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Introducing my delicious 15-minute Creamy Mushroom Alfredo Pasta. The cashew pasta sauce is creamy and packed full of flavour plus it’s dairy-free and gluten-free. In addition, it only uses 8 ingredients!
Recipe Difficulty – Very Easy
Table of Contents
Why this recipe works
This cashew alfredo is the perfect midweek supper. Trust me, this vegan cashew sauce is going to transform your pasta dinners and take them to the next level. With simple ingredients that are available from major supermarkets, great food doesn’t come much easier than this!
This delicious mushroom alfredo pasta is made with just 8 ingredients (plus olive oil and seasoning) and takes just 5 minutes to prepare and 10 minutes to cook – ideal as an after-work dinner. The cashew cream pasta sauce is so creamy, it’s really hard to believe it’s a dairy free alfredo sauce!
Super easy, comforting, and perfectly balanced, this cashew alfredo sauce without nutritional yeast is bound to become a family favourite! The creamy dairy-free and egg-free sauce is made with cashew nuts.
This was inspired by my Vegan Bechamel on this site, and pairs well with this amazing Air Fryer Broccoli recipe.
Ingredients to make Mushroom Alfredo
- Cashews – create a delicious dairy free creamy pasta sauce. If you have any spare then chuck them into my Broccoli Stir Fry.
- Gluten-Free Pasta – Try long pasta like spaghetti, linguine, Tagliatelle, or fettuccine or pasta shapes such as fusilli, rigatoni or penne.
- Olive Oil – is used to brown the mushrooms.
- Mushrooms – Any mushrooms work well – make it with just one type or try with a mixture of chestnut, portobello, button, oyster, and shiitake. If you love mushrooms make sure to try my Mushroom Burger.
- Dried Sage – has a great savoury and warm taste.
- Paprika – is a sweet and peppery flavour.
- Unsweetened Almond Milk – or other non-dairy milk makes for a creamy mushroom alfredo sauce.
- Dijon Mustard – is optional, but adds a really great and sharp flavour.
- Lemon Juice – gives a great burst of citrus.
- Salt and Pepper – accentuate the other flavours in this vegan alfredo sauce.
- Chopped Fresh Herbs – Add a sprinkling of chopped fresh herbs, if you like, just before serving – flat-leaf parsley, coriander, basil or chives all work well.
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions
- Dried Sage – can be replaced with dried thyme.
- Paprika – Sprinkle in smoked paprika instead of regular paprika if you’d like.
- Dijon Mustard – You can swap Dijon for English mustard, but make sure it’s gluten-free.
- Unsweetened Almond Milk – If you don’t have a dietary restriction, you can use regular milk.
Variations
- Spicy – You can use chilli paste or hot red pepper flakes for some nice heat.
- Deluxe – For even more flavour, add some garlic when frying up the mushrooms, increase the Dijon, and add some nutritional yeast to the sauce. Squeeze some lemon over the top to make it extra zesty. Also consider mixing in some spinach right at the end. Thank you to my commenters for these suggestions!
- Kid friendly – Pasta is a winner with most kids! If they don’t like mushrooms, chop them up smaller so they are less noticeable.
See this other Vegan Mushroom Pasta recipe on my website!
How to make Mushroom Alfredo
Step 1: Firstly, boil the pasta according to the packet instructions.
Next, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and roughly chop your mushrooms, adding them to the pan as you go. Fry for 5 minutes until they soften and brown.
Step 2: While the mushrooms fry, add the cashews to a blender with the rest of the ingredients (except the fresh herbs).
Step 3: Pour the blended sauce into the frying pan with the mushrooms and stir. Heat through for 1-2 minutes.
Step 4: Drain your pasta and add it to the frying pan. Stir the pasta and alfredo mushroom sauce together. Top with fresh herbs if you choose. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Hint: Don’t cook the sauce for more than a couple of minutes as the sauce thickens quickly.
Leftovers
Gluten-free noodles don’t keep well, so I’d recommend only making what you plan to eat. As for the sauce, you can store it in an airtight container for 3-4 days in the fridge. You can also freeze the sauce in an airtight container for up to two months. Make sure to leave a little room for expansion.
Recipe FAQs
Any cup blender will work. If your blender is less powerful, it is important to soak the cashews to soften before blending. I currently use a high powered Sage Super Q blender, but also own a Ninja which does the job well.
I love mine with some fried up mushrooms. Flavour is super important as well. I like to use paprika, sage, Dijon mustard, and lemon juice. You can also add grated parmesan cheese.
Regular alfredo sauce is not vegan as it has quite a few dairy products in it like parmesan cheese. Dairy free pasta sauce is just as delicious! Cashews and dairy-free milk work together to make a creamy and delicious vegan alfredo sauce cashew style.
Any mushrooms work well – make it with just one type or try with a mixture of chestnut, button, oyster and shiitake.
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Mushroom Alfredo
Ingredients
- 100 g cashews, soaked in hot water for 5 minutes
- 250 g gluten-free pasta
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 200 g mushrooms, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp dried sage
- ½ tsp paprika
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, (250ml) or other non-dairy milk
- ½ tsp Dijon mustard, (optional)
- squeeze lemon juice
- salt and pepper
- chopped fresh herbs, to serve , (optional)
Instructions
- Firstly, boil the pasta according to the packet instructions
- Next heat the 2 tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan and roughly chop your mushrooms, adding them into the pan as you go, fry for 5 minutes until they soften and brown
- Meanwhile, add the cashews to a blender along with 1 tbsp dried sage, ½ tsp paprika, 1 cup (250ml) milk, ½ tsp Dijon mustard (optional), squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of salt and pepper and blend until smooth
- Pour your sauce into the frying pan with the mushrooms, stir and heat through for 1-2 minutes (no longer, as the sauce thickens quickly)
- Finally drain your pasta and add it to the frying pan. Stir the pasta and sauce together, top with fresh herbs (optional) and season to taste with salt and pepper
Notes
Nutrition
Hi James, this looks a great easy recipe but I don’t eat cashews…..do you think almonds would work or any other ideas please?
Hey Sandy, macadamias would be a better swap for their creaminess when blended 🙂
Very good! In my opinion it needs more sauce, which I will do next time, as well as adding more vegetables. It’s a wonderful recipe.
Thanks James,
I’ve just recently joined your blog, and really enjoying the recipes.
Do you have any recipes using kale?
Another gem, I absolutely loved it! I didn’t have sage or paprika but I was happy to see that this recipe works with thyme as well, which I love but don’t know many recipes that use it. I’m so glad I came across your recipes, our weekly menu needed some new dishes. I now incorporate 1-3 meals found here into my weekly meal plan.
Thanks so much Anna 🙂 glad you found me and enjoying the recipes!!
This was really tasty! Thank you! Is this freezer friendly and if so for how long?
Easy to make but oh so good to eat!! Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks Rory, glad to see you enjoying the recipes 🙂
made this tonight and it was truly delicious and so quick and easy to make. Thank you
Yay 🙂 so pleased you enjoyed it Janine!