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Here’s a simple recipe for Date night Vegan Alfredo for Two, with the most delicious Vegan Alfredo Sauce (made with cashews or hemp hearts), tossed with sauteed mushrooms, peas, Meyer lemon zest and a secret ingredient that gives this extra complexity and depth. For extra awesomeness- try this with Vegan Cheesy Sprinkle and simple Smoked Mushrooms!
How to Make Vegan Alfredo Sauce from Scratch:
Hello friends! I can’t tell you how often this Vegan Alfredo Sauce has been a lifesaver in our catering business through the years. What I love about it is how easy it is to make (sauce =10 minutes) and how many ways you can use this and adapt this.
Here we’re serving it with a simple quick pasta, but its uses are endless. I use it interchangeably as a vegan “bechamel” – to use in vegan lasagnas, mousaka, as a sauce for baked shells or baked pasta, you get the idea.
One stipulation: If you don’t have a high-powered blender, you’ll need to soak your cashews in water beforehand, or alternatively, you can substitute hemp hearts -also a great option for those with nut allergies!
Can I Use Almond Milk as a Heavy Cream Substitute?
The Vegan Alfredo Sauce gets its luscious “creaminess” from cashews (or hemp). The reason we don’t use almond milk in this recipe, is that the blended cashews (or hemp seeds) add a much richer consistency compared to Almond milk, mimicking the texture of heavy cream.
Date Night Vegan Alfredo | 30-second video
This vegan version of fettuccine alfredo is made even more flavorful with the addition of onion and garlic.
But what gives this flavorful Vegan Alfredo Sauce it’s “depth”, is a little white miso paste.
It’s so subtle, you can’t point it out in the finished dish, but it just adds that little something that brings it up a notch.
After the garlic and onions are tender and golden, just blend them up with cashews, veggie broth, miso, nutritional yeast, salt and a pinch of nutmeg.
Blend until creamy and smooth. Here I’m using a high-powered blender, so no need to soak the cashews.
In the meantime, you can be boiling your pasta. If adding other veggies like peas, asparagus, or even broccoli, just toss them in the pasta water for the last minute or two of cooking to quickly blanch.
Here we’ve also sauteed some mushrooms to add to the mix. To further elevate, drizzle with a little truffle oil.
Or try Smoked Mushrooms– which sound fussy but litereally take 15 minutes, and can be made on your stove top!
Add the drained pasta and Vegan Alfredo Sauce to a saute pan and gently warm.
Toss in half the mushrooms and leave a few for garnishing the top.
Sprinkle with a little cracked pepper and chili flakes.
Meyer Lemon zest is another way to bring this up a level.
Then divide among two bowls.
Sprinkle with fresh Italian parsley and vegan parmesan!
Serve with a tasty green salad.
More vegan pasta recipes you may like!
- Roasted Cauliflower Pasta with Toasted Walnuts, Parsley, Garlic & Lemon zest
- Orecchiette with Creamy Carrot Miso Sauce
- Charred Asparagus Kale Pasta with Lemony Cannellini Beans
- Garlicky Chard Pasta with Lemon and Toasted Bread Crumbs
- Vegan Mushroom Artichoke Pasta with Roasted Sunchokes
Sprinkle with this Vegan Cheesy Sprinkle if you like!
And voila, Date Night Vegan Alfredo in under 30 minutes!
Happy Valentines Day,
xoxoxo
Vegan Alfredo Recipe for Two
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2 1x
- Category: vegan, pasta,
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: italian
Description
Date night Vegan Alfredo for two, tossed in a delicious cashew (or hemp) cream, with sauteed mushrooms, Meyer lemon zest and a secret ingredient that gives this extra complexity, flavor and depth. Can be made in under 30 minutes! Try this with Smoked Mushrooms for extra WOW factor!
Ingredients
- 5 ounces dry pasta, cooked to package direction
- 1 cup fresh peas (or frozen, or sub snow peas or steamed broccoli)
- optional: 8 ounces mushrooms, sauteed, or try smoked mushrooms!
