I am revisiting my creamy and velvety Vegan Alfredo Sauce with mushrooms and roasted garlic. It's a classic recipe I first published in 2013 and many of you have made it over the years and come back to tell me about it.
After making it myself for the umpteenth time this past weekend, I thought it might be a good idea to pull this recipe out from the bowels of this blog and back to the front so those of you who are new to this blog can find it.
Alfredo is a creamy and rather voluptuous Italian white sauce for pasta made with lashings of butter and cream and cheese. To me, it's always presented itself as an oxymoron. While its lush flavors scream out "eat me," an Alfredo's ingredient list pretty much makes it a no-no for nearly everyone except the most intrepid of eaters.
As a vegan, butter and cream and cheese are also out. So when I made a vegan version of this sauce all those years ago, I improvised with cashew cream, which makes a great substitute for cream in nearly any dish. It has a pleasing sweetness, like cream, and a similar mouth-feel, which is important because you want the texture of your Alfredo sauce to be silky and smooth.
The cheese is replaced here by nutritional yeast, and roasted garlic and summery herbs add an abundance of flavor.
Cashews are not a low-calorie food themselves, but they are certainly way lower in calories for all those dairy products they replace in this vegan Alfredo Sauce. Cashews -- and the fat in them -- are also actually good for you, unlike butter and cream and cheese. Altogether, there are just 228 calories in a serving of this vegan Alfredo Sauce, and 11 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber, which actually makes it quite good for you, unlike the traditional version.
I really love adding sage to this sauce. For one, this smoky, savory herb is plentiful in the summer months, and it begs to be used. I have a sage plant that I put into the ground in my backyard when we first moved into this house more than a decade ago and each year it survives the bitter winter to spring back to life and reward me with armfuls of sage. Not that you'd ever use armfuls of sage in any recipe. This is a strongly flavored herb, so a little goes a long way.
Ingredients for vegan alfredo sauce
- Raw cashews. Cashew pieces are fine and even better because they're more economical than whole cashews. They will be blended up anyway.
- Crimini mushrooms
- Sage
- White wine (or vodka will do). It's optional, but use it for more flavor.
- Nondairy milk (like unsweetened almond milk or soymilk. Don't add coconut milk please -- the flavor just doesn't work with an Alfredo sauce.)
- Nutritional yeast
- Garlic
- Oregano (dry)
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or vegan butter)
How to make the creamiest alfredo sauce
- Start out by slicing the tops off two whole bulbs of garlic. Place the bulbs in a piece of aluminum foil, drizzle on some olive oil on the exposed tops, and then wrap the garlic in the foil. Roast in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes until the garlic is golden and soft and squeezes out easily from the papery skin.
- Soak 1 cup of cashews in 2 cups of any nondairy milk (except coconut -- the strong flavor doesn't really work here). After about 15-30 minutes, blend it until very, very smooth with 2-4 tablespoon of nutritional yeast (use more or less according to your preference), the roasted garlic, 1 teaspoon of dry oregano, salt and ground black pepper to taste.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of vegan butter or extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet or saucepan. Add the mushrooms along with some salt and ground black pepper. Saute for a couple of minutes, then add about 1 tablespoon of chopped sage and ¼ cup of white wine or vodka. Continue to stir fry until all of the visible moisture has evaporated.
- Add the creamy cashew sauce to the skillet, stir well to mix, then cover and let it cook for 15 minutes on a low flame.
- Season with salt if needed and turn off the heat.
- Stir in your cooked pasta and enjoy.
Which pasta works best with alfredo sauce
- Alfredo is traditionally served with fettuccine, which is a slim, ribbon-like pasta. I had pappardelle on hand this time, so I used that and it's what you'll see in the pictures. But while a flat ribbon shape like fettuccine is a nice vehicle for the creamy sauce, you don't really need to stick with it. Many kinds of pasta are perfect with this sauce. A conchiglie or a farfalle pasta would be great here, as would orzo.
- To make a meal of this, all you need is a leafy salad on the side. If possible, serve with some vegan cashew parmesan.
