If you are looking for the easiest vegan alfredo sauce recipe, look no further. Our recipe needs only 5 ingredients, not to mention it is absolutely creamy, delicious, and ready in 15 minutes since no cooking is involved. We even included 10+ creative recipes to use this cashew alfredo.

Yes, another pasta sauce. You can’t have enough pasta sauce for sure. If you need a quick lunch or dinner, a pasta dish is always a good choice. You can use different pasta and different sauce every time to make things even more interesting. Our favorite pasta sauces are vegan marinara sauce, hidden vegetable sauce, and quick spinach pasta sauce. Or you can also visit our collection for even more vegan sauce recipes. By the way, this recipe is also part of our quick vegan meals collection.
What to expect from this recipe?
The traditional fettuccine alfredo is made of mostly butter, heavy cream, and Parmesan cheese. To create a vegan (or dairy-free) alternative we substituted heavy cream with cashew cream and Parmesan cheese with nutritional yeast.
But does it taste like traditional alfredo? How can they taste exactly the same? The traditional one tastes so fatty with all the butter, heavy cream, and Parmesan. But if you are open to it, you will eat a super creamy and garlicky alfredo sauce that tastes delicious with any pasta dish.
Why is our recipe the best vegan alfredo sauce you can ever try?
- It is super simple and ready in 15 minutes.
- You only need 5 ingredients.
- It is actually a raw vegan alfredo sauce since no cooking is involved.
- It has an absolutely creamy texture if you have a good blender.
Ingredients
As promised you will need only 5 ingredients and a bit of salt and pepper. We don’t think you need any other ingredients like onion or lemon juice and certainly no olive oil or vegan butter that you may see in other recipes.
- Cashews -> They are the star of this recipe and the number one vegan ingredient you need to use if you want something really creamy. There are no other nuts or seeds that bring this kind of perfect texture. Its nutty flavor is also milder compared to other alternatives.
- Dairy-free milk -> We recommend using unsweetened nut milk, oat milk, or soy milk. Sometimes even store-bought versions taste sweet, so we usually opt for our homemade cashew milk recipe. We show you 3 ways to make it in 10 minutes.
- Garlic -> You need it and lots of it. If you only have garlic powder use ¼ teaspoon for each clove.
- Nutritional yeast -> This brings you the cheezy flavor. Alternatively, you can add vegan Parmesan cheese. We love using this brand*, but then the recipe will not be oil-free.
- Nutmeg -> You’d be surprised how much of a difference a tiny bit of nutmeg makes to the final taste.
- Salt and pepper -> Use white pepper to make keep the color closer to white.
🛒 You can find detailed measurements for all ingredients in the printable version of the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Which pasta to choose?
You can choose any type of vegan pasta like fettuccine, spaghetti, or penne. Even homemade sweet potato gnocchi if you want something unique to with this white cream sauce.
Please note that pasta, as well as, gnocchi is not gluten-free, so choose the right brand for your diet. Or go creative and use zucchini noodles for example.
Instructions
Well, this will be rather short. Would you believe it if I tell you that you can make this dreamy-creamy vegan cashew alfredo sauce in only 15 minutes?
- Boil water in a kettle and soak cashew nuts in piping hot water for 5-10 minutes. When time is up, drain them.
- Add the soaked cashews, dairy-free milk, garlic, nutritional yeast, nutmeg, salt, and pepper to your blender. (photo #1)
- Blend them until smooth. (photo #2). That’s it! Your egg-free, milk-free, oil-free creamy smooth white sauce is ready!
Top tip to make it perfect
- A high-speed blender is key. If you don’t want grainy, but smooth creamy consistency, you need a high-powered blender like Vitamix. You can certainly use a hand blender (aka immersion blender) or a regular blender. However, the sauce may turn out grainier than you expect it. We took new photos for this recipe after buying a Vitamix and there was a huge difference in texture and consistency.
- How long do you need to soak? You can do overnight soaking for sure. But if you are in a hurry like most of us, boil water in a kettle and soak cashews in hot water for 5-10 minutes. If you don’t have a kettle, then boil water in a pot and cook the cashews for 5-10 minutes. While Vitamix can certainly deal with raw cashews, it is better to soak them to break down the phytic acid and enhance nutrient absorption for better digestion.
Pasta topping ideas
If you make this cashew alfredo as a pasta sauce, you can never go wrong with some veggie toppings. Our favorite ones are the following:
- Wilted spinach or kale and sauteed cherry tomatoes (pictured)
- Sauteed mushrooms or even better wild mushrooms
- Pan-fried oyster mushrooms
- Roasted asparagus and mushrooms
- Sauteed broccoli or even better broccolini
- Green peas or green beans
- Sweet corn
- Legumes (beans, lentils) like white/cannellini beans, red kidney beans, chickpeas (roasted or cooked)
- Nuts and seeds (almond slices, pepitas, pistachios)
- More vegan parmesan, or nutritional yeast
- Vegan bacon bits
Let us know in the comments what is your favorite topping!
