When a comfort food craving hits, the rich, umami flavor of this Vegan Mushroom Alfredo hits the spot! Cashew cream makes for a lighter dairy-free version that doesn’t lack in creaminess. Say hello to your new favorite vegan winter pasta recipe!
This post is sponsored by Calphalon. All opinions are our own.
We don’t often make pasta dishes, but sometimes that comfort food craving hits and pasta is the only cure. While mac & cheese is usually our go-to, there’s something to be said for the rich, umami flavor you get with vegan mushroom alfredo!
In lieu of heavy cream, butter and cheese, we made a simple cashew cream that mimics both the texture and taste of the real thing. You can make the cashew cream ahead of time so this pasta can be thrown together in less than 30 minutes. The result? A rich but healthier version of classic Alfredo that’s 100% dairy-free and delicious!
To keep this recipe simple, we used a mixture of regular button and shiitake mushrooms. If you’d like to vary it up, you could experiment with a variety of wild mushrooms. I love using chanterelles for an extra fancy version! We’re really into wild mushrooms this year, as evidenced by this simple pan-roasted mushroom recipe that we can’t stop making.
Since shiitakes can be expensive and harder to find, you can also just stick with all button mushrooms. It’s totally up to you!
How to make vegan cashew cream alfredo sauce
The first step to perfectly creamy vegan alfredo sauce is soaked cashews. The longer the cashews soak, the smoother the sauce will be. That being said, 4 hours is plenty enough time. Even 2 hours will do the trick.
In a pinch, soak them in hot water for 30 minutes to an hour. Any soaking time is better than none!
Once the cashews are soaked, all you have to do is blend them up into a smooth, creamy sauce. We add nutritional yeast for a cheesy, delicious flavor, lemon juice for a bit of acidity, salt and pepper. Just a few ingredients for a luscious sauce that perfectly coats cooked pasta!
You can make the cashew cream up to a few days ahead of time before adding to this recipe. You may have to loosen it up with a bit of extra water. Just blend it up until you reach the desired consistency.
Assemble your vegan mushroom alfredo
When you’re ready to assemble the alfredo, get your pasta of choice cooking. We typically opt for a gluten free linguine or spaghetti, which gets perfectly coated with the cashew cream sauce. You can really use any kind of pasta you have on hand – it will still taste great.
Our Calphalon 6 qt. Stock Pot is perfect for boiling spaghetti and linguine pasta. It’s deep enough to submerge the pasta fully in water. It also comes with a no boil-over silicone insert, so you don’t have to worry about making a mess on your stovetop.
As you can see in the image below, the insert prevents water from boiling over. We tested it at the highest possible heat, and no boil over at all! The insert is super easy to clean, light and convenient to store.
Our 6 qt. Pot is part of the Calphalon Classic™ Nonstick 14-Pc. Cookware Set – the perfect addition to any kitchen! We love that the cookware is easy-to-clean nonstick and has stay cool handles, so you don’t accidentally burn any extremities. You can see everything that’s included in the set here at Bed, Bath & Beyond!
Everyone needs a great set of cookware and knives. Luckily, Calphalon has those, too! We’ve been loving our Calphalon® Contemporary SharpIN™ Nonstick 13-Piece Cutlery Set. It comes with a built-in ceramic sharpener that sharpens your knives with every use. Convenient, right?
The nonstick coating prevents food from sticking to the knives, so you can easily prep mushrooms and other produce like a true chef.
My favorite feature is that each knife is marked for easy identification. No more pulling out every knife from the block to find the right one! We used our 8” nonstick Chef Knife to prepare the mushrooms for this recipe. It’s my favorite knife – I use it for most of my prep work.
We also cooked the mushrooms in our Calphalon 10” fry pan. The key to perfectly cooked mushrooms for this vegan mushroom alfredo is to cook them over high heat until they release most of their water. The goal is to remove as much water as possible, so it’s best not to wash the mushrooms before cooking.
If your mushrooms are particularly dirty, you can brush off most of the dirt with a damp paper towel. Once the liquid is mostly cooked out, deglaze with white wine and season with salt, pepper and fresh parsley. I could honestly just eat these mushrooms straight from the pan – they’re that good!
Once the pasta is perfectly al dente, be sure to reserve some of the pasta water in case you need to loosen up the alfredo sauce a bit more. Toss the drained noodles in your sauce, add the cooked mushrooms and you’re good to go!
I always top with plenty of fresh parsley, which brings some much needed freshness to this otherwise rich dish.
More of our favorite vegan pasta recipes
It’s definitely comfort food season! Cozy up with a few of our favorite vegan pasta recipes.
- Vegan Pasta Bake
- Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Pasta with Caramelized Onions
- Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
- Nut Free Vegan Mac & Cheese
- Spaghetti with Vegan Lentil Meatballs
If you make this Vegan Mushroom Alfredo, we’d love for you to leave a comment and rating below! We also love to see your creations on Instagram – tag us at @crowded_kitchen so we can see what you’ve been cooking.
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Creamy, dreamy vegan mushroom alfredo: a comfort classic made significantly healthier!
Ingredients
Cashew Cream Alfredo:
- 1 cup raw cashews, soaked in room temp water for at least 2 hours
- 1 cup water
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
Pasta:
- 8 oz cooked gluten free or regular fettuccine pasta (or other pasta or choice)
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cloves finely minced garlic
- 4 tbsp minced shallots
- 8 oz button mushrooms
- 8 oz shiitake mushrooms
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 tbsp freshly chopped parsley – reserve 1 tbsp for garnish
Instructions
- Soak cashews in room temperature water for at least 2 hours. Drain and rinse.
- Add to blender with remaining cashew cream ingredients. Blend until smooth and creamy. If not using right away, store in an airtight container in refrigerator for up to a week.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- Meanwhile, preheat a large sauté pan to medium. Add olive oil, shallots and garlic and cook for a few minutes, until softened. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside – you’ll add them back in later.
- Slice mushrooms and increase pan heat to medium-high. Add mushrooms to pan and cook until most of the liquid is reduced – about 15 minutes. Stir often.
- Boil pasta until al dente. Reserve about a cup of pasta water in case you need to loosen up the alfredo sauce.
- When the liquid is mostly reduced from mushroom pan, deglaze with white wine. Add back in shallots and garlic, salt, pepper and fresh parsley. Cook for a few more minutes, taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
- When pasta is finished cooking, add to the pan with mushrooms and coat with alfredo sauce. If you need to loosen up the sauce, stir in a bit of the hot reserved pasta water. Top with more fresh parsley and enjoy!
Notes
Tongs are a helpful tool when it comes to properly coating this pasta.
Keywords: vegan mushroom alfredo
Was so delicious! I added some chilli flakes to the Alfredo for some heat and was amazing! Thanks so much 🙂
★★★★★
Great idea on adding the chili flakes! So glad you enjoyed – thank you so much for your review!
Incredible recipe! Thank you! Will make again soon!
★★★★★
Thanks so much, Amelia! Glad you enjoyed! 🙂