Better Than Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce Recipe

Smooth delicious creamy Alfredo sauce, an Italian condiment the World’s fell in love with. This is “BETTER THAN OLIVE GARDEN” Alfredo sauce folks, that’s how good it is. Heavy cream simmered with butter, Parmesan, and cream cheese… then seasoned to perfection!

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Who doesn’t love Alfredo sauce? It’s a classic Italian condiment that’s become very popular not only in the states but all around the world. Most major restaurants serve it over Fettuccine pasta as a dish topped with things like broccoli, chicken, salmon, or shrimp.

Olive Garden is famously known as an Italian restaurant, but yall… I have to say, I think I got them beat on the Alfredo sauce. 

Lorretta Olive Garden Story

Listen, I love their food and I go there often with my aunt Lorretta. I always order their chicken Parmesan which is my favorite dish on their menu. But if we’re keeping it real, their Chicken Alfredo dish is kind of underwhelming, mainly because of the Alfredo sauce.

Now the chicken, it’s juicy, very tender, and seasoned to perfection but the Alfredo sauce… let’s just say it’s very bland and boring to me. My aunt Lorretta use to always order it every time we went because she loves pasta and their chicken.

 But she always complained about how bland the Alfredo sauce was and would shower it with salt. LMBBO! The best way to describe it for those of you who haven’t tried it, is it taste like a sauce made of nothing but milk and butter. 

How they underperform on the Alfredo sauce when that’s that main ingredient that MAKES THE DISH is a little confusing to me.  But it’s these visits to Olive Garden and my aunt Lorretta’s constant complaints that made me decide to create an Alfredo sauce recipe of my own.

Now while most of us love Alfredo sauce, not all of us know how to make it, at least not nearly as good as some famous restaurants do. So the only way to enjoy a good alfredo dish you have to order it from a fast food or eat in restaurant.

Well that ends today because I have an Alfredo sauce recipe that I KNOW yall will LOOOOOVE! I promise you won’t find too many Alfredo Sauce recipes online that will top this one.

I did a lot of research, experimenting, and testing to create what I think might be some of the best Alfredo sauce ever.

Now let me address  a few problems you may encounter when making homemade Alfredo Sauce and show ya how to make it the right way so you won’t have to spend money at restaurants or use jar Alfredo sauce anymore.

Growing Up on ragu sauce

Speaking of Alfredo in a jar, I can’t tell you how many cabinets and counters I’ve seen this very jar of Ragu Alfredo sauce sitting in and on as a child.

Whether it was at a family members house, friend of the family house, or neighbor’s house. I saw this jar in a lot of folks kitchen growing up.

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I came from a family or great cooks and were surrounded by a lot of folks who could cook, but Alfredo sauce seem to be one of those things people never like to make from scratch.

Hmmm… I wonder why! Now they have all types of Alfredo sauce… roasted garlic Alfredo sauce, creamy basil Alfredo sauce, 4 cheese Alfredo sauce, and even Alfredo sauce with bacon. LMBBO!

I never cared for the taste of the alfredo sauce that came in the jar… it taste very, ARTIFICIAL!!! Anyway throw those jars away, you don’t need them anymore. Lol!

Cookware & utensils you’ll need:

• Cheese grater: Ok so for this recipe there are a few cooking utensils you’ll need. A cheese grater is one of them and I don’t need to tell you why you need it.
  
  You guessed right! To shred the cheese and I’ll be getting into why you’ll be doing this in a few just keep reading…
• Large skillet or pot: Have a skillet on hand to make the sauce in. Now I’ve never made the sauce in a pot which may sound kinda strange.
  
  But that’s because when I make it I always add it to a skillet after I fry my chicken, then I stir everything in. I don’t think making it in a pot would change the outcome so use one if it’s all you have.
• Whisk: This is very important! It’s the best utensil you can use to smooth out and break up the lumps of cheese in the sauce in my opinion. 

Key ingredients and alternatives

Heavy cream: This is for the base of the sauce. You can’t make the sauce without a liquid! This also adds richness to the sauce which makes it a great choice for homemade Alfredo sauce. 

• Half and half: This to me is the best substitution because it’s half milk and half cream and I’ve made Alfredo sauce using it and didn’t notice any significant difference so yes, you can use this if you don’t have heavy cream.
• Whole milk: The Alfredo sauce won’t be nearly as rich, but milk will work. I’ve used whole milk before and it came out pretty good just wasn’t as rich which is not always a bad thing. 
• Cream Cheese: Cream cheese…. man o man o man… you have to add cream cheese to your Alfredo sauce. Now I don’t believe Italians used cream cheese traditionally to make Alfredo sauce but a lot of people do nowadays.
  
  I won’t even make Alfredo sauce without cream cheese and come to think of it, I don’t believe Olive Garden use it either, maybe that’s why theirs taste the way it do.
  
  Anyway, use a good brand of cream cheese like Philadelphia cream cheese… and I don’t just say that because I’m from Philly! LMBBO!
  
  I’m saying it because I personally think it’s the best. If you wanna go the traditional route and just use Parmesan cheese, do you!!!

If you decide to use it, make sure you have a whisk in hand. This is why I listed a whisk as a utensil you need for this recipe earlier in this post.  Cream cheese is stubborn and heat a lone won’t get the job done when it comes to melting it. It needs to:

1. Be at room temperature when you add it to the skillet, 2. chopped up into small pieces so it melts quicker although I rarely chop it up myself, lol, and…

3. beat up with a whisk to break up the lumps and help it blend in with the sauce.  So again, make sure ya have a whisk on hand I can’t emphasize that enough!!

