This Dairy Free Chicken Alfredo Spaghetti Squash is a healthier take on classic comfort food. It’s ultra creamy and perfectly hits the spot when you’re in the mood for a cozy meal.
Ever since I posted my Life Changing Rosemary Mushroom Cream Sauce recipe, the dairy free requests have been rolling it! I guess we all really love a good cream sauce right? And while we do eat some dairy, we like to keep it mostly to cheese and butter.
There’s just something about dairy rich sauces that doesn’t sit all that well with us either. We mostly keep those super rich sauces like my mushroom cream sauce to holidays and special occasions.
And so today, I have a brand new dairy free recipe for you as the title would suggest. Alfredo has to be one of the best tasting cream sauces ever. So it’s only natural to dream up a great dairy free version.
This sauce is ultra creamy and oh so decadent, really the perfect alternative if you can’t have dairy. However I’m not going to sit here and tell you it tastes just the same as the classic.
I would never go that far, plus I think that’s beyond unrealistic for a dairy free cream sauce. But I don’t want to downplay how incredibly delicious this is either. It’s just different, but still beyond good. It’s sort of like trying to compare apples to oranges. But I’m 100% confident that you’ll love this one whether you’re dairy free or not!
So let’s just jump right in and start making this Dairy Free Chicken Alfredo Spaghetti Squash!
Aside from soaking the cashews ahead of time, the first step is to cook your spaghetti squash. I roasted mine in these photos, but sometimes I cook it in the Instant Pot for extra ease. You can find out all about how to cook spaghetti squash in my post along with Instant Pot instructions.
Next up the soaked cashews are drained and blended into a super creamy alfredo sauce. Try to resist taste testing too much, you might not be able to stop eating this sauce by the spoonful! (I seriously have no control with this sauce!)
Then you’re going to sauté the chicken, remove it from the pan, and set it aside. And from there the onion and thyme are cooked together, and the kale is sautéed until tender.
After the kale is tender, you’ll add the chicken back to the pan along with the alfredo sauce. Everything is mixed to combine, and then finally you add the spaghetti squash to the mix.
Presentation tip: try reserving just a touch of the alfredo sauce to drizzle over the top. Spaghetti squash mixed with a creamy sauce has a bit of a blob like appearance on the plate. So a drizzle of sauce or some minced parsley can work wonders!
More favorite dairy free cream sauces:
- Creamy Cashew Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
- Instant Pot Creamy Tuscan Chicken
- Creamy Blackened Chicken Pasta
- Thai Zucchini Meatballs with Mango Coconut Sauce
- Savory Vegan Cashew Cream Sauce – this can be used in place of the heavy cream in my Life Changing Rosemary Mushroom Cream Sauce.
I hope you get a chance to make this soon, and if you do, I hope you’ll leave me a comment/rating below. I always love hearing from you here in the comments. And also over on Instagram where you can tag me at #getinspiredeveryday with your photos of what you make.
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Dairy Free Chicken Alfredo Spaghetti Squash
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
This ultra creamy comfort food dinner is super easy to make and boasts some servings of veggies as well!
Ingredients
1 – 3 pound spaghetti squash
2 Tablespoons olive oil, or avocado oil
1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1/2” pieces
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Teaspoons chopped fresh thyme, or 1/2 Teaspoon dried
1 small bunch kale, washed, stems removed, and thinly sliced
Dairy Free Alfredo Sauce:
1 1/2 cups cashews, soaked 4-8 hours in 2 cups water, rinsed, see notes
1 cup coconut cream, skimmed from the top of 1 can of coconut milk
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 Teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
1/4 Teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast
2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
Begin by soaking the cashews. When you’re ready to cook, carefully split the spaghetti squash in half and scrape out the seeds. Lay the halves flat side down on a parchment lined baking sheet and roast at 425ºF for 45 minutes, or until just tender. You can also follow my Instant Pot instructions for how to cook spaghetti squash.
While the squash is baking, sauté the chicken in a large pan with 1 tablespoon of the oil. When the chicken is browned and just done, remove it from the pan and set it aside.
Add the remaining tablespoon of oil along with the onion. Cook stirring every few minutes until the onion is tender and browned, 5-8 minutes over medium heat. Then add the garlic and thyme, cook an additional 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
While the onion mixture is cooking, make the sauce by draining and rinsing the cashews. Then add them to a high powered blender along with the rest of the ingredients. Blend until smooth and set the sauce aside.
Next add the kale to the pan with the onion mixture, and sauté stirring frequently until tender, 3-5 minutes. Then add the chicken back to the pan along with the alfredo sauce. Reserve a couple tablespoons of sauce for drizzling over the top. Stir to combine.
When the spaghetti squash is done, remove it from the oven. Using a fork, scrape out the ‘noodles’. Add the spaghetti squash to the pot with the alfredo and stir to combine, and make sure everything is heated through. Adjust the salt and pepper to your taste, adding more if needed. Drizzle the reserved sauce over the top and serve immediately.
Notes
For the cashews you want to look for raw – not roasted and unsalted. I buy cashew pieces because they’re much cheaper and they get blended up anyways.
You can also use water or chicken stock in place of the coconut cream, but it does add quite a bit to the creaminess.
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 45
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: Dairy Free Chicken Alfredo, Dairy Free Alfredo Sauce, Paleo Alfredo Sauce with Spaghetti Squash
This sounds amazing and I have a spaghetti squash just waiting on my counter now! What a great lower carb dinner recipe!
★★★★★
Definitely super tasty, hope you enjoy it!