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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.

By Vanessa Greaves

October 13, 2020

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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.

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What is Alfredo Sauce

Named for an Italian restaurateur, the original

version of Fettuccine Alfredo was simply fresh
pasta tossed with butter and cheese. (If you want
to recreate Alfredo Di Lelio's iconic dish, try this
recipe for Fettuccine Alfredo III.) Cream was added
to the mix as it gained popularity in the U.S., giving
the sauce the rich, velvety texture we come to
associate with present day Alfredo recipes.

Related: 15 Comfort Food Dinners That Start With

Alfredo Sauce

How to Make Alfredo Sauce

Our most popular, highly rated recipe for Alfredo

Sauce is a good place to start; I'll walk you through
it, offering tips and suggestions as we go. The
sauce is so quick to make that if you're serving it
with pasta, you could cook the pasta at the same
time that you make the sauce. (The pasta of choice
is fettuccine, with its wide, flat shape offering an
ideal surface to showcase the creamy, buttery
sauce.) If your pasta is cooked before the sauce is
done, simply drain the pasta (without rinsing it)
and set it aside.

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You'll Need

Equipment

Large skillet (large enough to toss the cooked

pasta with the finished sauce)
Whisk
Large pot (if you're cooking pasta)
Colander (for draining pasta)

Ingredients

¼ cup butter
1 clove garlic, crushed, finely grated, or
pressed (optional)
1 cup heavy cream
1½ cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese (or
you could use half Parmesan and half
Romano*)
Salt & pepper to taste
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
¼ chopped fresh parsley (for garnish)

Directions

1. Melt butter in a saucepan or skillet over

medium low heat. If you're flavoring the
sauce with garlic, add it to the melted butter
and cook for about 1 minute. Do not let it
brown.
2. Whisk in the cream and simmer gently for 5
minutes to cook out some of the water from
the cream.
3. Remove the pan from heat and add cheese a
handful at a time, whisking after each
addition until the cheese is melted.
4. Return the pan to the heat and let the sauce
simmer gently for 4 to 5 minutes more until
the sauce is thickened. Do not let the sauce
boil or else it will separate and lose its
smooth texture. Season with salt and pepper
and add a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
(optional), because nutmeg is heavenly in
cream sauce.
5. If you're cooking pasta: When your pasta is
cooked al dente, drain it well (do not rinse it)
and toss it in the skillet with the hot Alfredo
sauce. Garnish with parsley and serve
immediately.

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*Do not use pre-grated cheese; it's coated with a

substance that inhibits smooth melting and will
ruin the texture of your Alfredo sauce.

How to Thicken Alfredo Sauce

5 Ways

1. Add more cheese. Remove the sauce from

the heat and whisk in another handful of
grated cheese until it's melted. Return the
sauce to the heat source and heat very gently
without boiling.
2. Add cream cheese. This recipe for Cream
Cheese Alfredo shows you how to do it.
3. Make a roux of butter and flour, as in this
recipe for Buttery Alfredo Sauce.
4. Use cornstarch. If you use low-fat ingredients
to make Alfredo sauce, you can thicken it
with a teaspoon of cornstarch, as in this
recipe for Fettuccine Alfredo II.
5. Add egg yolk, as in this recipe for Fettuccine
Alfredo V. To keep the yolk from scrambling,
temper it by whisking in a little hot cream,
then add the yolk and cream mixture back to
the sauce.

Explore our entire collection of Alfredo Sauce

recipes.

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