Tips For The Best Alfredo Sauce
If youre having a bad day, this elegant sauce will definitely make it better. Its totally comfort food! Here are some tips on how to get the best results with your Alfredo sauce so you dont stress while making this easy sauce:
- To Double the Recipe: This sauce will make enough to throughly coat 8 oz of fettuccine. Double recipe if you are making 16 oz of pasta!
- Dont Overheat the Saucepan: Too much heat can burn the butter/garlic and make the cheese clump, so try to keep your heat low and steady as you make this sauce.
- Parmesan Cheese: You want to use freshly grated or fresh parmesan cheese, not the kind in the shaker can.
- Let the Cheese Come to Room Temp: It will melt faster if it comes to room temperature first, which will ensure that your sauce is relatively smooth.
- Use a Whisk: You dont want your sauce to separate, so use a whisk and stir often. This will keep your Alfredo Sauce from separating and stirring it often will keep it from burning.
- Taste It! Make sure you taste it before coating your pasta with the sauce. Make sure it has enough salt and pepper for your liking.
Cream Cream And More Cream : Homemade Alfredo Sauce Ingredients 101
Now that youre basically an expert in all things alfredo, youll know by simply skimming our alfredo sauce ingredients list that our alfredo recipe is more American-style than authentically Italian. And yet, it yields the hands-down best bowl of fettuccine alfredo you can find on either side of the Atlantic! Authentic or no, its exactly what we crave when were hankering for alfredo and we know youre going to love it, too. Pick your favorite pastafettuccine noodles are the classic choiceand get cooking! Heres everything youll need to make the best alfredo sauce recipe ever:
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Butter
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How Do You Make Alfredo Sauce From Scratch
Heat vegan butter in a casserole or pan. When hot, add diced onions and garlic fry for around 5 minutes. Transfer to a food processor together with the vegan cream cheese, vegan parmesan, and coconut milk. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper.
Process until smooth and creamy.
Note: if you like your Alfredo Sauce really hot, warm it in a pan a bit until hot. Serve over your favorite pasta and enjoy.
Leftovers will last for one week properly stored.
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Garlic Elevates The Flavor
Cream has a neutral taste, so it needs a spicy kick like minced garlic to infuse more flavor. I briefly saute the garlic in melted butter to mellow the harsh sulfurous notes and develop a nuttiness to the sauce. You dont want to brown the butter or burn the garlic. Just a minute or less is all you need to transform that raw, intense taste.
The Hollywood Romance Behind Fettuccine Alfredo
According to one version of the story, Alfredo di Lelio invented Alfredo sauce served with fettuccini pasta in 1914 for his wife Ines, who was pregnant with their second child and too nauseous to hold down other foods . According to another version, he invented the meal in 1908, to strengthen his weakened wife, after the birth of their first son. Before serving it to her, he prayed to Saint Anna, the protector of pregnant woman . Like a miracle, the prayer worked.
They also took the recipe for fettuccine Alfredo home with them to the United States. Who knows maybe they served it to other Hollywood elite at their 22 room mansion in Beverly Hills . Either way, the dish soon became a Hollywood favorite. The rest, as they say, is history.
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What Can I Add To Alfredo Sauce
To the jar add at least 3 additions to the store bought sauce to give it a fresher taste. I like to add 1 tablespoon real butter, 1/3 cup cream, 2 t fresh, minced garlic, 1/4 c fresh grated Parmesan, 1/2 c steamed fresh broccoli, a sprinkle of garlic salt, fresh black pepper, and a little bit of fresh or dried basil.
What Do I Do If My Alfredo Sauce Separates
This is more of a problem with sauce made with heavy whipping cream. The flour in this recipe acts as a binding agent and helps hold the sauce together. However, after being stored for a few days in the refrigerator, it will start to separate. You can reincorporate everything by reheating and whisking the sauce.
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Storing Homemade Alfredo Sauce
If you dont want to serve it immediately and/or you have leftovers, store them in a covered container in the refrigerator and use within 5 days. Reheat in a saucepan over medium heat.
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This post, originally published Kevin is Cooking on Apr 27, 2020, was last updated with new content on Oct. 27, 2021.
Easy Shrimp And Pesto Pasta
You guuuuuysIve got another fantastic easy meal for you! This Shrimp Pesto Pasta is not only crazy delicious, but it only takes 20 minutes to make. Major weeknight win!
I consider kielbasa a miracle ingredient because its already precooked, delicious, and can easily elevate so many dishes in a snap. Well, I think the same thing about pesto sauce.
Pesto can easily transform so many foods with barely even trying. I love to use a little folded into scrambled eggs, in tortellini soup, on my pizza dough sometimes instead of red sauce, and whisked together with mayo for a killer sandwich spread. And obviously its so perfect for pasta. In this pesto shrimp recipe, it gets mixed with butter, half-n-half, and Parmesan for a new twist on Alfredo sauce.
