Our homemade Alfredo sauce is rich and creamy and the easiest recipe you will make! It is packed with parmesan and garlic and this tried and true recipe will be a regular on your weeknight dinner list.
The best news is this Alfredo sauce can be ready in under 15 minutes! Easy dinner, happy family!
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Easy Alfredo Sauce Recipe
I live in a house with picky eaters. It is so hard to find a recipe that everyone loves. So when I make one, I want to cheer from the rooftop!
This homemade Alfredo sauce is one of those recipes that I know I can make and everyone will eat!
One thing to note, this is an American-style Alfredo sauce (think copycat Olive Garden) and not an authentic Italian style sauce.
Traditional Italian Fettuccine Alfredo is a simple white sauce typically made with Parmesan cheese and butter (possibly with a little pasta water and salt mixed in). It actually has no cream or milk in it!
In America, we like to spice it up a bit with some heavy cream or milk, flour and some spices (of course, garlic)
Alfredo Sauce Ingredients
Butter – while I typically use unsalted butter, for this recipe you will want to use salted butter.
Garlic – minced garlic. I use the jarred minced garlic (I know, I am a cheater, but it helps things move along a bit faster!)
Garlic Powder – because you can never have too much garlic, right?
All-purpose flour – this will help to thicken the sauce up.
Heavy whipping cream – the heavy whipping cream will give the pasta sauce the rich and creamy texture. See below for some variations or alternatives.
Whole milk – you can use other milks, but it will come out thinner because of it!
Parmesan cheese – I prefer freshly shredded parmesan right off the block. Do not use the stuff in the green container!
Salt – Add to taste. Remember you can always add more. You have some salt in the butter as well as in the parmesan cheese.
Fettuccine pasta – you can use another type of pasta – but why would you!! Fettuccine rocks!
Fresh parsley – finely chopped and optional!
How to Make Homemade Fettuccini Alfredo Sauce
- Saute the garlic in the butter over medium heat. Add garlic powder and whisk together to combine.
- Whisk in the flour and slowly add the heavy cream and milk while whisking.
- Boil: Let sauce begin to boil and then reduce heat to low and allow it to simmer for 2-3 minutes.
- Add Parmesan cheese and whisk together.
- Toss in your favorite pasta.
- Garnish with fresh parsley and serve.
Tips
- Let your sauce sit for a few minutes to thicken.
- Use freshly grated parmesan cheese for the best results.
- If you are trying to keep a low-carb diet, this Alfredo sauce is amazing over spaghetti squash!
- You can use all milk or half & half rather than the heavy whipping cream, but you will come out with a much thinner sauce, but it will work.
- If your sauce is too thick, you can thin it using a little bit of your pasta water.
- Add in some chicken breast for some yummy protein!
More Easy Pasta Recipes
One-Pot Pasta (no boiling pasta required!) | Greek Chicken Pasta Salad | Pizza Pasta Salad | Lasagna Casserole – Lazy Lasagna! | Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole
Homemade Alfredo Sauce
Ingredients
- 6 tbsp salted butter
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 ½ cups whole milk
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese shredded
- ½ tsp salt
- Fresh parsley finely chopped
Instructions
- Cook pasta per package directions, drain and set aside.
- In a large skillet over medium heat add butter and let it melt. Add minced garlic and garlic powder. Whisk together to combine.
- Sprinkle the flour over the butter and garlic mixture. Whisk together and then slowly add the heavy cream and milk while whisking. Let sauce begin to boil and then reduce heat to low and allow it to simmer for 2-3 minutes.
- Add Parmesan cheese and whisk together.
- Add the cooked and drained fettuccine. Use tongs to toss the pasta in the sauce.
- Garnish with fresh parsley and serve.
We used to buy and make a Kraft product called Kraft Spaghetti with Meat Sauce. Everything was in the box. Pkg. of spaghetti, pkg. Parmesan, and a regular size can of Meat Sauce. So good, I started making one box, then two so I had leftovers, then three and gave up on leftovers. Kraft was flooded with requests for it (mine included) and I said if they weren’t going to make it, at least give us the recipe. There IS no meat sauce in the world like it. I swear they put dope in it because you crave it! If you could find/get the recipe for this meat sauce you would be a big hero! I could get dinner in minutes, add a salad, or sliced cantaloupe, and fresh sliced tomatoes and you could not stop eating it. Also garlic bread. I went from 1 box to 3 boxes trying to have leftovers and never made it. People flooded Kraft for this product or the recipe. NOTHING. THEY even put up a webpage of folks trying to get it! You would be a huge hero if you could get the recipe for this meat sauce. You would be mine and my kids for sure. Dinner in minutes. Best meat sauce in the world, ask anyone who ate it and became addicted like us. Please! I’m begging!
Easy and delicious. My picky-eater husband said this is now at the top of his list so I have to make it more often. The one thing I didn’t know is how much pasta this amount of sauce would cover, and I think I made too little.