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Fettuccine Alfredo, made with a rich, creamy, garlic-infused alfredo sauce and my homemade semolina pasta recipe, is comfort food at it’s finest!
This decadent meal can be served on it’s own, or topped with your favorite protein like chicken or shrimp. You’ll never find a better recipe than this one!
Why this recipe works:
Fettuccine Alfredo is an absolute favorite in our house. In fact, it is the most requested pasta dinner recipe.
- This scratch made recipe tastes so much better than anything you will find at a restaurant or pre-packaged from the store
- It is quick and easy to make! Start to finish, it can be done in under 20 minutes
- This meal is fantastic on it’s own or can completely transformed into different variations like Cajun Seafood Pasta, Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo, or Blackened Chicken Alfredo Pasta
- The rich alfredo sauce is made up of only 4 ingredients: butter, garlic, heavy cream, and parmesan cheese (no cream cheese)
- You can use store bought dried fettuccine or you can make your own
How to make the sauce from scratch:
- Infuse the butter with the minced garlic in a large sauce pan. Cook it low and slow in order to really develop the flavor without burning the garlic.
- Add heavy cream to the garlic infused butter.
- Allow the mixture to cook until it gets bubbly and completely wonderful.
- Finally, add the parmesan and more heavy cream.
How to make Fettuccine Alfredo:
- You will need to time this recipe so that the sauce is finished at about the same time the pasta is done cooking.
- Add the hot drained pasta to the sauce.
- Stir to combine.
- If the sauce needs to be thinned, you can use additional heavy cream or some of the pasta cooking water.
Cooking tips:
- One of the most important pieces of advice I can give you when making Fettuccine Alfredo is to time your recipe so that the sauce is finished right about the same time you take the pasta out of the water.
- It also helps to have your parmesan cheese finely grated. Buy a block of aged parmesan and shave it into the most delectable snow-like pieces using a microplane and it will melt instantly in the sauce.
- If you decide to make that homemade pasta, it only takes 2-3 minutes to cook. Just drop it in a pot of heavily salted boiling water. As soon as it’s done, assuming your Alfredo sauce is ready to go, you can either drain the pasta and add it to the sauce or pull it right out of the water and add it to the sauce.
- Top it with a little minced parsley and a dash of freshly grated nutmeg and you’ll be in heaven!
Reheating:
This recipe can be reheated, but you must do it gently.
If you try to reheat Fettuccine Alfredo on full power in the microwave, the sauce will turn into an oily mess.
The trick is to reheat over very low heat, stirring often to avoid hot spots. You can do this in the microwave on 30-50% power or on your cook top over very low heat.
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Ingredients
- 1 pound Fettuccine
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream divided
- 1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese grated
Instructions
- Cook pasta in large pot of salted water. Before pasta is done cooking, scoop out about a cup of hot pasta water and set aside to use for thinning the sauce later, if needed. Drain and set aside.
- While the pasta is cooking, 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. 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 or a bit of the reserved pasta water.
- To serve, toss hot cooked pasta in sauce and serve immediately.
Notes
- One of the most important pieces of advice I can give you when making Fettuccine Alfredo is to time your recipe so that the sauce is finished right about the same time you take the pasta out of the water.
- It also helps to have your parmesan cheese finely grated. Buy a block of aged parmesan and shave it into the most delectable snow-like pieces using a microplane and it will melt instantly in the sauce.
- If you decide to make that homemade pasta, it only takes 2-3 minutes to cook. Just drop it in a pot of heavily salted boiling water. As soon as it’s done, assuming your Alfredo sauce is ready to go, you can either drain the pasta and add it to the sauce or pull it right out of the water and add it to the sauce.
- Top it with a little minced parsley and a dash of freshly grated nutmeg and you’ll be in heaven!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This recipe was originally published in November 2017 and has been updated with helpful information, ingredient and process photos, as well as recipe tips. Don’t worry – the recipe hasn’t changed!
