Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce
An easy, no-fuss dish you can make right at home with ingredients that you already have on hand. It’s also cheaper, healthier and quicker than ordering out!
I woke up one morning with a huge craving for alfredo sauce. I don’t know what it was but I just had to have it right then and there. But delivery was going to take over an hour and Olive Garden was about 45 minutes away. And I just couldn’t wait that long.
At that point, I was almost even tempted to buy those jarred alfredo sauces. Yes, I just wanted it that badly. I know. Shameful.
But after perusing through my pantry, I realized that I had all the ingredients to make the Olive Garden alfredo sauce right at home. And surprisingly enough, it came together in just 15 minutes from start to finish. It couldn’t be easier!
And as always, the homemade version really knocked it out of the park. I was thoroughly satisfied, as I devoured about 3 servings of these. Then I ran 4 miles. It’s all about that balance, right?
Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce
Ingredients
- 8 ounces fettuccine
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 3 cloves garlic, pressed
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup whole milk, or more, to taste
- ⅓ cup freshly grated Parmesan
- 1 large egg yolk, beaten
- 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.
- Combine butter, garlic, heavy cream and milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer; remove from heat and stir in Parmesan and egg yolk, whisking constantly to prevent the eggs from scrambling. If the mixture is too thick, add more milk as needed.
- Stir in pasta and gently toss to combine; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately, garnished with Parmesan and parsley, if desired.
Notes
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Thanks so much for this recipe! Best home made alfredo sauce to date!
I made this tonight for Valentine’s Day Dinner. But 3 things I did differently. 1. I doubled the alfredo sauce ingredients so that my pasta didn’t lack the evenly saucy taste mixed with the pasta that my family loves. 2. I added 2 tbsp of flour to the sauce to make the sauce thicker because the original recipe made the sauce too watery. 3. I substituted Half and half for the whole milk to give the sauce a creamer taste. Omg…it all came out so good..I will definitely be making this again. This is now a favorite!!
I just made this tonight for dinner and it was very good. I have a few remarks to add. Before I drained the pasta, I reserved about a cup of the pasta water to use if it needed it, rather than milk. As it was, the sauce was a little on the thin side, but I put it back on medium heat, whisking it, for about 30 seconds to a minute and it thickened up nicely. I live in SE Alaska in the Panhandle so have a ready source of fresh shrimp, crab, salmon (which I smoke and can), and halibut. I used some prawns, and really liked your suggestion to roast the shrimp rather than saute which I would ordinarily do, which can be messy. I might add a little tarragon to the shrimp next time. I also think this would be good topped with some smoked salmon as well. Thanks, keeper recipe.
And yes, nutmeg is always good in cream based pasta recipes.
It’s been a while since I made fetuccini alfredo, and I lost my original sauce recipe. So I Googled, specifically looking for ones with egg yolk, and tried this one.
Next time I’ll try a different one.
This was bland, runny, and tasted like garlic milk. I had to let it simmer for at least 15 minutes after I added the yolk (which, by the way, it is best to put some sauce in a separate dish, let it cool, and add the yolk to that, stirring generously, and slowly adding more sauce, stirring the whole time, until the sauce in the dish and the sauce in the pan are nearly the same temperature. This is the best way to ensure you don’t cook your yolk and harden it.) and there are no instructions to do so. There is not enough heat left in the pan to appropriately melt the cheese, IMO. And then we still deal with the runny texture. By simmering it after adding the yolk, I was successfully able to melt the cheese, however, only slightly thicken it. I even added another 1/3 cup of cheese. It didn’t help much.
I don’t know what Olive Garden alfredo tastes like, but if this is the copycat version, I will know to avoid that menu item.
If I had any recommendations to other home chefs, it would be to add some oregano maybe to the sauce, and lessen the milk from the get go. And don’t forget the nutmeg 😉
I used 1/2 n 1/2 by mistake, personally I didn’t care for it, I will buy heavy creme next time and try it again
Mine was a little runny too, but i melted the butter and the minced garlic then I wisked in 1 Tablespoon of flour for 2 minutes then added the milk and wisked that in. Then followed the rest of the recipe as normal. It was great! I love this recipe!!!
