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I just made this tonight and loved it! The flavor is fabulous- definitely a keeper.
Ali
Today we are giving a big huge virtual hug to my favorite whole wheat pasta makers at DeLallo for sponsoring this post. Pasta, pasta, and more pasta!
Once upon a time, I had this idea to make an Alfredo sauce out of cauliflower. Remember that? Throwbaaack.
I loved it, you loved it, we all loved it together. It was 2012 and life was good.
In the years since that recipe came to life, it’s been so nice to have a healthier alternative to traditional cream-and-butter Alfredo sauce in my virtual recipe box all this time, but the fettuccine? Yikes. Over the years, as we’ve tried to cut back on refined grains, I have found it really, really hard to find whole wheat fettuccine. And believe me, as the resident noodle lover in the family, I have been looking.
Today, my fettuccine Alfredo loving self is celebrating big time.
Because this recipe features my favorite cauliflower Alfredo sauce, per the usual, but this time it’s all cozied up with… wait for it… DeLallo’s whole wheat fettuccine.
And sweet peas. And crumbled bacon. And parsley, salt, pepper, Parmesan, and love. Because that feels springy, right? Ahhhhmmm yes.
I mentioned in my Target post last week that DeLallo is by far and away my favorite brand for whole wheat pasta, and I do not mess around when it comes to whole wheat pasta. It’s gotta be good, or else just give me the regular stuff.
Thankfully, DeLallo’s whole wheat pasta is REALLY GOOD. The taste and texture is unbeatable. It’s made with traditional bronze plates for a rough, kind of rustic-looking surface that will literally, er, kind of literally, hug your sauces AND YES I JUST SAID HUG YOUR SAUCES.
Hello? Best thing ever?
After trying out their products (sauces, pastas, and beyond) for the last year or so, I so appreciate that DeLallo is committed to using only the best ingredients, many of them being organic. Thank you, DeLallo! Bonus points for you – and us.
I also love that I can find their products at most of our local grocery stores, and they have 15 other varieties of whole wheat pasta ranging from stuff you’ve never even heard of to your pantry basics like penne and spaghetti. You guys, I am obsessed.
You can think you don’t like whole wheat pasta, but I’m going to have to break it to you: you’re actually wrong about yourself. This whole wheat fettuccine alfredo is going to seduce you into the whole wheat pasta lovers’ spell starting in three, two, one.
Yep. There it is.
Lightened Up Whole Wheat Fettuccine Alfredo
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
Description
Lightened Up Whole Wheat Fettuccine Alfredo – a classic, simple, healthy way to enjoy everyone’s favorite pasta! Yum, yum, and yum.
Ingredients
For the Sauce:
- 6 cups cauliflower florets
- 1 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
For the Fettuccine
- 6–8 slices bacon
- 1 lb. DeLallo whole wheat fettuccine (reserve cooking water)
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (optional)
- 1 1/2 cups frozen or fresh peas
- parsley, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and/or a dash of nutmeg for topping
Instructions
- For the sauce, bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the cauliflower and cook for 5-6 minutes, until fork tender. Drain the water off and transfer cauliflower to a blender. Meanwhile, saute the minced garlic in the butter over very low heat for 3-4 minutes, until fragrant. Add the broth, sautéed garlic, and salt. Puree until very smooth.
- Cook the bacon (I baked mine for about 10-15 minutes at 375 degrees). Crumble and set aside.
- Bring another pot of water to boil. Add the fettuccine and cook until al dente. Drain and reserve the water. Add the sauce, bacon, Parmesan, and peas to the pasta as well as 1/2 cup or more of reserved pasta water (it’s starchy so it helps the texture). Return to low heat and stir very gently – the fettuccine breaks fairly easily. When everything is heated through, remove from the heat and serve topped with parsley, salt, pepper, and if you like, a dash of nutmeg or extra Parmesan.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Italian
Keywords: fettuccine alfredo, healthy fettuccine alfredo, whole wheat pasta, healthy pasta recipe
Thanks again to DeLallo for sponsoring this post!
Nice fettuccine alfredo recipe! Parmesan cheese added a great flavor to the dish. It tasted fantastic with bacon and everyone in the family loved it. I made this with egg noodle fettuccine from Rossi Pasta and it was really tasty. Adding the water for the pasta is the key to get the right consistency while the pasta cooks. This recipe has officially been saved as one of my favorites. Yummy meal on a cold winter day!
I just made this tonight and loved it! The flavor is fabulous- definitely a keeper.
Really needed some (healthier) comfort food in my life today… It’s cold and dark here 🙁 looking forward to making this tonight. Thank you!
Hope you enjoyed it, Michelle!
I tried your recipe on Sunday and it was delicious!
Since I am vegetarian I used dried tomatoes instead of the bacon which I briefly soaked in the hot vegetable stock. The stock tasted like tomato then and had a reddish colour, but that didn’t do any harm 😉
And nutritional yeast instead of parmesan cheese worked great here 🙂
It is a lovely spring recipe! Thanks!
So glad to hear that, Ines! Great suggestions for our vegetarian readers!
