Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce

"This is one of the best recipes to make your own version of Olive Garden's famous Alfredo sauce. This recipe is for a large dinner party. Please feel free to scale the recipe down for a small family. Note: Make sure you whisk in the flour early while you are melting the butter with the garlic to avoid a "floury" flavor. The flour is important to avoid a thin sauce. This sauce is very versatile. Add grilled marinated chicken for a great Chicken Alfredo. Add sautéed shrimp and scallops with Old Bay Seasoning, white wine, shrimp stock, and chopped green onions for Seafood Alfredo. Extra sauce can be frozen for later use."
 
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photo by coodude2929 photo by coodude2929
photo by coodude2929
photo by Iheartcookin2 photo by Iheartcookin2
photo by Iheartcookin photo by Iheartcookin
Ready In:
45mins
Ingredients:
8
Yields:
1 gallon
Serves:
14
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ingredients

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directions

  • On medium heat, add butter, garlic, and flour until butter is melted. Do not brown garlic.
  • Whisk in the heavy cream until hot.
  • Slowly add the freshly grated cheeses into the hot cream mixture. Finally add the salt and pepper. Stir often to make sure no cheese settles at the bottom.
  • Simmer until all the cheeses are melted and the sauce reaches the desired thickness. Do not let this sauce boil, or it will begin to separate and the cheeses will become grainy.
  • Serve with pasta and garnish with freshly grated pecorino romano cheese (used by restaurant), if desired.

Questions & Replies

  1. If I don’t have a scale how many ounces of Parmesan cheese equals the 1lb on the recipe?
     
  2. Will this sauce hold okay if I make the sauce, mix with pasta in a pan and drive to a party about 45 min minutes away? Any concerns with it separating?
     
  3. How many lbs of pasta is needed for this amount of sauce?
     
  4. Why, this time, did the butter separate from the sauce. Last time I made it did not happened. I only differed from the original recipe in adding a 5 cheese blend and only half the butter. Everything else was the same. Does anyone know. Last time it came out better.
     
  5. Not a question. Finally. Got around to making the sauce. Almost followed the recipe exactly. Just added 4 ozs. cream cheese. Big mistake. When the sauce cooled, it was like play dough. Extra thick. After experimenting a little, a couple of tbsp. of evaporated milk was all that was needed to make a serving good again and possibly use only half the butter.
     
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Reviews

  1. This recipe is so great I actually created an account here just so I could leave a review. I'm not generally a fan of large chain restaurants, but I've yet to have a better Alfredo sauce than the one they make at the Olive Garden. Needless to say I've been searching for this recipe since I first had the sauce as a teenager (now in my early 30's), and this is the only recipe I've ever found that actually tastes *exactly* like the Olive Garden's Alfredo sauce. There are lots of others on here and all over the web, and I've probably tried most of them - but this one is the real deal!!! Thanks so much for sharing Jeremiah!!! I don't suppose you have the recipes for their Italian dressing and breadsticks (jk:).
     
  2. This is the best Alfredo sauce I have ever tried. Just made this sauce for the first time, andmade a half recipe and it still made lots. I prepared this for three people who aren't really pasta fans and they loved it. This is going to be a regular item in my cooking routine.
     
  3. perfecto!.................
     
  4. This was the best recipe I have made at home that tastes like the restaurants!
     
  5. Nailed it! Is it the fontina? Is it the freshly grated parm? The heavy cream? Whatever IT is, IT is the best! <br/>I halved recipe and it perfectly coated 3 pounds of fettuccine. <br/>Made for Christmas Eve '12 and it was superb topped with shrimp and langostini. (Normally I would mix it all in, but we had a few non-seafood lovers (WHAT?!?!) on board. <br/>Will be my go recipe. Did not and would not change a thing. <br/>TY for posting!
     
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Tweaks

  1. This is my new "go to" recipe for alfredo sauce. SO good. So not good for you:) I didn't have the full 2 quarts of cream, so I ended up with the recipe being about 1/2 milk and 1/2 cream. Also, I had to replace with Parmesan cheese instead of the Fontina. It still came out delicious. This makes a lot of sauce too.
     

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