Pressure Cooker Cauliflower Fettuccine Alfredo
Cauliflower Fettuccine Alfredo is a healthy pasta recipe for a pressure cooker. This Instant Pot / Pressure Cooker Cauliflower Fettuccine Alfredo recipe is magical in a veggie loaded, flavor bomb, healthy calories, sort of a way. Go ahead and pull out that Insta Pot and let’s get cooking!
Hey everybody! This is Marci from TIDBITS. As always, I’m excited to be posting here and thank you Barbara for the opportunity!
Happy New Year! I am so excited for today’s recipe because I’m pretty sure I’m helping you with 2 of your new year goals.
1) Eat Healthier, and
2) Become the Boss of your Brand New Electric Pressure Cooker that you got for Christmas.
Note from Barbara: If you are new to pressure cooking, be sure to check out my pressure cooker user’s resource guide for everything you need to know about pressure cooking!
I used to go to Olive Garden often to order their Steak Gorgonzola Alfredo pasta dish. I didn’t even need to look at a menu, that’s just what I got, every. single. time.
It never left me disappointed and I would eat the WHOLE plate. All 1300 calories and 70 grams of fat, oh yes I did. Then of course I’d go home in a food coma and swear to share half of it next time (nope, not gonna happen).
Making Cauliflower Fettuccine Alfredo in an Instant Pot
An Instant Pot is one of the most popular brands of electric pressure cookers. They are easy to use and your Instant Pot can help you create this delicious Cauliflower Fettuccine Alfredo recipe!
I haven’t been back to Olive Garden in years because of this very recipe that I’m sharing today. This Alfredo sauce is made with a touch of butter and a whole ton of cauliflower. No cream, no cheese, yet still it tastes oh-so-creamy and cheesy.
Then, since I get giddy over adding even more veggies to my veggie sauce, I’ve also added chopped spinach and green onions. I’ve also topped it with leftover grilled chicken, sausage, or bacon before, all completely amazing.
Then to mimic the flavors of the Olive Garden version, I sprinkle it with gorgonzola crumbles, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, and a drizzle of Balsamic glaze.
I particularly love this one from Trader Joes, but if you’re feeling ambitious, you could also reduce your own balsamic vinegar down on the stove top until it’s nice and thick.
I’ve also used just a thicker balsamic vinegar before. All work wonderfully, just don’t nix the balsamic, whatever you do!
Go for a whole grain pasta for this dish too. It marries beautifully with this sauce. My favorite is the Tinkyada brand, but any whole wheat pasta will do.
In case you’re not feeling like pasta (does that ever happen?), this sauce can be used in so many other applications. Stir it into rice for a creamy cheesy rice, use it as a dip for roasted veggies or warm crusty bread, or my favorite, use it as a pizza sauce and then top that with grilled chicken, bacon, gorgonzola, mozzarella, and slices of tomatoes.
Then finish it off with a drizzle of balsamic after it’s done cooking! It’s heaven, it really is.
Now get cooking and enjoy a big bowl of the healthiest fettuccine alfredo you’ve ever had!
Cauliflower Fettuccine Alfredo Recipe
Pressure Cooker Cauliflower Fettuccine Alfredo
This Olive Garden recipe is packed with a TON of veggie goodness! Dreamy, creamy fettuccine alfredo—ready in under 30 minutes!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 cloves garlic
- 7-8 cups cauliflower florets
- 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 cups spinach, coarsely chopped
- 2 green onions, finely chopped
- 1 pound fettuccine pasta, preferably whole grain
- Gorgonzola cheese
- Sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
- Balsamic glaze or thick balsamic vinegar
Instructions
Select saute on the pressure cooker and add butter. When melted, add garlic cloves and saute until fragrant, about 2 minutes, stirring constantly so the garlic doesn't burn. Add cauliflower, broth, and salt. Secure the lid and turn pressure release knob to a closed/sealing position. Cook at high pressure for 6 minutes.
While the cauliflower is cooking, heat a pot of water to boiling on the stove top. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Reserve about 1 cup of water and then drain the pasta. Return pasta to the empty pot.
When pressure cooking is complete, use a 10 minute natural release.
Blend with an immersion blender right in the pot until very smooth and silky, or carefully transfer to a blender and puree until smooth. By hand, stir in the chopped spinach and green onions and allow the hot sauce to wilt the spinach.
Pour sauce over the pasta and toss. Add a half cup or so of the reserved pasta water to the pasta if needed. The starchy water will help the sauce to stick to the pasta.
Serve hot with a garnish of gorgonzola cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.
The sauce heats back up very nicely so you could also make the sauce in advance and have it ready to pour over pasta for a quick, healthy, delicious meal any night of the week. Also amazing over rice, as a sauce on pizza, or a dip for bread and roasted veggies. It does it all!
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 321Total Fat: 6.7gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 17mgSodium: 967mgCarbohydrates: 58.3gFiber: 7.7gSugar: 3.2gProtein: 11.9g
Nutrition information is calculated by Nutritionix and may not always be accurate.
1) Healthy Eating-DONE!
