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 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!
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.
Taylor says
This sauce is AMAZING! I also added some chopped and sauteed Bella mushrooms then poured over grilled chicken breast. This made a my wife very happy. Thank you so much for this.
Karly says
So glad you enjoyed it! I’m sure it was great with mushrooms! 🙂
Lor says
I used this recipe except I used milk instead of heavy cream to make the sauce twice. Both times the sauce was gritty. Could milk have caused this?
Karly says
Try grating your cheese yourself and cooking until it’s fully melted. Milk likely wouldn’t make it gritty, but I also don’t think that Alfredo sauce is something you can use milk for. The heavy cream is key.
Shar says
An earlier post mentioned that The Olive Garden uses flour in its alfredo sauce. If so, how does this recipe compare in consistency (thickness) and flavor ? I really want a sauce that is identical to Olive Garden’s. Thanks in advance for your help.
Morgan says
Salted or unsalted butter? Thanks!
Karly says
I use salted, but either will work.
Meghan says
Can I use whole milk instead of cream? Thanks
Karly says
Nope.
BJ says
Should read, “to a sauce pan”.
Karly says
Thanks!
Maria says
I made this tonight! Thanks! It was delicious and easy to make for a quick dinner!!! Thanks for posting!
Karly says
Glad you enjoyed it!
Gail says
Just made this tonight and served over angel hair pasta with shrimp. Absolutely delicious!! Have already shared the recipe and will definitely be making again! Thanks for such and easy, scrumptiousalfredo sauce recipe!
Karly says
So glad to hear that!
barbarann adamo says
the powdery parmesan cheese is called grated and the small stick of the cheese is called shredded hard parmesan cheese would you be able to use half and half with the same results/
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Rik says
What kind of heavy cream??Â
Karly says
Heavy whipping cream.
Dani says
delicious! mixed in some cooked peppered chicken and penne. the whole family loved it. I did not, however, add any if the salt, as parmesean is already salty, in my opinion. I used the Kroger brand bag of shredded parm. I will make this again!
Karly says
I was so impressed with how simple this recipe seemed! And a little skeptical. This did not go well. If I were to make it again, I would make a roux at first to thicken it, and then not add so much cheese! It was extremely salty and watery and clumpy. Not recommended.
Kenneth Thomas says
If you add a little sodium citrate dihydrate to ANY cheese it will melt smooth
Alyson says
This is one of the best Alfredo sauce recipes I have come across. It is super easy to make and the flavor payoff is amazing for such limited ingredients. My only complaint is that this sauce cannot be reheated. The butter ends up separating from the cheese. However, if someone knows how to reheat it without it separating I would love to know because I definitely want to be able to enjoy this sauce a second time.
Karly says
Hi Alyson! We love this sauce too, but you’re right that it doesn’t reheat well. The best way to try is to heat it on the stove while whisking. Honestly, though, Alfredo is just best made fresh. 🙂
Megan Harrison says
Over the past month or two I have been struggling to find an alfredo sauce that has good flavor! The last few recipes I used were very bland. I tried this recipe tonight with freshly grated parmesan cheese… once I added the cheese and started mixing all the ingredients it looked and smelled soooo good BUT the butter started separating from the sauce before the cheese was completely melted. I was so upset.. I have no idea what went wrong ? I thought my 9pm dinner making was over. Luckily I remembered I had shredded parmesan in the fridge.. so I went for a second round. It turned out with the shredded parmesan.. I’m so lost as to why the grated parmesan didn’t turn out but I’m so happy I had the shredded cheese to try again!! It turned out awesome and has amazing flavor.. I think I found my new alfredo recipe! Thank you
Karly says
Hi Megan!
I’m so glad it turned out for you in the end! I’m not sure what would have went wrong with the grated cheese either. Strange!
Sara says
I didn’t realize that I wasn’t to use parmesan cheese that comes in a green shaker until I read it too late in the comments section. The sauce turned out pretty terrible. The cheese overpowered the sauce and it was really inedible.
Karly says
Oh, yikes, I bet that was pretty gross. The powdered Parmesan is really only to be used as a topping. It doesn’t work the same as grated cheese and won’t make a great sauce.
Kenyon says
It would be good for the young adults who don’t know better, like myself, if it was mentioned in the recipe to use maybe hand grated or shredded Parmesan. I usually grate mine myself, but I was feeling lazy. So it didn’t come out good. I don’t know how easy it is to edit the recipe, but it would do good for the less experienced people. Thanks
Jake says
Try using less. Id say half the amount of cheese would make it taste right but really its better to add it in small batches. Maaybe start out with 1/2 cup of crumbled cheese taste and add 1/4th of a cup at a time until you reach the desired taste.