The Cozy Cookbook is here! 
Make Olive Garden’s Alfredo Sauce Recipe at home in just 20 minutes! Pair it with Fettuccine for an easy dinner idea the whole family will love!
Love Olive Garden Copycat Recipes?! Try these Chicken Gnocchi or Zuppa Toscana Soup recipes next!
I know it’s a restaurant chain, but honestly, Olive Garden’s Alfredo Sauce recipe is just perfect in my book. Hands-down. Chain or no chain, I love it.
(And you won’t believe how easy it is to make at home!)
PRO Tips For Making Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce:
- Olive Garden’s Alfredo Sauce recipe is made with Parmesan and Romano Cheeses, however you can also incorporate Mozzarella, Gruyere, Gouda, or Asiago. You can also just use Parmesan.
- You can use half and half instead of half heavy cream/half milk.
- If you only have evaporated milk, just use half the amount of milk and replace the other half with water. You won’t compromise flavor or consistency by doing this in creamy sauces like this one.
- You can even experiment with different pastas. I like fettuccine because the noodles soak up that thick sauce well, and Tortellini Alfredo with Broccoli is delicious as well!
How to Make Alfredo Sauce
Melt the butter. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
Whisk in the flour. Add heavy cream and milk. Gradually whisk in the cheese.
Add cooked Fettuccine. Sauce will continue to thicken upon standing.
Tip: I like to use 3/4 lb. of fettuccine for saucier pasta, but this recipe will satisfy a full pound as well.
Tips for Extra-Creamy Sauce
- Use blocks of (high-quality) cheese and shred it yourself for extra creamy results. Bagged shredded cheese has cellulose added to it to prevent the cheese from sticking together in the bag. Cellulose repels moisture, which makes it melt poorly in comparison to shredding the cheese yourself.
- Let the cheese come down to room temperature before adding it to the sauce.
- Sprinkle in the cheese gradually, the sauce should be warm but not too hot. Otherwise the dairy will separate and the consistency will be grainy.
- High-quality butter is important. I like Land O’ Lakes brand.
⭐Pro Tip: Alfredo sauce continues to thicken upon standing, and thickens even more when it’s added to pasta. Refrain from adding additional cheese to thicken it up.
⭐This recipe is in The Cozy Cookbook on page 132!
Making Alfredo Sauce Ahead of Time
- Alfredo sauce is a convenient make-ahead and freezable sauce. Unlike some other cheese sauces, the flour in this recipe helps it to maintain it’s consistency when cooled and reheated.
- It can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- It can also be frozen and is best if used within 1-2 months.
How to Reheat Alfredo Sauce
- Alfredo sauce will thicken up and harden as it cools, but can be easily microwaved or slowly reheated on the stove top. Reheating in a makeshift double boiler is the best reheating method to restore it back to it’s original form. (Either by itself or when combined with pasta.)
- Frozen Alfredo sauce should be thawed overnight in the fridge before heating.
- If the sauce is too thick when reheated, add a splash of milk or chicken broth to thin it out.
Try These Next!
-
- Chicken Pot Pie
-
- Olive Garden Salad
-
- Copycat Longhorn Parmesan Crusted Chicken
-
- Creamy Garlic Chicken
-
- Bacon Mac and Cheese
-
- Mushroom Chicken
More Restaurant Copycats
Love Copycat Recipes? Check out my entire collection!
Get My Free Meal Plan
I’ve got a Free Meal Plan with 7 of my super popular recipes (complete with grocery list)! Sign up for my email list and I’ll send it over now along with weekly dinner recipes!
And follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest!
Did You Make This Recipe?
I would love for you to leave a rating and a comment below! How’d you do?! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce
Ingredients
- 6 Tablespoons salted butter, high quality
- 1 Tablespoon garlic, minced
- 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- 1 ½ cups whole milk, 1% or 2% can be used if needed
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated and at room temperature
- ½ cup Romano cheese, grated and at room temperature
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
- 1 lb. Fettuccine
- Parsley, to garnish
Instructions
- Boil the fettuccine according to package instructions. As the water preheats, begin the sauce.
- Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for one minute.
- Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring continuously.
- Add the heavy cream in splashes, stirring continuously. Add the milk in the same manner.
- Bring to a gentle bubble, then reduce heat to low to bubble. It will continue to thicken as it simmers.
- Slowly stir in the cheese. Taste and season with salt/pepper if desired.
- Drain the pasta and carefully mix it into the sauce until well incorporated. The pasta will absorb the sauce and it will continue to thicken.
