Vegan Garlic Alfredo Pasta
By Jessica Hylton -
- Updated
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
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!
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
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!
Video
NOTES
*YES roasted garlic takes about 40 minutes, but you’ll need to wait for your cashews to soak for an hour at least anyway! Cut a bit of the tops off of a whole head of garlic, put it in foil, drizzle olive oil on it, wrap the foil around it and cook it at 450 degrees F for 45 minutes in your oven until the cloves are soft and velvety! Allow it to cool, then push the cloves out.
You can reheat this! Just reheat it in a stove top over medium high heat with a bit more almond milk to thin it out again until hot.
Prep time doesn’t include soaking the cashews overnight.
Nutrition
Calories: 375kcal | Carbohydrates: 53g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 309mg | Potassium: 340mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 102mg | Iron: 2mg
by Jessica
How many people does this serve?
Hi Emily It serves 3 -4 people. Thank you so much for reading!
So AMAZING!🥳🥳🥳🥳👏🏽🍾 15/10 Would Recommend!
Thank you soo much Lauren!! ❤️❤️❤️
This is the 1st recipe I’ve tried using cashews as a sauce and I absolutely loved it! I’ve been transitioning to all plant based meals for a couple of months but was tentative to try something like this. Your recipe with roasted garlic caught my eye. It is so delicious my 14yr old even loved it. Will serve it 2 ways this week: zoodles & a black bean sesame fettucine pasta. Yum!!
Thank you so much Stacey for your comment! I’m so happy to hear that!!
Such a tasty dinner! Love that I already had all the ingredients in my pantry and fridge so I just whipped it up and served with a side salad. I like the addition of the garlic and onions. I used a white onion it was great. Yum!!
Thank you so much Mel!! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed it so much and thanks for your comment!!
Absolutely delicious! It’s a new favorite of mine and will be added to my menu as a staple. Delicious and easy to make.
I’ve made a lot of Alfredo sauces in my day and I do declare this is #1! The addition of the onions and the roasted garlic is the secret, me thinks. Brava, Jessica!
We’re so happy that you enjoyed this recipe Laura! Thank you so much for reading and leaving such a nice comment!
When looking at recipes for cashew Alfredo sauces I chose yours because I thought the roasted garlic was a brilliant idea. And boy was it! This dish does not disappoint. Excellent job in the creation of this recipe and thank you for sharing it.
A few months ago I made a lifestyle change to go vegan, and when doing so it’s vital to have delicious foods/recipes so one does not feel flavor/food deprived and this is one of those recipes. I actually prefer it over normal Alfredo. This one’s a keeper without doubt.
Lastly my favorite pairing thus far is to top it with asparagus and roasted pine nuts. Simply delightful. Thank you again. 🙂
Hi Amandalyn,
Aww thank you so much for this sweet comment!! I am so so happy that you enjoyed this dish so much!! Wishing you all the best on your new lifestyle change!! LOVE the idea of pairing this with asparagus and pine nuts!! You’re so incredibly welcome!!
Okay, this recipe is ridiculously good. I’ve been hunting for a good vegan Alfredo for awhile now and my search is finally over!! So much flavor, and so creamy and delicious.I added some mushrooms and peas to the recipe but that was the only adjustment I made. And it was even better for lunch the day after I made this for dinner 😊
I had already tried to make some vegetarian sauces, but I had never liked the consistency until I tasted this one. It looks just like any other made with cream, so much so that my husband didn’t believe it was made with cashew nuts. Very tasty indeed!
“I’ve always been a fan of meat, but my mother is a vegan.
Your recipe really helped me a lot, easy to understand and so inspired, thanks alot.
Wow so happy to read that! Thank you so much for such a sweet review!