Looking for the best alfredo sauce recipe that's as simple as it is delicious? Let me show you how! Just follow my step-by-step instructions to make your own creamy alfredo sauce from scratch in just 20 minutes! Whether you're eating it on your favorite pasta or dipping breadsticks in it, you'll never want to buy it from the store again!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Easy recipe with detailed steps and simple ingredients; it tastes amazing!
- Ready in 20 minutes!
- Perfect for easy dinner recipes like fettuccini alfredo or chicken alfredo!
- Can replace pre-bottled sauce from the store for recipes like Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Heavy Cream - Heavy whipping cream is necessary for best results due to its fat content that keeps it from breaking and makes a thicker sauce. If you don't mind a thinner sauce and would like a lighter version of this creamy sauce, you could use light whipping cream in its place.
- Butter - Both salted butter and unsalted butter work fine.
- White Pepper - Yes, you can substitute regular black pepper, but white pepper tastes soooo much better. Pick some up and give it a try!
- Italian Seasoning - This is generally a blend of basil, marjoram, oregano, rosemary, and thyme.
- Garlic Powder - Feel free to use 2 crushed cloves of fresh garlic in place of the garlic powder.
Step by Step Instructions
- In a small pot or a medium saucepan, over medium heat, bring the butter and heavy cream to a boil, picture 2. No, this will not break the cream. (No need to melt butter before adding the cream.)
- Boil until the cream and butter are reduced by nearly half, thicken to coat the back of a spoon, and have a yellow tint to it, picture 3.
- Turn the heat down to a low heat.
- Add the cream cheese, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, garlic salt, white pepper, and parmesan cheese.
- Stir well and whisk in the milk.
- At this point, you want the sauce to be hot and melt the cream cheese and parmesan cheese, but you don't want it to boil again.
- Once the cream cheese and parmesan are melted and blended in, take the alfredo off the heat and use it in your favorite recipe calling for bottled sauce from the grocery store, over zucchini noodles as a pizza sauce, or over an easy pasta dish!
- Store leftover sauce in the fridge in an airtight container. In the fridge, it will set up quite solid.
- You can reheat it in the microwave or on the stovetop. Thin it out with a little warm milk if needed.
Recipe FAQs and Expert Tips
A white sauce or a béchamel sauce is generally thickened by butter and flour and lightly seasoned. An alfredo sauce is thickened by reducing and cheese. Alfredo also has a light cheese flavor from parmesan.
If you've made homemade alfredo before and are frustrated because it turned out gritty, let me tell you why that happened so you can avoid it. The fat content is so low in milk that when you get it too hot, it breaks. The fatty particles group together and make your sauce gritty. So when reheating your sauce, don't bring it to a boil. Just heat it until warm.
Yes, just the same amount called for in place of sauce from a bottle.
To avoid breaking the sauce and making it gritty, heat a little at a time in the microwave or slowly on the stovetop.
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Easy Alfredo Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ Cup Butter no subs
- 2 Cups Heavy Cream
- 2 oz. Cream Cheese
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- ½ teaspoon Garlic Salt
- ⅛ teaspoon White Pepper
- 2 teaspoon Italian Seasoning Blend
- ½ Cup Parmesan Cheese grated
- 1 Cup Milk
Instructions
- In a small pot over medium heat, bring the butter and heavy cream to a boil, picture 2. No, this will not break the cream.
- Boil until the cream and butter are reduced by nearly half, thicken to coat the back of a spoon, and have a yellow tint to it, picture 3.
- Turn the heat down to low.
- Add the cream cheese, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, garlic salt, white pepper and parmesan cheese.
- Stir well and whisk in the milk.
- At this point, you want the sauce to be hot and melt the cream cheese and parm, but you don't want it to boil again.
- Once the cream cheese and parmesan are melted and blended in, take the alfredo off the heat and use as desired.
Notes
- After adding the milk, be sure not to allow the sauce to boil, or the sauce may break and become gritty.
- Use this sauce in place of bottled alfredo in the same amounts the recipe you want to use calls for.
Nutrition
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Jeff
Very Good Recipe and a delicious dish.
L.S
Simply delicious!