This vegan alfredo somehow tastes richer than any cream-based version I've ever eaten in my life

I need to tell you about this alfredo situation because it's genuinely messing with my head.

Last week I made a cashew-based version that had my non-vegan neighbor literally asking if I'd snuck dairy into it. She was convinced I was lying. I had to show her the empty cashew bag.

Here's the thing about traditional alfredo: it's basically just fat, salt, and umami doing a coordinated dance on your tongue. Heavy cream brings the fat. Parmesan brings the salt and umami. Butter brings more fat and a little extra richness.

Once you understand that formula, you realize you don't actually need dairy at all. You just need to hit those same flavor notes with different instruments.

This recipe does exactly that, and somehow it ends up tasting more intensely creamy than the dairy version. I think it's because cashews have this naturally sweet, buttery quality that gets amplified when you blend them into oblivion.

Plus, nutritional yeast brings a deeper, more complex umami than parmesan ever could. It's like the difference between a synthesizer and a full orchestra.

Ingredients

• 1 cup raw cashews, soaked in hot water for 15 minutes
• 1 cup unsweetened plant milk (oat or soy work best)
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon white miso paste
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (plus more to taste)
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (trust me on this)
• 1 pound pasta of your choice
• Reserved pasta water for thinning

Instructions

1. Cook your pasta according to package directions. Before draining, save at least 1 cup of that starchy pasta water. This is liquid gold for adjusting sauce consistency later.
2. While pasta cooks, drain your soaked cashews and add them to a high-speed blender with the plant milk, nutritional yeast, garlic, lemon juice, miso paste, onion powder, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
3. Blend on high for 60 to 90 seconds until the sauce is completely smooth and silky. If you have a less powerful blender, go longer. You want zero graininess here.
4. Pour the sauce into a large skillet over medium heat. Let it warm through for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. It'll thicken slightly as it heats.
5. Add your drained pasta directly to the skillet with the sauce. Toss everything together, adding splashes of reserved pasta water until you get that glossy, clingy consistency that coats each noodle perfectly.
6. Taste and adjust salt if needed. Serve immediately with extra nutritional yeast, black pepper, and maybe some red pepper flakes if you're feeling spicy.

Tips and variations

The miso paste is doing serious heavy lifting here. It adds this savory depth that makes the sauce taste way more complex than the ingredient list suggests.

Don't skip it, but if you absolutely must, add an extra tablespoon of nutritional yeast and a tiny splash of soy sauce.

For an even richer version, add 2 tablespoons of refined coconut oil or vegan butter to the blender. It makes the sauce taste almost obscenely decadent.

This sauce also works brilliantly as a base for other dishes. Thin it out with vegetable broth and you've got an amazing soup.

Use it as pizza sauce. Pour it over roasted vegetables. I've even used it as a dip for bread, which probably says more about me than the recipe.

Leftovers will thicken in the fridge, but they come back to life beautifully with a splash of plant milk and gentle reheating. The sauce keeps for about 5 days, though in my house it's never lasted more than 3.