BOOM!
Every time I post a new dairy-free recipe for our collection of dairy-free awesomeness that is the Done with Dairy Toolkit, I just want to start the post with BOOM.
So today, I did it… and I think a Paleo & Vegan Alfredo Sauce recipe deserves it. Don’t you?
This sauce is stacked with simple (wholesome) ingredients, with very little oil or unnecessary additives. No starches, soy, or weird flavorings.
As for the nutritional yeast, it’s a bit up in the air as to whether or not it’s suitable for the paleo diet. Eating copious amounts of it have been shown raise your uric acid levels which leads to insulin resistance… but you have to eat a huge amount of it to experience this. So, I say trust your gut. And, if you’re not into using nutritional yeast, my cream of mushroom soup recipe works as a fantastic paleo pasta sauce!
Because I was making this delectable sauce for Kevin, I used brown rice pasta, but if you’re grain-free you could use:
- Kelp noodles
- Bean noodles
- Soy noodles
- Zucchini noodles (homemade with a spiralizer)
So many options, no matter your eating style.
Easy recipe. Quick to make… What more could a girl ask for?
Ah yes, to share this recipe (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, email…) with at least 3 of your friends. Think of it as a “payment” for my savory creation 
To print, email or text this recipe, click here.
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 cups roughly chopped cauliflower
- 1 cup roughly chopped parsnip
- ½ cup roughly chopped parsley root, or additional parsnip
- 1 tablespoon white cooking wine
- 1½ cup non-dairy milk
- ½ cup nutritional yeast
- 2 teaspoons gluten-free Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- Freshly ground pepper, to taste
- Sea salt, to taste
- Add minced garlic and olive oil to a medium saucepan and saute on medium-high heat for 1 minute. Add chopped cauliflower, parsnip and parsley root. Continue to cook for 1 minute.
- Add cooking wine, continue to cook for 2 minutes.
- Add non-dairy milk, cover and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer covered for 6-7 minutes, until vegetables are soft.
- Pour cooked vegetable mix into the bowl of your food processor or blender. Add remaining ingredients and puree until ultra smooth, about 2 minutes.
- Makes 1½ cups of dairy-free Alfredo sauce
As I mention in the recipe, feel free to use extra cauliflower in place of the parsnip and parsley root. It was my first time cooking with parsley root and I was really impressed with the herbal taste it brought in. It’s not that great raw, but cooked… hubba, hubba!
The alcohol in the cooking wine is cooked off during the saute process. If you don’t want to include it, no worries. I could add the stuff to every savory dish. It adds so much bold flavor!
You’ll want to cook the veggies until they’re nice and soft, like this. A film should develop on the side of the pot. That’s normal.
Add the yeast, mustard, lemon, salt and pepper, blend, and add to a pasta of your choice!
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{ 46 comments… read them below or add one }
I have a cauliflower languishing in the fridge… Do you know if it’s alright to just slice off the brownish parts when they develop? Is the rest alright? I hate to pitch the whole thing, but I’m sort of in the camp of “If it looks at all suspicious and cost me less than a doctor’s co-pay to purchase, it’s going in the bin.” Unfortunately, that has caused a LOT of waste in our house and I’m trying to rein it in this year. Better to hack off half of it than waste the whole lot if I can. I bet this would be good over a white fish, too. Thanks!!
Oh ya, I slice off the brown bits all the time. Have at ‘er!
Oooh yes! Parsley root is a veggie I’ve yet to try so I’m going to try to track some down. You know how much I love my new veggies! You are on such a roll with these dairy free creations, it blows my mind! Was this recipe Kevin-approved?
It wouldn’t have gone up on the blog if he didn’t approve it! He was ALL about this sauce!
OMG…I simply LOVE you for this creative, amazing solution to my saucing woes since veering paleo!…I have firm belief that this will be showing up in ever-so-many of my “classic” dishes I had given up on concocting…I can use Konjac noodles….spiralized courgette….spoon over a paleo Eggs Benedict or Florentine….use in place of bechamel (white sauce)….You are a culinary genius and savior…’Nuff said..except THANK YOU FOR THIS.
I’m so happy that you’re exciting about it, Donna! Have you seen my cream of mushroom soup? It’s an awesome sauce for EVERYTHING. Enjoy! (and be sure to come back and let me know how you like it!)
WOW! LOVE IT!!! Totally worthy of an introductory BOOM! I’d even say it deserves a BING! BAM! BOOM!
