Hi Guys! Today we have a healthy meatless Monday recipe for you all; a simple and versatile Vegan Cauliflower Cream Sauce! Teri and I recently finished shooting a couple paleo and vegan cookbooks and the experience has totally inspired me to play around in the kitchen and try my hand at a few vegan and paleo friendly recipes myself. First up is this “cream” sauce. We tossed our sauce with pasta to make a quick and satisfying meal (that won’t weight you down!), but you can also use this as a sauce paired with different cooked proteins and even as a dipping sauce for veggies, both fresh and steamed!
I’m not going to try and convince you that this sauce tastes exactly like an alfredo sauce or a full fat cream sauce because it totally doesn’t. I will say that it’s a wonderful healthy alternative for when you’re getting a hankering for something rich and creamy, but don’t want to compromise your waistline. I like to have meals like this a few times a week, especially during the chilly fall and winter months when all I’m craving is rich, creamy, decadent foods but don’t want to gain 100 pounds by next spring! I’m no vegan cooking expert, not by a long shot ,and I know that it can be intimidating but I think this recipe is a great intro recipe to vegan cooking. It only has a few ingredients and is really easy to throw together. Plus you can adjust the ingredient amounts according to your own personal taste. Can’t find nutritional yeast or just not into it? No problem, just sub it out for any cheese alternative of your choice! Enjoy! xx, Jenny
Vegan Cauliflower Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 heads cauliflower, cut into small florets
- 3 small shallots, cut into wedges
- 6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- ⅓ cup nutritional yeast
- 1 to 1 ½ cups almond milk
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375˚F.
- Place cauliflower, shallots, garlic, and coconut oil into a mixing bowl and toss together. Season with salt and pepper.
- Spread mixture onto a baking sheet and roast for 30 to 40 minutes or until florets are fork tender, stirring occasionally.
- Pick out garlic cloves, remove peels and discard. Add roasted garlic back to mixture.
- Pour mixture and remaining ingredients into a blender, season with salt and pepper and puree until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Adding more milk as needed.
- Pour puree into a saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes. Adjust seasonings and toss together with your favorite pasta and serve.
Notes
- *Makes 2 cups Sauce
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Yum! This looks amazing and so cozy. xo Heidi http://fabricandfrosting.blogspot.no/
Looks creamy! I still haven’t tried nutritional yeast yet. Is there a brand you recommend? Thanks!
I really like using the KAL brand nutritional yeast….nutty and tasty without a weird aftertaste!
Oh wow, am now really hoping that I get a cauli or two in my vegetable delivery tomorrow, this recipe sounds delicious! Plus has the added benefit of being suitable for a friend with some food intolerances. Will definitely be giving a go. Thanks!
I’m obsessed with cauliflower at the moment, what a fab sauce!
Can’t wait to try this. My husband and I have gone dairy free, so this is a perfect fit for us!
I recently started working at a catering company that always provides a vegan option, so I’ve been learning about the wonders of nutritional yeast and little tricks like cauliflower’s creaminess factor! This looks like a great way to put those to use at home! :)
Hopefully this is not a weird question… I’m not sure if I can find the yeast in my country (the Netherlands). Is it really needed in the dish or just to add extra protein and vitamins? It seems a delicious sauce!
Hi Rianne! I think the nutritional yeast adds a depth of flavor to the sauce (and yes, a great source of protein)…you can substitute it with another cheese alternative, but if that isn’t an option either, leaving it our all together it just fine :)
@Rianne.. I’m Dutch and have it :)… It’s called “edelgist”. It does really contribute to the taste of the dish you require it for. You can get it at natuurwinkeltjes all over Holland I think. I got some from England shipped over here. It was cheaper even with shipping included (I did get a whole lot of it!!). Good luck!
Can we just use cheese instead of the nutritional yeast? If so any recommendations?
Totally!…it won’t be vegan anymore, but you definitely can. I recommend using something like a Parmesan or pecorino cheese!
I did it with Cheddar cheese and it was awesome!
This sauce is super rad! Love it!
I love using nutritional yeast and need to use it more! What a greta recipe tat works for everyone! I need more of these!
Do you think this sauce is stable enough to bake with, like with baked eggs etc?
This is exactly why I love vegan recipes even though I eat animal products – sometimes I need the comfort but not the calories. Looks beautiful!
Dangiiiiiiit, I love this.
Is the nutritional yeast measurement for flakes or powder?
Mine turned out very thick. It tasted wonderful, but the texture wasn’t sauce-like. I thinned it out with some of the pasta cooking water. Any ideas as to why that happened?
Hmm, I will admit I use my vitamix, which really purees quite well. I also add pasta water to my sauces, when relevant, to achieve a nice consistency.
Mine is thick too…not enough time in the oven perhaps? The cauliflower tasted great after roasting though.
I had the same issue, wayyyy too thick. I used a Vitamix and put it on high for a long time. I had to add a ton of water, almond milk, and veg. broth in order to thin it down enough. Too much cauliflower maybe? or not enough time in the oven? A precise measurement of cauliflower might be helpful. But thank you for the recipe! The flavors are great and I love the idea of roasting the garlic and shallots with the cauliflower :)
Made this tonight and it was pretty tasty!
is it possible to replace the coconut oil with a different oil? i m NOT a big fan of coconut…
for some reason most of the vegan recipes i find include coconut oil or milk…):
You can swap it out for an extra virgin olive oil!
