Dairy Free Alfredo Sauce

When I was diagnosed with a dairy allergy, I never thought I would be able to have Alfredo sauce again! Not only because of the milk base of Alfredo sauce, but also the Parmesan cheese that makes it taste so good.

Fettuccine Alfredo – made with dairy free Alfredo sauce.

So for the past few years, I had to avoid indulging in the pleasure of my favorite pasta dish – Fettuccine Alfredo.

That was until a good friend of mine reminded me that she had a recipe for Dairy Free Alfredo Sauce.

I did recall having dinner with her and her family and being served Fettuccine Alfredo. And I also remembered how delicious it was, but I totally forgot that it was dairy free.

I was so excited to get the recipe and give it a try.

The Base of Dairy Free Alfredo Sauce

You can soak your cashews overnight, but if you have an Instant Pot pressure cooker they will be ready to process in less than 20 minutes!

What makes this Dairy Free Alfredo Sauce so creamy is cashews. Yes, cashews.

When pureed, cashews become very creamy and make a great base for many dairy-free cream sauces.

The key to making this recipe smooth, is to soak the cashews over night. The nuts absorb the water and become softened.

Soft and tender cashews – and no soaking was necessary.

That is great to know, but sometimes, if you are like me, you forget to plan for the overnight soaking time.

So that is where an Instant Pot Pressure Cooker comes to save the day!

Soaking Nuts In the Instant Pot Pressure Cooker

In order to achieve the fork tender quality of cashews that have been soaked over night, I turned to the Instant Pot.

Of course I did! You all know how much I adore my Instant Pot 6 quart Duo.

Add the ingredients into a high power blender.

It truly saves me a ton of time and the quality of food that it produces in a fraction of the time when compared to traditional cooking methods is irreplaceable.

And that is certainly the case when it comes to soaking cashews! What would take over 12 hours to accomplish, is done in less than 15 minutes.

I place the cashews in the liner of Instant Pot, cover them with water and let the magic begin. With 7 minutes of pressure cooking time, they are fork tender and ready to be made into Dairy Free Alfredo Sauce!

Blending The Cashews

Dairy free Alfredo sauce heating up in the Instant Pot Ace Blender.

The next step is simple – throw all of the ingredients into a high powered blender and puree the mixture until smooth.

Of course, by High Powered blender, I don’t mean the $19.00 blender that you get at the local department store. I am talking about high quality blenders such as the Vitamix, Blendtec, and Ninja type blenders.

But now there is a new blender on the market that I absolutely have fallen in love with – Instant Pot Ace Blender.

No, I am not a paid sponsor for the Instant Pot Brand. Although, I do love their products!

Instant Pot Ace Blender

Right when the Instant Pot Blender came out I was already in the market for a new blender. In fact, I had almost taken the financial plunge to purchase a Vitamix.

Puree the cashew mixture on the 2nd Puree setting for a smooth result.

Because I haven’t historically used a blender frequently, I was hesitant to spend so much money on one. However, I knew how strong of a motor they have and their warranty is fantastic.

But for me, the amount that it would get used caused me to question the purchase.

So it was perfect timing when I saw the Instant Pot Blender appear online. At the time that this article was written, it is only available online through Walmart stores. See: Instant Pot Blender Link

It was 1/4th of the cost of the Vitamix, and within 2 days, it was on my doorstep!

So when I went to make my Dairy Free Alfredo Sauce, of course I used my new blender.

Blend and Heat At The Same Time

The original recipe called for you to puree the ingredients until smooth and then transfer to a pot to heat and serve.

And of course, you can do just that.

Smooth and delicious dairy free Alfredo sauce.But because the Instant Pot Blender can puree and heat at the same time I decided to give it a shot!

So I took a chance and the results – the Dairy Free Alfredo Sauce was pureed and hot and ready to serve in less than 3 minutes!

No transferring to another pot, and no additional dishes to clean!

For me, it was an all around win-win situation. I can finally have my Fettuccine Alfredo and it can be ready to eat in minutes!

Check out the printable recipe below and all of our recipes and let me know what you think!

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Yield: 1 cups