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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!
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.
National Restaurant says
Just made this. It looked beautiful, tasted great!
Michell says
Made this tonight and the family loved it. I could not get it creamy by hand so I put in the ninja and it came out perfect!! It’s a hit in our house and so easy. Thanks!!
laura@lasesana says
Great, it looks so creamy. I’m not sure I can make it better than restaurant but I can make it at home follow the instruction that’s nice. Many thanks for the post.
Christine says
Best and fastest rcipe I’ve ever tried for Alfredo sauce! I LOVE that there’s no roux. This will be the only way I will ever make this sauce from now on. Thank you for the simple technique! 5 stars for sure.
Karly says
Hi Christine!! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! My first time making Alfredo was a 30 minute stir fest and it was awful, so I can relate to the excitement of finding an easy recipe! 🙂
Marion Lekx says
I have made this recipe a few times and yours was the only one to say remove from heat before stirring in the cheese. Works out perfectly. Thank you so much.
Karly says
So glad it worked out for you! 🙂
Becky says
Do you think this would stay together if made the night before and put into a crockpot the next morning for a lunch potluck the next day? I am just worried it would seperate.
Karly says
Yeah, I think it would separate as well. Alfredo is one of those things that are best served fresh.
Cheri Mello says
SO Sorry!! I Have Swipe On my Phone AND IT DIDN’T pick the right icons. And I CAN’T EDIT!!
Cheri Mello says
????????AWESOME!!! THANKS FOR SHARING!!! ?I LIKE that I CAN see the recipe and I KNOW what’s in it!! I DON’T like Alfredo that Tastes Like FLOUR and IS TASTELESS ??? And I saw Comment About Black Pepper ( Use White instead) So Not to Get Flecks in it. If I’m Only making It FOR me , I Don’t Have to Present It . BUT this is GREAT! ??G-d Bless??
Anita says
I was about to place an order for the Alfredo cheese sauce. But thank you for this quick recipe.
Bryanna says
Made with the powdery grated Parmesan Cheese, and it still turned out amazing! Made it for my mom on mothers day =)
John J Craig says
I haven’t tried it yet, but I guess some people talk about lumps. I am assuming the cheese does not fully melt, but that would be okay, I love cheese and if that is the only misgiving of this recipe, I am sure I’ll love it. I’m a single guy and love to eat, but have a few health problems that restricts what I can have, but every once in awhile I just have to binge on something I love. So I come to your site and look for something sinfully delicious to cook!
Teesha says
THANK YOU Karly!!! This was so easy to make and very delicious. Luckily I had all of the ingredients on hand. I will never use jar Alfredo sauce again. ?
Brandi says
Just made this, and it was amazing! I did tweak a little 🙂 My container of shredded parm was only a cup and a half, so I added about 1/4 block of cream cheese, because it was not getting thick. I also added 1/2 tsp of Italian seasoning. This tasted better than OG 🙂
Christine says
Made it for a large family gathering and every child and adult loved it and several people asked for the recipe.
Mark says
Regarding getting a second, next day meal out of your Alfredo, I’ve found that throwing it in a pan already mixed with the sauce and sauteing it with a little milk does a pretty good job of resurrecting this delicious dish.
mark says
mixed with the pasta I meant
Karly says
Great tip!
Megan says
You said you make garlic breadsticks with the Alfredo, are the breadsticks store bought and if so, what brand? And if you make them yourself what is your recipe?
Karly says
I normally just grab a box of breadsticks in the freezer section at the grocery store. Whatever brand looks good – they’re all good, in my opinion. I think I usually grab the New York Bakery brand.
Kimberley Pereda says
Hello Karly, can you help me with this recipe? I really love to eat alfredo pasta, but I am always failing to cook the sauce. Your recipe looks so yummy.
Karly says
Hi there! Can you tell me where things are going wrong? Have you tried this recipe yet?
Tri says
I’m skipping this, but I would hope any recipe was better than that nasty stuff at Olive Garden.
Elena says
Was that really necessary?
Misty says
I prefer Olive Garden s Alfredo sauce compared to what some people call authentic Alfredo sauce served in more expensive restaurants . It’s a matter of taste and opinion.