Dairy-free Cauliflower Pine Nut Sauce, Paleo, Whole30
Dairy-free Cauliflower Pine Nut Sauce recipe. A creamy dairy-free alfredo-like sauce made of puréed cauliflower, pine nuts, and almond milk.
This Dairy-free Cauliflower Pine Nut sauce is our kind of comfort food. Give us this rich and creamy sauce on top of carbs anytime and we'll be happy. 🙂
It’s got an alfredo-esque texture and flavor thanks to the mixture of puréed cauliflower and pine nuts.
The flavor also has an extra oomph thanks to the cauliflower being cooked in chicken broth. NOM. Bonus points that it’s naturally dairy-free, Paleo, and Whole30!
We're so glad that we came up with this recipe. For real.
We've always felt like we were missing out on all those creamy dairy-free cashew sauces because we are allergic to cashews.
Don’t get us wrong, we love cauliflower sauces but, we knew there must be a reason everyone loves cashew cream sauces…. We felt like maybe there was that added bit of creaminess missing.
Which brings us to pine nuts!
Why use pine nuts?!
Well, we recently made a pesto sauce and noticed that the pine nuts added a creamy dimension.
There’s a reason pine nuts are used in pesto, after all!
We did some research and found that the reason pine nuts taste so creamy is that they are very high in oil content.
Some even describe pine nuts as having a buttery texture. Which we totally get.
When pine nuts are pureed, they become creamy and sweet.
Which sounds just just right for making a creamy dairy-free sauce.
FYI- check out our Lemon Alfredo Spaghetti Squash recipe, if you love dairy-free alfredos. 🙂
What do you need to make this Dairy-free Cauliflower Pine Nut Sauce?
- cauliflower
- chicken broth
- salt and pepper
- nutmeg
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- pine nuts
- olive oil
- almond milk
How do you make this Dairy-free Cauliflower Pine Nut Sauce?
Making this sauce is pretty simple.
To start, you have to boil a whole head of cauliflower florets in chicken broth.
Cooking them in chicken broth lets them absorb the chicken broth flavor, which really gives the cauliflower an added satisfying flavor.
Then, put the cooked cauliflower florets into a blender, along with some of the chicken broth, salt, pepper, nutmeg, garlic powder, onion powder, pine nuts, olive oil and almond milk.
Puree everything until the mixture is smooth.
See? That was simple.
We love putting this Dairy-free Cauliflower Pine Nut Sauce on top of quinoa pasta, baked potatoes, and grilled chicken.
SO. GOOD.
Side note: we know that pine nuts can be expensive BUT we found some at Trader Joes for a great price. 🙂
Prep 10 minutesCook 10 minutesTotal 20 minutesMakes 6
Ingredients
- 1 head of cauliflower
- 5 cups chicken broth
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- ½ cup pine nuts
- 3 Tbs olive oil
- 1/2 cup almond milk
Method
- Pour the chicken broth into a large pot and bring it to a boil. Cut the head of cauliflower so that it is broken up into smaller cauliflower florets. Add the cauliflower florets to the pot and cook, covered, for about 10 minutes, until the cauliflower florets are fork tender. Do not drain because you’ll be using the chicken broth in the next step.
- Then, using a slotted spoon, move the cauliflower pieces into your blender. Add 1 cup of the chicken broth from the pot, the salt, pepper, nutmeg, garlic powder, onion powder, pine nuts, olive oil and almond milk to the blender. Blend / puree for several minutes until the sauce is smooth.
- Then add another ½ cup of the chicken broth from the pot and blend again.
- At this point you can season the sauce with more salt and pepper to taste. Also, if you want the sauce to be thinner, add more broth.
