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Home » Course » Dips and Sauces

Dips and Sauces

Easy Alfredo Sauce

Published: January 19, 2015   |   Updated: July 11, 2022   |   17 Comments

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20 minutes is all it takes to make this easy Alfredo sauce with only 3 ingredients. Skip the store-bought jarred Alfredo and make homemade, rich and creamy Alfredo pasta sauce at home. Pair it with your favorite pasta and proteins!

20 minutes is all it takes to make this easy Alfredo sauce. With only 3 ingredients, it's easy to enjoy a rich, creamy Alfredo pasta dinner at home.

It’s taken me two Alfredo recipes on the blog before I’ve decided to just get it over with and finally post a recipe for a basic Alfredo sauce. I didn’t know how to make Alfredo sauce though until recently. It’s one of those things I preferred to leave to restaurant cooks while digging into a comfy plate of fettuccine Alfredo, fork deep in a rich sauce and blissfully ignorant.

But hey, if I’m gonna post a lot of Alfredo recipes, I need to know the basics, right? Turns out it wasn’t that hard. In fact, all it takes are three basic ingredients: butter, heavy cream and Parmesan cheese. So let’s get started on how to go about making this much-loved sauce at home.

20 minutes is all it takes to make this easy Alfredo sauce. With only 3 ingredients, it's easy to enjoy a rich, creamy Alfredo pasta dinner at home.

EASY ALFREDO SAUCE RECIPE TIPS

While the ingredient list is simple there are a few key techniques that should be mentioned for the execution of a good Alfredo sauce. It can make all difference between restaurant-quality Alfredo sauce and a lumpy, chewy mess.

First, you need to simmer it over medium-low heat, it should never reach a boil or the sauce will separate. If you’ve ever heated up Alfredo leftovers in the microwave and noticed a pool of melted butter separated from the sauce, it’s pretty much like that. It doesn’t look all that great and it’s tougher to reason with yourself why you deserved it, looking all obviously bad for you like that.

Second, and this is the most important thing of all, you must have freshly shredded Parmesan cheese. I don’t like shredding cheese at all so I tried a shortcut with store-bought pre-shredded Parmesan and that stuff just does not melt. Remember the lumpy mess I mentioned earlier? Yeah, that’s the culprit.

20 minutes is all it takes to make this easy Alfredo sauce. With only 3 ingredients, it's easy to enjoy a rich, creamy Alfredo pasta dinner at home.

I read that it’s all the preservatives that interfere with the melty magic. I guess the same things that prevent them from clumping together in the bag stop them from melting well. And trust me, I’ve ruined two batches of Alfredo sauce this way. The first time around and the third time around after I forgot the freshly shredded rule.

So shred that cheese yourself. It’s worth it! After resigning myself to this fact, I bought a microplane to shred fresh Parmesan cheese wasn’t such an ordeal. And that’s all you need to know. Melt the butter, stir in the heavy cream and add freshly shredded Parmesan cheese in portions. Stir, melt, repeat until it’s all in. Once you remove it from the heat and let it sit, it’ll thicken up some more.

Toss it with some pasta and add whatever protein you like: grilled chicken or shrimp and you’re set! This amount of sauce works out well with about half a pound of pasta.

20 minutes is all it takes to make this easy Alfredo sauce. With only 3 ingredients, it's easy to enjoy a rich, creamy Alfredo pasta dinner at home.

A few tips for heating it up: if you have some leftovers, heat it up over the stove on low heat and add some milk or heavy cream to make it creamy again. Heating up cream-based pasta in the microwave is never a good idea. You’ll get that evil butter pool again. Enjoy!

MORE ALFREDO RECIPES TO TRY

  • Chicken Alfredo Pasta Bake
  • Spinach and Artichoke Ravioli Bake
  • Tortellini Alfredo Spinach Casserole
  • Lemon Pepper Chicken Alfredo Pasta

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20 minutes is all it takes to make this easy Alfredo sauce. With only 3 ingredients, it's easy to enjoy a rich, creamy Alfredo pasta dinner at home.

Easy Alfredo Sauce


★★★★★

5 from 3 reviews

  • Author: The Cooking Jar
  • Total Time: 20 mins
  • Yield: 4 1x
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Description

20 minutes is all it takes to make this easy Alfredo sauce with only 3 ingredients. Skip the store-bought jarred Alfredo and make homemade, rich and creamy Alfredo pasta sauce at home. Pair it with your favorite pasta and proteins!


Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 2 cups Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Over medium heat, melt the butter and pour in the heavy cream. Stir to combine.
  2. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  3. Add the Parmesan cheese in portions and stir to mix until the cheese melts into the sauce and is smooth.
  4. Mix with pasta and protein of your choice.
  5. Dish and serve hot.
  6. Enjoy!

Notes

  • Scroll up to RECIPE TIPS for more useful tips, suggestions and ingredient substitutions.
  • Prep Time: 5 mins
  • Cook Time: 15 mins

Did you make this recipe?

Let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below or share a photo of the recipe on Instagram by tagging @cookingjar

posted in: Dips and Sauces, Pasta, Stovetop

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    Comments & Reviews

  1. Jenn says

    May 25, 2021

    Excellent recipe! So tasty and so simple. Thanks for sharing!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      June 2, 2021

      You’re welcome Jenn, Thanks for trying it out! 🙂

      Reply
  2. Liv says

    November 6, 2020

    This was amazing! So creamy and flavorful, everything you could want in an alfredo sauce. I added a little garlic powder because I really love garlic.

    I’m on keto and I ate this with shirataki noodles. Perfect!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      November 8, 2020

      Yay! I’m happy it worked out great for you, Liv! I, too, love garlic. I usually double garlic portions in recipes because of it. 😉 Good luck with the keto!

      Reply
    • Ester Hunter says

      November 16, 2020

      I was thinking the same Liv. I plan to add shrimp and chicken and maybe broccoli to mine!!

      Reply
  3. Beth Wilson says

    November 9, 2018

    Thank you for sharing this! I love the simpleness of it! Can’t wait to try it. I know it will be good.

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      December 18, 2018

      I hope it worked out well for you, Beth!

      Reply
  4. JoAnn says

    April 25, 2017

    Love your blog. Nice, bold colored photos. I need to up my blog game. Gonna try your Alfredo Sauce recipe tomorrow night.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      April 25, 2017

      Thank you, JoAnn. Hey I hope it works out for you tomorrow!

      Reply
  5. Doug says

    March 27, 2015

    Thanks for the tips on the low simmer and freshly shredded parmesan. I’ll give it a try!

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      March 28, 2015

      Sure thing, Doug! Lots of trial and error involved on my end but it was worth it. Freshly grated Parmesan all the way!

      Reply
  6. sylvie amésée says

    February 8, 2015

    Your photos are real works of art and the pasta plate makes my mouth watering !

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      February 9, 2015

      Thanks for your lovely compliment Sylvie! It’s a work in progress and sometimes I have good days and bad days. This was one of my good days! 🙂

      Reply
  7. Thalia @ butter and brioche says

    January 23, 2015

    What an easy (and delicious) alfredo sauce. I love how creamy and cheesy it is!

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      January 23, 2015

      Thanks, Thalia. Who needs to go to Olive Garden anymore for Alfredo?!

      Reply
  8. [email protected] Cooks with Cocktails says

    January 20, 2015

    Yum! I love real Alfredo sauce! I never make it because of all the fat but I will just eat with my eyes on your site and drool 🙂

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      January 20, 2015

      I have it about once or twice a year whenever we go to an Italian restaurant. Lasagna always wins out the other times 🙂

      Reply

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