Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo Recipe (2024)

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5 from 6 votes

1 hour hour

by Marly

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This is the best Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo recipe because it’s creamy, garlicky comfort food that makes a perfect plant-based dinner. It begins with freshly cooked fettuccine noodles smothered with a creamy vegan cashew alfredo sauce. Be sure to serve it with some vegan garlic bread on the side.

Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo Recipe (1)

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If you love a rich, creamy sauce over your pasta, this healthy vegan fettuccine alfredo is for you. It may seem impossible to make a creamy vegan sauce, but once again, it’s cashews to the rescue. They deliver a truly plant-based creaminess that you’ll want to make time and time again!

What Makes This Recipe Shine?

  • Vegan butter adds healthy fats and a scrumptious buttery flavor as the base of the sauce
  • Raw cashews don’t have to be soaked first, keeping this recipe easy to make and ready in minutes
  • Adding just the right amount of garlic makes this recipe perfect to drizzle over freshly cooked fettuccine noodles.

Key Ingredients

You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.

Here are the ingredients you’ll need for this recipe, including substitution ideas:

  • Vegan Butter — Use storebought or make your own vegan butter.
  • Onion — I used a mild, yellow onion which I think works best for this recipe.
  • Garlic — You’ll need 3 to 4clovesof garlicpeeled and roughly chopped
  • Raw cashews — I buy these in health food stores or online.
  • Water — If your water has flavor, consider using filtered water.
  • Bouillon — We’ll be using Better than Bouillon Vegetarian Broth Base to make a quality vegetable broth.
  • Vegan cream cheese — I use Daiya, Tofutti, or Miyoko’s vegan cream cheese. You can find these at health food stores and sometimes the refrigerated health food department of local grocery stores.
  • Vegan Parmesan — Use storebought or make your own vegan parmesan
  • Black pepper — I prefer fresh cracked black pepper
  • Fettuccine noodles — Be sure to read the package ingredients to confirm that it’s vegan.

How to Make Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo

It doesn’t take much time to make this easy vegan fettuccine alfredo recipe. It begins with cashews.

  1. Make the alfredo sauce by cooking onions and cashews in a saucepan with vegan butter over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes until the onions are tender. Add chopped garlic and cook for another minute.
  2. Add water and bouillon and stir to combine. Bring this to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer (low boil) for 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.
  3. Pour the slightly cooled mixture into a blender. Add vegan cream cheese and vegan parmesan and pulse in several short bursts, increasing the speed until the mixture is smooth. Learn more about making vegan alfredo sauce.
  4. Prepare the fettuccine noodles according to the package directions. Drain the pasta in a colander and turn it out into a large serving bowl.
  5. To serve, arrange mounds of fettuccine noodles on individual plates. Pour the warm vegan alfredo sauce over the fettuccine noodles. Garnish with fresh herbs and sprinkle with nutmeg, sea salt, and cracked pepper.

Storage Tips

Store the sauce and noodles in separate containers or combine them and store them in one single airtight container. Either way, it will keep up to 5 days in the fridge.

Serving Suggestions

You can use this vegan cream cheese pasta sauce in so many ways. Here are some ideas for serving this tasty pasta dish:

  • Vegan Chicken Alfredo — Add some delicious vegan chicken fillets
  • With a Salad — Serve this vegan caesar salad on the side
  • Vegan Meatballs — Use this lentil burger recipe to create meatballs for a tasty plant-based protein option.
  • Vegan Sausage — Crumble some of this vegan breakfast sausage recipe over the top to add yummy flavor, texture, and protein.
  • Bacon Fettucini Alfredo — Add tempeh bacon crumbles as a garnish on top of each serving.
  • Vegan Mushroom Fettuccini Alfredo — Add some sauteed mushrooms to the sauce before serving.
  • Vegan Zucchini Alfredo — Looking to go low-carb? Skip the pasta and serve that creamy sauce over cooked zucchini noodles. Check out this post on sesame zoodles to learn how to make your own.
  • Serve Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo with Broccoli by adding some steamed broccoli on the side.
  • Make Vegan Lemon Fettuccine Alfredo by adding some lemon zest to the Alfredo sauce.

