Does this taste exactly like Alfredo sauce? Don’t be ridiculous. It’s cauliflower. A freaking vegetable who’s just doin the best he can. But it DOES taste parmesan-y and creamy and rich and makes a seriously legit healthy white sauce for your pasta at a fraction of the calories. (I made up for those calories by adding bacon.)
Sometimes I think of an awesome joke seconds too late. And then the moment is gone and I’m sad because there’s no going back. Last week we were driving home from Utah (Eric went backpacking, kids and I went cousin-ing) and we stopped for lunch at Costa Vida. There was this teenage kid in front of me in line wearing an EFY wristband.
EFY stands for Especially For Youth. It’s a church camp in Utah, I went when I was a teenager too. (So much fun!) I asked him how he liked EFY and his eyes got kind of wide and he was like, “How’d you know I was at EFY?” I pointed at his wristband.
But what I SHOULD have said was that I could sense an aura, some kind of glow coming from him, and just knew that it had to be from spending a week feeling the spirit at EFY. It would have been so funny to see his face. Why don’t I think of awesome stuff like this at the right time??
I mentioned on my recent Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie post that my favorite sponsor here at The Food Charlatan, Blue Diamond, is partnering with the USA Volleyball Team. (How awesome is that?) So they asked me to come up with some healthy recipes that will help you “Serve Up Your Best.”
I must say I feel like this Caulifredo Sauce totally qualifies. After trying it out I was basically doing fist pumps. I’m eating a vegetable right now!! I wish we could get all vegetables to taste like creamy Alfredo sauce. (Or get them to taste like brownies. I’m down with that too.) Instead of feeling like you just ate an entire house after eating fettuccine alfredo, now you will be able to run marathons. (Or play volleyball :) Using almondmilk instead of regular milk cuts calories ever more.
If you like cauliflower soup, you will like this sauce. In fact, if you have leftover sauce you could just eat it with a spoon, it’s that good. Or you could put it over your pasta, or as the sauce on your next pizza, or add it to lasagna, or make baked ziti with it, or basically any Italian dish that sounds good with white sauce.
Here’s a quick refresher on how to chop cauliflower:
Don’t bother keeping the cauliflower in floret shape. You’re just blending it anyway! Let me know if you try out the recipe!
Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram | Twitter
Caulifredo Sauce (Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce)
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 cup cold water
- 1 & 1/2 cups unsweetened almond milk
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon*
- 1 medium head cauliflower, chopped
- 1 & 1/2 cups packed Parmesan cheese, shredded
- 2 ounces cream cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste
- pepper to taste, I like lots
- 1 or 2 pinches cayenne pepper
- 1 or 2 pinches nutmeg
Instructions
- In a wide bottom pot with a lid, melt the butter over medium heat.
- Add the shallot and saute for 3-5 minutes, or until soft.
- Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute until fragrant.
- Meanwhile, in a glass measuring cup add water and almondmilk. Whisk in the cornstarch until incorporated.
- Add the almondmilk mixture to the shallots in the pot.
- Add chicken bouillon and stir.
- Chop the cauliflower (see photos). Add the cauliflower to the pot and bring to a boil.
- Reduce to a simmer and cover with a lid. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until very tender. Remove from heat.
- Add the Parmesan cheese and cream cheese. (Or add these ingredients straight to the blender if you're not doing an immersion blender.)
- Now it's time to blend: You can either use an immersion blender (won't be as smooth) or transfer it to a blender. If you are using a blender, make sure you open the cap on the top so that steam can escape, and hold a kitchen towel over it so that you don't splatter yourself with molten cauliflower lava.
- Blend for at least 1 minute.
- Return the sauce to the pot and turn the heat to low.
- Add salt (add more to taste) and pepper to taste.
- Add cayenne pepper and nutmeg. Make sure you taste it!
Notes
Nutrition
This post is sponsored by Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Almondmilk. Almond Breeze believes in the best. That’s why we only use Blue Diamond Almonds to make our almondmilk and why we’re proud to be an official sponsor of USA Volleyball. Visit www.ServeUpYourBest.com for a chance to win $5,000 for the ultimate beach day, learn fun volleyball moves, get Almond Breeze coupons and smoothie recipes!
Here are some other fun ways to eat cauliflower!
Asian Cauliflower “Rice” << Not rice. But whenever I prepare this alongside rice, this always disappears first. Goes amazing with this Asian Pork Tenderloin with Ginger Glaze!
Easy Cheddar Cauliflower Soup << This soup is in my top 5 personal favorites. So good!
Cauliflower Rice Skillet with Zucchini and Kielbasa << a great healthy summer dinner!
More cauliflower recipes:
Cauliflower Corn Cucumber Salad from Valentina’s Corner
Cauliflower Fried Rice from Iowa Girl Eats
Chicken Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes in a Creamy Cauliflower Sauce from Julia’s Album
You ll probably need to replace it with some sort of liquid element to get the desired consistency. You could try a non-dairy milk if you are making it dairy-free. Just finished making your sauce and it s amazing!!!! Absolutely delicious! What do you think about using it as a base for a loaded baked potato soup? Weird?
I think that would be an awesome soup! Follow the link above for my Easy Cheddar Cauliflower soup. I think a loaded baked potato soup would taste better with cheddar than parmesan, but that’s just me! i hope you enjoy it!
This looks amazing Karen – totally giving it a try!
Thanks Trish! You’re awesome!
Thank you for the quick reply. Hope to try this soon.
No problem Linda! Let me know how it turns out!
Can milk be used instead of Almond Breeze? Grand kids cannot have nut products. Thank you.
Absolutely Linda! Regular milk will work just fine. I hope you and your grandkids enjoy the recipe! :)
Oh this looks so creamy and good! I could put this on top of everything and eat it all day long. Yum!
I think I could put it on basically anything too Amanda! Thanks friend!
I love your honesty about the taste. It’s cauliflower people! I haven’t tried this yet but looks good. I may make it with the frozen cauliflower rice from Trader Joe’s.
ooh that’s a good idea Karen! I’ve been meaning to try out the TJ’s cauli rice!
I lol’d at “Don’t be ridiculous”! I’ve been looking for a good cauliflower alfredo sauce for a while and I totally trust you :) Pinning!
Haha! Well really though, I just hate all those faux-recipes that are like “It tastes just like the real thing!” NO IT DOESN’T, YOU CAN’T REPLACE CREAM. lol. Thanks Medha!
OMG, Karen! I love this caulifredo sauce! Love the sound of it, the look of it and I KNOW for a fact that this is going to be a constant favorite for me since I’ve been literally attacking any healthy pasta recipe that I lay my eyes on! LOL! Also that bit about thinking of smart and funny things you could have actually said at the right time lol! It’s always the same story with me too! hahaha!!!
Thanks Samina! I think you will really love it. My whole family ate it. Healthy pasta is the BEST!