This Vegan Cauliflower Béchamel Sauce is thick, rich, and creamy - it's also entirely plant-based. This white sauce is made with cauliflower and beans for a healthy sauce to serve with pasta or to create a creamy texture in any dish.
Bring on the pasta! This Vegan Cauliflower White sauce is such a great way to make a healthy pasta dish. This sauce has beans and veggies so you can get your micronutrients, fiber, and protein along with your pasta!
What is Béchamel Sauce?
Traditionally béchamel sauce is a roux made from flour, butter, and milk. It is a slightly thick sauce, used to thicken and flavor soups or other creamy dishes.
This Vegan Béchamel Sauce is slightly different. It's made with whole food ingredients. No flour, butter, or milk here.
But it can function like a béchamel sauce or like an Alfredo sauce. So, you can use it as a white sauce for pasta or pizza. Or as a thickener for soups.
Why I love this Cauliflower Béchamel Sauce
- Dietary needs - this recipe is dairy-free, plant-based, oil-free, gluten-free, and sugar-free. It's also very high in protein and fiber.
- Versatile - you can make this sauce to go with pasta, use it to thicken your favorite soups, serve on vegan pizza, or eat as a dip
- Quick and easy - it takes about 15 minutes to steam cauliflower, and then another couple minutes to blend everything together.
- Whole food ingredients - you could make a vegan version of béchamel using flour, vegan butter, and non-dairy milk. BUT this recipe has so many more nutrients. With beans and cauliflower, this dish is packing a nutritional punch
Ingredient Notes
- Cauliflower: Steamed cauliflower blends into a smooth puree. You'd never know it's the based of this sauce.
- White Beans: Beans add to the cauliflower to create a super smooth, creamy texture. Plus they add fiber and protein to an already healthy sauce. You can use great northern beans or cannellini beans - both work well
- Garlic: garlic adds a nice tang - if you are sensitive to garlic, reduce the number of cloves OR steam the garlic along with the cauliflower to cut down on the bite
- Nutritional Yeast: Affectionally known as nooch, nutritional yeast has a cheesy flavor that adds some depth to the sauce. Traditional alfredo has tons of cheese, so adding nutritional yeast helps mimic the flavor.
- Lemon Juice: For a bit of tang and freshness. Lemon juice helps keep this sauce light and bright.
- Spices: onion powder, salt & pepper
- Hot Pepper Flakes: For a kick. You can leave these out entirely if you don't like spice, but I recommend using at least a pinch.
How to make Cauliflower White Sauce
Step 1. Steam the cauliflower until very tender, about 15 minutes.
Step 2. Transfer the cauliflower to a blender. Add the can of beans (including the liquid), garlic, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, onion powder, salt, hot pepper flakes, and black pepper. Blend until smooth.
Step 3. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with your favorite pasta and enjoy!
Serving Suggestions
Like I mentioned earlier, this recipe can be used as more than just a sauce. Here are some other ways to use this white sauce:
- like Alfredo for pasta
- to thicken soups
- as a dip for vegetables or crackers
- on vegan pizza
- in vegan lasagna
Recipe Prayer
Thank you God for this vegetable-forward dish. We are grateful that the food that you give us. Amen.
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Tried this recipe?
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📖 Recipe
Cauliflower Béchamel Sauce (Vegan)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 Heads Cauliflower cut into florets
- 1 15 Ounce Can White Beans including liquid
- 6 Cloves Garlic
- 2 Tablespoons Nutritional Yeast
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
- 1 Tablespoon Onion Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
- ¼ Teaspoon Hot Pepper Flakes
- ¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper
Instructions
- Steam the cauliflower until very tender, about 15 minutes.
- Transfer the cauliflower to a blender. Add the can of beans (including the liquid), garlic, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, onion powder, salt, hot pepper flakes, and black pepper. Blend until smooth.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with your favorite pasta and enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is an estimate.
Comments
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