When it comes to sides for fettuccini alfredo, you can’t go wrong with some balsamic green beans, vegan garlic bread, or these tasty vegan breadsticks.

More Vegan Italian Recipes

Do you love vegan pasta recipes like this vegan fettuccine Alfredo? Here are some more favorite plant-based pasta recipes to try:

Reheating Olive Garden Breadsticks

Vegan Lentil Meatballs

50 mins total

Vegan Baked Ziti

50 mins total

Vegan Walnut Pesto

10 mins total

Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo Recipe (6)
Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo Recipe (7)

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Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo Recipe (8)

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Plant-Based Fettuccine Alfredo

This plant-based non-dairy Fettuccine Alfredo is a comforting pasta meal you can make in minutes. It's a perfect weeknight plant-based meal. Be sure to serve it with some steamed broccoli.

5 from 6 votes

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Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour

Servings: 10

Calories: 242kcal

Author: Marly McMillen

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons vegan butter
  • ½ cup chopped onion
  • 3 to 4 cloves garlic peeled and roughly chopped
  • ½ cup raw cashews
  • 1 ¼ cups water
  • 1 teaspoon Better than Bouillon Vegetarian Base
  • 2 tablespoons vegan cream cheese
  • 1 tablespoon vegan parmesan
  • teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
  • 1 package fettuccine noodles
  • Optional toppings: Fresh herbs, ground nutmeg, vegan parmesan, sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper.

Instructions

  • Add vegan butter to a saucepan over medium heat. Once it's melted, add chopped onions and cashews. Stir to coat. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until the onions are tender. Add chopped garlic and cook for another minute.

  • Add water and bouillon to the saucepan. Stir to combine. Bring it to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.

  • Once the broth mixture has cooled, transfer it to a blender. Add vegan cream cheese and vegan parmesan and pulse in several short bursts. Then use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the blender jar. Then pulse again, increasing the speed until the mixture is smooth. Learn more about ways to use vegan alfredo sauce.

  • Pour the alfredo sauce into a glass jar or sealable container. Sprinkle with pepper. The sauce may seem a bit runny at first but it thickens as it cools.

  • Prepare the fettuccine according to the package directions. Drain the pasta in a colander and turn it out into a large serving bowl.

  • To serve, arrange a mound of fettuccine noodles on individual plates. Pour the warm vegan alfredo sauce over the fettuccine noodles. Garnish with fresh herbs and sprinkle with nutmeg, sea salt, and cracked pepper.

Recommended Equipment

Medium Saucepan

(The products above contain sponsored links to products we use and recommend)

Calories: 242kcal | Carbohydrates: 35g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 38mg | Sodium: 134mg | Potassium: 169mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 139IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 30mg | Iron: 1mg

The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Did you make this recipe?

Leave a rating below then tag @namelymarly on Instagram and hashtag it #namelymarly. I love seeing your creations!

This post was originally published in 2015 and was updated to include new photos, new text, and an updated recipe in 2021.

Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is a substitute for Parmesan cheese in Alfredo sauce? ›

Shredded mozzarella cheese - Other cheeses that can be substituted for Parmesan include Asiago cheese, Pecorino Romano Cheese, and Gruyere cheese. Italian seasoning - You can substitute fresh herbs.

How do you thicken Alfredo sauce without cream cheese? ›

White Flour

Flours can be used to make a bit of a slurry and add to the sauce to make it thicker. 1 part flour to 2 parts liquid and then adding it to your sauce should thicken it nicely. Just make sure that when you make the slurry, there are no lumps in your mixture.

Why is fettuccine alfredo not popular in Italy? ›

Moreover, Italians are not thrilled that this recipe is so strongly associated with Italy, as it is not a traditional dish and there are recipes much more authentic, more representative and more identifying of the Bel Paese. Indeed, no real Italian restaurant has this pasta on the menu.

What is Olive Garden Alfredo made of? ›

Olive Garden's Alfredo Sauce recipe is made with Parmesan and Romano Cheeses, however you can also incorporate Mozzarella, Gruyere, Gouda, or Asiago. You can also just use Parmesan. You can use half and half instead of half heavy cream/half milk.

