This ultra rich and flavorful oat milk Alfredo sauce is SO easy and all done within 15 minutes! Perfect weeknight quick dinner for the whole family and 100% vegan and dairy-free. Can also be made gluten-free easily and you can add any veggies you like.
Oh hello, amazingly delicious and velvety oat milk Alfredo pasta sauce.
To me, there is nothing better than a creamy, luxurious and dreamy white sauce to serve over pasta. I have always loved them so much, silky white sauces for me are actually a bit of an obsession! And even though I avoid dairy now, I still make them all the time.
Because no, you don't need any "real" milk to make a cream sauce!
I often make a cashew white sauce, but when I feel like something lighter or looking for a nut-free option (like for my kids's lunch boxes), then I'll make either my cauliflower Alfredo or a white sauce simply by thickening a dairy-free milk.
You can use all sort of plant milk to make them, but my favorite is oat milk and this is what we are going to use to make this rich and flavorful vegan Alfredo sauce. Oat milk is already naturally thick and creamy with a very mild sweet flavor, which is perfect for garlicky pasta sauces.
To thicken the oat milk, the recipe follows the basics of a vegan bechamel sauce, which means cooking a little olive oil with some flour before adding the dairy-free milk.
And then, to flavor this vegan cream sauce in an Alfredo style, this recipe includes: fresh garlic, nutritional yeast for a cheesy touch, a tiny bit of lemon juice just for a tangy flavor and some salt + a generous crack of black pepper. SO simple, but such an amazing combination in flavors! This dairy-free Alfredo pasta sauce will become a favorite I am sure!
This sauce is unbelievably tasty with such a crazy silky texture, but my favorite part of this recipe is how easy it is to prepare. You can whip up this sauce within 15 minutes while cooking the noodles, which makes it an amazing weeknight dinner recipe for busy days or whenever you feel like vegan comfort food without having to cook much.
You can add a tons of yummy veggies to it, but I really like it straight like that, with fettuccini or linguini noodles and garnished with ground black pepper and sliced green onions. The sauce is SO flavorful and satisfying all on its own!
I hope you like it! ❤️
Why you'll love this recipe
- Rich in texture
- Such amazing flavor
- Quick, making it a great speedy recipe for busy days
- Very versatile, customizable flavors and can be served in so many ways
- Healthy and lower-in-fat compared to traditional Alfredo sauce
- Dairy-free, vegan, nut-free and 100% plant-based
Ingredients you'll need
- Olive oil + Flour: Combined together to thicken the oat milk. Feel-free to use GF flour if needed.
- Oat milk: I love the oat milk from the brand Oatly. I find its flavor mostly neutral (some other brands are naturally too sweet), which is my go-to when cooking savory meals. I also always use full-fat: it makes sauces thicker and feel more rich, plus we have 2 growing young children, so full-fat is the way to go ✌️.
- Nutritional yeast: will give a subtle cheesy flavor and more depth in flavor too. A classic Alfredo sauce is actually not made with cheese, but is filled with dairy products, and the nutritional yeast helps get closer to a traditional flavor.
- Garlic: absolutely essential for an Alfredo sauce! The garlic is added raw to the sauce and then simmered slightly, so you will really taste it. I used 2 cloves, but for a super garlicky flavor, then add more!
- Lemon juice: I only added ½ tablespoon because I didn’t want the sauce to taste lemon that much, but it really brings a touch of tanginess to balance out the rest of the flavor. If you don't have fresh lemon, then add just a tiny bit of apple cider vinegar (go slow!)
How to make an oat milk Alfredo sauce
This sauce should be all done within 15 minutes, which is about the time it will take you to cook the noodles. So, start by bringing a pot of water to boil and once the noodles are cooking, then start your sauce.
Make the roux
A roux is simply a combination of a fat (oil or butter) with flour that serves to thicken liquids.
So, warm up the olive oil in a medium pot and then, add the flour. Whisk right away until combined and keep cooking for 30-60 seconds.
Simmer
Then, pour the milk over (cold is fine). Whisk well and bring to a simmer. Watch carefully, milk overflows easily!
Once it starts to simmer, then turn down the heat to medium-low and add the rest of the ingredients: lemon juice, nutritional yeast, garlic, salt and ground black pepper. Whisk well and keep cooking for about 5-7 minutes or until thicker.
Adjust flavors and serve
Once the sauce reached desired consistency, then taste and adjust seasoning to your liking. Keep in mind that the sauce will thicken more as it cools down, even for a few minutes.
I like to add cooked noodles straight to the pot with the sauce and combine before serving in bowls, but you can also pour the sauce over cooked noodles if you prefer (which is better to keep leftovers).
Garnish with more ground black pepper and also green onions if you want. Enjoy!
Watch how to make it
Helpful tips
- Be sure to use an oat milk that's plain, unsweetened and free of vanilla flavoring. You can taste it first to be sure it is neutral! Oat milk has a natural sweetness to it, simply because rolled oats are a little sweet, but it should be pretty subtle.
- If you want a sauce that's much thicker even if you simmered it for the whole 5-7 minutes, then simply remove it from the heat and let it cool down for a few minutes, it should thicken pretty quickly!
- But, if you still need it to be thicker even after letting the sauce rests away from the heat for a few minutes, then you can incorporate some cornstarch. To do this, then combine together 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 1-2 tablespoon of cold water in a mug. Whisk well. Meanwhile, bring your sauce back to a simmer and once simmering, add the cornstarch slurry. You can add a little bit of the slurry at the time until thick enough. That should do the trick!