HI, I have to omit the whole milk due to a very specific food allergy. Can I substitute with heavy cream?
Also, does your sauce stay nice for leftovers or does it separate? Most alfredo sauces separate wn reheating the next day and I was wondering if you have any ideas of how to avoid this? I have read that corn starch or cream cheese may solve the problem but am reactant to try! Any experience with this?
Heavy cream would be a great substitute. This also reheats very well the following day.
I followed the recipe to the letter. The sauce never thickened. I even let it sit for 15 minutes. It still never thickened. I wonder if the milk may have something to do with it, as traditional recipes call for all cream? It is still a tasty sauce, but it won’t thicken to typical Alfredo sauce thickness.
Hi, my sauce ended up way too thin…. any suggestions? Followed recipe (or so I thought )
The sauce will thicken as it cools.
I admittedly have not read ALL the comments but wanted to share a few thoughts.
I used shaved parmesan “petals” so I don’t know if this affected the outcome at all, but I too found the sauce really thin. I did end up adding about a teaspoon of flour and it thickened up nicely. I like garlic but I don’t want it coming out all my pores… so I cooked only one clove of minced garlic for a bit in the butter, added the milk and cream, and then strained the garlic out before cooking it all again… so I got the flavour without all the power. Thanks for sharing this and all your recipes!
Hi, I am making a birthday party this Sunday and planning on making this! I love Fettuccine Alfredo and I can’t wait to try this recipe! How far in advance can I make the sauce? And what is the best way to rewarm it?
You can make this the night before as the sauce reheats very well on the stovetop.
I LOVE this recipe. The only things I do different is after I cook the sauce, I add it to the crock pot for a few hours, and I have to quadruple the recipe just to get enough for my husband and I to have dinner and leftovers the next day. We don’t eat a whole lot of food but when I make it the way the instructions say I barely have enough for one person. Am I doing something wrong?
Not at all – some people prefer to have more sauce than others! 🙂
Does this freeze well? I won’t eat it all so I’d like to freeze some. TIA!!
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself – there were no leftovers left to freeze! Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
I read; combine butter, garlic, heavy cream and milk in a sauce pan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. What’s not clear to me is if the garlic needs to be backed in the butter and after stir in the cream and butter, or whisk (room temperature) butter with the garlic, cream and milk and bring all together at once into the sauce pan.
Thank you in advance for explaning.
You can combine all of the ingredients at the same time.
Can I make a day ahead and heat in the oven? What temp should I use?
This is really best when served immediately.
Making this for 25 people and would like to make the sauce ahead of time. Is that possible, and if so, should the sauce be too thick should I use more cream or some pasta water to thin it. Will be putting the fettuccini Alfredo as a side in a chafing dish.
Also, how come none of the recipes never call for some nutmeg? Thank you for your help.
Joan, this is really best when served immediately, and as someone who has not tried making this ahead of time, I cannot answer this with certainty. Please use your best judgment. If you would like to add nutmeg, you can simply add that in to taste.
I do not have heavy cream or half and half. Do you think substituting evaporated milk will be ok?
Thanks for the tips.
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot advise how much this will alter the overall taste/texture of the dish. Please use your best judgment.
I am a husband with kids and prepare meals once or twice a week. I do enjoy cooking, but usually just open cans of sauce, vegetables, etc. For some reason, I wanted to try alfredo from scratch, and the “Olive Garden” in your recipe got my attention. Just wanted to say how EASY this recipe was for a very part time cook! It turned out perfect and was delicious. It was a hit with my wife and kids. I added grilled chicken breasts cut into strips. Thanks for sharing it.
Scratch what i asked earlier, I’m new to cooking pasta or any other dish other than my country’s. I did a research and found out that fettuccine is a type.
The ingredients required 8 ounces fettuccine but it no was used in the instructions while making alfredo sauce. Please let us know if it’s needed or was it an error? Thank you.