Why you need this dairy free Alfredo sauce in your life
I think creamy pastas might be one of the first things you miss when you switch to a dairy free diet. Personally, the only thing I miss more is cheese itself.
For a while, we were making lactose free Alfredo sauce – which is really just a creamy, garlic sauce – using lactose-free milk. When we went fully dairy free, I just tried not to think about it, but, eventually, I found myself craving creamy, garlicky pasta.
I made a few different versions with store-bought vegan cream cheese. They were definitely good, but since I try really hard not to rely solely on those kinds of products, I didn’t want to make it very often.
It wasn’t until I started experimenting with cashew cream and my dairy free queso, that I realized the creamy base I was developing would work equally well as a pasta sauce. And, now I have a million different creamy pasta recipe ideas floating around in my head.
More dairy free pasta recipes: butternut squash pasta sauce / pasta carbonara / BLT pasta salad / vegan vodka sauce / penne bolognese
my favorite blender
You’ll need a quality blender or food processor to make the cashew cream for this recipe. If you’re in the market for a new one, I really recommend a high speed blender like this Vitamix for the smoothest results.
Ingredient notes:
- All-purpose flour – This helps thicken the sauce. If you want to make the sauce gluten free, you’ll need to swap it for cornstarch or a GF flour blend. If you go with cornstarch, reduce the amount to 1 tablespoon.
- Olive oil – You can swap this for melted dairy free butter or another type of fat, like coconut oil.
- Coconut milk – You want full-fat canned coconut milk for added creaminess.
- Cashew cream – We use homemade cashew cream for this, but you can also make it with blanched almonds if needed. Learn more about cashew cream here.
- Nutritional yeast – Nooch adds lots of great cheesy flavor to this recipe, but if you don’t have it, you can leave it out or swap it for vegan parmesan cheese.
- Pasta – I like to serve this over fettuccine, but any pasta you like will work. You can also make gluten free pasta if that’s what you need.
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions listed below are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
Frequently asked questions
You can simply swap the cashews for almonds and make almond cream. For a nut free version, try my cauliflower alfredo sauce, instead!
Traditional Alfredo sauce is made with heavy cream and/or grated pecorino cheese. Luckily, with a few simple ingredient swaps, you can make Alfredo sauce without any milk products. It just takes a little know-how and the perfect combination of substitutes.
For this recipe, I’ve used my favorite combination of dairy free milks: cashew cream and canned coconut milk. Normally I find the coconut milk to sweet, and the cashew cream a little nutty, but paired together, they mask each others non-dairy flavor. They also make the creamiest base for dairy free alfredo. With just a little garlic and some nutritional yeast, you won’t believe there isn’t cheese (or dairy cream) in this Alfredo sauce.
More dairy free recipe favorites: dairy free pizza / dairy free brownies / dairy free mashed potatoes / dairy free cheesecake / dairy free ranch dressing
This recipe would be great with: microwave steamed broccoli / pan seared chicken / kale caesar salad
Dairy Free Alfredo Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth
- 3/4 cup cashew cream, see instructions below or almond milk
- 3/4 cup full-fat canned coconut milk
- 1/2 – 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
- Black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to the package instructions for al dente. Before draining, reserve about 1/2 cup of pasta water.
- Make the roux. In a large skillet or saucepan, heat olive oil to medium. Once it's hot, add the minced garlic and sauté for about 30 seconds, until fragrant.Then, add the flour and whisk until the olive oil has been absorbed and a paste has formed.
- Whisk in the liquids. Slowly whisk in the broth, followed by the coconut milk and cashew cream. Continue to whisk until smooth.
- Let it simmer. Whisk in the nutritional yeast, salt & pepper, and simmer until sauce has thickened. Adjust seasoning with salt & pepper, to taste.If you're using nut milk instead of cashew cream, allow it to simmer for a few minutes to thicken.
- Toss the pasta. When pasta is cooked, drain and add the cooked pasta, with about 1/4 cup of pasta water, to the sauce and stir to coat. Stir in additional pasta water, if needed.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
How long does this keep in the fridge once it’s made? I’m cooking for one so usually stretch meals out 2-3 days.
This sounds delicious, but these instructions are really confusing.
Made this last night and it was DELICIOUS. My husband and daughter are lactose intolerant and Alfredo is my favorite. I picked this recipe because i happened to have everything i needed for it. It is officially my FAVORITE dairy free sauce. It’s a little sweet but will have no effect on whether or not I’ll make it next time… I’ll pick this every time i want Alfredo. I did add some garlic powder, and used a table spoon on soy sauce to replace nutritional yeast cause i herd you can do that. Lol. It was perfect.
This recipe is gold. My family thoroughly enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for sharing.
I made this tonight and I thought the coconut milk was overpowering. Next time I may double the cashew milk like another person said they did or maybe add in vegan cream cheese.
This was awesome, thank you so much for writing this recipe. We’ve been mostly DF for almost a year, substituting in LF (lactose free) ingredients when the substitutes wouldn’t do. This recipe is amazing. Even my picky (non-dairy-free) husband had seconds and took it for lunch the next day!
I added in cococut cream instead of milk by accident (didn’t read the label on the can) and it was great, even more creamy. For those who think it’s too sweet, an extra 1/2 tsp of nutritional yeast and 1/4-1/2 tsp of salt brought out the umami of the sauce.
It’s not gf it has flour in it
I have listed a gluten free option in the blog post.
bob’s red mill GF all purpose baking flour is literally the same as regular. 😊
Wow wow!
Alfredo used to be my favourite sauce (I put it on EVERYTHING) until I became lactose intolerant. Now I don’t feel like I am missing out anymore 😀
Even my kids who are extremely picky eaters LOVED it!!
I also used coconut cream instead of milk, used unsweetened soy milk, and a whole tablespoon of nutritional yeast; and it turned out do fantastic and not too sweet at all!!
If you can find it, we also made this with Catelli’s super-greens spaghetti, and added canned peas to get some protein and lots of vegetables. And I was surprised how much my kids not only tolerated it but actually asked for seconds!!
Hi Melissa! Can I use almond milk and coconut milk to balence the flavour out?
BTW this looks AMAZING!
Do I have to use the chicken broth and can I use coconut milk and almond milk to balance the flavor out? This looks SO GOOD!