Home » Dips and Sauces » Alfredo Sauce from Scratch
by Stephanie Manley, Last Updated 61 Comments
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Have you ever wondered how to makeAlfredo Sauce? Guess what? This pasta sauce is super easy to make!
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Easy Alfredo Sauce Recipe
Did you know it’s really easy to make Alfredo sauce? In the time that it takes you to cook the pasta you can make an amazing Alfredo sauce. Don’t buy the sauce from the jar, you can make Alfredo sauce that tastes just like it came out of a restaurant at home.
You can learn how to make this creamy cheese sauce for a very tasty plate of pasta at home.
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make Alfredo sauce served with pasta:
- Butter
- Heavy cream
- Grated Parmesan cheese
- Salt, optional
- Ground white pepper, optional
- Dried pasta
Ingredient Notes
The key to the best alfredo sauce is good-quality ingredients.
Use heavy cream also known as whipping cream. Do not substitute it with half-and-half.
Make sure you get real butter and not margarine.
Do use good-quality butter and cream. I have found that buying them relatively close to when you make the dish is a good idea. Sometimes butter and cream can pick up flavors from your fridge.
With the Parmesan cheese, be sure to use a quality brand.
Also, a block of Parmesan that you grate is better than anything that comes pre-shredded. Pre-shredded and grated parmesan has anti-caking agents that will keep the sauce from being as smooth as it should be. So take the time to shred it yourself. Do not use the type of cheese that comes in a can.
Please, use fresh Parmesan cheese. You will be rewarded with a flavorful sauce if you do.
How to Make Alfredo Sauce
- Melt the butter and heavy cream in a medium saucepan, stirring constantly.
- Add half of the Parmesan cheese and cook the sauce over low to medium heat until the cheese melts, stirring constantly.
- Cook the pasta according to the package instructions.
- Drain the pasta and pour it into a bowl. You do not need to rinse your pasta.
- Add Alfredo sauce to the pasta.
- Stir to combine the sauce and pasta.
- Season it with salt and white pepper if desired.
- Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.
Mixing the sauce with the pasta is an Italian way to serve up this particular dish. It coats the pasta well and gives you a delicious bit of sauce in every bite.
You can make delicious Alfredo sauce at home following these directions.
Easy to Make Pasta Sauce
I often get asked about how to make certain types of food or what recipes are really easy. Here is one that I always pass out to people.
It is simple to make Alfredo Sauce and it turns out very well no matter if you are a highly experienced cook or if you are just a beginner.
If you are in a jam and need dinner in a hurry, you can make this sauce more quickly than you can cook the pasta.
Alfredo sauce is a great way to use leftovers. If you have some cooked chicken, you could add it to this pasta recipe.
More Alfredo Recipes
- Crab Fettuccine Alfredo
- Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce
- Pasta House Fettuccine Alfredo
- Seafood Alfredo Recipe
- Steak Alfredo Pasta
Favorite Italian Recipes
- Chicken Margherita
- Olive Garden Lasagna
- Olive Garden Shrimp Scampi
- Italian Rice Balls
- Italian Sausage
- Shrimp Carbonara
- Tuscany Soup
Check out more of my easy sauce recipes and the best Italian recipes here on CopyKat!
How to Make Alfredo Sauce from Scratch
Learn how to make Alfredo sauce from scratch and serve it with pasta for a delicious Italian dinner.
5 from 1 vote
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Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: Alfredo Sauce
Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes minutes
Servings: 4
Calories: 1553kcal
Author: Stephanie Manley
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried pasta
- 3/4 pound butter
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
- salt and ground white pepper optional
Instructions
Prepare the pasta according to the package directions.
While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter and heavy cream in a medium saucepan. Stir constantly to prevent the sauce from burning.
Add 1 cup of the Parmesan and cook over low to medium heat until the cheese melts, stirring constantly.
When the pasta is done, drain it and place it into a bowl.
