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.
Table of Contents
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.
Michelle
Then why are you on here commenting if you don’t like Olive Garden. Defeats the purpose of the comment thread don’t you think? Your agenda must just be to insult people.
Amie
I dont understand what is wrong with people like you! I would give a thousand $$’s if anyone out there can explain to me , what the deal is with people like this? I googled olive gardens alfredo sauce, just like I would assume others did, in order to end up here, and like always I endup getingetting side tract reading others post and comments. And it never fails, as I came across your post, it really sadens me to have to face the truth, that there’s honestly people out there that what, really dont have anything else to do, besides surf various websites, and post comments, that offer no help just agitation to others! I just dont get it. I came on here in the first place because school starts back up tomorrow and wanted to try and make my girls their favorite diner! And then poof like the devil themselves here’s that one that wants you to say screw it! Anyway if anyone out there can tell me why people do this, I would appreciate it!
stephaniemanley
Who knows why these people come on and fuss. I have no idea. I hope you enjoyed the recipe and gave it a try.
Amie
Michelle, sorry im not good with technology at all, and I see that it sais im replying to your post, I was trying to reply to the jack-A above yours, heh, if thats supposed to be his name, maybe the h’s stand for Hitler or something idk, but anyway sorry its supposed to be a reply to whomever he is!
therron
Just made this and it tastes exactly the same!! Yummmmy!
stephaniemanley
Terrific!
ddp
This was great – made it for my 2 oldest college alfredo loving sons! I have tried a couple times to get a good alfredo sauce from scratch – I did use the cream cheese…..yum yum!
KirstinG
I tried making this recipe, and it just turned out terrible. I used whipping cream, real butter, un-shredded cheese, the whole nine yards– and it completely separated. It was basically a big glob of cheese floating in butter. Not sure hat I did wrong — I followed the directions exactly — but needless to say I won’t be making this again!
Stephanie Manley
KirstinG I am sorry this recipe didn’t work out well for you. If your cheese never melted maybe your heat wasn’t up high enough. If you are whisking this all of the time like you see me stirring this, your butter won’t be separated from the heavy cream. Again I am sorry this didn’t work out for you.
Cheryl Carsley Doubleday
How much pasta should i use per batch?
Stephanie
I would use about 16 ounces of dry pasta.
Stephanie Manley
This can easily take about a pound of dry pasta.
Rich
I used 16oz. of penne pasta and it seemed to be the right amount. It may depend on whether you like a lot of sauce or just a little, my family prefers it to coat the pasta, but not be swimming in it.
heide
Couple of things. Cheap parmesan will not create the right sauce. It will stay chunky pieces no matter how long you try to stir it. The other thing is NEVER EVER EVER allow any form of boiling! It will separate your sauce and there’s no coming back from that! Parmesano Reggiano is the only cheese that will truely melt. I’ve tried 6 different brands and stirred for 30 min trying to find any brand that would melt like the real thing. Nope never happened.
Stephanie
I love Parmesano Reggiano, while it is expensive, it works well. I have also found that the cheese at Trader Joes works very well too.
Kassie
I always use the Romano brand Parmesan cheese, pre shredded, and never had a problem with the sauce not setting. You just have to stir it non stop and for a bit longer than with freshly grated but it tastes the same and cuts down on some work if you don’t want to shred it yourself.
Guest
I made it as per the video…no cream cheese….only butter, cream, parmesan and salt
After i added the cheese….the whole thing started to look like its curdling up….like breaking up into tiny pieces….not creamy
To fix it, after a while, i had to beat it in the mixer/blender for some time to get it to look like a creamy mix….
Is this ok….or did i do something wrong which caused it to break up bad …..
Any specific type of cream needed….and i see a inconsistency between your video and recipie in text below it…..video does not have cream cheese….recipie has it….Pls clarify.
Pic of my pasta prepared with this sauce below.
Stephanie
I don’t know why your sauce would have curdled up. My first thought would be the cream was not super fresh, but I am sure you would have used cream that was fresh or the fat content was not high enough in the cream you used. The fat content in heavy cream prevents curdling. If you would have tried this with milk it may have curdled up.
I don’t recommend any salt, the Parmesan cheese is salty enough on its own.
