Best Homemade Alfredo Sauce {Easy 4 Ingredient Recipe + Video}

My Alfredo sauce recipe is a rich and creamy white sauce made with garlic, butter, heavy cream, and parmesan.

This savory cheesy sauce infuses garlic into the butter and can be used with all kinds of pasta or even on top of vegetables. Once you make this recipe, you will never again buy a jar of alfredo sauce from the store again!

Why This Is the Best Alfredo Sauce

This rich and creamy sauce can be used in so many dinner recipes to add flavor and richness.

• Only four ingredients are needed: The main ingredients are the only ingredients! The complete list includes butter, garlic cloves, heavy whipping cream, and real parmesan cheese.
• Quick and easy to make: If you're searching for an easy alfredo sauce recipe, look no further. This is an amazing recipe.
• Infused garlic: The fresh garlic is cooked low and slow into the melted butter to really infuse the incredible flavor into every bite. The infused garlic will also turn a beautiful golden brown and give your finished alfredo sauce a gorgeous color. 
• Makes just the right amount: This recipe will make enough sauce for one pound of dried pasta and the recipe can easily be doubled if you need more

How to Make Alfredo Sauce

The best homemade alfredo sauce recipe is quick and easy to make! Even if this is your first time making this delicious cream sauce, you will get perfect results.

1. Infuse garlic in butter: Melt butter in large shallow pan over a very low heat. Add minced garlic and stir frequently. By cooking the garlic and butter over a very low temperature, you're able to extract all of that wonderful flavor from the garlic without it burning. It will, however, turn a wonderful golden brown color. That intense flavor carries through all the way to the finished sauce.
2. Add heavy cream: You will not add all of it. A small amount will be reserved to stir in at the end. You want this cream to come to a gentle simmer in the garlic butter. Mercy.
3. Add parmesan: To finish the sauce, you'll remove it from the heat and stir in the grated parmesan as well as the remaining heavy cream. 

Cooking Tips for Perfect Results

• Use Quality ingredients. The higher the quality ingredients you use, the better your sauce will be. Make sure the garlic is fresh and, if possible, grown locally. Kerrygold is my butter of choice, but there are so many great ones available. Be sure to buy real authentic aged parmesan cheese imported from Italy.
• Press the garlic. When garlic is minced through a garlic press instead of chopped, you expose the maximum amount of surface area. That means you'll extract the most flavor from it.
• Grate the parmesan yourself using a microplane. You can certainly use shredded parmesan, but it will not melt properly due to the large size of the pieces. Additionally, any ingredients added to the cheese to prevent sticking may interfere with its ability to easily melt. I highly recommend grating from a block of cheese using a microplane grater. It will make the parmesan melt instantly.
• Additional ingredients or seasonings: No other ingredients are needed, however, you could always add black pepper, salt, onion powder, or Italian seasoning. A great way to make this cream sauce even richer is by mixing in an egg yolk (similar to a Carbonara sauce).

How to Thin Alfredo Sauce

The secret to thinning cheese sauces is to mix in small amounts of starchy pasta water. If you are making Alfredo Sauce for pasta, simply use a measuring cup to scoop out about a cup of the salted pasta water just before you drain the pasta. Then, if the finished sauce seems too thick, stir in small amounts of this starchy water until you have the desired consistency.

Storage Instructions

Any leftover alfredo sauce can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It is best used within a few days.

How to Reheat Alfredo Sauce

This alfredo sauce will thicken as it cools. Reheating Alfredo sauce can be a tricky process because if it gets too hot, it will separate.

This sauce must be reheated gently. There are three ways to do this properly.

1. Stovetop: The sauce can be added to a saucepan and gently heated over very low heat. Be sure to stir the sauce frequently so that it gets heated at the same rate. As soon as it is heated through, remove the sauce from the heat source.
2. Microwave: Leftover Alfredo sauce or pasta coated in Alfredo sauce can be heated in the microwave. Use 50% power in 1-minute increments. After each minute, stir the sauce, and continue heating this way until it is heated through.
3. Super hot pasta: If you let leftover Alfredo sauce warm to room temperature, you can actually add super hot, freshly drained pasta to your sauce. The residual heat should be enough to warm the sauce.