Good thing cauliflower happens to be on sale again this week and I was planning on getting 4 on my way back from work. Now I know what I’ll be using some of it for!
You totally called the cauliflower yesterday. Well done. I think I’m obsessed with the stuff. And… who doesn’t love sales? That’s fabulous!
This look awesome – think I might try incorporating it into a paleo lasagne creation too. Cauliflower seems to be the way forward – I’m keen to try a cauliflower pizza crust but there are so many recipes out there I’m not sure which way to go. Keep up the good work Leanne – you are my trusted source of dairy/gluten/soya free recipes
A vegan alfredo sauce that doesn’t use nuts?!? Genius! Thanks for sharing, it sounds and looks delicious.
Whoop, whoop!
Golly, I hope my cauliflower and parsnip hold on until next week when I am hoping the nutritionist will say I can add things back into my diet like nutritional yeast and parsnip! And *just* 2 days ago a spiralizer was delivered that I ordered! I’m so eager to try this with zucchini noodles! BOOM is what they do here for every home team football touchdown at the university. I *love* this idea for using the cauliflower instead of trying to make a cauliflower taste like (greenish) mashed potatoes.
Brilliant idea. “Genial” as we say here ! I haven’t eaten anything “Alfredo” in soooo many years. Can’t wait to try this version. Merci.
Looks delish and Kevin is one lucky man!!!
I read your comment to him. He smiled
Hope your midterms are going well… are they almost out of the way?
Yes!!! A dairy free/nut free sauce. I can’t wait to give this a try on the weekend.
Uhh, how did I not know Parsley had a ROOT?? What kind of veggie loving vegan AM I?!
I would LOVE to get my hands on some of that. I LOVE seeking out unusual veggie items I’ve, not only never COOKED with but never even HEARD of, to experiment with. It’s like my own personal version of “Chopped” (a mystery basket cooking show on Food Network.). LOL
I love chopped. I watch reruns of it all the time and sit on the couch yelling at people. I’m pretty sure I would die on that show.
Yum! As soon as I’m done exams I’m going to make this.
Good luck with your exams, Kris
HI Leanne,
Just finished eating this Great meal! Thanks for the Inspiration and Creative Juices! I can’t believe this sauce is made of …. veggies … mind boggling …
SO happy that you liked it, Karen!
THANK YOU for all the vegan recipes! keep em coming!
Leanne, you are so clever! I cannot wait to try this! One question though… I have been on the candida diet for quite some time and I am about to start adding foods in (God willing) and was curious about nutritional yeast. Is this a product that should be a big no no for awhile? It is popping up in so many amazing recipes and I haven’t been able to try it!
Hi Kelli – it depends on how severe your candida was/is. You want to look for inactive yeast. I’m not sure that Bob’s Red Mill nutritional yeast is inactive, but I do know that it exists. The inactive stuff should be okay… but test a small bit to make sure you don’t have a bad reaction to it. Hope that helps!
Thanks so much for your reply and the information!
Definitely going to try this! Thanks,
I really want to try this! One question – is the white wine essential? I don’t have any and I know if I bought some the rest of it would go bad…
Hi Marlies – I haven’t personally tried it without the white cooking wine, but I’ve been told by others that it’s fine without! Enjoy
I have been craving a good vegan alfredo lately, and I have a whole head of cauliflower in my refrigerator. It must be fate. Thanks for the lovely recipe!
Hi there, I’m hoping to make this for my mum and I, served on zucchini noodles, but just wondering how you think a few modifications would affect the flavour? I would have to omit the nutritional yeast, oil & wine vinegar and was envisioning using a homemade almond milk as the non dairy milk source. I’m a bit dubious as to how this might turn out? It’s so difficult to find a pasta sauce as I have so many food sensitivities (no nightshade for me , meaning no typical tomato deliciousness! ) – so I am hopeful that this one will be a success!! Thanks!
Hey! I would recommend using my cream of mushroom soup recipe instead. It has a really great creaminess and the flavor is great. I have them with zucchini noodles all of the time. It’s one of my favorites! Here’s the recipe: http://www.healthfulpursuit.com/2013/01/grain-free-vegan-cream-of-mushroom-soup/
I would love this but I can’t have the nutritional yeast, or garlic :/any ideas what I can use in place of these?
Hi Norma – would be best to try out my vegan mushroom soup instead: http://www.healthfulpursuit.com/2013/01/grain-free-vegan-cream-of-mushroom-soup/ just omit the garlic.