My homemade pesto sauce recipe is so ridiculously easy to whip up and keep in the fridge, but you can totally buy it and eliminate even another step!
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What Other Seasonings Can I Add
We only added garlic powder and black pepper but there are many other seasonings you could add. Try stirring in a pinch of nutmeg, red pepper flakes, dried basil, dried oregano, or dried parsley. You can also add salt if needed but taste the sauce first to make sure. Only add a little at a time, tasting after incorporating it before adding more.
How Do Restaurants Keep Pasta From Sticking
Frequent stirring prevents clumping and helps all the noodles cook at the same pace. Two more great tools for your pasta-cooking arsenal: A rubber spatula and large metal spoon. Both are used again and again in the restaurant to help incorporate sauce and noodles in the pan as theyre simmered together.
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Creamy Homemade Alfredo Sauce
Go-to comfort food dishes, anyone? Ive got a number of them to choose from on any given night, but Homemade Alfredo Sauce served over a bowl of pasta is always a front-runner in this family!
This creamy sauce may sound like quite a bit of work, but it actually only takes about 15 minutes to make, tops. After that, all you have to do is toss it with some pasta, and dinner is served!
To say this easy pasta dish is a crowd-pleaser would be a massive understatement just in case you were mulling over what to make for dinner tonight.
Add Something Other Than Pasta
You dont have to rely on your jarred Alfredo sauce alone to give your dish some flavor. Add some extra ingredients to your pasta to pump up the dish and mask the artificial taste of jarred sauce.
Try adding some protein to your Alfredo pasta dishes, such as shrimp or chicken. Not only will this make the meal healthier and more filling, but it will also thicken out the sauce and add robust flavors.
If you want to make the dish healthy, add some vegetables, such as steamed broccoli. Jarred Alfredo sauce is delicious but it is often very heavy and fatty, so vegetables can cut through that thick feeling.
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How To Make Alfredo Sauce
Making rich, creamy, cheesy Alfredo sauce is so easy, you just might skip the jarred stuff in favor of homemade from now on.
Once you learn how to make a basic Alfredo sauce, you can use it in endless ways by adding your favorite ingredients to create restaurant-worthy dishes like Chicken Alfredo. Read on to learn how to make Alfredo sauce and get recipes to try.
Why This Recipe Works
Honestly, this particular Alfredo Sauce recipe was my sole reason, or at least my first really big inspiration, for creating copycat recipes. It quite literally was the first recipe I created for CopyKat, you wont want to miss out on this pasta dish. I lived in a very rural area of East Texas the nearest Olive Garden was 90 minutes away. It was a very special treat to have this Alfredo sauce. I knew the only way I could have fettuccine alfredo was to learn how to make homemade alfredo sauce.
It was for me, looking back, a magical moment that would change my life and cause me to create many more copycat recipes. I still order the Olive Gardens Alfredo sauce from time to time, and honestly, it still tastes just as good to me as it did the first time I had this dish. The Olive Garden makes many delicious creamy sauces, but by far, this is their best sauce.
Olive gardens alfredo sauce recipe is an easy dinner idea for your next pasta night. This delicious sauce is an easy meal for any night of the week. This is perfect for a main or a side dish.
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What You Need To Make Sauce:
Simple ingredients for an elegant sauce that is a classic dish loved by all. This Sauce just has a smooth, creamy texture that melts in your mouth. The best results comes from the ingredients. Using the freshest ingredients is key!
Fresh parmesan cheese grated off the block is one of those key ingredients. This will create a smooth textured sauce rather than a grainy one. Each of these ingredients melt and blend together so well creating a masterpiece!
- Butter: either unsalted or salted work for this alfredo sauce recipe.
- Heavy whipping cream: for a richer and creamy flavor heavy whipping cream is preferred over whipping cream.
- Cream cheese: this adds a nice thick consistency to your alfredo sauce.
- Minced garlic: for best flavoring use fresh garlic and mince it the best you can.
- Garlic powder: adds to the rich and garlic flavoring.
- Italian seasoning: brings on an Italian fill and blends all the seasonings together.
- Salt and pepper: just to taste!
- Grated parmesan cheese: using real parmesan cheese is best. Powdered cheese will create a grainy texture and does not melt through when heated.
How To Reheat Alfredo Sauce:
- Place the alfredo sauce in a microwave safe dish
- Microwave for 30 second intervals stirring in between each 30 seconds
- If the sauce is thicker than youd like, you can add a little bit more milk until it reaches your desired consistency
Since you can store and reheat this alfredo sauce, it makes for great weeknight meals. Our favorite things to top the alfredo pasta are this easy grilled shrimp and this !
- 2large garlic cloves
- 1/4cupall purpose flour
- 3cupswhole milk
- 2cupsfreshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1/2teaspoon eachsalt, and pepper
- 2tablespoonsfresh chopped parsley
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Frequently Asked Questions About Alfredo Sauce
- Can you make alfredo sauce with half and half? Yes, you can. It may not thicken as well, but when combined with the pasta, the starch in the pasta will help thicken the sauce.