Ingredient Substitutions

• Heavy cream substitutions: Many readers ask if part-skim milk (less than 1% fat), whole milk (3-4% fat) or half and half (10-12% fat) can be used in place of heavy cream (38-40% fat). The answer is YES, although I don't recommend it because you will have a thinner sauce due to the lower fat content. If you need to make this substitution and feel that the final sauce is too thin, you can always stir in a bit of mascarpone or cream cheese at the end to thicken it. You can also thicken the sauce by mixing a tablespoon of modified corn starch with a tablespoon of milk and whisking it into the finished sauce.
• Butter substitutions: If needed, butter can be replaced by olive oil. For best results, use a high quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
• Garlic substitutions: The infused garlic really does impart so much flavor, but if you are out of fresh garlic, you make use garlic powder in its place.
• Parmesan cheese substitutions: Authentic Italian alfredo sauce must have Parmigiano Reggiano, however you can also use Romano cheese or a parmesan/Romano blend.

Best Ways to Enjoy Homemade Alfredo Sauce

This rich, creamy, alfredo sauce is not only delicious but it is also versatile and can be used for so many delicious recipes!

• Use this sauce to smother homemade pasta. Throw some blackened chicken on top and you have an outstanding version of chicken fettuccine alfredo. Or turn it into everyone's favorite Cajun Shrimp Pasta.
• What about smothering your favorite veggies, like wilted garlic spinach or sauteed asparagus, with some of this warm cheese sauce. YUM!
• Parmesan chicken is traditionally covered in marinara sauce, but how delicious would it be if it were smothered in Alfredo sauce instead? You could always balance the richness with zucchini noodles. The possibilities are endless.
• Use it as a dipping sauce for fries or even better, zucchini fries.

Alfredo Sauce Recipe

Alfredo sauce is a rich and creamy white sauce made with garlic, butter, heavy cream, and parmesan. This savory cheesy sauce infuses garlic into the butter and can be used with all kinds of pasta or even on top of vegetables. This recipe is different, I dare say better, than an alfredo sauce recipe with cream cheese.

5 from 163 votes

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CLICK TO PLAY RECIPE VIDEO

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Hover to scale: 12 servings

Chef: Krissy Allori

Ingredients

• ▢ 4 tablespoons butter
• ▢ 4 cloves garlic (finely minced or pressed)
• ▢ 1 ½ cups heavy cream (divided)
• ▢ 1 ½ cups parmesan cheese (finely grated)

Instructions

• Add butter and garlic to a saute pan and heat over low heat. Allow to cook until the butter is infused with the garlic, about 5 minutes.
• Add 1 cup of heavy cream, stir, and allow to come to a simmer. Increase heat to medium, if needed. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Remove from heat and immediately add in parmesan cheese and remaining heavy cream.  (Note: the parmesan will easily melt if it was finely grated from a block. If you used pre-grated cheese that is thicker, you may have to continue heating over low heat to get it to melt.) Stir to combine. It will take several minutes for the cheese to melt. It will look goopy at first and then the sauce will be creamy and smooth. If sauce needs to be thinned, add additional heavy cream.
• To serve, toss with tossed pasta or use to cover vegetables.

Notes

Makes about 3 cups.

Cooking tips:

• Quality ingredients. The higher quality ingredients you use, the better your sauce will be. Make sure the garlic is fresh and, if possible, grown locally. Kerrygold is my butter of choice, but there are so many great ones available. Be sure to buy real authentic parmesan cheese imported from Italy.
• Press the garlic. When garlic is minced through a garlic press instead of chopped, you expose the maximum amount of surface area. That means you'll extract the most flavor from it.
• Grate the parmesan yourself using a microplane. You can certainly use shredded parmesan, but it will not melt properly due to the large size of the pieces and anything that has been added to the cheese to prevent sticking. I highly recommend grating from a block of cheese using a microplane grater. It will make the parmesan melt instantly.
• Reheating. This alfredo sauce will thicken as it cools. If it cools too much, it will get too thick. If it gets too hot, it will separate. The trick is to keep it just warm enough. This sauce must be reheated gently either on the stove over low heat, in the microwave on 50% or lower power, or by adding super hot, freshly drained pasta to your sauce.
• Substitutions. Many readers ask if whole milk (3-4%) or half and half (10-12% fat) can be used in place of heavy cream (38-40% fat). The answer is YES, although I don't recommend it because you will have a thinner sauce. If you need to make a substitution and feel that the final sauce is too thin, you can always stir in a bit of mascarpone or cream cheese at the end to thicken it.

NUTRITION INFORMATION

Calories: 186kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 59mg | Sodium: 245mg | Potassium: 37mg | Vitamin A: 650IU | Vitamin C: 0.5mg | Calcium: 170mg | Iron: 0.1mg

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This recipe was originally published in May 2018 and has been updated with helpful information, ingredient and process photos, as well as recipe tips. Don't worry - the recipe hasn't changed!