Add the Alfredo sauce to the pasta.
Stir or toss to combine the sauce and pasta.
If you like, you can season it with salt and white pepper.
Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese when serving.
Video
Nutrition
Calories: 1553kcal | Carbohydrates: 89g | Protein: 36g | Fat: 118g | Saturated Fat: 73g | Cholesterol: 349mg | Sodium: 1412mg | Potassium: 402mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 3870IU | Vitamin C: 0.6mg | Calcium: 657mg | Iron: 1.9mg
About Stephanie Manley
I recreate your favorite restaurant recipes, so you can prepare these dishes at home. I help you cook dinner, and serve up dishes you know your family will love. You can find most of the ingredients for all of the recipes in your local grocery store.
Stephanie is the author of CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home, and CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home 2.
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Reader Interactions
Comments
Dominos
Oh yum! I want to eat this right now! haha.Reply
LLP
Old school alfredo sauce often uses a mix of egg yolks and a little of heated cream mixture added slowly to the sauce. Clings better to the pasta
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Stephanie
I do agree you can add it in, I think it is good both ways.
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Pasta Fire
Old school alfredo uses no egg or cream at all. Just real parm, butter, and a little pasta water. It clings perfectly.
Reply
Stephanie, What a delightful description .. ¨Please use fresh Parmesan, good quality butter and cream¨. I shall do my best. I have it here with bits of chopped ham in the fetuccini and I think they go nicely. But I´ve wanted to make my own for some time. And on chicken sounds terrific too, with the fetuccini.
JimCReply
Stephanie
The right ingredients will make the difference.
Reply
perryconnie
I am looking for a copycat recipe for alfredo sauce from cici’s pizza and I can’t find it anywhere, does anyone else know?
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Carson Bryant
did you ever find a recipe
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A.G.
I’m looking for this too. My 9 yr old LOVES their sauce.
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Leigh
I was taught to use cream cheese… I love this recipe. Thank you
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stephaniemanley
It is ok to use Alfredo sauce, but you don’t need the cream cheese.
Reply
renee
good to make for casseroles to take to a pot luck
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stephaniemanley
Great idea. I never thought about taking Alfredo Sauce to a pot luck!Reply
Austerity Sucks
3 sticks of butter seems excessive no ???
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stephaniemanley
This makes a lot of sauce.
Reply
Gina Cesaro-Riso
Make that unsalted butter since the Parmesan tends to be very salty. Then you can adjust the salt as needed.
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stephaniemanley
Great tip. I appreciate you dropping by!
Reply
Tina
This turned out really good, it seemed a little thin when it was first finished, but once I added it to my pasta it was fine. Only thing different that I did was add a little bit of garlic. Thanks for the recipe!
Reply
stephaniemanley
Garlic tastes really good in the Alfredo sauce.
Reply
Jeff
Thanks. My daughter became an alfredo sauce fan after eating at a hotel cafeteria in Disney a few months ago (I know. . . I assumed a cafeteria would cook from a can). We picked up a couple different jars of sauce at the store and both were expectantly bland and thin. She was able to do this recipe (8 year old) with some help here and there. Ours had a great flavor and coated the pasta well. I think the “real” cheese was the reason for past failures. We’d buy the standard 2 cup Kraft bagged cheese and it never worked for reasons you point out. I’m a garlic fan so it was added. We ended up using a little cream cheese to thicken it as I think we added too much heavy cream.
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stephaniemanley
If your sauce isn’t thickening as you would like it, I find if you turn up the heat just a bit more it will help it a great deal.
Reply
Bonnie
Offering your video along with the recipe is such an added plus! 🙂
Reply
Bonnie
Offering your video along with the recipe is such an added plus! 🙂
Reply
matahati10
Thank you for the easy Alfredo Sauce recipe…
Reply
Stephanie
You are welcome. I hope you enjoy more recipes.
Reply
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