This is delicious! A double plus it’s so simple to make. Alot of vegan recipes have so many ingredients that it takes me hours to finish! Finally a recipe I can handle that my family isn’t starving to death by the time I’m finished. Thank you.
I have a nut allergy does soy milk work in place of the almond milk?
Yes!
Could you make this a day or two ahead time? I am trying to cut down on prep time since I have many dishes being served. Thanks!
Yes! I would just recommend thinning the sauce out with a little more milk when reheating it. Hope you enjoy!
Same as Michelle above: while this did turn out quite tasty, I ended up with a thick paste (and way more than 2 cups of it). I added extra liquid but couldn’t get it to a saucy consistency. I think part of the problem was that I used a food processor. Maybe owning a Vitamix is a crucial part of the recipe.
nice way to fix cauliflower. I cut it in half because I only had one head of cauliflower! I had to add more almond milk to get to consistency I wanted but having a Vitamix was a big help! I think next time I would add more garlic and shallots – and maybe even some hot sauce. This is definitely a recipe you could use as a base. It might have been that my cauliflower was larger – I think I could have kept the measures for the rest of the ingredients the same and not halved them.
We just tried this and it’s delicious! HOWEVER, it made at least 6 cups of sauce, way more than we needed, and it required a lot more milk in order to blend it. We will definitely make it again, we will just cut all measurements in half except the milk which may still require more. Also, we mixed in steamed broccoli and peas for some yummy veggies ;) Thank you for the recipe!!
Do you think I could use regular white onion instead of shallot? I don’t want to go to the store and I have all of the other ingredients.
Thanks!
Absolutely!
Perfect, I will make it today! :) Thanks!
Stumbled upron this recipe searching for vegan creamy cauliflower sauce. So excited to report it was awesome! My two boys (2 and 4) loved it! I put it on whole wheat pasta for them and hubby and I had it on spiralized zucchini. Really great. Added in some steamed broccoli for good measure, and also had add about triple the almond milk to get it to blend. Well done, ladies!
Thank you for the recipe, as a whole foods plant based eater, and this dreary cold winter, I was looking for something ooey and gooey and cheesey… The cauliflower alone was delish and that will be my new way of making it from now on. The sauce for me was too thick, maybe because the heads of cauliflower I used were bigger, so I added additional almond milk and water. Yummy. Good tip about using it fora dip, or even a soup starter, or if you want to make a “cream” soup this could be your cream. Thank you again.
Have a silly question – by ‘heads’ of cauliflower – do you mean a whole cauli?
Love this recipe. I make a similar one that’s lighter but sometimes you want a bit more decadence. Question for you: if I were to replace the richness of the coconut oil with cashew cream (blended cashews and water), what do you think would be the proper conversion for the 2 Tbls of coconut oil? TIA!
This looks amazing! Does it keep well in the fridge,and for how long? And does this freeze well? I want it to last as long as possible :)
This is not a vegan recipe if heat is used!!!
Yes it is vegan, very much so. I believe you’re mistaking this for a raw foods recipe, which this isn’t.
Not all vegans are RAW vegans. Vegans don’t eat animal products, raw vegans don’t eat animal products and they don’t heat their food over a certain temperature.
I made this tonight and my meat-eating relatives devoured it with lust! I felt like a superhero, so thank you! xxx
Ok. Unfortunately if u don’t have the proper blending equipment I wouldn’t suggest this recipe…. A food processes just doesn’t do this AMAZING recipe justice. I initially started with my processer and it was just thick and clumpy. I ended up filling my nutribullet up (it took a few times) and doing it that way. Also I feel two heads of cauliflower would be an very large amount . I used one and a half and it was plenty for a family of four. I also added some paprika and used coconut milk along with almond became I had some left over.i needed way more nut milk then the recipe called for and also used some of my pasta water to thin it out. As someone who recently cut dairy I miss it very much. This recipe is truly unreal. So delicious and creamy. I felt like I was eating butter and cream and now need a workout lol. If u have a good blender like a vitamix or nutribullet make this!!! It’s worth it
This was AMAZING! I added a few extra cloves of garlic among some other extra herbs and spices plus a little extra liquid and nooch (my cauliflower heads were pretty large) My family loved it. Thanks so much for the awesome recipe! It is very versatile.
loved this recipe!!! I would definately cut it in half though if you don’t have a vitamix because otherwise it makes a lot of sauce! also recommend adding more almond milk and or water for blending in a regular blender =)
This looks great! We shared it in a blog here: http://wedigfood.com/foodie-blog/vegan-cauliflower-cream-sauce. We are building a community of vegans and would love for you to hop over and leave a recipe.
Can´t wait to try this!!!!
Only one question: we can´t eat any kind of yeast, we make our bread with baking soda, for example. Do you think I could use some probiotic instead of the nutritional yeast?
Thank you!!!
Totally! Although you can omit it completely if you wanted to and it would still be delicious!
Thanks!
is this something that could be made ahead of time (over the weekend) to then heat up and toss with pasta for a quick weeknight meal? how does the consistency hold up to reheating?
Yep! It’s a pretty thick sauce and will continue to thicken. You can stir a little bit of broth or almond milk into the mix to thin it out as you re-heat
Great thank you I’m making it this weekend and I’m very excited about it