What else to do with this sauce?
You might think that cashew cream alfredo sauce is simply for pasta, you cannot be more wrong. Sorry. 😉 We have collected some amazingly creative recipe ideas. All of the below links are guiding you to vegan AND gluten-free recipes using a cashew sauce:
- Vegan spaghetti bolognese (see below)
- Vegan cabbage lasagna (see below)
- Vegan spinach lasagna (see below)
- Vegan lentil lasagna (see below)
- Vegan ravioli by This Wife Cooks
- Pasta alfredo with sauteed radicchio by Foodal
- Creamy vegan vegetable primavera by Erica’s Recipes
- Spinach artichoke stuffed shells by Erica’s Recipes
- Garlic alfredo pizza by The Vegan 8
- Enchiladas verde by The Simple Veganista
- Roasted Brussels sprouts with alfredo dip by Skinny Fitalicious
- Zoodle salad by The Fitnessista
FAQs and substitutions
Raw or roasted?
We usually use roasted cashews especially if we cannot find raw cashews on the cheap. The sauce is PERFECT with roasted cashews. Even if you can only find salted ones, don’t worry, it will be washed off while soaking.
Which dairy-free milk to choose?
We recommend using unsweetened nut milk, oat milk, or soy milk. Sometimes even store-bought versions taste sweet, so we usually opt for our homemade cashew milk recipe. Any other milk may alter the taste too much e.g. coconut milk.
How should you store it?
You can keep it in the refrigerator for 2-3 days tops without any problem. It may thicken a bit, but that is normal. Add a bit of pasta cooking water if you use it to get the desired consistency.
I never had to freeze it as it is usually gone by day 2. If you try to freeze the sauce, let me know how it turns out.
Is cashew alfredo low in calories?
I’m not so sure. We calculated the nutritional value of this recipe by also inputting it into Cronometer. 1 serving (the whole recipe is for 4 servings) has a total calories of 260. Well, not as high as the same amount of heavy cream, but definitely not for weight loss.
Wait a minute, this is not why we love it. Raw cashews are high in protein (almost 10g per serving), high in Omega-6 (3.5g per serving), not to mention high in so many vitamins and minerals, that it is hard to keep up with them. In this recipe, you can also use fortified almond milk and fortified nutritional yeast. Therefore, if cashew doesn’t tick a box for something, these other ingredients will sure do.
Allergen info
This Cashew Alfredo Sauce recipe is meat-free, dairy-free, and egg-free.
- Vegan – All ingredients are supposed to be vegan.
- Nut-free – Cashews are what you need to make this sauce creamy. It is really not possible to substitute them here. I heard good things about cauliflower alfredo sauce though.
- WFPB-friendly (whole foods plant-based) – It is compliant since all ingredients are whole foods and no oil or sugar is added.
- Gluten-free – You need to choose gluten-free pasta. Other than that all other ingredients are supposed to be gluten-free, but always check the packaging for cross-contamination info.
- Soy-free – Be sure to choose any milk other than soy milk, but all ingredients are supposed to be soy-free.
More vegan pasta recipes
We have a collection of more than 30 easy and delicious vegan pasta recipes, or check out the below ones:
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Easy Vegan Alfredo Sauce with Cashew
Ingredients
- 1 + ⅓ cup Cashew nuts
- 1 + ½ cup Dairy-free milk (homemade cashew milk)
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 2 Tbsp Nutritional yeast
- ½ tsp Nutmeg
- 2 tsp Salt
- ⅛ tsp White pepper
Instructions
- Soak cashew nuts in piping hot water for 5-10 minutes. You can do overnight soaking, but if you are in a hurry, boil water in a kettle and soak the cashew nuts for only 5-10 minutes.
- When time is up, fill your blender. Add soaked cashews, dairy-free milk, garlic, nutritional yeast, nutmeg, salt, and pepper and blend them until smooth.
- You can serve the sauce right away. If you pour it on pasta and veggies and warm them together in a frying pan, the sauce will thicken!
Notes
Use Vitamix
You can certainly use a hand blender (aka immersion blender) or a regular blender, but you may end up with a grainy and not-so-smooth sauce. If you need this sauce to be extra smooth without a single little piece to find, we recommend using a high-speed blender like Vitamix. We took new photos for this recipe after buying a Vitamix and the difference was huge.Raw cashews or roasted cashews?
We usually use roasted cashews, especially if we cannot find raw cashews on the cheap. The sauce is PERFECT with roasted cashews. Even if you can only find salted ones, don’t worry; they will be washed off while soaking.Which dairy-free milk to choose?
We recommend using cashew, almond, oat, or soy milk. Any other milk may alter the taste too much e.g. coconut milk.Video
Nutrition
UPDATED: This recipe was originally posted in February 2018, but was rewritten and republished with step-by-step photos, instructions, and tips in August 2022.