Fettuccine Alfredo doesn’t have cream. It is pasta water, butter and Parmesan.
Hi Katie, Yes – I know authentic Italian fettucine alfredo has only pasta water, butter and parmesan. I used to make it as a kid and called it “buttered noodles” – who knew I was making something so fancy. My version of alfredo sauce is definitely an American-style.
This is great my cheese melted great I used Sartorial shredded Parmesan!
5 Stars 👏👏. Gave Hubby a Pasta Roller for His BDay last week, & Today was the Day! AWEsome Fettucine & The Easiest & Best Alfredo Ever! Thank You for a well written recipe & tips!
I recently signed up to receive your newsletter (thank you) and HAD to try this…it was absolutely delicious! I will definitely make this one over and over again….Thank you!
Really good recipe. I added a few things, parsley flakes, pepper, and about a quarter cup whipped cream cheese. It gave it a nice twang of flavor. Thanks for posting the recipe!
Oy vey. But when you do different strokes, it’s not Alfredo sauce. It’s your version of a generic cream sauce. If you like it, fine. Just don’t try to pass it off as Alfredo.
Very delicious, The best alfredo sauce I have ever tasted. Taste authentic Italian like your at a 5 star Italian Restaurant.
I have been trying to make Alfredo sauce for quite some time. After many failed attempts (yea, it’s totally possible to mess this simple sauce up!!) this is the most simple but tasteful recipe ever!! It’s a must try!!
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Whoever said to use cream cheese to make an Alfredo sauce must’ve learned to cook at Olive Garden. Authentic Alfredo needs only 4 ingredients: butter, garlic, heavy cream, Parmesan cheese. Parsley at the very end is okay but unnecessary.
This is a good Alfredo recipe. It’s hard to screw it up unless your timing is off. 9-1/2 times out of 10, you won’t need the pasta water. Just don’t use store-brand heavy cream or Parmesan, for goodness’ sake!
This is one of the favorite meals for my wife & I.whether it is prepared at home or from Olive Garden we love it.
HISTORY OF ALFREDO DI LELIO CREATOR IN 1908 OF “FETTUCCINE ALL’ALFREDO” (“FETTUCCINE ALFREDO”), NOW SERVED BY HIS NEPHEW INES DI LELIO, AT THE RESTAURANT “IL VERO ALFREDO” – “ALFREDO DI ROMA” IN ROME, PIAZZA AUGUSTO IMPERATORE 30
With reference to your article I have the pleasure to tell you the history of my grandfather Alfredo Di Lelio, who is the creator of “Fettuccine all’Alfredo” (“Fettuccine Alfredo”) in 1908 in the “trattoria” run by his mother Angelina in Rome, Piazza Rosa (Piazza disappeared in 1910 following the construction of the Galleria Colonna / Sordi). This “trattoria” of Piazza Rosa has become the “birthplace of fettuccine all’Alfredo”.
More specifically, as is well known to many people who love the “fettuccine all’Alfredo”, this famous dish in the world was invented by Alfredo Di Lelio concerned about the lack of appetite of his wife Ines, who was pregnant with my father Armando (born February 26, 1908).
Alfredo di Lelio opened his restaurant “Alfredo” in 1914 in Rome and in 1943, during the war, he sold the restaurant to others outside his family.
In 1950 Alfredo Di Lelio decided to reopen with his son Armando his restaurant in Piazza Augusto Imperatore n.30 “Il Vero Alfredo” (“Alfredo di Roma”), whose fame in the world has been strengthened by his nephew Alfredo and that now managed by me, with the famous “gold cutlery” (fork and spoon gold) donated in 1927 by two well-known American actors Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks (in gratitude for the hospitality).
See the website of “Il Vero Alfredo” (also for franchising news).
I must clarify that other restaurants “Alfredo” in Rome do not belong and are out of my brand “Il Vero Alfredo – Alfredo di Roma”.
I inform you that the restaurant “Il Vero Alfredo –Alfredo di Roma” is in the registry of “Historic Shops of Excellence” of the City of Rome Capitale.
