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Our Homemade Alfredo Sauce is rich and creamy with just 3 main ingredients. Only takes about 5 minutes to make and is perfect for coating pasta, dipping breadsticks, or using as a pizza sauce. People are raving about our recipe for how to make homemade Alfredo sauce and we keep hearing it’s even better than the restaurants!
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If you’ve been personally victimized by a jar of Alfredo sauce, please raise your hand.
Yeah. That stuff is no bueno.
And I’m pretty sure the only reason people use jarred Alfredo sauce is because they think Alfredo sauce from scratch is difficult.
No, friends! Our easy Alfredo sauce recipe is a breeze to make with just a handful of ingredients and about 5 minutes of time. You’re going to FLIP for this creamy, decadent homemade Alfredo sauce.
Not only is this homemade Alfredo sauce recipe super simple to whip up, it seriously rivals any restaurant Alfredo you’ve had, whether it’s the ever popular Olive Garden Alfredo sauce or a more authentic Alfredo sauce from your local Italian joint.
I just know you’re going to love this one!
Love making your own sauce? Try our homemade spaghetti sauce. It’s so much better than a jar!
Expert Tips & Tricks for Perfect Alfredo Sauce:
If you want the best tasting homemade alfredo sauce you can make then you’ll want to keep a few things in mind and follow these tips and tricks!
- Parmesan: It’s the most important ingredient! For the best quality alfredo sauce, use the best quality Parmesan cheese. You don’t have to go to Italy to get it but it wouldn’t hurt to use quality aged and imported Parmesan.
- Shred/Grate It Yourself: Again with the cheese. You know that bottle of dry crumbly grated Parmesan dust at the supermarket? Please don’t use that. Either shred or grate your own for best taste, texture, and melting quality.
- Don’t Overheat: If you try preparing the alfredo sauce at too high of a temperature or cook it for too long or you may end up with a clumpy texture. You want smooth and creamy alfredo sauce, so cook it low and slow.
Ingredient Notes:
Cream & Butter – You’ll heat heavy whipping cream (no substitutes, please) with butter and garlic to warm it through.
Cheese – When you’re making homemade Alfredo sauce you need lots of good quality Parmesan! You’ll want shredded Parmesan cheese, not the dry powdery stuff. We make our Alfredo sauce with cream cheese (just a little!) to add extra richness and creaminess to the sauce.
Seasoning – Salt and pepper, to taste, is all you’ll need.
What Readers are Saying!
“I started using this recipe over a year ago and I haven’t purchased a jar of Alfredo since. This is by far the best Alfredo sauce I’ve ever tasted!! Thank you so much for sharing this.” – Teesha
How To Make Alfredo Sauce From Scratch:
Heat: Start by melting the butter and cream together with a little blob of cream cheese (optional – see notes below). I do a garlic Alfredo sauce by adding in a teaspoon of minced garlic to the butter and cream while it’s heating. The garlic flavor is perfect with this creamy pasta sauce!
Cheese: When you’ve finished heating the butter and cream remove the pan from the heat and stir in the shredded Parmesan cheese! Keep stirring until it forms a smooth sauce.
Season: We sprinkle in a bit of salt and pepper to taste.
Serving Suggestions:
This Alfredo sauce recipe makes enough to generously coat one pound of pasta, but we usually reserve a half cup of the sauce for dipping our breadsticks in. Serve this sauce/pasta with one (or more!) of these sides:
- Air Fryer Breadsticks
- Tuscan White Bean Soup
- Ham and Bean Soup
- Marinated Cheese and Olives
- Tuscan Roasted Vegetables
You can also add a variety of ingredients and proteins to your pasta. Grilled chicken is the perfect addition to fettuccine alfredo, but our shrimp alfredo and tortellini alfredo are also very popular around here.
Alfredo Sauce with Cream Cheese:
This recipe originally did NOT call for cream cheese – it was just butter, cream, and Parmesan (and a little garlic, for flavor). I’ll always stand by the fact that this was a delicious authentic Alfredo sauce that just works!
If you don’t love cream cheese, just leave it out.
But, we did start adding in a couple of ounces of cream cheese to our Alfredo, because it does add an extra layer of creamy richness and flavor. We’re hooked, but we wouldn’t hesitate to make this sauce without the cream cheese if we were out, either. 😉
Garlic Alfredo Sauce:
We’re obsessed with garlic, so we add just a little bit to this recipe…it really makes the best Alfredo sauce!
We just add the garlic straight in with the cream and butter as it’s warming to let the garlic flavors infuse the sauce. So simple and delicious!
Recipe FAQs:
Alfredo sauce is a simple cream sauce made of heavy cream, butter, and Parmesan cheese.
While you can store this recipe in the fridge, it is best served fresh. It’ll last for 3-4 days tightly covered, but does separate a bit and get oily upon reheating.
This is a gluten-free Alfredo sauce, but many recipes do call for flour.
Yes! This is a keto Alfredo sauce recipe, because there is no flour. Of course, if you’ll want to avoid serving with pasta to keep the carb count low. It’s delicious over broccoli, though!