But yea, cream cheese adds to the depth of flavor and I think most would agree that Alfredo sauce taste MUCH BETTER with the addition of cream cheese than it does with just parmesan cheese. The cream cheese also gives the sauce a lovely consistency and thickens it.

Block parmesan cheese: Ok so there’s a lot to talk about when it comes to parmesan cheese because this is the main and most important ingredient.

My first attempt to make Alfredo sauce was a complete disaster that I don’t want to relive. Like many others, I used pre-packaged shredded Parmesan cheese, not understanding that it’s filled with dust-like preservatives.

These preservatives coat the cheese, making it almost impossible to melt completely. Parmesan cheese is already difficult to melt, and the pre-shredded cheese takes even longer to melt. Always remember, all cheeses don’t melt equally.

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I would add my butter and garlic to a skillet, followed by the whipping cream, then throw in the pre-packaged Parmesan cheese and the cream cheese over medium heat, and it would end up burning before the cheese melted.

So I was left with burnt whipping cream and un-melted cheese at the bottom of the skillet… SMH!! Another thing you may find is pre-packaged shredded cheese can cause the sauce to come out grainy especially when it cools so that’s another reason for me not to use it.

Moral of the story folks, leave the pre-packaged shredded cheese alone, and shred a block of Parmesan cheese YOURSELF WITH A CHEESE GRATER as I mentioned earlier!

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Now if you are lazy like I can be some time there are some brands of shredded parmesan cheese that melt better than others. Here’s one that I pick up from my local grocery store time to time whenever I make Alfredo sauce and it melts pretty well.

So give it a try it you just really don’t want to shred the block cheese yourself. It’s a “shaved” Parmesan cheese people typical use in Caesar salad.

Salt to taste

Now when it comes to the salt, I always tell people to add it last and season the sauce until it’s as seasoned as you like it. I say this because salt is one of those things that all our taste buds can’t seem to agree on.

Some people may feel the amount I use is too much and some folks like my mama who seems to have a high tolerance for salt may think it’s too little, so just add as much salt as you like. I like to add 1 tsp, that amount hits the spot for me. 

Now if you’re making chicken or shrimp Alfredo and you already seasoned your meat and pasta and are making the sauce in the same skillet you cooked your meat in, make sure not to add too much salt to your sauce.

Whenever I make chicken fettuccine Alfredo for example, I season my chicken with chicken bouillon seasoning and I just add a pinch more of it to my Alfredo sauce because some of the seasoning from the chicken will season it. 

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You can add whatever type of salt you want to this. You can use chicken bouillon seasoning, an all purpose seasoning like Laury’s or Adobo seasoning, Old Bay seasoning, or any seasoning that goes great with whatever you’re adding to the Alfredo sauce. 

Minced garlic: Garlic just adds more depth of flavor and it’s an ingredient you must use. It’s just as important to me as parmesan cheese and cream cheese.

If you don’t use it your Alfredo sauce won’t have that Alfredo taste and flavor the restaurants have so make sure you use it. 

• Garlic paste: I now use garlic paste and not minced garlic. They are very similar and you can replace one with the other using the same amount the recipe calls for. But yes, since I created this recipe I’ve become a big fan of store bought garlic paste. 
• Garlic cloves: You can go the completely fresh route and use garlic cloves. Just warm them up in the microwave in a bowl with some olive oil until soft and mash them into a paste or minced garlic.
• Garlic powder: If garlic powder is all you have on hand, it will work just fine. Just add it until the sauce reach your desired taste. 

How to make Alfredo sauce

1. Shred the block parmesan cheese.

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2. Place a skillet over medium heat and add in the butter and minced garlic.

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3. Once the butter melts, add the whipping cream, parmesan and cream cheese then start whisking everything in.

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4. After 8 minutes or once it start bubbling, add pasta water and stir. You add pasta water to smooth out the cheese as well.

If you already boiled some fettucine pasta, preserve some of the pasta water and add a little of it to the alfredo sauce to loosen it up and smooth it out. 

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5. Add the seasonings and BAM, BOTTA, BOOM, YOU’RE ALL DONE!!! You have the best Alfredo sauce in the world before you ready to grace your pasta with all of it’s deliciousness!!! Lol!

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Better Than Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce Video

Frequently asked questions

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Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this Homemade Alfredo Sauce recipe and if you do, which I’m certain you will, leave a comment below letting me know how you like it!!

Enjoy, Later
PBJ~

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Better Than Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce Recipe

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5 from 8 reviews

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Heavy cream simmered with butter, Parmesan, and cream cheese… then seasoned to perfection! Making this a homemade Alfredo sauce you’ll easily fall in love with.

• Total Time: 20 Mins
• Yield: 4

Ingredients

2 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream
2 Tbs Pasta Water
1/4 Cup Butter
8 oz Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1-1/2 Cups Block Parmesan Cheese, shredded
2 Tsps Minced Garlic
1 Tsp Salt or Salt to Taste
1 Tsp Parsley Flakes
1/4 Tsp Italian Seasoning
1/4 Tsp Black Pepper

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Instructions

1. Shred the block Parmesan cheese.
2. Place a skillet over medium heat.
3. Add the butter and minced garlic, then stir well. 
4. After 3 minutes, add in the whipping cream, Parmesan cheese, and cream cheese, then whisk well.
5. Let the cheese sauce simmer for 8 minutes or until the sauce begins to bubble, then cut the fire off.
6. Add the pasta water and stir well.
7. Then add and stir in the seasonings. 

• Author: PhillyboyJay
• Prep Time: 5 Mins
• Cook Time: 15 Mins
• Category: Condiments
• Cuisine: Italian

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 4