Healthy Fettuccine Alfredo
This healthy fettuccine Alfredo is a lightened up version of a classic while maintaining that same comfort taste! Completely dairy free and vegan, it’s easy to meal prep and make for a crowd or family!
I. Love. Fettuccine. Alfredo. It’s basically in line with my love for gnocchi and basically all things pasta (which I don’t share enough savory recipes on here, so definitely let me know if you would like to see more in the comments below!).
This healthy Fettuccine Alfredo recipe I’ve sort of kept as a hidden gem, and I do apologize because you have every right to have access to this delicious yet undetectably lightened up Alfredo sauce.
Yes, it certainly is undetectable, and you want to know how I, yes me the one who makes all of these crazy recipes, know? Because my mom- who does not like “odd” ingredients in classic recipes- went back for a second bowl and didn’t even question what was in it.
That, my friends, is how I know I have a winner! When I can please the toughest critic in the room ha!
So, yes, I gave it away, this is indeed a healthy cauliflower Alfredo sauce, and it is indeed dairy free, vegan, and Paleo, but don’t let that fool you.
Again, defer to my mother!
You nor your family and friends will even know that this bowl of delicious Fettuccine is actually topped with a vegan cauliflower Alfredo sauce.
Trust me, this creamy mushroom pasta bowl is the definition of comfort and delicious richness all in a bite. You’ll be making this week after week because it’s just so dang easy and customizable (more on that in the tips section)!
The ingredients, you ask? Easy:
- Roasted cauliflower
- Light coconut milk
- Vegan cream cheese (or cashew butter + nutritional yeast)
- Garlic
- Sea salt
- Herbs
Now let’s get to cooking!
How to make a healthy cauliflower Alfredo sauce
One of the reasons why I love this healthy Alfredo sauce so much is that it is just so easy for meal prep or for making for a large crowd. Scale the recipe up or down easily to accommodate everyone!
The only prep-ahead tip that needs to be said is to roast the cauliflower beforehand. I just toss the cauliflower in a little olive oil and sea salt, place it on a sheet pan and roast at 375F for about 30-45 minutes, depending on how much cauliflower I have.
The rest is easy!
Simply puree the cauliflower until it’s nice and creamy, like cauliflower mashed potatoes essentially. Then add in the coconut milk, vegan cream cheese (or cashew butter), herbs, and extra sea salt and blend again until smooth.
That’s it! Now all you need is the plate of pasta and mushrooms for a delicious and rich (yet healthy!) creamy mushroom pasta!
Tips for the creamiest easy Alfredo sauce
While this recipe is very easy, I also know not everyone has time to roast a whole head of cauliflower nor have every herb on hand, I so get it! So here are my tips for still achieving a creamy and delicious fettuccine Alfredo recipe, all while tasting amazing.
- Use riced cauliflower and sauté it. Instead of purchasing a whole head of cauliflower, or even cauliflower in the baggies at the store, you can use riced cauliflower and sauté it in a pan with some sea salt and minced garlic. This will save you about 20 minutes of roasting if needed, while still maintaining flavor!
- I don’t recommend steaming the cauliflower if you want to maintain flavor. However, some people prefer an even lighter version, and so you can steam your cauliflower or riced cauliflower on the stovetop.
- I recommend using rosemary and thyme because it surprisingly really adds to the richness of the Alfredo sauce, but you could also use basil, sage, oregano, and parsley as well!
- Vegan cream cheese can be swapped for cashew butter with or without nutritional yeast (if you’re trying to keep it yeast free!), or if you’re not entirely dairy free, you can certainly swap in the cream cheese you have on hand in equal ratios.
- This sauce works best with fettuccine or tagliatelle, which you can purchase gluten free if needed. You can also use bucatini or penne!
- For a Paleo option: the only thing you need to swap in is the noodles! I recommend carrot or sweet potato noodles, as they stand up tougher against the sauce, but you can also use zucchini noodles!
I hope these tips helped and that you love this healthy fettuccine Alfredo as much as my family and I do! It’s such a great healthy dish to prep for the week ahead or for a crowd 🙂 We’ll certainly be including it in our Christmas dinner spread as well (how is that already coming up?!).
Let me know how it goes for you in the comments below, and as always, I love to see your recreations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there!
Happy pureeing and noodle swirling!
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Healthy Fettuccine Alfredo
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 10
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
This healthy fettuccine Alfredo is a lightened up version of a classic while maintaining that same comfort taste! Completely dairy free and vegan, it’s easy to meal prep and make for a crowd or family!
Ingredients
Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce:
- 2 cups roasted cauliflower (in olive oil or another oil and sea salt)
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 1 1/2 cups light coconut milk
- 2 tbsp dairy free cream cheese or 2 tbsp cashew butter + 1 tsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp rosemary
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
Mushroom Fettuccine:
- 2 cups mixed mushrooms (I recommend oyster mushrooms and shiitake)
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 box fettuccine (GF if needed, or swap in zucchini or carrot noodles for Paleo)
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Place roasted cauliflower in a large food processor and puree until smooth.
- Add in the remaining alfredo sauce ingredients and puree until smooth.
- Set aside the sauce while you cooke the mushrooms.
- In a medium skillet, heat 1 tsp olive oil on medium heat and sauté the minced garlic until lightly brown.
- Add in rinsed mushrooms to the pan and sauté until completely cooked, about 5 minutes.
- Turn off the heat, cover, and let sit on or near the stove while you boil the pasta.
- In a large pot, heat directed amount of water according to the pasta you’re using and add in 1 tsp of olive oil to the water.
- Let the water come to a boil, then reduce the heat to cook the pasta according to the directions.
- When the pasta is done, strain the pasta and place it in a large bowl to toss together with the mushrooms and about 1-2 cups of cauliflower alfredo sauce.
- Plate and top with vegan or regular parmesan cheese and extra sea salt if needed.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/2 cup
- Calories: 49
- Sugar: 5.7 g
- Sodium: 636.5 mg
- Fat: 0.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 8.1 g
- Protein: 4.3 g
- Cholesterol: 1.8 mg
Bellissimo e delizioso! What an amazinggggg dish! Brings me back to my Italian roots 🙂
Aw so happy to hear that!! Enjoy e buon appetito! 🙂
this is my first recipe of yours i’ve made after coming across one of your sweets on instagram like 2 weeks ago. i have a friend that loves alfredo that i wanted to make this for but was worried about how it’d come out. i didn’t exactly have everything i needed so i made some small modifications:
1/2 coconut cream + 1/2 oat milk for the light coconut milk (i’d do 3/4 coconut cream + 1/4 oat milk next time as it made the sauce a bit too runny), italian seasoning instead of the individual herbs, and shrimp instead of mushrooms. followed the rest of the instructions exactly, and it was lovely! i’d absolutely make this again! i have a request though, would it be possible to add the instructions on how to roast the cauliflower to the actual recipe block? it’s a little easy to overlook in the post when you’re excited to make something new.