More Italian Inspired Favorites:
- Ravioli Lasagna
- Baked Tortellini
- Baked Spaghetti
- Chicken Parmesan Sliders
- Italian Pasta Salad
- Crockpot Lasagna
Homemade Alfredo Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup butter
- 2 ounces cream cheese
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 2 cups shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Add the cream, butter, creaeam cheese, a and garlic to a sauce pan over medium heat and heat, stirring often, until the cream cheese has fully melted and the sauce is hot.
- Turn off the heat and whisk in the Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper.
- Continue whisking until cheese has fully melted and sauce is smooth and creamy.
- Serve immediately.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
This recipe was originally published in March 2018. It was updated with new photos in March 2022. Original photos below.
bistro says
What an awesome dish!!!. Thank you for sharing. I love your recipe very much. I think your dish is very delicious. I will make this recipe for my family and my friend. I hope you have more recipe like this.
John Pruschen says
Holy Moly… I am not a big fan of Alfredo but my wife wanted something different. I loved this recipe… thank you for sharing.
Karly says
So glad you enjoyed!
Carla Skidmore says
This is, also, how I make Fettuccine Alfredo. I love that it is GF and I use GF fettuccine, which is available at my supermarket. I sometimes top it off with some parsley to add a bit of color. It is always a hit in this house. Prego does make an Alfredo Sauce, but this recipe is much better.
John smith says
I give hats off to you Karly, your recipe is so good and first you helping these folks who didn’t know how to make it upon that they tell you it’s salty, too much butter or too fat.
They don’t deserve it . I will follow you in case you have more recipes.
Ashley says
I did not make this yet, I need to know what can be used instead of Parmesan cheese? It’s a migraine trigger for me but Alfredo is one of my favorite dishes.
Karly says
Hi Ashley! You could try another type of cheese that’s similar to Parmesan, but Alfredo is traditionally made with Parmesan and since it’s the key of the three ingredients, you’re not going to end up with the same dish or flavor. 🙂
Shanda Miller says
My bf and I are amazed!! Almost no words for it! Our favorite is olive garden Alfredo!! I looked up how to make it and found a recipe with cream cheese, chicken stock, blah blah blah. I bought everything and got home and had forgotten 1 ingredient, so i was looking up another recipe just to use what i got and yours was the first to pop up. I’m like there is no way it’s that easy! All i had was the powdered parmesan cheese, but i had everything else. I made it and we are so happy i forgot the other ingredient which made me look for and find your recipe! If i don’t make it to olive garden again i will be totally fine and save a bunch of money! It wasn’t bad with the powdered cheese but it will be even more amazing with the real real stuff! Thanks so much for sharing!
Karly says
So glad you found the recipe and gave it a try, Shanda! My first attempt at Alfredo was one that had a laundry list of ingredients and 30 minutes slowly stirring the pot. People make it so complicated! Haha. 🙂
Lou says
First time I tried it and it was out of this world! It was so easy to make and my picky-eater son loved it. Recipe is perfect minus the salt. Won’t be buying sauce from the jar anymore. Thank you!!
Karly says
That’s great, Lou! Thanks!
sean says
Should mayb say if you shred the cheese or buy pre shredded cause mine did not turn out smooth
Karly says
Hi Sean! My guess is that mixture wasn’t hot enough to melt the cheese. You can turn the heat back on to melt the cheese if necessary. I make this with both pre-shredded and block cheese and never have an issue so I don’t think the type of cheese matters.
Dar Angele says
I forgot to give you your 5 star rating I actually wanted to give you 6 stars.
Karly says
Haha, thank you! 🙂
Dar Angele says
Your recipe with breadsticks and shrimp is like your in heaven. So easy and delicious. Thank you,Thank you and Thank you.
Carla Skidmore says
Just the way I have always made it. Then I wondered could I use Mozzarella Cheese instead of Parmesan?
Karly says
You probably could, but I’ve only made it as directed. 🙂
Lyn says
I looked this up because I bought a jar of ready made Alfredo sauce. When I poured it into the pan the smell was wrong. When I tasted it I tasted cornstarch.
This is what Alfredo sauce should smell and taste like. Use the nutmeg, it’s perfect! If you don’t want to make a whole batch, half or quarter it. It works every time.
Karly says
Thanks, Lyn! 🙂
James Dean says
I love this website. All tho I’m fittin to be broke from all these scrumptious dishes.
Karly says
Haha, thanks!
M Nelson says
Jon Frank, I haven’t made this recipe yet but I have made others like it and yes, you can use any milk that you happen to have. The thing is, you must be prepared that the sauce will be a little thinner and slightly less rich but it will still be very good. Karly has a good basic Alfredo recipe here that will stand up to you tweaking it a little. Just remember that you changed it when you review the recipe.
Janice says
I have never really liked alfredo but my husband does. I tried your recipe and wow it was awesome! And so easy too! It’s hard to cook something you don’t like because you don’t really know what it’s suppose to taste like. Ive made this recipe twice and it will be one that I add to my regulars.
Karly says
Love to hear that! 🙂