The Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce recipe is creamy and delicious. It is the best Alfredo sauce you will ever try, and it has the exact flavor and taste of the original dish.
Did you know this easy Alfredo sauce recipe inspired me to start CopyKat.com? Best of all, it is perfect for the whole family. Make this, and everyone will declare that you have the best recipe! My copycat olive Garden Alfredo sauce is bound to be a family favorite.
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What makes Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce so good?
There are many reasons why this sauce is so good. This pasta sauce is known for its richness. It is made with heavy cream, butter, and lots of cheese. The sauce has a luxuriously thick and creamy texture. While made with rich and flavorful ingredients, the ingredients are straightforward.
Why you will love this copycat recipe
This copycat version is tried and true. You can make this iconic sauce from the comfort of your own kitchen, with ingredients commonly found in your grocery store. What I love about this recipe, is that it tastes just like a restaurant version, but the best part is you can make this pasta recipe in less than 20 minutes. Add a copycat Olive Garden salad, and you can recreate the restaurant taste with this accessible homemade version.
This recipe launched CopyKat.com
This particular Alfredo Sauce recipe was my sole reason, or at least my first huge inspiration, for creating copycat recipes. It was the first recipe I made for CopyKat; you won’t want to miss out on this pasta dish.
I lived in a rural area of East Texas; the nearest Olive Garden was 90 minutes away. It was an extraordinary treat to have this Alfredo sauce. I knew the only way I could have fettuccine alfredo was to learn how to make homemade alfredo sauce.
Looking back, it was a magical moment that would change my life and cause me to create many more copycat recipes. I still order Olive Garden’s Alfredo sauce occasionally, and honestly, it tastes just as good to me as it did the first time I had this dish. Olive Garden makes many delicious creamy sauces, but this is their best sauce.
Olive Garden’s alfredo sauce recipe is an easy dinner idea for your next pasta night. This delicious sauce is an easy meal for any night of the week. This is perfect for a main or a side dish.
Homemade Alfredo Ingredients
What You’ll Need to Make this Recipe:
- Garlic puree or garlic powder – you can make your puree out of fresh garlic
- Butter – I have used both salted and unsalted butter
- Heavy whipping cream – please use only heavy cream, milk, half and half, and fat-free half and half aren’t thick enough to develop the rich texture of the Olive Garden’s sauce
- Grated fresh Parmesan cheese
- Salt & Pepper
- Fettuccine pasta – I recommend Barilla pasta, or De Cecco pasta
- Parsley for garnishing, if desired
You don’t need an egg yolk or flour to thicken the sauce for this recipe. The creamy sauce will thicken nicely, and it thickens with heat, so this is gluten-free.
How To Make Easy Alfredo Sauce (Olive Garden):
- In a medium saucepan, melt butter and brown the garlic puree.
- Whisk the heavy whipping cream to the browned garlic.
- Once the butter and cream bubble, add the freshly grated Parmesan cheese and salt & pepper.
- Stir on medium heat until the cream mixture starts to thicken. If it does not thicken after a couple of minutes, turn the heat up to high until it does, then turn off the heat and continue to stir.
- In a separate pot, follow the instructions to make your fettuccine noodles, be sure to drain off the pasta water.
- Combine the pasta with the alfredo sauce and garnish with chopped parsley.
- Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce Recipe
Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce recipe video
Tips and Variations:
- Use a block of fresh Parmesan cheese, and you will be able to grate. Pre-grated cheese has an anti-caking agent that may prevent the cheese from melting well.
- Heat the butter and cream until they bubble before adding the cheese. This helps the sauce thicken and sets the cheese at a temperature at which it will melt.
- If you plan on having some extra sauce, do not store the sauce with the pasta. The pasta can soak up the sauce.
- This is perfect for a large family or a party. If you want to serve a fancy pasta bar, you can easily put this sauce in a slow cooker once it is finished. Placing the slow cooker on low allows you to keep this sauce for a long time.
- If you like creamy alfredo sauce, add cream cheese to this recipe.
Olive Garden Alfredo Dipping Sauce for Breadsticks
Did you know this is the same sauce used as an appetizer? I am sure you have seen on the menu where you can order the Alfredo dipping sauce; this is the same sauce used in the Alfredo Dipping Sauce. So you don’t need to place the dipping sauce order anymore! You now know how to make the special sauce!
Frequently asked questions about Alfredo Sauce.
- Can you make Alfredo sauce with half and half? – Yes, you can. It may not thicken as well, but when combined with the pasta, the starch in the pasta will help thicken the sauce.
- Is this sauce better than Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce? Many people who have tried this pasta sauce think so; check out the comments.
- What type of pasta should I use for alfredo? Use your favorite pasta. Fettuccine is most often used, but you can use anything you have on hand.
How to store and reheat Alfredo Sauce
If you happen to have some leftovers, I recommend storing the sauce in its airtight container. Do not combine the pasta and the sauce in the same container.
I recommend reheating the sauce in a small saucepan over low heat. When the sauce melts due to the heat, you may need to add a tablespoon or two of heavy cream to thin it out. I typically make fresh pasta the second time I serve the sauce.
Love Olive Garden? Try these Copycat Recipes
- 3 Meat Spaghetti Sauce
- Asiago Tortelloni
- Olive Garden Spicy Alfredo Chicken
- Chicken Alfredo Tortellini
- Pasta Rustica Recipe
- Seafood Dip
- Chicken Margherita
- Asparagus Recipe
- Olive Garden Italian Dressing
- Olive Garden Soups
Popular Sauce Recipes
Check out more of my easy homemade sauces and Olive Garden recipes.
Did you make and love this recipe? Please review it below and share your creations by tagging me on Instagram!
Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 cups heavy cream
- 8 ounces butter
- 1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon garlic puree or garlic powder
- 1 pound pasta cooked according to package directions
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to the package directions.
- In a saucepan, cook garlic puree, in butter over medium heat. Add the cream once the garlic becomes fragrant.
- When the butter and cream become bubbly, add Parmesan cheese, and stir. Turn up the heat slightly and continue to stir. The sauce will thicken.
- In a large bowl combine cooked pasta and Alfredo sauce. Stir well, and serve. Season with salt and pepper if desired.
Video
Notes
- You may want to add 2 tablespoons of cream cheese if you do not like the thickness of the sauce.
- You may omit the garlic if desired.
- Ground white pepper adds a nice touch to Alfredo sauce.
- While the Olive Garden does not use nutmeg in their sauce, many people like a touch of nutmeg in the sauce.
Cody
Recipe is wrong. The correct recipe which I got from the OG website some years ago when they accidentally posted them is;
1.5c milk
1.5c heavy whipping cream
3oz butter
1Tbsp garlic
2Tbsp flour
1/2c Romano cheese
1/2c Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste.
Melt butter in pan. Add garlic and sauté. Add flour and make a roux. Add milk and cream mixing over medium heat. Once mixture begins to lightly boil, turn off heat and add cheese, mix until fully incorporated. Add salt and pepper.
Stephanie Manley
The Olive Garden has published several recipes online for their Alfredo sauce.
The one you shared
https://web.archive.org/web/20170501052459/http://www.olivegarden.com/recipe/alfredo-sauce/man-imp-reci-prd-69
They also used to share this one.
https://web.archive.org/web/20071019115635/http://www.olivegarden.com/recipes/recipe_search/recipe_display.asp?id=69
I personally believe they shared a recipe that was similar. Since they have published two different recipes, I do not believe that they are sharing their actual recipe. I tried to make it as close to what I tasted.
Colleen Pollack
Made this family loved it ❤️
Thank you 😊
David Petrescue
This sauce is so good!
I haven’t tried it yet, but I really like it.
Amy
Turned out awesome buuuut was waaay to buttery and I’m a butter lover like Paula Deen lol. Next time I definitely will use half the butter. The taste is amazing though. I just had to add noodles to soak up the butter and also added more parmesian cheese. Hope this will help others.
Max
I worked at OG years ago in all positions in the kitchen. I would prep this and other sauces for cold storage prior to being heated and ready for the line to use.
Here is what I recall for prepping this fantastic sauce:
In a deep 3rd pan, we combined a full gallon of heavy cream and a full pound of butter (unsalted, I think). The remaining ingredients of white pepper, salt, minced garlic, and parmesan cheese were also added. (I don’t recall the quantities for those, however, though the majority of it was parmesan cheese and garlic)
The pans would be stored in the walk-in until they needed to be cooked of use on the line.
To cook the mixture, we would place the entire 3rd pan in a boiling water bath for about 30-45 min while frequently whipping with a large whisk until fully heated and thickened. Many (3-6) pans were prepped at once for immediate use on the line or hot stored as back-up.
In a pinch, if we ran out on the line, which did happen from time to time, we could heat up a pan by placing it in a fry basket and lowering it into the deep fryer while constantly whipping it to keep it from burning. Never in my time there did we cook it up for a single serving.
Any remaining amount at the end of the night was left to cool briefly before being stored in the walk-in. It would be the first used the following day. When reheating, the key is frequent whipping. “So, whip it! Whip it Good!” =)
dquinn
Easy and DELICIOUS
kate
THis is my go to alfredo recipe. I cut the cream in half & use 7-9 minced garlic cloves. I love using the trader joe’s egg fetticinni w/ this. SO yummy!
Liane
I think this was the very first recipe of yours I tried. I had a bit of trouble making the bechamel sauce (that white sauce made without browning flour) since we don’t eat gluten. I had a brilliant idea to make the sauce using full fat cottage cheese. In a blender of course. Mine is a Blendtec and it makes stuff hot so it essentially cooked my sauce. Lots of butter, cream top heavy cream, the kind with no carrageenan …to die for. The parm melted right in. For fettuccine I use Japanese rice noodles. They are flat like linguine and fettuccine.
Linda
Can you can this
Stephanie Manley
To be honest, I do not know.
Joey
We add white sauce base to it too. I work at olive garden
Ryan King
I used to be a culinary professional at OG years ago. The white sauce base is basically flour. This is not the exact recipe although it does produce a very similar taste and texture.
Ashkey
I worked at Olive Garden for seven years. This is pretty close, but you also need salt and white pepper. And we used chopped garlic.
Suzanne
It was really good the day I made it, but then when I reheated it, there was so much melted butter on the plate. Really 8 oz of butter or should it only be one stick, 4 oz?
Stephanie Manley
Alfredo sauce does separate when reheated. I do not advise reheating it. You could reduce the amount of butter, but it will still separate because the emulsion breaks when it cools.
Sandra Adams
OMG The best !! And heated the next day even better.
Jaime
Pretty good. I add a little ground mixed peppercorn, some salt, and a bit of an Italian blend of cheese as well. Also about 2tbsp cream cheese. I also up the minced garlic to almost a tbsp. That’s what makes it like olive garden; those little bits of roasted garlic. Freezes and reheats well too 🙂 I also add chicken and occasionally broccoli.
Faye F Lengenfelder
The recipe says cream, you say milk. Which is it?
Thank you
FayeL
Stephanie Manley
Please use cream for the recipe
Magdalena
Both me and my husband agreed , this is the best recipe yet ! We loved it and the kiddos did too!
Ines
About how long do I simmer the sauce after I add the parmesan cheese?
Stephanie Manley
Simmer it long enough that it is very warm so the Parmesan cheese melts quickly.
joni
the best
joni
it is the best .