Melissa
This was delicious! Better than alfredo. I used GF red lentil pasta and topped with sautéed grape tomatoes, spinach, and mushrooms. I did not have a mixer so used a food processor. Still came out creamy after I had it on the highest speed for several minutes. Hubby loved it too! Thank you!
Birt
I really like it. I tripled the recipe and it was a bit salty, but not beyond enjoyment.
Sherry
Just made this. Added extra garlic clove and some lemon zest and juice of almost 2 lemons to give a summer vibe. Delicious, I’m eating it with a spoon. Sautéed spinach halved grape tomatoes and portobello mushrooms in a little olive oil. Perfect 👍🏻.
Birt
I did the same, mostly. An eighth tsp garlic powder for each clove keeps the garlic from disturbing my stomach. I cooked the veggies first with tablespoons of veggie broth instead of oil.
Allyson
The overall flavor of the sauce turned out great for me, but I did not get the texture smooth like mentioned. My sauce was really grainy. Any idea what I did wrong? I used a food processor and soaked cashews in boiling water for 5 min.
My Pure Plants
Hi Allyson, to make it super smooth and not grainy, you need a high power blender. Sadly even if you soak overnight and the cashews are super soft, food processor will leave it still grainy.
Tneh Karim
I love the idea of nut-based sauces. The video portrayal is more accurate to what type of texture you will get versus the thumbnail. I’ve tried several different “milk” alternatives and for flavor almond milk wins hands down but coconut milk wins for consistency. Also, maybe it was just my tastebuds, but the nutritional yeast needed to be bumped up and the garlic toned down. The first time I made this my face smelled like garlic for days. Days!! The cashew soaking worked well and I’ve found as I continue to modify this to my particular preference. Happy saucing!
My Pure Plants
Hi, yes in the video we used immersion blender which was not powerful enough to make a smooth sauce. We re-did the recipe after we purchased a Vitamix and took new photos to showcase how smooth the sauce can be if you can use a powerful blender.
Andrea
Thank you for this recipe. The sauce tasted amazing! I did it with tomatoes and spinach as it is at the main photo. I also added baked tofu and chickpeas. So delicious! I will definitely make it again! 🙂
My Pure Plants
Hi Andrea,
Thanks for trying our recipe. Baked tofu and chickpeas sounds like a great addition. The more the merrier.
Beth
What can I substitute for nutritional yeast?
My Pure Plants
I read about white miso paste can also give some cheezy flavor, although I haven’t tried it.
Chelsea
Alternative to cashews? Allergic to nuts!
My Pure Plants
Cashews are hard to change in this particular recipe. Sorry. That is the basis.
Emily
I don’t understand how you get 75.1 mg sodium with 2 tsps of salt. Two tsps is 4600 mg divided by 4 servings would be more like 1150 mg per serving. Was 2 tsps a mistake? Would like to make recipe, but have to be very careful of sodium because of health issues. Thank you
My Pure Plants
Hi Emily, I am sorry. I recalculated the nutritional info and the sodium value should be correct now. If you need to watch your sodium level I recommend blending all ingredients without salt first. Then, you can taste it whether you need to add salt at all or not. Let us know how it goes.
Erica Schwarz
What a delicious recipe! Cashews are magical, aren’t they?
My Pure Plants
Oh, yes. Who knew?
Tisha
This sauce looks like perfection! Great Healthy alternative to canned!
My Pure Plants
Thank you
SHANIKA
I recently made Vegan Alfredo and it’s delish! This recipe looks so creamy and easy to make! Just perfect!
My Pure Plants
We tried to make it simple but tasty. 🙂
Jenn
This is an amazing sauce – it is rich, creamy, indulgent, and VEGAN! Love it! It’s my new go-to whenever I need an Alfredo sauce.
My Pure Plants
Thank you. 🙂
kim
My whole family loved this recipe! It was way easier than I thought it would be and had so much flavor!
My Pure Plants
Aw, it is really good to hear. Thanks for letting us know.
Elaine
I can’t believe you only need five ingredients for this amazing sauce. I am definitely getting them all to try this recipe over the weekend!
My Pure Plants
Yes, it is really great to have recipes with only a few ingredients. Be sure to let us know how you like it.
Laura Stein
So we made this exactly as recipe was written and it was tooooo salty. I was determined to use it as underneath the salt was a super Alfredo base. I added another cup of almond milk and extra mushrooms and yummy. First we had it just over pasta aka vegan style. Second we had it with veggie broth added unsalted of course and last but not least not vegetarian at all-sorry but we are not full vegetarian yet– made it into a Cajun sauce for chicken. Not once did my husband say anything against this lighter version of Alfredo sauce. I will make this again but will blanche the almonds longer and not just add the salt without testing first. Thank you so much.
My Pure Plants
Sorry to hear that it was too salty, but it is good to hear that you tested it in different ways. Let us know how do you like it with almonds.