Vegan Alfredo Sauce

5 from 742 votes
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This is the best easy vegan Alfredo sauce recipe you’ll ever try, with no dairy, no eggs, no tofu, and no cashews required!

Creamy Dairy Free Alfredo Sauce

Creamy vegan Alfredo sauce

Imagine a classic vegan Alfredo recipe so luxuriously rich and smooth, you will want to pour it over absolutely everything.

I’ve served the recipe to both vegetarians and omnivores, always with rave reviews and expressions of complete disbelief that something this deliciously creamy could possibly be made without any heavy cream at all.

My Italian family absolutely loves it!

Also be sure to try this Vegan Cheesecake

Dairy free Alfredo recipe video

Above, watch the step by step recipe video.

The Best Vegan Alfredo Recipe
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The best vegan Alfredo recipe

If you are looking for a extra thick cream sauce to serve over your favorite pasta or ravioli, look no further.

This recipe is perfect for topping fettuccine, linguine, tortellini, spaghetti, rigatoni, penne, rotini, or macaroni.

It also includes gluten free, nut free, soy free options.

Or if you want to try something other than pastas, the dairy free Alfredo is also great with broccoli or roasted vegetables, gnocchi, rice, stuffed shells, lasagna, low carb zucchini noodles (zoodles), baked potatoes, or spaghetti squash.

You can even use it as a vegan white sauce for an Alfredo style Cauliflower Pizza Crust!

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I’ve also included my cauliflower Alfredo recipe below, or if you’re looking for a homemade Alfredo sauce with cashews, try this Cashew Alfredo Sauce.

Vegan White Sauce With No Cashews Or Tofu

Healthy Alfredo ingredients

Nondairy Milk: Feel free to use whatever milk you have on hand. I recommend choosing an unsweetened variety, such as almond milk, oat milk, or soy milk. Or the sauce is especially rich and creamy if you use nondairy creamer or canned coconut milk.

Vegan Cheese: The recipe works with either Parmesan cheese (such as dairy free Violife or Follow Your Heart) or vitamin packed nutritional yeast. The two ingredients have different flavors, but are both good here in their own right.

Or you can sub your favorite shredded vegan cheddar, pepper jack, or mozzarella cheese. Add this in at the very end when you turn off the heat, then stir until the dairy free cheese melts.

Cornstarch Or Flour: This ingredient adds thickness to the creamy pasta sauce without heavy cream. All purpose flour or cornstarch work best for dissolving smoothly.

Salt: Do not omit the salt. The results will lack depth of flavor. Some people also like to add a pinch of ground black pepper, spicy crushed red pepper, or ground nutmeg to their homemade Alfredo sauces.

Oil: The recipe below does call for oil or a plant based butter spread. Try Earth Balance or Miyokos vegan butter, coconut oil, or Smart Balance Light for low calorie Alfredo sauce. To make an oil free Alfredo, I substituted an equal amount of tahini once with great results.

Katie’s favorite variations

Garlic Alfredo: Add a tablespoon of minced garlic to the saucepan at the same time as the salt, before bringing the mixture to a boil.

Spinach Alfredo: Stir in a handful of raw spinach at the very end of the cooking process. This option works well with kale too.

High Protein: Make it a meal by throwing in a cup of cooked chickpeas, roasted mushrooms, green peas, vegan bacon for carbonara, or a meatless protein like baked tofu or tempeh.

This vegan pasta sauce is super quick and easy to make! But if you are looking for something even easier and faster, there are a bunch of boxed or jarred Alfredo brands on the market, including Primal Kitchen, Daiya Cheeze Sauce, Victoria Vegan, and Simple Truth Plant Based Alfredo (one of my personal favorites).

For dessert, try these Homemade Chocolate Bars

Vegan Alfredo Sauce

How to make vegan Alfredo pasta sauce

  1. To prepare the recipe in your kitchen, start by gathering all of your ingredients and reading through the instructions.
  2. In a medium saucepan, whisk the cornstarch or flour into the milk or creamer until it’s completely dissolved, with no lumps.
  3. Whisk in the salt and oil or vegan butter spread. If desired, also add two to three teaspoons of minced garlic.
  4. Over low medium heat, slowly bring this mixture to a boil. Stir occasionally at first with a wire whisk, then stir constantly once it begins to thicken. The whole process should take under ten minutes.
  5. Once your vegan sauce is thick, turn off the heat and stir in the nutritional yeast or vegan Parmesan cheese until it melts. Taste the sauce, and season with salt and pepper or other spices and seasonings as desired.
How To Make Cashew Free Vegan Alfredo Sauce
5 from 742 votes

