A good, rich, and hearty alfredo sauce without heavy cream or cheese? You betcha-thanks to the joys of cashew cream! You won't believe how much this dairy-free cashew alfredo sauce tastes like the "real thing." Slather it onto piping hot fettuccine and enjoy a nice dose of vegan comfort food! And the best part? It's a snap to whip up! Let's get to it.

Why You'll Love This Recipe

Your mind is about to be blown by how easy and creamy this vegan alfredo sauce with cashews is!

Going dairy-free doesn't have to be difficult or boring, and this dairy-free alfredo sauce is the proof. A few simple ingredients and a blender are all you need!

Here's why you'll love this recipe:

It's ready in a flash. After you soak the cashews, your vegan alfredo sauce will be ready in under five minutes!
You only need 5 ingredients. And one of them is water! Just a few flavorful seasonings and cashews are all it takes to make this delicious sauce.
It's super versatile. Don't just use it for fettuccine. Use it as a chicken alfredo pizza sauce, use it as a dip for garlic herb breadsticks, and drizzle it on top of steamed veggies. Yum!

If you like this recipe, we've also used cashew cream to make dairy-free cashew sour cream, cashew coffee cream, cashew ice cream, cashew ranch dressing, cashew queso, and more!

Step-by-Step how to make cashew alfredo sauce

Soak!

Put your cashews in a bowl or a jar-a wide-mouth quart mason jar is perfect for this-and cover them with water to soak overnight (at least six hours).

Season and blend!

Drain and rinse the cashews and add them to the basin of your high-powered blender. Add water, garlic, nutritional yeast, and sea salt and blend on high until super smooth and creamy!

Toss!

Pour over hot pasta and toss to coat. That's it!

If you have sauce left over...

...stash it in the fridge for up to ten days in an airtight container. It will thicken as it cools, but you can thin it out again when you reheat it!

Cashew Alfredo Sauce protips

Make sure you use raw, unsalted cashews: Raw cashews are necessary to get the right thick and rich texture of the finished alfredo sauce. And you want unsalted so you can control the salt levels on your own later.
Reserve your pasta cooking water: The starchy, salty water from cooking your pasta is great for thinning out the cashew alfredo sauce if it ends up getting too thick to coat your pasta (which can sometimes happen with cashew-based sauces). I like to scoop out a measuring cup's worth before I drain the noodles.

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WATCH Me make Vegan cashew alfredo sauce

Close up of fettucine noodles dressed with cashew alfredo sauce.

📖 Recipe

Cashew Alfredo Sauce

You will be blown away by how much this vegan cashew alfredo sauce tastes like the real deal!

4.27 from 15 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Sauces & Seasonings

Cuisine: Italian-Inspired

Prep Time: 3

Soaking Time: 6

Total Time: 6 3

Servings: servings (about 2 cups)

Calories: 94kcal

Author: Cassie Johnston

Ingredients

Instructions

Place cashews in a bowl or jar (I like using a wide-mouth quart mason jar) and cover with water. Let soak overnight (at least 6 hours).
Once soaking is finished, drain and rinse the cashews, and place in the basin of a high-powered blender. Add in ¾ cup water, garlic, nutritional yeast, and sea salt and blend on high until very smooth-about three minutes. Pour over hot pasta and toss to coat.
Store in covered container in the fridge for up to 10 days. The dressing will get thicker as it cools.

Video

Notes

Quick soak method: Cover cashews with boiling water and let sit 1 hour before proceeding.

Super quick method: Place cashews and three cups of water in a saucepan, bring to a boil and continue boiling for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse before proceeding.

Reserve some of the pasta cooking water to thin out the sauce if needed. This sauce does tend to thicken up as it cools.

Nutrition

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Frequently Asked Questions about Cashew Alfredo Sauce

I'm not going to lie to you, nothing is going to taste as rich and decadent as a sauce made with plenty of butter, cheese, and cream. As magical as cashew cream is, it isn't quite that magical. If I could turn nuts and water into Parmesan, I'd be a rich woman!

But this vegan alfredo is still a very satisfying, very tasty alternative for those of you for whom dairy isn't an option. It will absolutely squash a craving for fettuccine alfredo in a heartbeat-and it might even be good enough to serve to your favorite cheese-lover without them knowing the difference.

This recipe uses nutritional yeast to get the cheesy flavor without a spot of cheese. If you've never used nutritional yeast before, it's a vegan food that has a slightly cheesy, nutty flavor to it. Nutritional yeast is available at most major supermarkets and online.

You'll see a lot of recipes out there calling for large amounts of nutritional yeast, but if you are new to it, start in small doses to make sure you enjoy the flavor before going big. A little goes a long way! This cashew alfredo sauce is a good place to start because the nutritional yeast is used as a secondary flavor, not the main one, so you can get by with just using a touch.

WHAT TO SERVE WITH THIS RECIPE

Our Roasted Garlic Bread can easily be made vegan and is the perfect thing to serve alongside this vegan alfredo sauce.
We love serving a simple green veggie like this Roasted Parmesan Broccoli as a side for this cashew alfredo. Swap the Parm for your favorite vegan Parm and it's dairy-free, too!
If you prefer a salad as your side, this Homemade Italian Dressing Recipe is here for you! Swap in maple syrup or agave for the honey and it's also vegan.

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4.27 from 15 votes (15 ratings without comment)

2 Comments

Louise says:

April 1, 2022 at 12:23 pm

I've got some recipes that call for cream and I'd like to convert them to be vegan. Doing well converting most of them, but some call for boiling the sauce with the cream in it. I know I can't do that with coconut milk. Can I do it with cashew cream?

1. Danielle @Wholefully says:
  
  April 18, 2022 at 2:49 pm
  
  Hi Louise! In our experience, the cashew cream tends to separate pretty badly when boiled. We recommend adding it to recipes after the boiling stage is finished. For recipes that require boiling a sauce with the cream in it, you may need to experiment to see if adding it after boiling will work. Let us know how it turns out for you!

Vegan Cashew Alfredo Sauce