This post may contain affiliate links. Read disclosure policy
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!
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.
Lori says
My family loves alfredo,i have been trying recipes and so far,this is the best i have tried!
Karly says
So glad to hear that!
Nataly says
Karly, that recipe looks so yummy! I’ll have to try that one. Thanks for sharing.
Carol says
What is this sodium stuff ? Ive never heard of it.
Kenneth Thomas says
I am seeing here that some people are complaining about lumpy cheese and separating. This is caused by heating too quickly. We have found that with any cheese recipe that if you add sodium citrate Dihydrate to it you will get no lumps and it melts smooth. We use it to create cheese sauces by combining whatever cheese we want to try and mix in the sodium citrate and it is smooth like butter!
dtu says
can you give me a metric unit of this? i don’t understand how people use volumes in cooking.
Karly says
There are lots of online converters you can use if you’d like to convert to metric. 🙂
Brittssszzz says
That’s just how we were taught. Metric is more logical but it’s not common here.
Anne says
240 ml Heavy Whipping Cream
120 ml butter (unsalted)
5ml garlic
480 ml parmesan cheese
2 ml salt
2 ml pepper
Krystal Vonborstel says
My bf makes this recipe alot. We love it. So good and so easy. Making it tonight. Will post a pic
Karly says
So glad you enjoy!
Kate says
Karly, this was wonderful! Never knew that those flavors would come out as they did in this beautiful dish! Follow the recipe word for word!!!
Tracy l deal says
Followed the recipe, which normally I don’t, lol! Read the reviews and used white pepper, but after a taste test added some black pepper. Definitely needs both. Delicious, easy, and perfect for a night without cream cheese in the house!
Ellery says
Karly, hi! This recipe looks amazing! I’m so excited to try it! Thanks!
Karly says
Hope you enjoy!
Amanda coleman says
What are the measurements of each ingredient
Karly says
The recipe with ingredients is in the recipe card towards the bottom of the post.
Anna says
Karly, this looks amazing! Thank you, I will try this right away)
Alyssa says
Karly, what a gorgeous sause! Your directions make this seem like such an easy approach, too. I would love to make this soon!
Olga says
Karly, what a gorgeous idea! We absolutely love alfredo sauce! Definitely need to try these!
jason says
white pepper is much better as well if you don’t want black spots all over your pretty white sauce.
Jo Stevens says
I’m not a big broccoli fan. But lightly cook or bake broccoli and dip in Alfredo sauce it is paste perfection
Karly says
Yes! We make chicken Alfredo over broccoli instead of fettucine quite often. So good! 🙂
Mort says
Any chance you have you ever tried using 1/2 and 1/2 instead of heavy whipping cream? I happen to have that on hand and wondered if it could be used as a substitute. Probably would be just a bit thinner.
Karly says
I haven’t tried it. I think it would work, though it’ll definitely be thinner. 🙂
rick reed says
The adding of cream to Alfredo Sauce is an American invention. In Italy cream is not introduced into sauce . A good cheese and pasta water is the way to go. By the way I am not Italian.
Bryan Hathaway says
I made this and topped it with seared sea scallops and royal red shrimp. Your sauce recipe is awesome. The flavor with the garlic is perfect. This recipe is definitely a keeper! Thanks!
Edward says
I really loved how you make such species so smoothly and beautifully looking