Cauliflower alfredo sauce is a dairy free, healthy pasta sauce without nightshades. Make this recipe for delicious, kid-friendly way to eat more veggies!
We are running strong and reducing inflammation with our nightshade free recipes month! Hope you’re full of head knowledge on what nightshade foods are, and are enjoying these recipes!
I talk often about how important it is to have a stash of back-pocket recipes. They are the things that you make so often, you don’t even need to see a recipe for the instructions anymore. This way, when you’re exhausted at the end of a busy day, making dinner is a snap!
I have a simple make ahead overnight oatmeal recipe in my memory bank, as well as a favorite green smoothie, and a simple melon avocado salad for lunch. But my favorite recipes to memorize are simple sauces like dairy free alfredo sauce.
Uses for cauliflower alfredo sauce
Because sauces are so versatile and easy to make, you can use them to create several different easy meals throughout the week. .One night, spoon your favorite sauce over steamed veggies for a fantastic side dish with grilled or roasted chicken, or baked salmon.
The next night, make nomato sauce or use this cauliflower alfredo sauce again. Serve it with Instant Pot spaghetti squash, your favorite gluten free pasta, or other veggie noodles.
Ingredients in dairy free alfredo sauce
In keeping with our monthly theme, this sauce is completely free of nightshades. This being said, if you tolerate them well and would like to add a pinch of cayenne, feel free to do so!
Also, I’m not including spices in this list. You can see those in the recipe card below. Don’t worry; they’re all basic, nightshade free spices. 🙂
- Cauliflower– You’ll be boiling the cauliflower to soften it, but if you’d like to use frozen cauliflower florets, just microwave them instead. The idea is to soften the florets enough to make them easier to puree in the food processor.
- Onion– Yellow or white onion will work just fine. If you’re not a fan of onion or you don’t tolerate it well, you can leave it out.
- Broth or Stock– Obviously, vegetable broth is the best option, but if you don’t need a vegan option, chicken works fine too.
- Coconut milk/cream– This mimics dairy heavy whipping cream perfectly. Otherwise, you can always use any non dairy milk or cream of your choice.
- Nutritional yeast– These little yellow flakes pack a big punch of nutty, cheesy flavor! So naturally, nutritional yeast is perfect for making a vegan and dairy free cauliflower alfredo sauce.
If keeping the recipe dairy free and vegan isn’t important to you, feel free to use grated or shaved Parmesan cheese instead.
Recipe video and instructions
Want a little walkthrough to show you how to make this recipe? Check out this super quick video to see the process step by step!
INSTRUCTIONS
- Clean and chop the cauliflower.
Don’t worry too much about the size of the cauliflower florets. Just try to keep them similar in size so that they cook evenly. Oh, and be sure they are small enough to fit through the feeding tube of your food processor. - Cook the cauliflower.
The key here is to boil the cauliflower, just until it’s soft and tender enough to blend into a puree. Avoid overcooking it; you don’t want it to be mushy. - Saute onion and garlic.
Same scenario here as above. You’ll only be cooking the veggies for a few minutes. It isn’t long enough to completely cook the onion slices, but they should be translucent. I also like to add the cooked cauliflower back in the pan for a few minutes, just so they absorb more of garlic/onion flavor in combination with the spices.
- Puree the vegetables.
Carefully transfer the cooked cauliflower, onion, and garlic into the bowl of a high speed blender or food processor. Alternatively, you can use an immersion blender, in which case you’ll just blend everything in the pot you cooked them in.
If all you have is an electric hand mixer, that will also work. Just be sure that the vegetables are tender enough that the beaters are able to puree them.
- Add broth, nutritional yeast and seasonings, then blend again.
The more nutritional yeast you add, the cheesier the cauliflower alfredo sauce will be. I recommend using no more than ¼ cup, unless you use additional broth. Otherwise, your sauce will be too thick.
- Transfer puree to a pot, then stir in cream/milk to combine.
That’s it! Super simple, right? This recipe will give you a couple of cups worth of sauce to use. Plenty for more than one meal.
After you make the dairy free alfredo sauce a couple of times, you’ll have the recipe memorized. Then, it’ll be in your memory bank, ready to use whenever you need a quick, wholesome, nightshade free sauce!
TO MAKE A THINNER or THICKER SAUCE
If you want a thinner sauce, feel free to use more broth. For the sauce in the above photo, we used ¼ cup to make it extra thick. In the video, we use ⅓ cup coconut milk. So you can see the difference in consistency.
Thicker sauce makes for a great pizza sauce, like on my gluten free no yeast pizza crust. Just sayin… .
Print
Dairy Free Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce + Video
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 1.5 – 2 cups 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Cauliflower alfredo sauce is a dairy free, healthy pasta sauce without nightshades. Make this recipe for a delicious way to eat more veggies!
Ingredients
- 1 lb cauliflower florets
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- ½ medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 2 teaspoons garlic (minced) or 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning or dried herbs (like oregano or basil)
- ½ to ⅔ cup vegetable broth (⅔ cup for thinner sauce)
- ¼ teaspoon each kosher salt and black pepper
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast (see notes for sub)
- ⅓ cup coconut milk (canned) or non dairy milk
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of boiling water or broth to a boil. Add the cauliflower, cover the pan and cook for 8-10 minutes, or until cauliflower is slightly tender but not too soft. Drain and set aside.
- Heat the same pot over medium heat with oil. Add onion and garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the cauliflower and Italian seasonings and cook/combine all together for an additional 2 minutes.
- With a wooden spoon or spatula, carefully transfer the sautéed onion, garlic, and cauliflower to a blender or bowl of food processor. See notes for hand blender option.
- Transfer cauliflower purée back into the pot and stir in cream or milk. Heat to medium, stirring until combined. NOTE: For a thinner consistency sauce, feel free to use additional broth or coconut cream.
- Serve with veggie noodles or your favorite gluten free pasta.
Notes
- You may use a hand blender to make the puree, but make sure the cauliflower is cooked long enough so it’s easy to hand blend. Or, use an immersion blender and a large stock pot to make the puree in.
- If you don’t need a vegan/dairy free option, feel free to substitute Parmesan cheese for nutritional yeast.
- For a thinner consistency sauce, feel free to use additional broth or coconut milk. We used ¼ cup coconut milk for the thicker consistency shown in the blog post images.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: sauces
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ¼ to ⅓ cup depending on the desired thickness
- Calories: 73
- Sugar: 2.6 g
- Sodium: 196.6 mg
- Fat: 3.9 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 7.3 g
- Fiber: 2.4 g
- Protein: 3.1 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Keywords: cauliflower alfredo sauce, dairy free alfredo sauce, nightshade free, vegan, dairy free, gluten free
Alright my friends! Let me know if you give this saucy a whirl and what you use it on! Please feel free to share your favorite go-to sauce recipes as well. 🙂
Cheers,
LC
This looks great! Are the nutrition facts for the whole batch or a smaller amount?
Smaller, around 1/4 to 1/3 cup depending on the desired consistency. I’ll update the card now! Sorry about that.
Hi there!
Just wondering if/how you could store this if you made a big batch/made in advance, and if you can, how long for?
Thanks xx
Sure! I kept my in a mason jar for about 3-5 days.
That being said, I would just taste it after 5 to see if it’s still good. Could keep for 7 with proper storage.
This is such a yummy and versatile sauce! It worked perfectly in a veggie lasagna I made for dinner.
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So glad! Thanks for feedback Wilhelmina
I love this! So healthy and delicious! It was a huge hit at my house!
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You know that I love all of your recipes, but I am super excited about this! I am making it right now!
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Keep me posted!