This is the creamiest, most luxurious-tasting Soy Milk Alfredo Sauce imaginable! It’s a dairy-free version of my favourite Italian sauce and it’s ready in under half an hour. Pour it over noodles, over veggies, or over your favourite protein!
Why You’ll Love Soy Milk Alfredo
- Thanks to a rich and flavourful roux, this dairy-free Alfredo sauce is just as creamy and savoury as the original recipe—if not more!
- Use this plant-based Alfredo sauce as a launching pad for all kinds of flavour variations; feel free to add veggies, protein, and additional spices.
- You’ll find simple suggestions for making this recipe work for a wide variety of dietary requirements and food allergies.
History & Origins
The Alfredo sauce we all love and know today is, of course, based on an original Italian recipe. As the story goes, the creamy sauce was first showed up in Rome around the beginning of the 20th century in a restaurant owned by a man named—you guess it—Alfredo.
In the original recipe, pasta is coated with a generous amount of butter and grated cheese. As Alfredo became more popular, especially in America, the recipe’s list of ingredients grew to include cream, which gives the finished pasta a velvety, ultra-creamy sauce.
In this recipe for vegan Alfredo, we’re going to substitute the butter, cheese, and soy milk for plant-based ingredients. The result is a rich and delicious pasta dish you can make any night of the week with items you probably already have in the pantry.
What You’ll Need
A few important notes on some of the ingredients used in this Dairy-Free Soy Milk Alfredo Sauce recipe:
Vegan butter or olive oil: Stick to tradition and use your favourite non-dairy butter or choose an olive oil that’s on the mellower side. In this case, the fat will be used to sauté garlic as well as bump up the creaminess of the sauce.
Garlic: I like to use three fat cloves, minced, but you can add more or less depending on how much garlic you like.
All-purpose flour: The sauce is thickened with all-purpose flour. To make this a gluten-free recipe, use tapioca starch or cornstarch instead of flour.
Soy milk: Unsweetened soy milk (I use my homemade soy milk) results in the creamiest, most luxurious sauce. Plus, it’s high in protein!
Nutritional yeast (nooch): Every vegan’s favourite source for cheesy flavour, nutritional yeast—or nooch—gives dairy-free Alfredo a umami, Parmesan-like taste that rivals the real deal.
For a full list of ingredients and quantities, refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Ingredient Substitutions
If you’re following a specific diet or need to be aware of allergies, here are a few ways you can modify this recipe:
- Gluten-free: Make this recipe gluten-free by using tapioca starch or cornstarch. Choose your favourite gluten-free pasta to complete the meal!
- Oil-free: Sauté garlic in a tablespoon of water in a non-stick pan instead of using butter or oil. I will add, that either fat is important to the texture of the sauce, which might will be thinner and less rich if left out of the recipe.
- WFPB: To make this dairy-free Alfredo sauce WFPB, omit the butter or oil and choose whole-grain pasta for serving.
- Low carb: Lower the carbs by substituting all-purpose flour with almond flour (or other keto-friendly option) and serving the sauce with shirataki noodles that have been well-rinsed.
If you made this recipe with a successful substitution, please let me know! Post a comment describing what you did so I can add it to this section and help future readers. (Leave your name blank if you don’t want to be credited.)
Flavour Variations
- Alfredo Primavera: Add fresh or frozen peas, broccoli, and/or asparagus to the boiling pasta water in the last 4 minutes of the pasta cooking time. Drain and serve with Alfredo sauce.
- Lemony Alfredo: Add finely grated lemon zest and the juice of half a lemon to pasta that has been pre-tossed with sauce before serving.
Step-by-Step Process
Step 1: Heat butter or olive oil in a skillet.
Step 2: Sauté finely minced garlic until aromatic.
Step 3: Add flour and mix it into the butter with a spatula until it turns into a smooth roux with no lumps.
Step 4: Whisk in garlic powder, salt, ground black pepper, and nutritional yeast.
Step 5: Pour soy milk into the saucepan and stir until it bubbles and thickens. Stir continuously to prevent lumps from forming.
Step 6: Add cooked pasta of your choice and toss to coat. Note the alfredo sauce will continue to thicken slightly after adding the pasta.
Meal Prep & Storage Tips
Fridge: Alfredo sauce tastes best when eaten immediately after its made (although it’s still tasty microwaved over noodles the next day).
Freezer: Dairy-free Alfredo sauce made with soy milk does not freeze well and is not a good choice for long-term storage.
What to Serve with Soy Milk Alfredo Sauce
- Air Fried or Roasted Kalettes
- Gurkensalat (German Cucumber Salad)
- Impossible Meatloaf
- And for dessert, may I suggest… Chocolate Blender Cake!
Recipe FAQs
Yes, soy milk is one of the best dairy alternative milks you can choose when it comes to making creamy vegan sauces.
Yes, almond, oat, and plain rice milk will all yield a velvety, creamy Alfredo sauce. But if you’re using a storebought milk, ensure to find one with as few ingredients as possible. A lot of “plain” plant milks have flavouring added which makes them taste a bit odd in savoury recipes.
Recipe Card
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Dairy-Free Soy Milk Alfredo Sauce
Use Imperial/Metric buttons below to toggle between volume vs weight measurements. I recommend weighing out your ingredients for best results.
Equipment
- Saucepan or saucier
- Spatula
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil or vegan butter
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour use tapioca or cornstarch for gluten-free option
- 1 ½ cups soy milk
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast + more for topping
Instructions
- Heat 2 tbsp olive oil or vegan butter in a saucepan on medium heat. Sauté 3 cloves garlic, minced until aromatic.
- Add 2 tbsp all purpose flour and mix it into the butter with your spatula, until it turns into a smooth roux with no lumps.
- Whisk in 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, and 1 tbsp nutritional yeast.
- Pour 1 1/2 cups soy milk into the saucepan and stir continuously until it thickens to your desired consistency. It should take no more than a few minutes.
- Add cooked pasta of your choice and toss to coat.