Skinny Fettuccine Alfredo
A rich and creamy lightened up alfredo sauce that’s so easy to make, and it tastes just as good as the original!
Fettuccine alfredo is one of favorite kind of comfort foods. It was always my go-to dish as a kid each time we went out to an Italian restaurant, particularly Olive Garden. But as I’m getting older and my metabolism has come to a screeching halt, it’s been getting a little bit difficult to stomach this. Fortunately, I’ve found a “skinny” version that’s a little lighter on your tummy, and it tastes just as creamy and comforting as the original!
With a couple of lightened up options, you’ll have this comforting fettuccine on your dinner table in less than 30 minutes. It’s a super easy sauce that comes together simply by stirring until the cheese has melted. While that’s happening, you can go ahead and boil up the pasta, and when your sauce is ready, you can just throw that in and you’re all set. Now how easy was that? Just be sure to have some self-control around this because you’ll want to eat the entire pan!
Skinny Fettuccine Alfredo
Ingredients
- 8 ounces fettuccine
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 ¼ cups 2% milk, or more, as needed
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 ounces Neufchatel cheese, cubed
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk, and cook, whisking constantly, until incorporated, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in heavy cream and garlic powder until slightly thickened, about 1 minute.
- Stir in cheeses until melted, about 1-2 minutes. If the mixture is too thick, add more milk as needed; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Stir in pasta and gently toss to combine.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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Can you use cream cheese instead of the Neufchat cheese? I just can’t find that type of cheese
I would think so – they are very similar. And if you can do the lower fat version that would be even healthier here.
Love the recipe, but your ads keep covering the content.
This is the only Alfredo sauce recipe we make. We use it with all types of pasta and serve it with a Caesar salad for the perfect meal.
So easy and so much better than what we get out of a jar. Added vegetables and chicken sausage to make a complete meal
This is damn delish! Our go to..
I have never tried a recipe from this site that I did not love and this is no exception. I had some shredded chicken I needed to use and pasta is always my first choice for most everything. As I read the recipe, I thought, well, I don’t have 2% milk and I don’t have cream, but I do have whole milk – I’ll use that. Turned out I only had one cup of whole milk. I ended up using chicken broth for the rest of the milk and the cream (about 1/2 cup). I used cream cheese instead of Neufchatel. Even with all these substitutions, this dish was still rich an creamy! Great taste and mouth feel! Thank you! I will definitely be making this dish again and again.
so quick, easy, and delish! thank you
Love this recipe. This is my go to Alfredo recipe. So quick and easy no need to buy store bought sauce again!
This is by far my favorite skinny version of alfredo. The whole family loves it! Sometimes I’ll add some pesto and chicken to it. So good!
Delicious! This recipe is simple to make and tastes divine. I omitted the heavy cream and it turned out just fine. I am adding this recipe to my recipe box!
My son helped me make this earlier. We cooked chicken pieces with spinach and mushrooms first, before we actually got to the pasta recipe. My son was very pleased with the results. We used mozzarella and Parmesan cheese instead. Very tasty!
Sweet!
Omg! This is damn delicious. I am 12 years of age and started cooking at a young age and this is a very simple meal to make. This is perfect for anyone of anyone age for people who love veggies try adding broccoli, cauliflower or asparagus. This is a good meal for dinner parties or a quick meal to make before extra-curricular activities. With leftovers, add broccoli( or a vegetable) , grated parmesan (optional) and a meat, spice or both (optional) and place in a casserole dish and bake in the oven at 350 degrees farenheit until the the top is browned.
Can I make the sauce ahead of time and gently warm it up later?
Yes, of course, but you may need to thin it out a little bit. Hope that helps, Sherry!
This is one of my husband and son favorite dish. Thanks for sharing.
Made this tonight, so yummy!! Used only 1% milk, no heavy cream. Added minced garlic and red pepper flakes. Added a medium sized bag of frozen broccoli that I blanched in the noodle water and added frozen chicken strips directly to the sauce then poured the chicken broccoli Alfredo sauce over the noodles, omgosh so amazing!! Thanks Chung-ah for another damn delicious recipe!!!
I love that you added broccoli! 🙂
Omg wow! That looks so delicious, still yet to try Alfredo but this really makes me want to try it (:
Just made this, and it was perfecto! I had been making a homemade full-fat alfredo sauce, and even though I liked it, I just didn’t like that guilty feeling that came afterwards. With this quick and easy lighter recipe, my guilt factor came tumbling down. Also, I used half and half instead of the milk and heavy cream and switched out the parsley for Italian seasoning. Yum-E!
LOVE this recipe! I make it at least once every couple of weeks!
This. Was. Amazing.
Just made it for dinner. I doubled the recipe and fed 8 people.
This recipe is easy and damn delicious! Made it for dinner tonight