One Pot Alfredo Sauce with Pasta

Creamy, delicious one-pot alfredo pasta sauce done in 30 minutes and cooked in one pot is the ultimate comfort meal.  Lightened up with cashew milk, this cheesy sauce in a quick weeknight dinner you whole family will love.  

Only 8 WW SP per serving and packed with protein, this alfredo pasta is an indulgent family-friendly meal you need for your next pasta night.

Indulgent alfredo sauce

I love alfredo sauce.  It seems so indulgent that fitting this into a healthy lifestyle could seem impossible.  As you know, I’m not into fake ingredients. Sure, you can make a Frankenstein's monster version of this with fat-free cheeses, but you deserve real ingredients.  

You deserve cheese. This recipe uses real parmesan--not the shaker stuff. If you have a Trader Joe’s nearby, I cannot recommend their cheese section enough; their selection is fantastic and super cheap.  

I got my parmesan for less than $6, and it easily makes 2-3 meals. Worth it. Real parmesan is not like shaker cheese. It is light as a feather when grated, melts like a dream, and the taste does not compare.  

Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa and my favorite Food Network chef, says parmesan is the only ingredient that is not fine to cut corners and she’s right. Get the good stuff.

Cashew Milk > Almond Milk

I’ve been cooking with cashew milk for a while now.  I loved my low point almond milk, but it never got as creamy as I hoped.  Cashew Milk is a dream come true.

It’s lower in points, packed with protein, and makes the creamiest sauces.  I tried it once, and I’ve never looked back. Cashew milk is growing in popularity, and you can find it almost anywhere these days.  I buy mine at Target, but I see it in a ton of local grocery stores.

Why one pot?

Have you ever seen those videos of people cooking all over Facebook?  I saw a few making one-pot pasta dishes, but I was skeptical as hell. This recipe comes after much trial and error.  

The liquid proportions have to be just right. The benefits from cooking this in one pot are that it’s fewer dishes, but you also get a thicker sauce from the starches of the pasta.  Chefs usually reserve a cup of pasta water for the starchy liquid, but there is no need if you cook the pasta directly in it.

You can totally make the sauce separately. You do you.

Let’s get cooking

I start my alfredo pasta sauce with a little bit of garlic cooked for about 30 seconds before adding the cashew milk.  It’s just enough garlic flavor to make this not a one-note cheese dish.

You’re going to boil the pasta directly in the cashew milk.  I do 6 of the seven cups of cashew milk for one box of pasta (I always cook with Barilla Plus Protein which is 5sp a serving).

Once the pasta is just slightly undercooked (about 6 minutes), you’re going to add the cup of cashew milk mixed with the flour.  The already thickening sauce will get much thicker as the flour cooks.

That’s when the magic happens. First, add the cream cheese. It’s my secret for all creamy sauces like mac and cheese. Once that’s melted, make it rain parmesan. 4 oz of freshly grated parmesan seems like a lot, but it tastes incredible, so don’t skimp.

This alfredo pasta sauce comes together like a dream.  It is silky and creamy and absolutely perfect.  I depending on your salt preference, you may want to add a little bit of salt at the end.  

I say at the end because parmesan is a salty cheese. Wait until everything is mixed, taste, and decide then.  I also add just the tiniest pinch of red pepper flakes and pepper, but totally optional.

Yield: 8

One Pot Alfredo

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This creamy, delicious one-pot alfredo pasta sauce is done in 30 minutes and makes the ultimate comfort meal.  Lightened up with cashew milk, this cheesy sauce is a quick weeknight dinner your whole family will love.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 box of pasta
• 7 cups cashew milk, unsweetened
• 4 oz parmesan, freshly grated
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ cup flour
• 1 oz ⅓ fat cream cheese
• kosher salt & pepper to taste
• red pepper flakes (optional)
• Green & Blue - 8 WW SP
• Purple - 3 WW SP (using whole wheat pasta)

Instructions

1. Spray a pan with cooking spray, and saute garlic for about 30 seconds.  
2. Add 6 cups of cashew milk, and bring mixture to a boil.
3. Once cashew milk is boiling, add pasta and cook about 2 minutes fewer than the box’s directions for al dente pasta.  
4. Reduce heat to low.
5. Combine flour and the remaining cup of cashew milk.  Stir well with a fork, or combine in a jar and shake to mix. This will be used to help thicken the sauce. 
6. Pour flour and milk mixture into pasta.
7. Add cream cheese, and stir until melted.
8. Stir parmesan into the pasta until fully melted.
9. Taste sauce and add salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes depending on taste preference.

Notes

This sauce can get thick quickly.  Keep the heat on low during the final stages.  You can thin the sauce out with more cashew milk, and I recommend doing this if you are prepping this for the week.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8

Serving Size:

1/8 (a little more than 1 cup/ 8.5oz))
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 232Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 3mgSodium: 155mgCarbohydrates: 37gFiber: 4gSugar: 2gProtein: 12g

Complete the dish with my Lemon Dijon Chicken marinade for a perfect weeknight meal.