You’ll love this creamy cauliflower Alfredo if you are looking for an Alfredo sauce without heavy cream.

This is not your normal Alfredo sauce, but a lighter pasta sauce alternative with fewer calories.

It’s easy to make in about 25 minutes, and the velvety smooth texture pairs well with al dente fettuccine pasta.

Alfredo sauce without heavy cream and roasted cauliflower.
Nico and Louise in their kitchen.

Admittedly, Alfredo sauce without heavy cream is not the same as the olive garden Alfredo sauce.

But it is a light alternative with simple ingredients and camouflaged vegetables 💪.

TIP: Garnish your pasta with air fried cauliflower for a restaurant-y feel and crisp texture.

Love Alfredo sauce but are looking for something lighter and healthier to feed your family? You’ll love this creamy and tasty cauliflower Alfredo sauce without heavy cream.

You can make this easy pasta recipe in less than 30 minutes with a few simple ingredients.

It is as creamy as our mushroom Alfredo sauce, but less caloric and without cream.

What makes this recipe light, ultra-creamy, and nutritious is cauliflower.

We slightly prefer steaming cauliflower (to boiling) as it absorbs less water and preserves a little more antioxidants.

We recommend adding parmesan cheese, ricotta, garlic, mustard, nutmeg, salt, and black pepper.

Blend everything for a minute or two until velvety smooth, and toss it with your favorite pasta.

It’s a quick vegetarian dinner idea that will make you feel great! Enjoy.

Cauliflower Alfredo in a white bowl

Ingredients

ingredients for alfredo sauce without heavy cream.

Cauliflower

Fresh cauliflower is best for this recipe because it gets less watery. However, if you don’t mind a more watery sauce, you can also use frozen cauliflower florets.

You can steam or boil the cauliflower. Both methods work well for this cauliflower sauce, so pick the one you are more comfortable with.

Note: We prefer steaming because the cauliflower gets less watery that way.

Steaming preserves more nutrients than boiling, although there isn’t a substantial difference in nutrient loss. If you don’t have a steamer basket, go ahead and boil the cauliflower.

Garlic

You can add as much garlic as you like. Start with half a clove, taste the sauce and add more if you wish.

Mustard

We don’t add mustard in our original Alfredo sauce; however, cauliflower Alfredo benefits from the extra savory and tangy flavor of Dijon mustard.

You can substitute American mustard for Dijon.

Nutmeg

Nutmeg marries exceptionally well with cauliflower and adds a warm subtle aroma that takes this sauce up a notch.

Milk

Milk and blended cauliflower replace the heavy cream in the original alfredo sauce.

We tested the sauce with water and vegetable broth too, and Louise really liked it.

Coconut milk and almond milk work too, althoug they add a flavor that makes this sauce too different from traditional Alfredo sauce.

Parmesan cheese

Grated parmesan adds flavor and richness to the sauce that otherwise would be very watery and tasteless.

You’ve got to add something with fat and flavor; otherwise, you’ll end up eating something that is not pleasant.

For us, that’s good quality grated parmesan cheese. It melds perfectly with cauliflower.

If you are vegan, you can substitute vegan cheese and nutritional yeast for parmesan.

Ricotta

Ricotta is the best cream and butter alternative for a cauliflower Alfredo sauce without heavy cream.

If you don’t have ricotta, adding a little butter or oil helps. You can use unsalted butter, vegan butter, or extra virgin olive oil.

For vegan, choose a dairy-free ricotta, homemade or store-bought.

Salt and pepper

This sauce needs salt (sea salt or kosher salt) and freshly ground black pepper.

Pasta

Serve the sauce with your favorite pasta. We love fettuccine, linguine, or bucatini, but you can use any shape.

For gluten-free, use gluten-free noodles.

Fresh parsley

Finely chopped flat-leaf parsley on top makes this recipe more interesting. Parsley, cauliflower, and parmesan are an incredible trio.

Extra veggies

While cauliflower Alfredo sauce is delicious as is, you can add texture to your pasta by garnishing with air-fried cauliflower or roasted broccoli.

Cauliflower Alfredo with broccoli

How to make alfredo sauce without heavy cream

Cut the cauliflower into chunks, then steam or boil it until fork tender.

Steamed cauliflower in a steamer basket.

To a blender, add steamed or boiled cauliflower, milk, parmesan, ricotta, garlic, mustard, grated nutmeg, salt, and black pepper.

Blend at high speed until perfectly smooth.