Best regards Ines Di Lelio
IN ITALIANO
STORIA DI ALFREDO DI LELIO, CREATORE DELLE “FETTUCCINE ALL’ALFREDO” (“FETTUCCINE ALFREDO”), E DELLA SUA TRADIZIONE FAMILIARE PRESSO IL RISTORANTE “IL VERO ALFREDO” (“ALFREDO DI ROMA”) IN PIAZZA AUGUSTO IMPERATORE A ROMA
Con riferimento al Vostro articolo ho il piacere di raccontarVi la storia di mio nonno Alfredo Di Lelio, inventore delle note “fettuccine all’Alfredo” (“Fettuccine Alfredo”).
Alfredo Di Lelio, nato nel settembre del 1883 a Roma in Vicolo di Santa Maria in Trastevere, cominciò a lavorare fin da ragazzo nella piccola trattoria aperta da sua madre Angelina in Piazza Rosa, un piccolo slargo (scomparso intorno al 1910) che esisteva prima della costruzione della Galleria Colonna (ora Galleria Sordi).
Il 1908 fu un anno indimenticabile per Alfredo Di Lelio: nacque, infatti, suo figlio Armando e videro contemporaneamente la luce in tale trattoria di Piazza Rosa le sue “fettuccine”, divenute poi famose in tutto il mondo. Questa trattoria è “the birthplace of fettuccine all’Alfredo”.
Alfredo Di Lelio inventò le sue “fettuccine” per dare un ricostituente naturale, a base di burro e parmigiano, a sua moglie (e mia nonna) Ines, prostrata in seguito al parto del suo primogenito (mio padre Armando). Il piatto delle “fettuccine” fu un successo familiare prima ancora di diventare il piatto che rese noto e popolare Alfredo Di Lelio, personaggio con “i baffi all’Umberto” ed i calli alle mani a forza di mischiare le sue “fettuccine” davanti ai clienti sempre più numerosi.
Nel 1914, a seguito della chiusura di detta trattoria per la scomparsa di Piazza Rosa dovuta alla costruzione della Galleria Colonna, Alfredo Di Lelio decise di aprire a Roma il suo ristorante “Alfredo” che gestì fino al 1943, per poi cedere l’attività a terzi estranei alla sua famiglia.
Ma l’assenza dalla scena gastronomica di Alfredo Di Lelio fu del tutto transitoria. Infatti nel 1950 riprese il controllo della sua tradizione familiare ed aprì, insieme al figlio Armando, il ristorante “Il Vero Alfredo” (noto all’estero anche come “Alfredo di Roma”) in Piazza Augusto Imperatore n.30 (cfr. il sito web di Il Vero Alfredo).
Con l’avvio del nuovo ristorante Alfredo Di Lelio ottenne un forte successo di pubblico e di clienti negli anni della “dolce vita”. Successo, che, tuttora, richiama nel ristorante un flusso continuo di turisti da ogni parte del mondo per assaggiare le famose “fettuccine all’Alfredo” al doppio burro da me servite, con l’impegno di continuare nel tempo la tradizione familiare dei miei cari maestri, nonno Alfredo, mio padre Armando e mio fratello Alfredo. In particolare le fettuccine sono servite ai clienti con 2 “posate d’oro”: una forchetta ed un cucchiaio d’oro regalati nel 1927 ad Alfredo dai due noti attori americani M. Pickford e D. Fairbanks (in segno di gratitudine per l’ospitalità).
Desidero precisare che altri ristoranti “Alfredo” a Roma non appartengono e sono fuori dal mio brand di famiglia.
Vi informo che il Ristorante “Il Vero Alfredo” è presente nell’Albo dei “Negozi Storici di Eccellenza – sezione Attività Storiche di Eccellenza” del Comune di Roma Capitale.
Grata per la Vostra attenzione ed ospitalità nel Vostro interessante blog, cordiali saluti
Ines Di Lelio