2) Become an Electric Pressure Cooker Master-DONE-ish
You’ll want to order our TIDBITS Master the Electric Pressure Cooker ecookbook to completely knock this one off your list. You will love it!
For another healthy pressure cooker recipes from TIDBITS, try our pressure cooker buffalo chicken stuffed potatoes.
I am not sure how this recipe serving 12 (with only a pound of pasta and 2 tbs of butter) can have 271 calories- is that supposed to be 12 servings (not a very big serving at that!) how much cheese does that include and how much sun dried tomatoes? Thanks!
Thanks for the heads up. I’ve updated the recipe. It makes 6 servings.
Thank you for the recipe. If you were going to serve eight people, would you double every ingredient? Thanks in advance. Sue
Hi Sue – depending on how big you want your portions to be, you could do 1.5 times the recipe or double all the ingredients for 8 servings.
Great. Thank you!
This is a great recipe! I made a few modifications: I reduced the salt to 1 tsp, used parmiggiano regiano instead of gorgonzola, skipped the sundried tomatoes and balsamic glaze. I also added a dash of fish sauce at the end to give it some umami flavor.
I used 2 heads of cauliflower and ended up with a ton of sauce. I may reduce to 1 head in the future.
I will definitely make this again!
Hi
Getting a 404 error when trying to print
https://www.pressurecookingtoday.com/pressure-cooker-cauliflower-fettuccine-alfredo/print/
Hi Al – thanks for the heads up. It should be working now. Enjoy!
Hi! I don’t understand what is meant by adding the pasta water to the noodles. How do you know if it is needed? Do you add it before you add the sauce or after? I’ve never heard of this but I have had problems of the sauce sticking to the noodles before. I’m so excited to try this recipe. Also, I have the cheese potato soup on the menu next week! You guys are amazing! Does this cook book have similar recipes? I love how delicious they sound but in the same breath, something I would eat.
Hi Rachel, I know this reply is late in coming, but I’ll answer it anyways. The pasta water is very starchy so it helps to thicken the sauce and make it stick to the noodles better. I make the recipes from the book regularly, I really do love the recipes!
I made this tonight in my Instant Pot and it was SOOOOOO GOOD! This is definitely a keeper and will make again. I, like others who have commented, cannot believe it comes out like a silky, cheesy sauce!! I mistakenly only bought one head of cauliflower which left me with 4 cups of chopped and it was perfect! I also didn’t add the gorgonzola cheese, tomatoes or balsamic vinegar because I didn’t have those ingredients on hand. STILL PERFECTION! Thank you for a fabulous recipe!!
This recipe should come up whenever anyone googles “how to make vegetables taste like cheese!” Loved it, the sauce is pure culinary gold – a great way to make sure kids get their veggies. And adults too. Who knew cauliflower could get so cheesy? My husband couldn’t believe there was no cheese in this. I didn’t even have fettuccine, and tossed it with fusili, plus the only topping I used was reduced balsamic – but here I am raving about it still! Thanks for another great recipe ladies!
Ishta, I can’t stop smiling after reading your response! It’s the same reaction I got from my husband and kids when I served it. I’ll beam for hours after a meal knowing that I got that many servings of veggies into my children’s bellies. Thanks so much for letting me know your experience 🙂
how many people is this supposed to serve?
Alienor, I would plan on it serving 4 big portions, although in my family 6 were easily fed. If you added meat, that would stretch it even further.
Per your instructions above stated here: “Secure the lid and turn pressure release knob to a released position. Cook at high pressure for 6 minutes.”
My pot will not work if the valve is released. Shouldn’t this be on Sealing, not venting?
Yep, you’re right, it’s fixed!
I hope to try this soon, it looks great! HOWEVER, pasta Alfredo has ONLY pasta, Parmesan cheese and butter. No milk or cream, no chicken or vegetable stock. No gloppy sauce. And definitely not gorgonzola, spinach, or sun-dried tomatoes. This really looks and sounds delicious, but it definitely needs a different name, one which more accurately reflects what it really is.
Thanks for your insight! The dish was inspired by Olive Garden’s Steak Gorgonzola Fettuccine Alfredo which is why I named it the way I did. Let me know if you try it!
Why would you turn the pressure knob to a released position when cooking the cauliflower?? My instant pot instructions tell me not to do that.
Sorry! It was supposed to be written “sealed position”. It’s fixed now!
I am on a life style journey of whole food plant base foods with no oil, dairy. Or friend sugars and flours. Do you have any recipes for cooking in an instant pot that would work for my lifestyle?
I like to experiment in as many different food styles as possible. I’ll keep your lifestyle in mind as I create 🙂
“Secure the lid and turn pressure release knob to a released position. Cook at high pressure for 6 minutes.”
Is it possible that you meant to engage the pressure knob or am I misunderstanding “released position”? Thank you. The recipe looks so yummy.
Hi Louise – you’re correct. The knob should be in the closed/sealed position. I’ve updated the recipe. Thanks! Happy New Year 🙂
The recipe still isn’t updated. Just wanted you to know. My daughter and I are so excited about making this. Thank you. Happy New Year!