More pasta sauce recipes
- The Best Vegan White Pasta Sauce
- Vegan Irish Whiskey Sauce
- The Best Vegan Marinara Sauce
- Vegan Basil Pesto
- Also try out this easy and simple Vegan Mushroom Pasta.
Vegan Alfredo Sauce with Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 2 large heads garlic
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 2 cups nondairy milk
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 2-4 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- Salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (or vegan butter)
- 32 oz crimini mushrooms sliced
- ¼ cup white wine (or vodka makes a good substitute. The alcohol is optional, but nice)
- 1 tablespoon sage (fresh, cut thinly. You can sub with 1 teaspoon dry sage)
Instructions
- Slice the tops off the heads of garlic. Place the bulbs in a piece of aluminum foil, drizzle on some olive oil on the exposed tops, and then wrap the garlic in the foil. Roast in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes until the garlic is golden and soft and squeezes out easily from the papery skin.
- Soak 1 cup of cashews in 2 cups of any nondairy milk (except coconut — the strong flavor doesn’t really work here). After about 15-30 minutes, blend it until very, very smooth with 2-4 tablespoon of nutritional yeast (use more or less according to your preference), the roasted garlic, 1 teaspoon of dry oregano, salt and ground black pepper to taste.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of vegan butter or extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet or saucepan. Add the mushrooms along with some salt and ground black pepper. Saute for a couple of minutes, then add 1 tablespoon of the chopped sage and ¼ cup of white wine or vodka. Continue to stir fry until all of the visible moisture has evaporated.
- Add the creamy cashew sauce to the skillet, stir well to mix, then cover and let it cook for 15 minutes on a low flame.
- Add more salt and pepper if desired, then stir in your cooked pasta. This sauce is best served hot when it's at its smoothest and silkiest. If you have leftovers, reserve some of your pasta cooking liquid in the refrigerator and reheat the sauce with a small amount of the pasta liquid to make it smooth and silky again.
- You can garnish your pasta with parsley and serve with vegan cashew parmesan on the side.
Eva Somers
How many times have I tried recipes that I found online and on Instagram, which sucked, had way too many ingredients, or were just way too difficult? This one took a while, but was sooooooooo good, omg!!! I have wanted to make a creamy mushroom pasta for a long time, and tried this one because I had half a kilo of mushrooms in my fridge. I was not disappointed!
I don't particularly like cooking. It needs to be easy and fast for me, but still healthy. At the same time I'm trying to loose weight, so I'm in a calorie deficit, AND I have a big appetite, so I need a lot of protein. It gets hard to find recipes. That's why I usually tweak the recipes I find a little. For this one, for example I used a little less cashews, because they are incredibly calorie dense. And I added vegan chicken for a little more protein. It was a good, filling meal. I will definitely make this again. Thank you so much!
I also like the tips that are added in the recipe, for people like me, who are no naturally born cooks. Like the tip to add a little pasta water to the sauce the next day (I always cook for two days), so that the sauce gets creamy again.
This site is a real find. I will try more recipes from here. Again, a big thank you to the author. You're really helping me out here <3
Miriam
Deeeeeelicious!!! I used oat milk with the cashews, and gin instead of wine (that’s all I had hah). So good!! I love mushrooms & this will definitely become a regular dinner.
jules
can i use tequila instead of vodka?
Vaishali
I suppose it would be fine, although wondering if the strong tequila flavor would leave behind an aftertaste...if you try let me know!
Kaytlin
This was SOOO good. I had fun drinking wine and making this amazing dish. Thank you!!
Vaishali
So happy to hear, Kaytlin!
Anonymous
Loved loved loved this recipe! Even the picky non vegan teenager approved. Only change is next time I will add more soy milk for extra sauce to dunk my garlic bread in.
Vaishali
Awesome, so happy to hear!
Angie
Have you tried this with something other than cashews? We have a new cashew allergy in our family and all the good creamy vegan recipes use cashews. 🙁 Looks so good tho'...
Vaishali
You could try pumpkin seeds!