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!
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.
Best I ever made
Yayyy! I’m so happy to hear that! I make this all the time for my family. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment!
Honestly, I didn’t enjoy it very much. 1 table spoon of minced garlic was a bit too much for me as well as there being garlic chunks in the sauce. I didn’t see when or even that you should take them out but I didn’t like biting into a piece of garlic. If I were to try it again I would add less garlic and maybe slice it instead of mincing it and then taking it out later. But over all I liked the thickness and it’s pretty good except for a few tweaks that would better suit me.
Hey Isabella! Have you ever tried using a garlic twister? It minces up the garlic nice and fine and it’s easy to use, clean, and store! I never notice chunks of garlic in recipes when I use this. I like your idea of slicing garlic and removing later, you may even want to just smash some whole cloves and then remove them, could be even easier!
All the stores near my location sell half parmesan and half romano cheese together… would i just do a cup of it or more/less?
Yes! That would be fine! I highly recommend using a block and shredding it yourself at home if at all possible because it melts much better. Pre-shredded cheese contains cellulose which prevents it from clumping together in the container but also doesn’t melt as well. However, if that’s your only option, you should be fine!! I just like to provide that info just in case! 🙂 Enjoy!! -Stephanie
Thank you very much for your fast response. I can’t wait to try it out 💕
You’re very welcome, I hope you love it!!
Absolutely the best Alfredo Sauce recipe we’ve found that taste just like The Olive Garden’s. We love Olive Garden and it just thrilled us to find a recipe that actually taste just like theirs!!! We also found that using the best quality in cheeses (or any other food item) makes a recipe. You may pay more but in the long run it is worth it. Thank you so much for sharing this delicious recipe.
I’m so happy to hear that! We love their sauce too and were so happy to learn we could make it at home! I totally agree, the quality cheeses are so worth it! Thanks so much for taking the time to comment and review!❤️
Hi so I’m using half and half and I see that it says I can use that instead of 1.5 heavy cream and 1.5 milk but does that mean that I would use in total 3 (cups) (I think) of half and half
You got it! 3 cups of half and half!
PERFECT recipe! Loved the addition of the flour to fortify the sauce! Thank You for an easy, pleasing, quick meal!
You’re very welcome Laura! I’m so happy you enjoyed it! Thanks so much for taking the time to comment!😍
This recipe came out delicious! Way better than another one that I tried off of the internet. Tastes exactly like the Olive garden recipe, my kids have been begging for me to make it again and I just made it last week! Thank you!
That is SO great to hear Joanna, and I REALLY appreciate you taking the time to leave this review as well, thank you so much!! -Stephanie
This recipe is amazing! Tastes JUST like Olive Garden!
Are the nutritional facts measured out per serving size?
I’m so happy that you love the recipe Pearlina! Yes, the nutritional information is per serving. 🙂
Thank you for the delicious recipes. I love all of them.
Double thanks to you,
Norma
You’re very welcome Norma!😍 Thanks for your support!
Have you ever expanded the recipe beyond doubling it? We wanted to make a large pot for a party but we weren’t sure how it would turn out.
We would appreciate your thoughts.
Hi Anna! I haven’t made a large pot of it before but I don’t see how it would be any different than making a single or double version of the recipe, I think you’re safe to go ahead and do it! 🙂