I mention heavy cream in the recipe, heavy cream can also be called whipping cream. It depends on who is producing the product. Both are correct, and used interchangeably.
I have added the instructions for what to do when you have a thin sauce, with the cream cheese instructions. This was/is my goof proof way to make the sauce.
This is a very easy sauce to make, I am sorry your dinner did not work out well for you when you tried it.
Stephanie Manley
I have clarified multiple times in the comments about the cream cheese. You can add a couple of tablespoons if you like, it is OPTIONAL.
Can you tell me how you were heating this recipe? Did you turn your burner up on high? Was it on medium high? This sauce shouldn’t be breaking down.
Mama Mia
I think the poster meant adding the parm cheese….did you miss that part? The post says “no cream cheese.”
Zappa202020
I was having the same problem. By the time I sat down to eat, the butter was separating from the sauce. I found that it is best to NOT let the cream boil. You need it to be hot to melt the cheese, but try for the lowest temperature you can that will still melt the cheese. Once the cheese is melted there is no benefit to continue heating it. I also noticed that if you go crazy with the whisk you can make a very fluffy sause with a wonderful texture, but that will fall apart quickly.
Stephanie
Did you use pre-grated or pre-shredded cheese? Those cheeses contain anti-caking agents in them. Naturally the cheese would glob back together in a package if it didn’t contain the anti-caking agents on the cheese.
Hillpriscilla
It is soooooo delicious!! I have used it twice: one for chicken alfredo flat bread pizza and another one for chicken, shrimp, broccoli, and mushroom fettucina alfredo. I have never used a jar alfredo but I never will. It is really good!!! Thanks
Stephanie
It is simply too easy to make your own Alfredo sauce. Save the jar, make your own homemade Alfredo sauce.
Matt
You can buy a pint of Alfredo sauce from Olive Garden for less than it cost to buy the ingredients to make this.
me
some people do not live near an olive garden
Gues
Don’t try many internet recipes, but this one just sounded so good! Glad I did, even the kids thought it was super yummy! Thanks! Now on to the next one! 🙂
Penny
I kid you not, I get an extra dimple in my rear just thinking about this sauce.
John
Made it for my daughter’s basketball team meal. They loved it!!! Sooo much cheaper then taking everyone out to Olive Garden.
John
Made it for my daughter’s basketball team meal. They loved it!!! Sooo much cheaper then taking everyone out to Olive Garden.
Bob
she never put the cream cheese in
Ms Zayda
Okay…so I made this receipe today without the cream cheese and it was soooo good! My daughter said it tasted just like Olive garden! I also subtituted powder garlic with minced garli and added romano cheese!! So Good!! Thanks for the receipe!!!
Anonymous
I am glad to hear the recipe worked out well for you!
Shirley Kase
Thanks I was reading comments to see if I could use fresh minced garlic Ok.
pinky
this is totally off the olive garden alfredo sauce not even close
Shaun
I love how simple and tasty this recipe is. We are feeding 70!!! (yes, 70), high school cross country runners before a big meet next week, and I would love to serve this this grilled chicken instead of the (now boring) regular marinara sauce…
1. Any tips on the ingredient quantities?
2. Will it ‘keep’ for an hour or so before serving without clumping, or spoiling?
Thanks 🙂
Anonymous
I would suggest making the sauce in bulk and then keeping it warm in crock pots, this should work.
Shaun
Hi Stephanie – we will use an electric turkey roaster on a low setting to keep the bulk sauce warm. I’d be grateful on a tip for the ingredient quantities i will need to make this large volume of sauce? Can you help please?
Thanks so much for your help 🙂
Shaun
Anonymous
To be honest, I don’t know how many batches you will need, I would guess 7 to 10. I would simply multiply the ingredients by 7 to 10 times. I think you would be better off making the sauce in smaller batches, and then combining in the turkey roaster. Again, I would make 7 to 10 batches, and I would multiply my ingredients by how many batches I decided on.
Shaun
Hi Stephanie – we will use an electric turkey roaster on a low setting to keep the bulk sauce warm. I’d be grateful on a tip for the ingredient quantities i will need to make this large volume of sauce? Can you help please?
Thanks so much for your help 🙂
Shaun
Kristy
Just made this recipe and it was awesome. My kids loved it to, I added canned chicken breast to it.