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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.
Precious says
what can I use to substitute cream because I don’t have cream
Karly says
There is no substitute for the cream in this recipe.
Roberta Schneider says
Used 1/2&1/2 as didn’t have cream. Added extra parmesean to thicken and omitted salt. It worked and was a Delicious Alfredo sauce.
Karly says
Oh good, glad it worked out for you!
Amy says
So easy and delicious ? Kids loved it!!
victoria says
this is far too much butter 🙁
Karly says
Hi Victoria! Are you basing that off of just not wanting the fat/calories or did you actually try the recipe? Alfredo is definitely not a health food, but the amount of butter is needed to get the sauce right. 🙂
Susan Dubose says
Easy and delicious. I highly recommend this recipe for anyone.
Karly says
Thanks, Susan!
sharon l says
If you need 1 cup of heavy whipping cream for a recipe, that would equate to 6.4 g carbs that you unknowingly consumed. That’s about one-third of your daily carb allowance if you follow a strict 20 g keto diet.
Karly says
Hi Sharon! I doubt anyone is eating the entire portion of Alfredo…they’d have more than the 6 carbs to worry about, if so. 😉
Shreya Agarwal says
This looks amazing! Can I use half and half if I don’t have the cream?
Karly says
I’ve never tried, so I’m not sure how it will work out for you.
Jessica Baldwin says
I am lactose intolerant and have ONLY ever used fat free half n half in my alfredo sauce & it still turns out perfectly. It’s not as rich as what you would get at a restaurant, but is much nicer on the tummy & not as much fat.
Karly says
Oh, good to know!
Kathy Bain says
I want to make a batch of pasta with Alfredo and freeze it for later. Do you think it would freeze well?
Karly says
Hi Kathy! I wouldn’t freeze Alfredo…it tends to separate when you reheat it.
Sportegan says
Thanks for this recipe, the sauce turned out to be very tasty, I made it easy!
Karly says
Love to hear that! 🙂
Sidney says
Is the minced garlic supposed to be the dried McCormick spice or is it an actual clove of garlic minced with a knife?
Karly says
I use fresh minced garlic.
Matt Ice says
Turned out great! I substituted salt for MSG and it was KILLLER
Jeanette says
This was a nice easy recipe. I added a few things to mine. I sautéed onions first with a little butter about 2tbs. Then put that aside and followed the recipe step one (cream and butter) I used a little less butter and ladled two scoops of bone broth also added about 1/4 more cream. Then I added a pinch of oregano, garlic, parsley, basil, and salt and let those flavors meld a bit while simmering. Then I shut off the heat, and melted in my parm. The smells are so inviting. Great recipe!!!!
Michele Trow says
I tried your Alfredo Sauce recipe. I didn’t have anything in the fridge for dinner last night. But i did have Cream, Cheese, and Cooked Chicken so I thought I would give this a try. I didn’t add salt but I did add some nutmeg. I added the cooked Chicken during the last few minutes of cooking and served it over fussili pasta. It was AWESOME! Thank you for such an easy recipe.
carla gibson says
When I boil my noodles i throw in fresh bite sized pieces of broccoli the last 3 minutes. YUM
Karly says
Sounds delicious!
Paula Tusow-Spillum says
This was excellent, though a bit on the salty side. The next time I make it I would omit the salt and give that a try! But this was so easy and very good!!
Jon Frank says
Will this recipe work with milk instead of cream? That’s all I have in the fridge. Thanks
Karly says
No, I don’t think so. The cream is much thicker and makes a smooth thick sauce.
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.
Ema says
I omitted the salt since the cheese is already super salty! It came out perfect!
Michele says
Super easy but so salty. I didn’t even add salt and it was a bit to salty for me.
Karly says
You could use unsalted butter next time, if you’re sensitive to salt or try a different brand of Parmesan in case whatever you used was more salty than usual.
Erika says
Deeeeeelicious! I served this with fetuccini and shrimp.