- The garlic is added raw to the sauce, which I found gave the best classic Alfredo flavor. But, if you are sensitive with garlic, then feel-free to cook it in the oil just before adding the flour. This should mellow out its flavor.
- Cook your noodles al dente for best texture!
Best noodles to serve vegan Alfredo sauce
I think that a creamy Alfredo sauce goes best with long noodles. A classic pairing is to serve it with fettuccini noodles, but linguini is a close second best choice. Try serving simply with spaghetti or even angel hair for a nice change. Or, use this sauce when making a white lasagna or a lentil lasagna!
Of course you can serve with short pasta, especially rigatoni, macaroni or penne, where their cavities would trap even more of the delicious sauce.
If you feel like it and have extra time, such as during the weekend, then you can serve this non-dairy Alfredo sauce over homemade butternut squash ravioli. Yum!
Also, to boost your meal with more nutrients, then serve the sauce with zoodles (noodles made out of zucchini), or do a mix of zoodles + regular noodles.
More serving suggestions
I love Alfredo sauce with sliced green onions: they bring a nice speck of green contrasting with the white and a nice little crunch, plus the mild onion-y flavor goes well with the creamy sauce.
White sauces also pair well with black pepper, so be sure to add a generous amount at serving. And some fresh parsley, if you have any.
You can also add a sprinkle of vegan parmesan cheese over for more layers of texture or one of my favorite, a cheesy panko crunch (find the recipe in my creamy tomato pasta post).
As a side dish, serve with vegan whole wheat rolls and a green or kale salad. This dish would also be amazing with a side of cooked green veggies, such as broccoli, green beans or wilted spinach.
Also, this Alfredo sauce can be served differently than with noodles. Use it in vegetable baked dishes, such as this cauliflower gratin, or as a savory white pizza sauce, especially topped with mushrooms.
Substitutions
This recipe is made with oat milk, but you can definitely make it using another plant milk, as long as it is plain! Soy milk and almond work great to cook too. The final texture might change a little bit depending on the kind of milk, so if your sauce is too thin, then check my tips above to thicken your sauce more.
Also, I like to make bechamel using olive oil, I feel like it is a little healthier than vegan butter, but if you only have vegan butter spread, that will work too!
Storage tips
This creamy pasta sauce stores very well in the fridge for up to 4-5 days. It will thicken significantly while it rests and chill, but will thin out when you warm it up again.
To warm up, simply use the stove or even the microwave. You can add a splash extra of plain milk to loosen up the texture, whisk and warm up until done to your liking.
The leftovers will store better if the sauce is kept apart from the noodles, since the pasta can turn softer while in contact with the sauce for so long. So, if you know you will have leftovers, then try to serve the sauce over your noodles in your bowl instead of incorporating them within the sauce so you can keep them apart.
More plant-based creamy pasta sauces you might like
- Coconut milk mac and cheese
- Creamy gochujang pasta
- Green pasta sauce
- Coconut milk pasta sauce
- Avocado pasta
- Creamy tomato pasta
- Tahini pasta
- Harissa pasta
- Cashew white sauce
- Butternut squash mac and cheese
- Vegan creamy lemon pasta
- Vegan creamy sun-dried tomato pasta
- Tikka masala pasta
More oat milk recipes to try
- Oat milk smoothie
- Oat milk hot chocolate
- Oat milk chocolate pudding
- Oat milk bread
- Oat milk vanilla matcha latte
- Oat milk spinach pasta
I hope you like this oat milk Alfredo pasta sauce recipe as much as we do! If you try it, please leave a comment below and rate the recipe to let me know how it was. Your feedback is so helpful!
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Oat Milk Alfredo Pasta Sauce (No Cashews)
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp flour - regular or gluten-free
- 2 cups oat milk - plain and unsweetened, I used the full-fat oat milk from Oatly
- 2 cloves of garlic - crushed
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- ½ tbsp lemon juice - or to taste, optional
- salt and ground black pepper - to taste
Instructions
- In a medium pot, warm up the olive oil on medium heat and then add the flour. Whisk well to combine and keep stirring while cooking for about one minute (it should form a loose paste).
- Pour the milk over and whisk well. Bring to a simmer (turn up the heat if needed) and then, add the garlic, nutritional yeast, lemon juice and salt + ground black pepper to taste. Keep whisking and cooking for 5-7 minutes or until thicker and then remove from the heat. Taste and adjust seasonings.
- Combine with cooked pasta of your choice and serve with ground black pepper and sliced green onions, if desired.
Video
Notes
- Storage: keep leftovers in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 3-4 days. The sauce and pasta are best when kept apart from each other. To reheat, add a splash of milk to the sauce to loosen up the consistency and warm up using the microwave or the stove.
- You can add cooked vegetables to the sauce, such as broccoli, spinach, asparagus, cauliflower, etc.
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This looks SO good! Would there be a way to make this without oil?
Hi Geena! Thanks so much for your comment! 🙂 I do try very hard to keep oil away from our diet, but so far, I haven't tried making a roux-based cream sauce without it (I tested a bunch of oil-free options when making my vegan bechamel without any luck). My favorite way to make a cream pasta sauce without oil is to use cashews instead. My vegan white sauce is a good example for that. I hope this is helpful and if I find an oil-free bechamel option, I will for sure update this recipe! 🙂