Yummie, this looks really wonderful. I have never thought about making a pasta sauce from cauliflower – great idea!
What could be used instead of the nutrional yeast? I see this in many recipes but it makes me very sick to my stomach. We are on super duper restrictive diets due to Lyme Disease and food allergies/sensitivities. No chocolate, no dairy, no cocoa, my son can’t have coconut, no oregano, no sugar, no gluten, no fruit and no sugar, and many foods make us very bubbly and sick so I’m searching for things that will be better for us to eat. I saw your site and thought this would be a great way to start. We have such a hard time finding anything to eat… not supposed to do grains so much, either. The list goes on. I wanted to get a hold of you to ask questions but I’m not sure how to do that. Love what you have on your site, though. Everything looks so wonderfully yummy.
Hi Susan – it would probably be best for you to make my mushroom soup instead and use it as a pasta sauce. I do it all the time and it’s GREAT! It sounds like the recipe would be free of any and all allergies that are in your household. Here’s the link if you’re interested: http://www.healthfulpursuit.com/2013/01/grain-free-vegan-cream-of-mushroom-soup/
Wow, this looks incredible! I love that it’s an alfredo sauce without cashews. I will be trying this out this weekend for sure. Thanks so much for sharing. I got so happy when I saw this!
Leanne,
I stumbled across your site this morning looking for some vegan smoothie recipes when I saw your Vegan Alfredo recipe. I haven’t had an Alfredo sauce in close to 4 years since deciding to go vegan and I was so excited at the possibility you presented. So I ran to the grocery store and picked up what I didn’t have and made it for supper this evening.
BOOM Girl! This Alfredo recipe is THE BOMB!! It was so delicious and had almost the identical texture and consistency as the non-vegan version. My 10 year old son, 14 month old son, my boyfriend and I, all thoroughly enjoyed this meal. I am going to share this recipe with all of my food loving friends, and wanted to thank you for bringing Alfredo back into my life!
I look forward to trying out many more of your recipes.
Thank you so much for sharing :0)
Woohoo! I’m so happy that you found me and that you liked this recipe. Thanks for sharing your love, Luanda. I loved reading your story
I made this recipe to the letter. I didn’t have the parsley root so I used that much extra parsnips. It turned out a little more orange than the picture and reminded me more of vegan cheddar cheese than alfredo. My kids and husband didn’t like it, and I wasn’t a big fan either this time, turned out like many other “not-cheese” recipes we haven’t been crazy about. Still searching for the one. I was so excited when I saw this recipe and really really wanted it to work. Sorry!
Thanks, Jacqueline, for your honest rating and review of something you actually took the time to make. I will never understand why people write reviews and rate recipes without actually making them! Just a pet peeve of mine, but why even have reviews and ratings for something if people are going to be so disingenuous and intentionally misleading? It renders the entire rating/review 100% illegitimate and completely inaccurate. In short, it is a waste of time for both the writer of such nonsensical ratings/reviews, as well as the readers.
We are not vegan’s, but I have been trying to make plant based meals at least 3-4x a week. My son has a nut allergy, so most of the Alfredo recipe’s I have found will not work for us. I made this for dinner tonight using Original Coconut Milk and I added in some Dried Minced Onions and the whoel family liked it. The kids (2 and 5) did not complain at all
and ate their full bowls, and my husband even took leftovers for work tomorrow – which he normally doesn’t do on my vegan nights (granted I did add in a little bit of shredded leftover chicken for him, but still!)
Thanks for this recipe
I also have to add mine was much more orangy than pictured, and didn’t taste like my deliciously creamy and fatty Cow based stuff, but like I said, it was very good still!
Hi!!
First off I LOVE LOVE LOVE your website and I am recommitting it to all of my Gluten-Free Dairy-Free friends!
Secondly I was wondering how important it is to use nutritional yeast in this recipe? Could I substitute ground up flaxseed for it instead?
Would it change the taste? Or consistency?
Does nutritional yeast add an important flavor to this recipe?
Thanks!!
Hi Brooke – the nutritional yeast adds the cheesy flavor to this recipe so I wouldn’t recommend leaving it out. You could use my vegan mushroom soup as a sauce (very, very good on pasta!) Here’s the link to it: http://www.healthfulpursuit.com/2013/01/grain-free-vegan-cream-of-mushroom-soup/