Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce

Name: Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Ingredients: 1 medium cauliflower head (4 cups of florets); 7 cloves roasted garlic ((see my tutorial link in notes)); 1/2 cup broth or water reserved from cooking the cauliflower; 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese ((see note)); dash of salt and pepper (to taste)

January 7, 2020 by Anna 91 Comments

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Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce – turn cauliflower into a creamy and delicious sauce with the addition of roasted garlic and Parmesan! Skip the cheese for a vegan option.

One of our favorite pasta dinners is my Bacon Mushroom Alfredo. You can use this cauliflower sauce to make it too! Don’t forget the roasted garlic. It adds delicious flavor!

This sauce is a combination of two veggies I absolutely love: cauliflower and garlic. I grew up eating a lot of cauliflower. My Mom had a collection of recipes using this veggie and made them a lot. The smell of sauteed garlic is my childhood memory since my grandmother used it in almost every dish. I always have a jar of minced garlic in my fridge and now, roasted garlic cloves too. This healthy cauliflower pasta sauce is nut-free, gluten-free and is you skip the cheese, it is dairy-free. According to MyFitnessPal, one serving of this sauce is 118 calories!

Ingredients needed:

1 head of cauliflower
1 head of garlic
water
Parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast
salt and pepper

How to make this sauce?

Start by cutting the cauliflower into florets. Place in a large pot and fill with water or broth or an equal mix of both. Cook the cauliflower until tender. In the meantime, roast garlic.
Remove cauliflower from water and place on a large baking sheet. Let cool slightly before blending.
Place cauliflower, roasted garlic cloves, half of a cup of the cooking water or broth and cheese in a blender. Blend until smooth. Add more liquid if your sauce is too thick to your likings.
Taste the sauce and add salt and pepper to taste.
Use the sauce right away or pour into a jar. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Expert tips

cauliflower: make sure not to undercook the cauliflower or your sauce won’t be smooth. Test a piece with a fork. You should be able to easily smash it.
garlic: roasting it makes it sweeter and deepens the flavor. Raw garlic will be too strong. I don’t recommend garlic powder or salt.
cheese: classic Alfredo is always made with Parmesan but you can skip it and use nutritional yeast for the same flavor and a dairy-free version

Roasted garlic flavor

I love cauliflower. When I don’t turn it into rice or roast the whole head or bake breaded florets – I cook it and blend it into a perfectly creamy sauce. Recently, I was planning on making it for our pasta and the roasted garlic for my focaccia. Then a light bulb went off in my head and few cloves found it’s way into the blender with the cauliflower. Best.decision.ever. Follow my recipe for the best Roasted Garlic ever. I add Parmesan cheese to my sauce because there is no Alfredo without it, but feel free to skip it for a vegan option or if you are currently on a Whole30 program!

Healthy and cheaper than store-bought sauce

This recipe makes 3 cups of sauce, but if you are lucky like me and get a large cauliflower head at Aldi’s for $1.40 – you will end up with 7 cups f florets and make two jars of the sauce! Big score and so much cheaper than a store-bought sauce! Not to mention healthy. If you skip the Parmesan (use nutritional yeast to get the same flavor) is dairy-free and nut-free since there are no cashews needed.

More healthy recipes:

If you like this recipe and make it, snap a photo and share it on INSTAGRAM! Tag me @crunchycreamysweet so I can check it out and leave a comment! 😀