- Is this sauce better than Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce? A lot of people who have tried this pasta sauce think so, just check out the comments.
- What type of pasta should I use for alfredo? Use your favorite pasta. Fettuccine is what is most often used, but you can use anything you have on hand.
How To Make Cream Cheese Alfredo
One pan and a whisk is what you will need to make this alfredo recipe. Make sure you are using a silicone whisk, if using non-stick cookware, to avoid scratching your pan. Read below to see how easy it is to make this recipe. Be sure and go to the recipe card at the bottom of the post for the full directions in detail.
Melt Butter : Add the butter to the pan, over medium-high heat, and let it melt.
Cream Cheese : Once the butter is melted add the chunked cream cheese and garlic powder. Stir with a whisk until it’s combined and mixed as good as it can be. The mixture will be thick and curdled looking but that’s ok.
Broth + Cream : Slowly add in the chicken broth and heavy cream, a little at a time, while whisking constantly. Bring it to a boil.
Cheese : Turn the heat down to medium, or medium-low, and add the shredded parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. Let simmer for 10-15 minutes or until thickened.
Resting Time : Once the alfredo sauce is thickened and done cooking, it’s important to take the pan off the burner/stove and let it sit for 5 minutes before serving. This will allow the sauce to thicken up more while it cools slightly.
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How Do You Thicken The Sauce
The alfredo sauce thickens by simmering it over medium heat until reduced to about of its volume. After about 10 minutes, some of the water in the heavy cream evaporates, causing the dairy solids to concentrate, thus thickening the texture.
Stirring in a generous amount of grated parmesan cheese also adds viscosity. I reduce the sauce to 1 cup, but it will slightly thicken up more as it cools.
Helpful Tips For Best Alfredo Pasta
- I use whipping cream in this alfredo recipe. However, for a lighter dish you can use half and half or low fat/light cream or cooking cream.
- I have kept this vegetarian version of fettuccine alfredo super simple, but feel free to add your favorite cooked veggies. Sautéed or steamed broccoli, bell peppers, mushrooms, baby corn, carrots, asparagus, cauliflower, spinach or any vegetables you like are delicious to include when you toss together the alfredo sauce and cooked pasta.
- Traditionally, alfredo sauce is served with fettuccine. But you really can use any pasta you prefer! Try this deliciously cheesy sauce with penne, pappardelle, macaroni, rigatoni, farfalle, or whatever youve got on hand.
More Pasta Recipes To Try!
Easy30mins
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Can I Freeze Alfredo Sauce
No. I would not recommend freezing this Alfredo Sauce recipe. I know so many of you readers love making foods in advance or making double the recipe and freezing half for a quick weeknight meal later. Alfredo sauce made the traditional way with just butter, cream and cheese isnt very stable and has a tendency to once it starts to cool. I would recommend making this sauce fresh, from scratch, every time.
If you make an Alfredo Sauce with a roux , that will make your overall sauce more stable and it will become more freezer-friendly. But this recipe, as-is will not freeze well. Sorry!
Why Is My Alfredo Sauce Not Thickening
When you make Alfredo sauce with heavy whipping cream, the sauce will generally not be very thick. Using flour helps to thicken the sauce. Even so, sometimes it may not be as thick as you would like. If youd like your sauce to be thicker, mix an extra tablespoon of flour with 2 tablespoons of water to make a slurry. Then whisk it into your sauce and keep stirring over medium heat until your sauce thickens to your liking.
Choose your favorite to pin!
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How To Make Spaghetti Sauce
Here are the steps of how to make this sauce.
How long to cook spaghetti sauce? Similar to a beef stew, the longer the sauce cooks, the deeper the flavors. If youre in a pinch for time, you can certainly get away with cooking it for a short time, but you really want the sauce to simmer for at least 1 hour, and ideally 4.
Variation & Substitution Ideas
Although I recommend making this recipe as is, there are a few ways you can change it up.
- Seasonings : If you prefer a stronger flavor to your alfredo sauce then add some additional seasonings. Some great options are more garlic powder, dried basil, parsley, or even some dried Italian seasoning.
- Lighten It Up : If you really want to, there are a few things you can do to lighten up this recipe. Just know that if you do, the alfredo sauce will not be nearly as thick and rich as when it’s made per the recipe. You can use reduced-fat cream cheese if wanted. You can also try to use half & half milk, and possibly whole milk, in place of the heavy cream. But if you want an authentic alfredo sauce then I suggest sticking to the recipe.
- Cream Cheese : To try something new, try using a flavored cream cheese in this recipe. I have actually never done this but I have gotten comments from people who have. I think a good one to use would be the chive & onion cream cheese or the herb garlic cream cheese. Instead of a bar, the flavored cream cheese comes in an 8 ounce tub.
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