Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce
If you are one of the many parents who struggle to get their kids to eat their vegetables, you are going to love this recipe. If you are an adult who hates eating vegetables, you are going to love this recipe. If you love alfredo. you’re going to love this recipe. The sauce has the velvety texture and creamy flavor of alfredo, but contains just a tiny amount of cheese and is made of cauliflower. Instead of milk or heavy cream, you use the water you cooked the cauliflower in for a liquid so you’re still able to get some of those water-soluble nutrients from the cauliflower. You won’t even know you’re eating a vegetable! What’s even better is this is super quick and easy to make.
A quick note on the pasta. I always recommend whole wheat pastas over white pastas – it is far more nutritious than white and it’s also more filling. However, this sauce is made with water and whole wheat pasta tends to soak that up very quickly so you end up with a grainier textured sauce. I still don’t recommend white pasta. I would say go with a brown rice pasta or a whole wheat blend, like whole wheat and quinoa pasta. It will act less like a sponge while still not being an empty carb. I recommend using penne or ziti because it catches some of the sauce inside of it so you get even more flavor with each bite.
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower
- 5-6 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup water (from the cauliflower)
- 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1 box whole grain pasta, cooked
Equipment
- Blender
Directions
- Break up the cauliflower into florets. Place them in a large pot of water and boil until soft.
- While the cauliflower is cooking, saute the chopped garlic cloves in the extra virgin olive oil for about a minute – just long enough to bloom the flavor. Scrape the garlic and oil into the blender.
- Once the cauliflower is soft, add it to the blender with the salt, water from the pot, and parmesan. Blend until the sauce is smooth.
- Add the sauce to the cooked pasta. Optional: top with a little more grated parmesan and cracked black pepper and enjoy!
Using a small head of cauliflower, I had some extra sauce leftover using one box of pasta. So. if you buy a larger head, you may be able to make enough sauce for two boxes of pasta.
If you want to take this one step further, add some grilled chicken and broccoli to it!

This sauce is so incredibly velvety and creamy!