Cauliflower alfredo sauce after blending.

Cook the pasta al dente in a large pot with plenty of heavily salted water. Reserve one cup of pasta water before draining the pasta.

Add the cauliflower Alfredo sauce on a large skillet on medium-low heat, toss in the pasta, and, if necessary, a ladleful of reserved pasta water.

Toss for a minute, add more parmesan if you want to, and toss until the pasta is fully coated in the sauce.

Note: you can serve up to about 1.20 pounds of pasta (540 grams) with this sauce – that’s about 6 portions of 2.8 ounces (80 grams) of pasta each. Use about 1 ladleful of cauliflower Afredo sauce per portion of pasta. Store leftover sauce in the fridge or freezer.

Creamy Alfredo sauce without cream in a skillet.

Serve immediately with a sprinkle of finely chopped parsley and freshly ground black pepper.

Cauliflower Alfredo sauce without heavy cream and a silver fork.

Serving suggestions

Serve with a side of fresh greens and salads:

Or, roast some veggies and serve them with the pasta:

Cauliflower Alfredo with broccoli

Variations

Double-cauliflower Alfredo sauce

Cauliflower Alfredo with roasted cauliflower

Who said one can only have double-chocolate something? Double-cauliflower Alfredo sauce is delicious, so we encourage you to try it!

To make it, toss some cauliflower florets in olive oil and salt, and roast them in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Toss them in with the pasta and the sauce, et voilà. A delicious double-cauliflower Alfredo sauce that is tasty, crisp, and will make you feel awesome.

Mushroom Alfredo

Mushroom Alfredo with fork and parsley

This version is a full-fat, full-flavor Alfredo sauce with sautèed mushrooms.

It is richcreamy, and so easy to make you’ll want to eat it over and over again.

Storage

Sauce: leftover cauliflower sauce stores well in a airtight container or jar in the fridge for up to 3 days. To use it, warm it up in a pan with a ladleful of pasta cooking water.

You can also freeze the sauce for up to 3 months, then thaw it directly on a pan with pasta water.

Pasta: store leftover pasta in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Reheat on a pan with some water, or olive oil.

Similar recipes

PASTA RECIPES: mushroom pasta, red pepper pasta, pasta alla Norma, Pasta Pomodoro, aglio e olio, broccoli pasta, hummus pasta, lentil pasta.

CAULIFLOWER RECIPES: Cauliflower pasta, cauliflower soup, cauliflower and lentil salad, cauliflower curry, whole roasted cauliflower.

For many more pasta ideas, check out our pasta category page.

Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce without Heavy Cream.

Cauliflower Alfredo without Heavy Cream

4.84 from 12 votes
Here's an easycreamycheesy cauliflower Alfredo sauce; its velvety smooth texture pairs perfectly with chewy fettuccine pasta.
You'll love this veggiepacked Alfredo because it's a million times lighter than the original Alfredo, but it's still tasty, fulfilling, and ready in 30 minutes.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 6 people
Course: Dinner, pasta
Cuisine: American

Equipment

  • Blender

Ingredients 

  • 1 pound cauliflower about ½ head, large
  • 1 cup milk any
  • ½ cup parmesan cheese grated
  • ½ cup ricotta cheese
  • 1 clove garlic or more to taste
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard or American mustard
  • teaspoon nutmeg grated
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons parsley chopped
  • 12 ounces pasta

Instructions 

  • Cut 1 pound cauliflower into chunks, then steam or boil it until very tender (about 15 – 20 minutes).
    steaming cauliflower
  • To a blender, add cooked cauliflower, 1 cup milk, ½ cup parmesan cheese, ½ cup ricotta cheese, 1 clove garlic, 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg, 1 teaspoon salt, and ⅛ teaspoon black pepper.
    Blend at high speed until smooth.
    Cauliflower alfredo blended
  • Cook 12 ounces pasta al dente in plenty of salted water. Reserve one cup of pasta water before draining the pasta.
    Add the sauce to a large skillet on medium heat, toss in the pasta, and, if necessary, add a ladleful of reserved pasta water.
    Toss until the pasta is fully coated in the sauce.
    Creamy Alfredo sauce in a skillet
  • Serve immediately with a sprinkle of finely chopped parsley and freshly ground black pepper.
    Cauliflower Alfredo with fork

