Traditional Alfredo takes a backseat to this light, healthy, extremely versatile veggie version packed with flavor from roasted cauliflower and garlic. The tofu helps the puréed cauliflower achieve an even creamier texture and adds plenty of protein for a perfect vegetarian/vegan main dish. Meat and dairy fans can add roasted chicken to this dish and use milk and parmesan for this lightened up version of the classic Chicken Alfredo that is sure to be the new favorite!
Want a fun leftover makeover from the extra caulifredo sauce in this dish? Use it on my Vegan Spinach & Artichoke Caulifredo Pizza recipe here!
Makes: 6 servings
Active Time: 20 minutes
Inactive Time: 30-35 minutes
Ingredients:
- Olive oil for drizzling on veggies to roast
- 1 head of garlic for roasting (or 3 cloves minced garlic if sauteeing)
- 1 container silken tofu
- 3 generous cups cauliflower florets, chopped
- 1 cup unsweetened nondairy milk (Or you can use regular milk for dairy version)
- 1 cup reserved pasta water
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (Or you can go swap this out with half a cup off regular grated Parmesan for dairy version
- 1 squeeze fresh lemon juice from lemon wedge
- 2-3 teaspoons salt for sauce plus additional to sprinkle on veggies to roast.
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
- 1 lb Fettuccini or Linguini Pasta
- 2 cups chopped broccoli florets
- 1 8 oz pkg Sliced Cremini Mushrooms
- Cooked chikenless meat substitute if desired, optional, (or 2 cooked chicken breasts, shredded or diced, for non-vegan version)
Directions:
- Bring a pot of water to boil for noodles and preheat oven to 400 to roast veggies. When water boils add salt to the water, cook and drain pasta per package directions and drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta water.
- Prep veggies to roast: Spread broccoli florets and sliced mushrooms on a lined sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. On a separate lined sheet pan place cauliflower florets drizzle with olive and season with salt and pepper. Cut of very top of garlic head, wrap in foil and place next to cauliflower in sheet pan. Place all sheet pans in preheated oven, removing broccoli and mushrooms after about 20 minutes and removing cauliflower and garlic when both are very soft-approximately 30-35 minutes. Check on veggies halfway through, stirring if needed.
- Add roasted cauliflower to a large pot. Squeeze softened cloves from the head of roasted garlic into the pot along with the cauliflower. (If you don’t have an immersion blending stick add these ingredients to a food processor or blender instead of a pot. Add the silken tofu, milk of your choice, nutritional yeast (or Parmesan if using), squeeze of fresh lemon, two teaspoons of salt and a few grinds fresh peppercorns. Process until smoothly blended and very thick. Add in 1/2 the reserved pasta water and blend again, adding the other 1/2 cup pasta water if you wish to thin out the sauce more.
- Heat the sauce on medium bringing sauce to a light simmer. Add broccoli and mushrooms (and chicken or substitute if using) stirring to incorporate. Taste and add the remaining teaspoon of salt if needed.
- Add the noodles directly into the sauce to coat thoroughly and mix with the broccoli and mushrooms. Scoop into bowls and serve.
Recipes Notes: If you don’t prefer to roast the cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms and garlic for the sauce you can cook the cauliflower florets in the pot of boiling salted water until tender, remove and repeat with the broccoli prior to adding the pasta. Let the water then return to a boil before adding the fettuccini. Instead of roasting the garlic and mushrooms you can sautéed them together in the pot before adding the pot and the remove the mushrooms before adding the sauce ingredients, then add them back in after blending the sauce.
You can use a gluten free fettuccini, of course, if you wish to keep this dish GF. I love using Shiritake noodles when I want to lighten up the pasta factor even more. They’re an amazing plant based noodle with all the texture but none of the carb and chocked full of fiber so they’re super filling and satisfying!
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