- Garnish with chopped parsley and serve!
Notes
For Saucier Pasta: Use 3/4 lb. pasta instead of a full pound.
Pro Tips for Reheating:
- Alfredo sauce will thicken up and harden as it cools, but can be easily microwaved or slowly reheated on the stove top. Reheating in a makeshift double boiler is the best reheating method to restore it back to it's original form.
- Frozen Alfredo sauce should be thawed overnight in the fridge before heating.
- If the sauce is too thick when reheated, add a splash of milk or chicken broth to thin it out.
- Be sure to serve this with my Olive Garden Salad!
⭐This recipe is in The Cozy Cookbook on page 132!
The nutritional information is an estimate and is per serving. There are 6 servings in this recipe.
Great flavor! Made according to recipe…I seared chicken with rotisserie chicken seasoning, would add spinach and cut done noodles if you like a thinner sauce, as the sauce does thicken a lot…3/4 box
Happy to hear you liked this Linda!😃 I love making this with chicken! Thanks so much for the review!
Absolutely spot on! Great sauce! Thanks. I find it best to salt the pasta though instead of the sauce directly as it may break down the cream somewhat. And we added lightly grilled chicken (hammered almost flat) cooked with some extra virgin olive oil and butter, seasoned with S&P. Yummy and quick.
I’m so glad you liked this Wanda! It’s soooo good served with chicken!😋 My husband likes his chicken pretty much flat too! Thanks so much for the great review!
So instead of 1.5 cups of heavy cream and 1.5 cups of milk we can just do 3 cups of half and half? super excited to try this recipe!
Exactly! You got it! 🙌🏻
This tastes amazing! And SOOOOO much better than jarred alfredo sauce! It’s so easy to make that I don’t know why I’ve ever bought the stuff in the jar before. I only had pre-grated parmesan/romano on hand (that has cellulose in it) and so the texture was not as smooth as it could have been had I hand grated my own cheese, but I was trying to whip up dinner using whatever I had on hand. Next time I will make the trip to the store for the real cheese. But still the flavor is delicious! Served with some bowtie pasta and some leftover baked chicken breast and steamed mixed vegetables – a very quick and easy dinner thank you! I think it is even better than Olive Garden, because I got to control the salt amount so that it was not overly salty.
Hey Cathy! I’m so glad that you enjoyed the recipe and I’m excited for you to make it again with a block of cheese! I love what you served this with, it made me hungry! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave this wonderful review, I really appreciate it. Take care! -Stephanie
Stephanie this is absolutely amazing! I had about 2 cups of half-and-half to use up and also added skim milk to equal the 3 cups. I also sautéed mushrooms in butter and added it to the sauce along with some broccoli. I can’t stop eating this! This recipe will be saved on my Pinterest page. Thank you so much for posting this recipe.
I am so happy that you love this recipe Maureen! I love that you served this with mushrooms and broccoli, sounds so good!! I’m glad that this will be a new one for your rotation! 🙂 -Stephanie
It turned out good, but was a bit sweet..not the same taste but good.
Hey Mandy! I can’t quite imagine where a sweet taste would develop, unless the butter cooked for awhile and began to brown? Browned butter is sweet!
I’ve never made Alfredo sauce before this recipe caught my eye first and I 10/10 recommend !!
Thanks so much Kelsey, I’m so happy to hear you liked this one!😃 This is my favorite Alfredo sauce. I love adding shrimp or chicken to the pasta!😋
Almost forgot, I used light whipping cream and fat free milk. Instead of shredded romano, I used the grated parmesan/romano cheese that you sprinkle on spaghetti. When my sauce was too thick (used too much cheese), I just added some chicken stock to thin it.
Wow! I am single so I made a half recipe of this. I am very picky about my alfredo sauce because I have eaten it in Italy. This is AWESOME! When I melted the butter and then added garlic, I also added a little oregano and basil. That’s when I added a little salt, a little pepper, and a little parsley…instead of using the parsley for garnish and the salt and pepper to taste. After the flour, I added some torn fresh spinach leaves (minus the stems) and some precooked medium shrimp. I absolutely LOVE this!!
I am so glad that you enjoyed it Leannah! Thank you so much for sharing your process, I loved the adaptations you made in the beginning with the oregano and basil!! 🙂 Appreciate the review as well, thank you! -Stephanie
How would I substitute the heavy cream with evaporated milk? I saw you wrote half milk half water- so 3/4 evaporated milk 3/4 water?
Thanks! Making this tonight.
An equal amount of evaporated milk can be used as a substitute for heavy cream. Enjoy!