If I had a dollar for every time I told people about + thought about your amazing.cauliflower.sauce recipe…I would be looking at a 2016 retirement. I love it Linds! This looks delicious and is going on my grocery list right now.
Haha! So glad to hear that, Jen. 🙂 Thanks for the comment!
I made this earlier this week and we’ve been munching on it all week long. It was delicious. First day, I paired with seared scallops. Yum, yum!!
Yum! 🙂 Thanks, Shinee!
This looks delicious! I have only one question. My boyfriend is severely anti-cauliflower (he calls it the Albino Vegetable Menace), but I have been tempted to try to sneak it past him, especially in white pasta sauces like this one. Do you find that it tastes like cauliflower? Or does the chicken stock, garlic, bacon, and parmesan mask the cauliflower taste?
Hi, Kate! While I have not personally tasted this recipe, I would say it is the perfect time to sneak cauliflower onto your boyfriend’s dinner plate. The original creamy cauliflower sauce (https://pinchofyum.com/creamy-cauliflower-sauce) does have the taste of cauliflower, but it’s not overpowering. In this fettuccine dish, I think there are enough other strong flavors that the cauliflower flavor could be masked. Good luck! 😉
Yummy, looks delicious
We love hearing that. Thanks, Sumit!
Well, at first I blew right past this recipe thinking now way, not healthy. Then I saw that you made the sauce from Cauliflower and I was blown away! Amazing! Can’t wait to try it – after the diet, that is…
Thanks, Nina! Hope you love it!
Truthfully, I was sure I was going to hate this but I’m trying to lose my belly fat for an upcoming trip and trying to eat more healthy.
We all loved this. The bacon really made the whole dish come together but my daughter hates bacon and had hers without and it was still awesome.
It’s a very comforting and filling dish and we don’t even feel guilty. We didn’t do the Delallo pasta because I couldn’t find it but I’m on the look out. We went with Barilla Protein Plus.
Thanks for sharing this and your other recipes!
Thanks for posting AFTER cooking this! Though I understand poster’s desires to comment before–particulary with so much that looks tasty–those comments don’t tend to be helpful (especially for those of us with joint/tendon problems trying to sift for reviews and tips with minimal pain).
So glad to hear it worked out for you! Thanks for the comment, Danni.
This dish looks and sounds ‘fantabulous’ to me, and I’m definitely going to make it after my next trip to the grocery store. My family and I love cauliflower, peas, and whole wheat pasta….so I’m sure this dish will be a keeper in my recipe fie.
Fettuccine alfredo sauce is so delicious but can be so bad for you. I love trying to make a lightened up version whenever I can. This recipe looks great!
There is legitimate drool on my keyboard. This looks absolutely delicious. Can I just have a bowl of it now!?
Yum! This looks so good. We love using whole wheat pasta!
I’ve been reading this blog for a long time, but this is my first time commenting. This looks so good and I’m all set to try it out this week! Thanks for the supper inspiration! You’ve been such an inspiration for me to eat more plant-based meals. Thank you for all your hard work!
Thanks Anna! love hearing that! 🙂
I’m so excited to make this recipe TONIGHT! Also cooking chicken to trick them into thinking it’s regular alfredo 😀
I am enjoying the recipe results right now! So good. I love the use of cauliflower. And, Lindsay, I am 71, live alone and really use your recipes. A new audience for you….the Grammies of the world!
I love hearing that! Thanks for the comment Mary! 🙂
It looks so delicious! I’ve recently come across a nice pasta recipes and made it with brown rice pasta. It came out great. I am not celiac, but try to stay away from white flour as much as I can. I want to suggest gluten-free folks use Trader Joe’s brown rice pasta, that is delicious and inexpensive. I am sure it will work well for this recipe as well.
Thanks for the rec Anna! I’ve been actually really pleased with some of the gluten free pastas I’ve tried over the last year or so. I don’t need to eat GF but I like to try stuff and I think the overall quality of these products is getting better with time 🙂
I am all about whole wheat pasta, it’s all I ever cook with! This recipe sounds fantastic and I love that it’s lightened up. I think it’s about time I give your cauliflower-alfredo recipe a try 🙂
Totally delicious and lightened up … pinned and I will make it later on, sounds so good.
Thanks Ilona! I hope you like it!
Coming from a gal that is not a cream sauce or much of a pasta lover…this recipe is converting me. Like as in, gimme dis pasta for dinner right meow!
I am the only cauliflower lover in our house. Hoping to turn that around with this recipe. Thanks.
I LOVE seeing people who love cauliflower. Best. Veggie. Ever.
Me! me! meeee!
This looks so delicious!
Thanks for what looks to be a great “light” recipe for one of my favorite dishes. EXCEPT – it seems like the whole world is on this “bacon” kick. Yes, I know it is hard to believe, but there ARE some of us in this world who can’t or won’t eat the stuff! I’m getting to the point where I am sooo tired of trying to find a substitute that I just delete the recipe and keep going.
This is an easy one though, as bacon is not really an “original” ingredient of Fettuccine Alfredo thus no substitute is needed!
Nope! Just skip it if you don’t like it. 🙂