir over medium heat continuously until sauce begins to thicken. You shouldn’t have any lumps.
Step 5: Pour over your favorite plant-based vegan pasta and enjoy!
❓ FAQS
If your no cream alfredo sauce is a little runny, you can add some more nutritional yeast or cornstarch to your sauce to help thicken it up. You can also use arrowroot powder or almond flour.
Yes, you can freeze this no-cream sauce. See my suggestions below about using a freezer-safe container.
This recipe calls for cashews in place of heavy cream and milk. Along with some almond milk to create a creamy finish. If you still eat dairy you can use a combination of whole milk with some butter, and parmesan cheese for an indulgent finish.
Yes! You can soak the cashews for a minimum of 6 hours in warm water.
👩🍳 Serving Suggestions
There are so many options of ways you can use this vegan Alfredo Sauce recipe.
- You can use it as a sauce with whole wheat linguini making an authentic version of Fettuccine Alfredo. Or any type of noodles you enjoy!
- My kids love rotini, and I like to buy the chickpea version for added protein. Pour it over chickpea or lentil pasta.
- Pour it over steamed vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower.
- Make a creamed spinach by using this sauce as the cream base.
- Make a vegan vegetable casserole with this Alfredo sauce with no cream as the star ingredient!
- Use it as your sauce in your Vegan Mushroom and Spinach pasta dish.
There are so many ways you can use this sauce. It will become one of your family staples since it’s so easy and quick to make and tastes great with a wide variety of recipes.
❄️ Storage
Refrigerator: Store any unused Alfredo sauce without cream in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Make sure to store it in an airtight container.
Freezer: You can freeze this sauce for up to 2 months in a freezer-safe container.
Reheat: Transfer to a saucepan and reheat over low-medium heat. Whisk continuously. Add a bit of vegetable stock if the sauce has become too thick.
💭 Expert Tips
- Don’t let your sauce come to a boil or it could start to get clumpy.
- You could also freeze any sauce leftovers in an ice cube tray for personal serving size use later on.
- This sauce does usually thicken when refrigerated.
- If your sauce is too thick, you can add some vegetable broth or water in small increments and whisk them together in a saucepan until you reach your desired consistency.
- I don’t suggest using cannellini beans instead of cashews as this will give your sauce more of a bean flavor than a cheesy sauce.
😋 More Healthy Sauce Recipes!
If you made this recipe, please comment below and leave a ⭐️ rating. You can also follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook, for more family-friendly vegan recipes!
Alfredo Sauce Without Cream
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- ¾ cup raw cashews
- 1 small onion chopped
- ½ cup vegetable stock
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Bring a medium saucepan to boil. Add the cashews, and boil for 10 minutes. Drain, and set aside.
- Chop onion and sauté in saucepan with ½ cup of vegetable stock until soft.
- In a blender combine 1 cup of almond milk, sautéd onions and vegetable stock,2 cloves of minced garlic, ground cashews, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper. Pulse until thoroughly combined and smooth.
- Pour mixture into saucepan. Heat on medium stirring continuously until sauce begins to thicken.
Video
Notes
- Don’t let your sauce come to a boil or it could start to get clumpy.
- You could also freeze any sauce leftovers in an ice cube tray for personal serving size use later on.
- This sauce does usually thicken when refrigerated.
- If your sauce is too thick, you can add some vegetable broth or water in small increments and whisk them together in a saucepan until you reach your desired consistency.
- I don’t suggest using cannellini beans instead of cashews as this will give your sauce more of a bean flavor than a cheesy sauce.
- If you choose not to boil the cashews soak them for at least 6 hours.
- Keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Freeze for up to 3 months.
Andrea
A coffee grinder, that’s awesome. This sauce sounds perfect for pasta.
Jessica Formicola
Only 15 minutes?? I’m sold! This sauce looks so incredible, and I can’t wait to try it!
rebecca
what a great idea! I’ve never made vegan alfredo, but now I need to try it!
Traci
I love to put vegan Alfredo sauce on just about everything savory! Great recipe…easy and useful tips. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Tara
Excellent tip about the cashews! I’ve always had trouble getting a good consistency, too.