Vegan Alfredo Sauce

This creamy vegan Alfredo sauce recipe is easy to make at home for dinner, with no dairy, eggs, or cashews required.
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 2 cups
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Ingredients

  • 2 cups nondairy milk or creamer (480g)
  • 3 1/2 tbsp cornstarch (28g) or 5 tbsp flour (or try this Cauliflower Alfredo Recipe)
  • 6 tbsp nutritional yeast or vegan Parmesan cheese (30g)
  • 2 tbsp minced garlic (30g) (optional)
  • 2 tbsp coconut oil or vegan butter (24g) (for oil free, see note above)
  • 1/2 tsp salt (plus salt and pepper to taste)
  • 8 oz pasta or noodles of choice (optional)

Instructions 

  • 1. In a saucepan, whisk cornstarch or flour into milk until completely dissolved.
  • 2. Stir in the salt, oil, and optional garlic.
  • 3. Slowly bring the vegan Alfredo sauce to a boil over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally at first and then constantly once it starts to thicken.
  • 4. Once thick, turn off heat and stir in the dairy free cheese until it melts.
  • 5. Taste, and season with salt and pepper as desired. 

Video

Notes

Readers also really love this popular Vegan Chocolate Cake.
 
Like this recipe? Leave a comment below!

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Meet Katie

Chocolate Covered Katie is one of the top 25 food websites in America, and Katie has been featured on The Today Show, CNN, Fox, The Huffington Post, and ABC’s 5 O’clock News. Her favorite food is chocolate, and she believes in eating dessert every single day.

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126 Comments

  1. Emily says:

    OMG this looks delicious. So healthy – I’m making this for dinner next week
    As always – love reading your posts! Thanks for the dinner idea!

    1. Kathryn says:

      Emily, that was me too- exactly!!

  2. Katherine says:

    GORGEOUS!

  3. Sarah says:

    I happened to have everything on hand so I made this for lunch. It was delicious and stupid easy to make. Recipe printed out and going on regular rotation now. 🙂

    1. Sarah says:

      P.S. You are beautiful!

  4. Sarah says:

    Katie, do you mind answering a non-food question? I absolutely adore your jeans in this photo and was wondering if you would share with your blog readers what brand/style they are. Keep up the great balance between healthy desserts and main dishes!

    1. Chocolate Covered Katie says:

      Your comment made me laugh, because my mother is always telling me I need to embrace the skinny jeans trend to be “in style,” but I hate them. These are boot cut jeans… I think American Eagle brand.

  5. Akino says:

    I love really love pasta and this looks so delicious! 😀 Thanks so much for sharing, I’m excited to try it out!
    Akino

  6. Anna says:

    Hey Katie!

    I made the recipe for dinner last night and added steamed broccoli. It was delectable, and my whole family gobbled it up! We love our “Chocolate Covered Katie” desserts, but I think we like your savory recipes even more. I’ve been making the sweet potato chili for more than a year now and have even served it at parties. Thank you for your great blog!

  7. Maria says:

    I think I’ll make this tonight! Just need to pick up some cauliflower and shallots, I have everything else. Looks easy and delish!

  8. Nina says:

    Delicious dinner. Thank you beautiful CCK for this awesome post. I love your recipes and enjoy getting to know a little about you.

  9. Bites for Foodies says:

    I love alfredo sauce but always make a dairy-free version. It’s a lot of work sometimes. I spend my summers in Italy and they actually have dairy-free cream or panna, as they call it. It is DELICIOUS…unfortunately, I’ve yet to find it at home in Canada.

  10. Kelly | Maverick Baking says:

    This is such a good idea!

  11. Susan says:

    This is now my favorite way to do a fettuccini alfredo! So rich and creamy and filling! And easy to do!

    1. Chocolate Covered Katie says:

      Thank YOU for trying the recipe 🙂

  12. Amela says:

    Hey Katie,

    Can I use a red onion instead of the shallot as I haven’t seen it around but I really want to try this recipe. Thanks for your work <3

    1. Chocolate Covered Katie says:

      Sorry I haven’t tried… but you can definitely experiment!

  13. Svenja Evans says:

    OMG! I just made this and ate almost the entire pot myself. This is absolutely to die for and will definitely be added to my meal rotation!

  14. Camille Coad-Williams says:

    I just made this alfredo sauce. It was super creamy and fantastic. I like like like garlic, so I will add extra next time.

  15. Brittany Littleton says:

    Thanks for an awesome recipe, Katie! And you look beautiful. Xoxo

  16. Kristy says:

    We make this regularly. Thanks for a great recipe! The whole family enjoys it! Sometimes I use broth and powdered coconut milk in place of the “milk of choice” for some extra nutrition.