5 Minute, No Cook, Vegan Cashew Alfredo Sauce
This vegan cashew alfredo sauce is creamy and oh-so delicious. Plus, it’s incredibly easy to make — it comes together in just 5 minutes! Nutritious and healthy, this is a great go-to pasta sauce.
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This dietitian is a sauce girl, BIG TIME. Eat More Plants Cookbook is filled with yummy sauces. In fact, if you were to ask me to choose between a tomato-based sauce and a creamy sauce, I would vote for a creamy sauce every single time. So, figuring out how to recreate creamy or cheesy textures in my plant-based recipes is one of my favourite things to do. Which essentially makes this easy, vegan 5-min cashew alfredo sauce the answer to my pasta dreams! It’s vegan and dairy free, contains no oil and is made with whole foods so more folks can enjoy it.
How to make the best vegan alfredo sauce of your life
It’s actually EASIER to make a vegan alfredo sauce than a traditional version. It’s essentially a basic cashew cream recipe with a few flavour boosters. It’s quicker than takeout and if you make it with a high protein, high fibre legume-based pasta it’s a super nutrient dense meal. Maybe add some veggies ha ha.
Hot tip: most recipes will ask you to soak your cashews for at least four hours but in all honesty, if you have a high-speed blender, you absolutely don’t need to. Just keep blending until it looks silky smooth… maybe a minute or two.
If you don’t have a high-speed blender, I definitely recommend either a soak in the fridge overnight, or cover them with boiling hot water and soak for at least 30 minutes while you prep your meal.
Vegan alfredo sauce tips + storage + substitutions
- Allergic to cashews? You can make this sauce with sunflower seeds! The secret: boil the sunflower seeds for 5 minutes, drain and use as directed in place of raw cashews. You make also like to add a bit of extra garlic or nutritional yeast to lift the slightly earthier taste of sunflower seeds.
- Out of garlic? You can absolutely use garlic powder. Start with a 1/2 teaspoon, mix, taste and add more if desired.
- This sauce keeps really well in the fridge for 2-3 days so it’s great for weekend meal prep.
More yummy vegan sauces and salad dressings to try
- Easy Creamy Balsamic Dressing (Vegan)
- Healthy Vegan Caesar Dressing Recipe
- Vegan Cilantro and Parsley Pesto Recipe
- Nutritious Broccoli Pesto (Vegan)
- 5 Min Spicy Vegan Mayo with Nutritional Yeast
5 Minute No Cook Vegan Cashew Alfredo Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup raw cashews
- 1 cup water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
- 4 cloves roasted garlic, or 1/2 – 1 clove raw garlic, crushed
Equipment
- High Speed Blender
Instructions
- Place the cashews, water, salt, nutritional yeast and garlic in a high-speed blender and blend until silky smooth, 1-2 minutes. If you have a soup setting on your blender, you can heat and blend at the same time but you really don't need to if you're tossing with hot pasta.
- Use immediately, or store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to three days. Reheat over medium-low on stove.
15 Comments on “5 Minute, No Cook, Vegan Cashew Alfredo Sauce”
When I tried this I also had on hand a recipe for feasting at home Date night vegan Alfredo. I went between the two and I liked sautéing onion and garlic first to add to sauce. Loved it and did put some in freezer which worked. Valerie
Fresh onion and garlic is great when you have a bit of extra time! So glad you liked it Valerie 🙂
This was wonderful!
I’m transitioning back to a vegan diet and I was at a loss for what to make for dinner tonight. My old go-to Alfredo recipe required soaking the cashews *and* cooking the sauce in a pot (not to mention a whopping 1/4 cup of EB margarine!).
I’m so glad I remembered back to when you first posted this recipe on IG – I doubled the recipe, added both raw and powdered garlic, some onion powder, and a generous squeeze of lemon juice to amp it up.
Today me is so pleased with your simpler, healthier, quicker version I gobbled up for dinner and future me is gonna love me for making extra!
I’m also really excited about the suggestion of using this sauce as a base for pizza – sneaky mom here is going to sub it in for kiddo’s usual garlic Alfredo sauce. He’ll never know the difference! 😀
Oh my gosh….you’ve got to put it on pizza!! SO glad you like the alfredo Nicole, it’s one of my weeknight go-tos!
The cashew cream sauce was wonderful and a keeper recipe. But the sauce made with the cauliflower was way too garlicky. The garlic overpowered all the other flavors. I tried to tone down the garlic after wards, even making almost a double batch without any garlic. I would definitely either saute the garlic or greatly reduce. I do wish I had read through the reviews as some mentioned this.
Hi Jules,
I am wondering, what do you mean “with the cauliflower?” I think you might have used a different recipe, not mine? I don’t have a cauliflower recipe (yet!).
We’re a vegetarian family and not really a fan of red sauce. I wanted to add a sauce to spruce up the pasta but didn’t have much time so I searched for a quick recipe for a cashew pasta sauce and this came up. I was surprised how great it tastes for being so simple and fast! I usually have to boil or soak cashews so this was a great method and came out so creamy! I’ll definitely be adding this to our dinner rotations.
Hi Kelly,
That makes me so happy to hear! I agree…it feels like magic when you can throw a few things in a blender and have such a rich and flavourful sauce in like 5 minutes. It’s one of my faves for that reason. Thank you for taking the time to leave a rating and review, it really helps others discover the recipe!
So easy and yum. Less than 5mins
I am so glad you like it, Karen. It’s been one of my go-to staples for years now!
Wow! This is easiest Cashew Alfredo Sauce I’ve ever made and one of the best. I used 2Tbls of nutrional yeast and through in some sweet basil. This recipe will be on repeat! Came out creamy and full of flavor.
Ooh, basil is such an awesome summer addition!! SO glad you liked it Janice, and made it your own 🙂
So easy and yummy! Used raw garlic.
So glad you like it Kelly! It’s a forever staple in my house 🙂 Thank you for taking the time to leave a rating and review, it really helps others discover the recipe 🙂