Is there dairy-free Parmesan cheese? ›

Violife carefully blends plant-based ingredients to deliver the beloved Parmesan cheesy zest but without any dairy, soy, gluten, lactose, nuts, or preservatives. With our Just Like Parmesan Wedge, eating vegan and dairy-free has never been so easy, or delicious.

Can I use mozzarella instead of Parmesan in Alfredo? ›

Parmesan is the signature flavor in Alfredo sauce but you can also combine it with other cheeses for additional flavor. You can also make a a completely different sauce/different flavor profile by swapping the Parmesan for another melting cheese such as mozzarella, Asiago, Gouda, smoked cheddar, Monterrey, etc.

What cheese tastes closest to Parmesan? ›

Asiago cheese is closest to Parmesan, but this cheese is actually a bit sweeter. It's a semi-hard yet smooth cheese with a slightly nutty flavor. Asiago offers a mild sharpness that doesn't overwhelm, but rather accents a mellow vegetable or meat dish.

How do you mimic the taste of Parmesan cheese? ›

When raw cashews are ground into a coarse powder, they resemble grated cheese. These traits all make them well suited as a foundation for cheese. Walnuts - a small percentage of vegan parmesan recipes use walnuts. They contain a lot of tannins, which produce an astringent chalky taste that mimics a good parmesan.

Can I use milk instead of heavy cream? ›

Similarly to half-and-half, milk makes a good heavy cream substitute when it's combined with melted butter. Combine 3/4 cup milk and 1/4 cup melted butter for every cup of heavy cream. This mixture is not suitable for whipping. Best for: cooking and baking.

How do I keep my Alfredo sauce creamy? ›

Mix the cornstarch with some cold water to create a smooth slurry, then whisk it into the sauce while cooking over medium-high heat for a few minutes. Add all-purpose flour. Another very common thickening agent that will give your Alfredo sauce a creamy texture.

What to use instead of heavy cream for pasta? ›

The 10 Best Substitutes for Heavy Cream
  1. Milk and butter.
  2. Soy milk and olive oil.
  3. Milk and cornstarch.
  4. Half-and-half.
  5. Tofu and soy.
  6. Yogurt and milk.
  7. Evaporated milk.
  8. Cottage cheese and milk.

What do Italians eat instead of Alfredo? ›

What we call alfredo sauce here in the US doesn't exist in Italy. Its closest cousin is similar to di Lelio's invention: a sauce known in Italy as “al burro” (with butter) — pasta served with melted butter that's sometimes infused with fresh sage, as well as grated Parmigiano.

Do real Italians use alfredo sauce? ›

Fettuccine Alfredo, it turns out, is 100% Italian. To be fair, the original recipe is quite different from whatever you may find in the States. Italians have been eating Fettuccine Alfredo for over a century…

What is the Italian version of Alfredo? ›

Fettuccine Alfredo, minus the spectacle, has now become ubiquitous in Italian-style restaurants outside Italy, although despite its worldwide renown, in Italy this dish is usually still called simply fettuccine al burro.

What is vegan pasta made of? ›

Making fresh vegan pasta

Mix 3 cups of flour (or semolina) with about 1 cup of water, a pinch of salt, and 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil. If you want to give your pasta a nice warm color as if it contained eggs, you can add a pinch of turmeric or saffron to the flour.

What is alfredo made of? ›

Alfredo sauce is made by melting butter, heavy cream, and parmesan cheese together. Unlike other pasta sauces that use tomatoes as a base, alfredo omits vegetables altogether and uses dairy products to achieve its mouth-watering flavor.

What is the difference between vegan and pasta? ›

Some traditional types of noodles are made with just flour and water. Not all noodles are made with dough that contains eggs. However, with the rise in popularity of vegan diets, some chefs are creating vegan pasta dough that incorporates foods like dried lentils or quinoa so that the noodles have more protein.

Does Alfredo sauce have dairy in it? ›

Plus, pretty much every Alfredo sauce recipe contains milk and is probably tricky for lactose intolerant people to digest. Luckily, the recipe for Alfredo sauce is straightforward, so making a lactose free fettuccine Alfredo won't take much effort! Keep reading to learn what you need.

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