You’ll love this veggie–packed Alfredo because it’s a million times lighter than the original Alfredo, but it’s still tasty, fulfilling, and ready in 30 minutes. Check out our best pasta recipe collection!
Ingredients
Instructions
Serving suggestions
Variations
Storage
You can make this recipe in less than 30 minutes with a few simple ingredients. What makes this recipe light, ultra-creamy, and nutritious is cauliflower, steamed, or boiled. We slightly prefer steaming because that cauliflower gets less watery and preserves a little more antioxidants. Once the cauliflower is very soft, you can blend it with the other ingredients, which can vary depending on how tasty you want the sauce to be. We recommend adding parmesan cheese, ricotta, garlic, mustard, nutmeg, salt, and black pepper. For a vegan version of cauliflower Alfredo, you can blend in vegan cheese or nutritional yeast and vegan ricotta or butter. Blend everything for a minute or two until velvety smooth, and toss it with your favorite pasta. This is a quick, light, and delicious sauce that will make you feel great! Enjoy. Ps. To make this recipe even more delicious, oven–bake or air fry a bunch of cauliflower or broccoli florets and toss them in. I did this once, and Louise wouldn’t have it any other way! You can steam or boil the cauliflower. Both methods work well for this cauliflower sauce, so pick the one you are more comfortable with. Note: We prefer steaming because the cauliflower gets less watery that way. Also, steaming preserves more nutrients than boiling, although there isn’t a substantial difference in nutrient loss, so if you don’t have a steamer basket, go ahead and boil the cauliflower.
Garlic
You can add as much garlic as you like. Start with half a clove, taste the sauce and add more if you wish.
Mustard
We don’t add mustard in our original Alfredo sauce; however, cauliflower Alfredo benefits from the extra savory and tangy flavor of Dijon mustard. You can substitute American mustard for Dijon.
Nutmeg
Nutmeg marries exceptionally well with cauliflower and adds a warm subtle aroma that takes this sauce up a notch.
Milk
We recommend unsweetened soy milk for this recipe, although you can also use dairy milk if you prefer that. Milk and blended cauliflower replace the heavy cream in the original alfredo sauce. We tested the sauce with water and vegetable broth too, and Louise really liked it. Coconut milk and almond milk work too, althoug they add a flavor that makes this sauce too different from traditional Alfredo sauce.
Parmesan cheese
Grated parmesan adds flavor and richness to the sauce that otherwise would be very watery and tasteless. You’ve got to add something with fat and flavor; otherwise, you’ll end up eating something that is not nice. For us, that’s good quality grated parmesan cheese. It melds perfectly with cauliflower. If you are vegan, you can substitute vegan cheese for parmesan. Alternatively, you can use nutritional yeast.
Ricotta
Ricotta is the best cream and butter alternative for a lighter cauliflower Alfredo sauce. You can use regular ricotta cheese or dairy-free ricotta. If you don’t have ricotta, adding a little butter or oil helps. You can use unsalted butter, vegan butter, or extra virgin olive oil.
Salt and pepper
This sauce needs salt (sea salt or kosher salt) and freshly ground black pepper.
Pasta
Serve the sauce with your favorite pasta. We love egg-free fettuccine, linguine, or bucatini, but you can use any shape. For gluten-free, use gluten-free noodles.
Fresh parsley
Finely chopped flat-leaf parsley on top makes this recipe more interesting. Parsley, cauliflower, and parmesan are incredible, so try to add them if you can.
Extra veggies
While cauliflower Alfredo sauce is delicious as is, you can make this dish more complete by adding roasted or air-fried cauliflower or broccoli. To a blender, add steamed or boiled cauliflower, milk, parmesan, ricotta, garlic, mustard, grated nutmeg, salt, and black pepper. Blend at high speed until perfectly smooth. Cook the pasta al dente in a large pot with plenty of heavily salted water. Reserve one cup of pasta water before draining the pasta. Add the cauliflower Alfredo sauce on a large skillet on medium-low heat, toss in the pasta, and, if necessary, a ladleful of reserved pasta water. Toss for a minute, add more parmesan if you want to, and toss until the pasta is fully coated in the sauce. Note: you can serve up to about 1.20 pounds of pasta (540 grams) with this sauce – that’s about 6 portions of 2.8 ounces (80 grams) of pasta each. Use about 1 ladleful of cauliflower Afredo sauce per portion of pasta. Store leftover sauce in the fridge or freezer. Serve immediately with a sprinkle of finely chopped parsley and freshly ground black pepper.
Fennel salad with pomegranate seeds and orange wedges.Easy side salad ready in 5 minutes.Zucchini salad with tomatoes and a refreshing lemon vinaigrette.Avocado salad with fresh greens and a creamy mustard dressing.
Or, roast some veggies and serve them with the pasta. Try:
Roasted cauliflower fits perfectly with cauliflower Alfredo.Garlic-roasted broccoli brings green color and crispy veggies to your pasta.Roasted artichokes are just delicious!Grilled asparagus or roasted asparagus add a vibrant green color and a ton of flavor.Or have a look at our mixed roasted veggies platter for more ideas.
Roasted Broccoli
Roasted Vegetables
Roasted Artichokes
Grilled Asparagus
Toss them in with the pasta and the sauce, et voilà. A delicious double-cauliflower Alfredo sauce that is tasty, crisp, and will make you feel awesome.
Cauliflower Alfredo sauce with broccoli
To make this dish even tastier and more fulfilling, try adding steamed or roasted broccoli florets. Broccoli and cauliflower together are perfect, and the tender-crisp texture of the broccoli is a pleasant addition to this pasta dish.
Mushroom Alfredo
Feel like something even tastier – and definitely fatter? (We need that too sometimes, don’t we?). Check out our full-fat, full-flavor Alfredo sauce with sautèed mushrooms. This is probably the tastiest Alfredo sauce in the world, and you can either make it with real cheese, butter, and cream; or turn it vegan and do it with dairy-free alternatives. In any case, check out our mushroom Alfredo recipe. Pasta: store leftover pasta in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Reheat on a pan with some water, or olive oil.
More pasta recipes
If you liked this cauliflower Alfredo recipe, you might also enjoy these creamy pasta dishes:
Easy mushroom pasta with chewy mushrooms and fettuccine pastaRoasted red pepper pasta: perfectly creamy roasted red pepper sauce in 20 minutes!Eggplant pasta alla Norma with authentic Italian flavorPasta Pomodoro with a 15-minute tomato sauce
More cauliflower recipes
Love cooking with cauliflower? Get more inspiration from these easy and wholesome cauliflower recipes:
Vegan Mushroom Pasta
Pasta alla Norma (Eggplant Pasta)
Red Pepper Pasta
Pasta Pomodoro
Cauliflower pasta with garlic and parsley sauceEasy cauliflower soup with a cheesy and creamy textureMediterranean cauliflower and lentil saladCauliflower salad with roasted chickpeas and tahini dressing
For many more pasta ideas, check out our pasta category page.
Cauliflower Soup
Cauliflower Pasta
Cauliflower Lentil Salad
Cauliflower Salad
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You’ll love this veggie-packed Alfredo because it’s a million times lighter than the original Alfredo, but it’s still tasty, fulfilling, and ready in 30 minutes.” player-type=”default” override-embed=”default”]
