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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.
Sherry Johnson Wolford says
Super easy and taste amazing!! This is my 18 year old daughters absolute favorite.
Charlene Welch says
I didn’t have any heavy cream, so I used regular milk and it wasn’t as creamy but it was still very good.
Sherry Johnson-Wolford says
I never seem to have enough heavy whipping cream so I add whole milk with my heavy cream and so far it has been really good and I’ve had no complaints.
Butch Dale says
I tripled this recipe and stored it in containers in the back of the fridge to use over a two week period. I use about a third more garlic than the recipe called for and shredded the cheese from a wedge. it was absolutely the best Alfredo sauce ever! (multiple nights of shrimp Alfredo!)
Karly Campbell says
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks, Butch!
Mike Almandinger says
The aroma was heavenly while cooking! The best I’ve had!
Gisele Sabourin says
Hi, I tried this recipe and boy it is sooo good. No more bought Alfredo sauce for me. Thank you
Karly says
I’m so glad you liked it! So much better than jarred sauce. 🙂
Amy Van Haasen says
This is a great recipe! I found another online that was the same ingredients. I had intended to make that one and bought shredded parmesan instead of grated. When I started making it, I found your recipe online that used shredded parmesan. The only thing is that it didn’t melt completely and it seemed like it was taking a very long time to melt. It also seems a little salty or maybe I is just the cheese and the pasta will even it out.
Karly says
Hi Amy! The cheese is a bit salty, but the pasta does help balance it. Hope you loved it! 🙂
Butch Dale says
Any pre-shredded cheese you buy is coated with something to keep the cheese from clumping, usually cellulose which keeps it from melting right. (and it can be up to 30% of the total weight) Always shred your own and you won’t be disappointed spending the extra time it takes to do it as it is more flavorful and works better in recipes.
Kooking Kate says
Can you post the old one?? It was so much better and I lost it.
Karly says
The only change is the addition of cream cheese. Just leave it out if you don’t want to use it.
George says
My recipe is very similar to yours. Try adding a pinch of nutmeg. So delicious!!!
Karly says
Sounds delicious!
Kimberley White says
That’s what I was missing, nutmeg! Also left out cream cheese. Great recipe even without those ingredients.
mary andre says
what kind of pasta do i use for the homemade alfredo dish please?
Karly says
We use fettucine, but you can use any shape of pasta that you prefer.