Vegan Alfredo Sauce:
- 1–2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 white onion
- 4 fat garlic cloves
- 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked (or hemp seeds) see notes
- 1 cup veggie broth (or 1 cup water and boulllion)
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon white miso paste
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
Garnish: pepper, chili flakes, lemon zest ( Meyer lemons are especially nice), Italian parsley or Vegan cheesy sprinkle
Instructions
- Cook Pasta: Set salted water to boil in a large pot and cook pasta according to directions. If using fresh or frozen peas, feel free to add to the pasta water, during the last minute of cooking.
- Make Alfredo Sauce: Heat oil over med low heat, and saute onion and garlic until tender and golden. Place it in a blender along with cashews, veggie broth, nutritional yeast, miso, salt, nutmeg. Blend until creamy and smooth.
- Saute or smoke the mushrooms. If sauteeing, heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms and saute 6-7 minutes, until golden and tender, seasoniong with salt.
- Combine: Drain the pasta, add to a large pan along with the alfredo sauce, toss, and gently warm over low heat. Add the mushrooms and toss to coat (leaving a few for the top for garnish if you like).
- Divide among two bowls.
- Garnish with lemon zest, pepper, chili flakes and chopped parsley.
Notes
Cashews– need to be soaked 4-8 hours in water (and drained) or use a high-powered blender. Or alternatively, simmer the cashews in water boiling water for 10-15 minutes until tender- but soaking really is best. For nut allergies, hemp seeds are a good substitution (and no need to soak).
Here is “How to Smoke Mushrooms” on your stovetop in a few days!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: with peas and mushrooms
- Calories: 504
- Sugar: 11.9 g
- Sodium: 675.9 mg
- Fat: 21.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 3.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 63.9 g
- Fiber: 11.4 g
- Protein: 21.5 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Keywords: vegan Alfredo, vegan Alfredo Sauce, vegan Alfredo Sauce cashews, vegan Alfredo Sauce hemp,
WOW. This was absolutely delicious! The miso does give it a little something!
So glad you enjoyed this!
I absolutely love this dish. I felt like I was eating in a 5 star restaurant!!
★★★★★
Awesome Sharon!
Loved this! I previously made a vegan alfredo that was bean-based and it tasted like… well, beans. It was like a hot bowl of hummus; as much as I like hummus, that wasn’t great. This recipe, however, had a great flavor and I really enjoyed it. I made a couple edits: used BTB Garlic bullion instead of the veg broth, and added a block of cashew mozzarella cheese that I happened to have into the mix for some extra creaminess. Also, I browned some fresh sage in a little vegan butter, pulled it out of the oil, and used that to sautee my mushrooms, and used the fried sage as a garnish at the end. This was great, and I’ll be using this a lot. I’m already thinking of how I can mix in a little red sauce for a vegan vodka sauce.
★★★★★
Yum! Love all the sprucing up!
I’ve made this before and loved it; this time I modified a bit. I doubled the pasta. Then I caramelized onions and cooked the garlic with the mushrooms, instead of adding both directly to the sauce to blend. I added red pepper as well and omitted the peas this time. It had a really rustic taste!! I think next time I’d add tomatoes cuz I think tomatoes and this sauce would go well together!
★★★★★
Sounds wonderful!
This was sooo delicious! Absolutely LOVE it! The cashew is super creamy but not too heavy, and the parsley with lemon juice is divine on the top. Defiantly making this again with fresh or frozen peas. Can I freeze this recipe? Thank you!
★★★★★
Thanks Tay! Glad you enjoyed it.I haven’t tried freezing- so not positive.
would this amount be enough for 4 people?
Hey Tania! I would double the recipe. You perhaps could get 3 smaller portions, but 4 might be pushing it. 🙂
Regularly make this dish. Love it.
★★★★★
Glad you are enjoying this!
I made this dish for dinner this evening and my wife loved it. She said even non-vegans would likely love this as the sauce is yummy. The miso paste added a great flavor. I had fresh parsley from my herb garden, and the lemon zest was also a hit. I did have sauted mushrooms along with the peas. Thank you for a great recipe!
★★★★★
Love the additions Steven, sounds yummy!
Seriously the best Alfredo we’ve had. Better than the Alfredo at Olive Garden. Both of my kids love it (8 and 2). And so do my non vegan in laws!
★★★★★
Amazing! So happy to hear this!
This recipe, Date Night Alfredo is amazing. It is a dish that could be served at a 5 star restaurant! Thanks for this recipe.
★★★★★
Thanks Sharon- happy you gave it a go!