Video

Easy Cauliflower Alfredo Pasta in 30 minutes

Notes

STORAGE
Sauce: leftover cauliflower sauce stores well in a airtight container or jar in the fridge for up to 3 days. To use it, warm it up in a pan with a ladleful of pasta cooking water.
You can also freeze the sauce for up to 3 months, then thaw it directly on a pan with pasta water.
Pasta: store leftover pasta in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Reheat on a pan with some water, or olive oil.
SERVING SIZE
*You can serve up to about 1.20 pounds of pasta (540 grams) with this sauce – that’s about 6 portions of 2.8 ounces (80 grams) of pasta.
Use about 1 ladleful of cauliflower Afredo sauce per portion of pasta. Store leftover sauce in the fridge or freezer.
Nutrition information is an estimate for 1 portion of cauliflower Alfredo sauce out of 6 portions, with 2.8 ounces (80 grams) of pasta.
One portion of cauliflower Alfredo sauce without pasta has 105kcal with 6 grams of carbohydrates, 5 grams of protein, and 7 grams of fat.
 

Nutrition

Calories: 402kcal, Carbohydrates: 66g, Protein: 18g, Fat: 7g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 0g, Cholesterol: 18mg, Potassium: 503mg, Dietary Fiber: 5g, Sugar: 4g, Vitamin A: 307IU, Vitamin B6: 0.3mg, Vitamin C: 38mg, Vitamin E: 0.2mg, Vitamin K: 23µg, Calcium: 205mg, Folate: 62µg, Iron: 2mg, Manganese: 1mg, Magnesium: 68mg, Zinc: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment below or mention @nicoandlouise on Instagram. We are also on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and TikTok.

If you liked this cauliflower Alfredo recipe, you might also enjoy:


Nico and Louise in front of the Consolazione church in Todi

Hi! We are Nico & Louise

Welcome to The Plant-Based School, a food blog with vegetarian and vegan recipes.

4.84 from 12 votes (6 ratings without comment)

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14 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Wow, so good! I rarely comment on recipes, but my husband and I both really enjoyed this dish. Made recipe as written, just added some fresh spinach to the pasta during its final minute of cooking then served the sauced pasta dishes with a grind of black pepper, grated Parmesan, and a sprinkle of Aleppo pepper. Steamed broccoli as a side So good!

    1. Yay, Nadine, that is so wonderful! ๐Ÿฅณ I am really happy that you both enjoyed it – wonderful idea with the added spinach. Nico and I will try that for our next Alfredo!!

      Thanks so much for your feedback here, and happy Sunday!

  2. It was way too strong. I put two cloves on garlic but I think they should have been cooked. Also, too much mustard. Really disappointed because it could have been delicious.

  3. 5 stars
    This was so delicious!! I replaced the ricotta with about 2 T store bought vegan butter, and 1/4 c each almond meal and nutritional yeast for the parmesan cheese. Also added roasted cauliflowe. Thank you so much for this recipe.

    1. Hi Rona, That’s such great news, I’m very happy you found it an easy and delicious experience ๐Ÿ™‚

      Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. Kindest,

      Louise

  4. Hallo, ihr zwei sind eine der besten auf Pinterest, ich Holle mir ganz viele Ideen von ihnen zum nachmachen,DANKE !!! ๐Ÿ˜Š

  5. 5 stars
    I have wanted to make this from the minute I saw it. I did modify slightly – hope thatโ€™s ok! I roasted a head of seasoned chopped cauliflower along with cloves of garlic. Did the rest per the recipe (with a little less mustard) and OMG it is SO good! This is an absolute keeper of a recipe, thank you!

    1. Hi Michelle,
      What a great way to add more veggies, I love the idea with chopped cauliflower in the sauce.
      I’m so happy you liked the recipe, and that you modified it to your liking ๐Ÿ™‚
      Have a great rest of your week. Kindest,
      Louise

  6. 3 stars
    The Dijon mustard is soooooo over powering! 2 Tbsp is way too much, ruined it. I would either completely omit or add 1/2 tsp at a time and keep tasting. So many other nice flavours and all you can taste is dijon. Otherwise nice textures, will add more garlic and no dijon next time.

    1. Hi Roxy,
      Thanks for your comment and feedback – I’m happy you liked the base flavor. We’ll be sure to include some suggestions for omitting the mustard as well.
      Have a wonderful week ahead!
      Kindest, Louise

    1. Hi Leslie, I’m delighted to hear that you liked the Alfredo sauce! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a message. Have a wonderful Sunday. Kindest, Louise