Vegan Garlic Alfredo Pasta
This Vegan Garlic Alfredo Pasta is such a creamy and cheesy weeknight dinner! It’s absolutely decadent, made with a cashew cream sauce, and the sauce is made easily in your blender!
Where do I start? You’re going to absolutely love and want to devour this Vegan Garlic Alfredo Pasta. I’m talking cheesy, creamy, absolutely indulgent in taste kind of pasta dinner. The kind of dinner that totally hits the spot, and makes you want to curl up on a Friday night. Without the heavy feeling, of course. All my pasta cravings are hereby conquered.
First things first – I haven’t been a big pasta fanatic. LET me be clear. When a pasta dish is done well – I am all for that. If you’re a vegetarian or a vegan though, you know that lots of pasta dishes just are not done correctly. Kind of a leftover, oh yeah whoops, kind of scenario, and it can drive you to never want to have pasta again.
WHAT a terrible nightmarish scenario. Fortunately, after making this Vegan Garlic Alfredo Pasta, I now know I have the best pasta dish sitting and waiting at home on me! You’re going to want to grab some cashews right now so that you can make this for dinner, friends.
Let’s talk key ingredients. That roasted garlic is a must. I mean, it deepens the flavour of the entire sauce, and really brings it to another level. You’re going to have to wait for your cashews to soak anyway, so you might as well make it. I guarantee it’ll change all of your dishes.
Speaking of which, cashews. OMG. Adding soaked cashews to this sauce makes it so creamy and gives it that traditional white colour. No, the sauce won’t taste like cashews, thanks to the addition of another ingredient: lemon or lime juice. This acid helps to neutralise the cashew flavour so all you taste is the cheesiness.
The nutritional yeast and the vegan parmesan cheese! I speak all about nutritional yeast here, and I made a vegan parmesan cheese for you here. You can also buy your vegan parm though, so it’s totally up to you. That extra bit of tanginess really ups the sauce, and you can add eons of it on top too. The nutritional yeast in the Alfredo sauce gives it that cheesy flavour, that will have you taste testing the heck out of this sauce.
Almond milk and pasta water! Don’t use regular water! Pasta water already has some saltiness, some starch, and is a perfectly seasoned form of water in this sauce. The almond milk of course adds more creaminess.
Basically what I’m saying is, friends, every ingredient is key here. Including the cooked down onions (adding a nice flavour + umami). What you get is a beautiful vegan Alfredo sauce recipe made in your blender that you can pour back on your pasta and then dig in. The kind of sauce you’ll probably want to put on anything, but will definitely slather all over your pasta.
That’s it! Your pasta dreams have come true! Dive in friends, and enjoy!
Vegan Garlic Alfredo Pasta
Ingredients
Pasta
- 12 ounces any pasta, I used fettuccine
- chopped parsley, for garnish
Vegan Alfredo Sauce
- 2 teaspoons vegan butter or olive oil, or any oil
- 1/2 red onion, chopped
- 1 cup cashews, soaked overnight, or in hot water for one hour
- 1/4 cup pasta water
- 1 ½ cups unsweetened almond milk, or any vegan milk
- 4 cloves roasted garlic*
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 tablespoons vegan Parmesan cheese, + extra for topping
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions in a well salted pot of water. Reserve ¼ cup of the pasta water.
- While the pasta is boiling/you're waiting for the water to boil, in a pan over medium high heat, heat the vegan butter or olive oil. Add the onion, stir and let cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Remove the onions from the pan and add it to a blender. Add the rinsed off soaked cashews (without the water), the pasta water, the almond milk, the roasted garlic, the nutritional yeast, the sea salt the vegan parmesan cheese and the lime juice. Blend it all together until completely creamy. If you have a high powered blender this will happen quickly, about 1 minute, if not, just keep blending until completely smooth and creamy. Taste and add more salt or vegan parmesan cheese if necessary.
- When the pasta is finished boiling, drain and pour back into the pan you had used earlier or even into a Tupperware container if you want. Pour the Alfredo sauce over and stir to combine completely.
- When serving, top with parsley to garnish and more vegan parmesan cheese. Enjoy!
Notes
Disclaimer: Although jessicainthekitchen.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, kindly note that these are only estimates. Nutritional information may be affected based on the product type, the brand that was purchased, and in other unforeseeable ways. Jessicainthekitchen.com will not be held liable for any loss or damage resulting for your reliance on nutritional information. If you need to follow a specific caloric regimen, please consult your doctor first.
I have always loved alfredo sauce but haven´t had it in a long time..it makes me feel to heavy and bloated, this vegan version sound like my answer to enjoying this sauce again, and so true, the roasted garlic does give a huge flavor…thanks for the creative recipe 🙂
Thanks so much Albert! We really hope you get back to enjoying this sauce again!!
I’ve never made a vegan alfredo sauce, but this looks divine. You had me hooked as soon as you mentioned pasta and roasted garlic!
Thanks so much! we’re so glad you like it!
Oh yum! I love the sound of this – creamy without dairy AND roast garlic. Adding this to my list of recipes to try!
Thanks so much Sally!!
Hey there! Sooo I made this receipe last night and the Alfredo sauce came out liquidity. Your recipe calls for 1 1/2 cup of almond milk? I think I should’ve used about a cup. Any suggestions? Anywho, I’m going to make it again and I won’t use so much milk this time around. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Hi Cynthia!
I hope I can help you out! ? What do you mean by came out liquidity/liquidy? If you look in one of the photos you can see that it definitely is pourable and creamy like most homemade Alfredo sauces, but not thin at all, but once it clings to the warm noodles will thicken up almost immediately once coated around. Did that happen to for you? Either way if you want it much thicker you can definitely use less milk! I hope that helps!! You’re so welcome and I hope you enjoy!
I absolutely loved this recipes!!! A new favorite!!!!!
We recipe tested these many many many times (for science)!!! Ok confession we love it!! and we’re glad you do too.
I haven’t made an Alfredo sauce before, but liked the look of this one. I made it today and it is wonderful. It actually reminded me of the cheese sauce I used to make to go with pasta in my pre vegan days. I added some veges and mustard to it and will definitely make it again … and again …
Wow thanks so much Marina! We’re so glad you enjoyed our Alfredo sauce! The addition of veggies and mustard sound great! Thanks for trying our recipe!
Made this last night. I needed an alfredo sauce that didn’t require cauliflower – and this fit the bill. I saved time by not roasting the garlic (I just sauteed it with the onion). I didn’t have any vegan parmesan so I replaced it with the block cheese made by Daiya Jalapeno/Havarti flavor and OMG this recipe was sooooo good. It was creamy and cheesy! Thank you!
I really want to try this recipe out! But where I live I cannot find the nutritional yeast or vegan parmesan cheese anywhere. What could I use as a substitute for them?
Hi Courtney,
Where do you live? Maybe I could help based on that since there isn’t a readily easy substitute for the nutritional yeast. Can you order it online? You could make the vegan parmesan cheese using this recipe: https://jessicainthekitchen.com/how-to-make-vegan-parmesan-cheese/
I made this for my mum and I for dinner last night. She’s not vegan, and was incredibly skeptical about trying this, but she actually liked it! I liked it too. It was very creamy and delicious. I will absolutely be making this again in the future. I suggest adding more salt and some pepper for a bit more flavour, though.
I’ve actually made this twice. Both times it was scrumptious.
Thanks for the recipe. It’s the best vegan Alfredo I’ve had. I think the red onion is what sets it apart.
And in case anyone is curious, it worked fine with home-made oat milk instead of almond milk.