I prepare my spouse a pastrami Reuben sandwich and serve it with coleslaw or potato salad.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 5 mins |
| Additional Time: | 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 35 mins |
| Servings: | 3 |
| Yield: | 1 1/2 cups |
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw, unsalted cashews
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- ¼ cup water, or as needed
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice, or more to taste
- 1 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Soak cashews in 1 1/2 cups water in a bowl until softened, at least 20 minutes.
- Drain water; add almond milk. Blend mixture in an electric blender or food processor until smooth, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add 1/4 cup water, or as needed, until sauce is slightly thinner than you want it for the final product, as it thickens when heated. Add garlic, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, salt, and pepper; blend until smooth.
- Pour mixture into a saucepan. Heat on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until heated through and desired thickness is achieved, about 5 minutes. You can add additional water or almond milk if sauce becomes too thick.
- You can use soy milk instead of almond milk, or a combination of both. Or, if you don’t have milk, I’ve done this with just water. The sauce is a bit thinner and less creamy (the cashews don’t seem to blend as well in just water), but the taste is very similar.
- I have soaked the cashews anywhere from 20 minutes to 12 hours. It allows them to blend a bit smoother.
- Using a blender is easier to pour from than a food processor.
Reviews
Too watery and flavorless!!! I had to make major changes to get a nice thick and delicious creamy sauce. So, I pretty much made my own recipe. I don’t know why I follow recipes online…
Initial disclaimer, I’m terrible about following a recipe. Normally we have Almond milk, but of course today we didn’t. I used 1/4 heavy cream and 3/4 cup water. The taste was very good. There are lots of different types of cheeses and this is a different cheese flavor. I think you could fool a lot of people by just saying “it’s cheese sauce”. I used it over cauliflower and broccoli, and it was really good. It does thicken fairly quickly with a little time on the stove.
Amazing sauce! I go a bit lighter in the garlic & salt after the first make. But, this is better than dairy Alfredo in my book.
This is so tasty. I had it for dinner three nights in a row and looked forward to it each time! I added some frozen peas. Also, stored the sauce in the canister of my high-speed blender, and each time I warmed it up, added a couple of tablespoons of hot water and then blended it on high until warm. Perfect consistency. I heated up my pasta and peas in the microwave and poured on my piping hot sauce. Worked great!
I make this vegan Alfredo sauce once a week since I discovered it. We usually make it with kale gnocchi and some roasted veggies. It is so flavorful and has a great, creamy consistency!
Made it twice and both times really enjoyed it. Think next time, will throw in some broccoli crowns and make the pasta a rotini or shell. Delicious.
I woke up in an alternate universe. I was excited to try cashew cream for the first time and I love alfredo sauce. In my rural area cashews are horrifyingly expensive, so this was a splurge purchase. What a waste of expensive ingredients. I just don’t like it and wouldn’t waste my money again. I prefer the cauliflower based alfredo sauce. Even the strange cannellini bean alfredo sauce is better than this stuff. Not every recipe can be adapted for vegans. Alfredo sauce is one of them. Yuck.
My first time soaking cashews and using nutritional yeast. I followed the recipe exactly, but I did soak my cashews longer than written, about 35 minutes. I was shocked at the rich flavors and since my son is lactose intolerant and this is vegan it was perfect. He informed me it was 5 stars and I agree! Served over pasta.