Vegan Alfredo Pasta, with mushrooms. Creamy while light!
Do you as well love the richness and the creaminess of an Alfredo pasta? Well we can now enjoy a vegan Alfredo pasta without feeling guilty. And guess what? Cauliflower is the answer!
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
🥘 Main ingredients
- cauliflower
- vegetable stock
- white wine
- shallots
- garlic
- lemon juice
- nutritional yeast
- salt and pepper
This Alfredo is not only veganised but at the same time, so much lighter, and so much healthier than the lovely classic Alfredo. While it will still give you the comforting feeling and the richness of this classic Italian dish.
💭 The secret ingredient
The secret ingredient of this recipe is cauliflower. Yes, cauliflower!! So therefore it is not only a very light sauce, but as well a very nutritious sauce. A vegan Alfredo is one of the many things you can do with cauliflower. It is a super versatile vegetable. Like the super yummy spicy cauliflower steak. Or turn this great vegetable into a ‘rice’ texture; as you can see in my Roasted aubergine with cauliflower recipe.
🔪 Instructions
The process is pretty easy. You just sauté the shallots and the garlic. Add the cauliflower and liquids. Let it simmer for a few minutes, and blend it all together with the nutritional yeast and lemon juice. You can adjust the sauce to your own taste. I always like to use extra lemon, and well seasoned with freshly grounded black pepper. But you can be more creative and use some extra spices.
You can serve this pasta Alfredo plain as a small side dish, or like I mostly do as a lunch dish with some pan-fried mushrooms on top. If I feel like an Alfredo pasta in the summer months, I might just add some cherry tomatoes and basil for a change 😉
Here I have added the pan fried mushrooms to the delicious rich sauce. And topped it on a pasta with some garlicky spinach. Rich & creamy while still healthy!
🍷 Wine pairing
Not only because of the fact that this dish is very Italian, but as well because Italy has a great range of beautiful fruity light red wines. I mostly would recommend to enjoy a Barbera with this dish. The barbera has a higher acidity than the corvina (picture). The acidity would cut nicely through the creaminess of this dish.
If you can’t get your hands on an acidic, fruity and light Italian red. Try a young Beaujolais. The fruity gamay grape would pair nicely.
I hope you enjoy this lovely, creamy and lush vegan Alfredo pasta. If you use this recipe, please add @haricoco1 to your instagram post, or leave a comment below.
📋 Recipe
Ingredients
- 230 grams 2 heaped cups cauliflower florets
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 125 ml 1/2 cup white wine
- 125 ml 1/2 cup vegetable stock
- 2 large shallots finely chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
- 20 grams 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 200 grams linguine pasta
- 4 large mushrooms sliced
- 1 tablespoon chives chopped finely
Instructions
- Sauté the shallots with a pinch of salt in 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil for 2 – 3 minutes.
- Add the garlic and stir for another minute.
- Add the cauliflower florets, the white wine and the stock and let it simmer (covered). Until the cauliflower is well cooked, approx. 6 – 8 minutes
- Let the mixture slightly cool down before blending.
- Blend the cauliflower mixture with the nutritional yeast and lemon juice in your blender into a smooth puree.
- Taste, and season with salt and pepper and more lemon juice, to liking.
- Reheat the sauce in your pan.
- Add your cooked and drained pasta to the sauce, and stir well so all the pasta is coated in the vegan Alfredo sauce.
- In a separate pan heat 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil, and add the mushrooms with a pinch of salt.
- On high heat brown the mushrooms.
- When the mushrooms are nicely browned add the chives.
- Serve the pasta with sauce, topped with the mushrooms and chives.
