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.
This is the BEST alfredo sauce! My family and I loved the amazing flavor. I will definitely be making this again and will delete all other sauces from my collection.
Hands down the best recipe for Olive Garden Alfredo sauce that I have ever tried!
Hey Krymson! I’m so happy that you enjoyed it, thank you so much for taking the time to leave a 5-star rating! 🙂 -Stephanie
This turned out to be a fabulous recipe! It reheats well, is a crowd-pleaser and goes a long way. It’s definitely going to be made in my house again, and I’m adding it to my list of favorite recipes! Thank you so much for sharing it!!
Hey Taylor! That’s so GREAT to hear!! So happy you have a keeper to add to your recipe collection! This is the only Alfredo Sauce I’ll ever make as well! ❤️ Thanks so much for the great review! -Stephanie
It turned out amazing and to me better than Olive Garden because it wasn’t so thick and greasy tasting
Hey Brittany! I’m so happy that you liked this even better than Olive Garden, I love making it at home too- so amazing every time! Thank you so much for taking the time to come and leave a review!! -Stephanie
OMG! Perfect , my family loved it ! I used heavy cream , milk, and grated Parmesan cheese. I also used some chic broth if I thought it was getting too thick. Maybe half a cup. Definitely a keeper.
Wonderful to hear that Jan!! 🙌🏻❤️
I have not made this, I am sure it is fine – but I can assure you it is not the Olive Garden recipe. I worked prep there for years- I could not forget their recipe if I tried. There is no Romano cheese it, no regular milk either – all heavy cream. they use powdered garlic, not minced. So although this might be great, and may be even better the OG, but misleading to say it is the OG recipe.
Hi Diane, I usually preface recipes like this with the word “copycat”, however I obtained this recipe from the Olive Garden website and until just the other week, the link to their website with this recipe was included in this post. Unfortunately, they’ve recently removed their recipes from their website so I can’t use that as the source anymore. I actually get a number of comments from people who have worked at Olive Garden, some who say it’s exactly spot on, one the other day said that the only difference is that you need to add the salt and pepper while the butter is melting, and others who say there is no flour.. or whatever the case may be. (Not sure why there seem to be so many variances, I find it a bit odd!) But, anyway, that’s the story behind this one, definitely not trying to be misleading! 🙂 It was much easier when I had their website to at least point to as a source.
Soo.. What cheeses do they use then if not Romano?
Love this recipe!! We added a little more garlic but kept everything else the same. We might try a new cheese next time to see if it changes the flavor much. It’s delicious as is!! We paired it with scallops and broccoli and loved it!!
Wonderful, I’m so glad that you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and leave a review, it’s so appreciated!
Super good! I added chicken. Definitely making this again family loved it!
Delicious and fairly easy!
Hi Pat, I’m so happy that you enjoyed it! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review!! 🙂 -Stephanie
The only recipe I use!! The whole fam loves it!
Hey Melissa! I’m so happy, it’s the only Alfredo I’ll ever make too- so good! So glad you and your family love it! 🙂
Just made this tonight and it was fantastic. Thanks for the tip about pre-shredded cheese; I bought blocks of cheese and grated them and it was smooth.
My grocery stopped carrying Romano cheese, so I had to do some on the spot internet searching and ended up using Dubliner cheese. It’s another hard cheese, and it was a good substitute.
Hey Krista, I’m so happy that you enjoyed this recipe and that you were able to make a good substitution, thank you for sharing that and for taking the time to leave a review! -Stephanie
Can you use all parm cheese and no reggiano? All I have is parm on hand at the moment and I’m starving
All Parmesan is just fine!