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Homemade Alfredo Sauce recipe is made with cream cheese, and it’s an easy 30 minute dinner that your entire family will love! Serve over your favorite pasta or use in any recipe that calls for Alfredo sauce.
ALFREDO SAUCE RECIPE
If you are looking for an easy dinner recipe that your entire family will love then you’re in the right place. This Alfredo sauce is so yummy, easy to make, and it’s one of those recipes that you know you can make and your kids will eat it with no whining 🙂
My favorite ingredient to use in Alfredo sauce is cream cheese. It provides so much creaminess, richness, and deep flavor.
One of my family’s favorite & most requested dinners is this garlic parmesan pasta. It’s the same idea as this Alfredo sauce but the recipe is much lighter (calorie wise) and equally delicious.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED FOR ALFREDO SAUCE WITH CREAM CHEESE
Butter – The recipe calls for salted butter because that’s what I always use. I don’t even buy unsalted butter because I think it has no taste and does not give any sort of salty, buttery flavor to anything you add it to. If you use unsalted butter (which you can) just taste the sauce and add some if you feel necessary.
Cream Cheese – Use the regular, full-fat cream cheese or the 1/3 reduced fat cream cheese works well in the recipe too. The key is to cut it into cubes before adding it into the pan. It will melt faster and it’s easier to mix in instead of one big block of cream cheese.
Heavy Cream – Heavy whipping cream is essentially the same thing so either one will work. Alfredo sauce is not diet food so just use the heavy cream 🙂
Chicken Broth – Either the regular chicken broth or reduced-sodium chicken broth can be used in this recipe. I normally have the reduced sodium chicken broth so that’s what I use most of the time.
Parmesan Cheese – The best one to use is the wedge of Parmesan cheese that you grate/shred yourself. Yes you can use the shredded Parmesan in the bags or the grated Parmesan cheese in the cans. Or you could do some of each depending on what you have on hand. The Parmesan cheese wedge that you shred yourself melts so smooth and the taste is better.
Garlic Powder, Salt, Pepper – Use fresh garlic cloves if wanted or even the chopped garlic in the jar. I love using the garlic powder because it’s so easy and does not require any chopping. But any type of garlic will work fine.
TRY THESE OTHER RECIPES THAT USE ALFREDO SAUCE
Cream Cheese Garlic Alfredo Sauce
Cream Cheese Garlic Alfredo Sauce is an easy, 30 minute dinner that is so creamy, delicious, and full of flavor. Serve over your favorite pasta for a delicious dinner that is a family favorite. You only need a few simple ingredients to make homemade alfredo sauce with cream cheese.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter
- 1 block (8 oz) cream cheese, cut into chunks
- 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 8 oz wedge parmesan cheese, shredded
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (or less to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
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Melt butter in a saucepan (or skilet pan with high sides) over medium-high heat. Once melted, add in the chunked cream cheese and garlic powder. Stir with a whisk until mostly smooth and mixed together. This will take a couple of minutes { It may look curdled and not perfectly smooth but that's fine. It will smooth out when the liquid is added. }
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Add the whipping cream and chicken broth a little bit at a time, while whisking constantly. Bring to a low boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium-low and add the parmesan cheese, salt & pepper. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally.
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Take the pan off the heat and let it sit for about 5 minutes so it can thicken up. Serve over pasta noodles of choice. You can also add the cooked pasta noodles into the pan and mix it in with the noodles and then serve that way. Or serve the noodles and sauce separately.
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** The alfredo sauce won't thicken up all the way until you turn the heat off and let the alfredo sauce sit there for several minutes. Be sure to allow about 5 minutes to let the alfredo sauce sit and rest before serving. **
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
Serve over any shaped pasta. My kids love it over the spiral rotini pasta but anything will work. Or just use this alfredo sauce in any recipe that calls for alfredo sauce.
I combine the chicken broth and heavy cream in a 4-cup Pyrex glass measuring cup to make it easy to add both liquids into the saucepan at the same time.
You can use fresh garlic cloves or even the garlic paste in the tube instead of the garlic powder. Whatever garlic you like, feel free to use it.
You can find the Parmesan wedge up in the produce section of the grocery by the deli and other specialty cheeses.
This ALFREDO SAUCE was originally published in May 2018. It has been updated and republished March 2020. Recipe is the same.
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