I experimented with this until I found a quick, cheap, and easy Alfredo sauce combination -- the secret is cream cheese!

Quick and Easy Alfredo Sauce

butter

cream cheese

garlic powder

milk

Parmesan cheese

black pepper

Melt butter in a medium, non-stick saucepan over medium heat.  Add cream cheese and garlic powder, stirring with wire whisk until smooth.  Add milk, a little at a time, whisking to smooth out lumps.  Stir in Parmesan and pepper.  Remove from heat when sauce reaches desired consistency.  Sauce will thicken rapidly, thin with milk if cooked too long.  Toss with hot pasta to serve.


I read alot of reviews on this and just kinda figured either I would really like it or really hate it.  Here's what I did based on other reviews: used 1 tsp minced garlic with the butter, only used about 1 1/3 cups milk and 4 oz. of parmesean (half a container of kraft grated), about 1/4 tsp black pepper and a few grinds of sea salt.  This was the best alfredo I have ever had!!!  I didn't even taste a hint of cream cheese and the sauce turned out smooth and creamy and cheesy!!  I served it with cut up grilled chicken and fettucine.  I LOVED it and so did my boyfriend!! I had some extra sauce so I took it to my friend and she thought it was super delicious!! This will be the only alfredo I make from now on! I hate the jar stuff!  The best advice I can give is to have some patience and the whisk IS A MUST!!  Put the milk in a little at a time and just keep stirring.  Don't use too high of heat and I'm telling you your sauce will turn out perfect!!  Thank you for such a great recipe!

I used light cream cheese and skim milk and it was still excellent.  The recipe states that this makes 4 servings, but I would say that it easily doubled that.  Assuming the 4 servings, using these substitutions drops the calories per serving by 85 and drops the fat by 11.8 grams.  The cholesterol drops by 39 mg. (Well worth doing as it is still excellent.)

I have been making this recipe for several years and still can't get enough of it! It is my husband's favorite dish (in fact, I'm pretty sure this is why he married me!) and he requests it constantly.  The only time I had a problem with separating or a heavy butter flavor was the one time I used real butter instead of margarine.  It still tasted very good, but the flavor was MUCH richer and it was significantly thicker overall.  If you have trouble with the parmesan being too grainy or sticking to the bottom of the pot, try adding it right after mixing in the cream cheese and whisk well.  It will be super thick before adding the milk, but the parmesan will blend better.  If you are worried the 2c milk is too much, try mixing everything together and leaving it on low heat while you boil water for the pasta.  It will thicken alot as it cools too.  Other than that, the only real tweaking that I have done is to always ALWAYS add a healthy dash of oregano.  Other seasonings may come and go, but I find oregano essential for rounding out that Italian flavor. **update** Since a few reviews suggested nutmeg I decided to experiment on what I thought was already perfection and it was definitely worth it!  A good dash or two of nutmeg really adds depth and compliments the oregano too. **more update** For those who say they taste too much cream cheese, make sure you are using the whole 6oz of Parmesan. If you are using enough Parmesan it should become the dominant flavor.

Very good and unlike other reviewers, I did not taste the cream cheese, like in so many other savory dishes that use cream cheese it adds smooth richness to it.  VERY good.  Made alot which I like b/c I was feeding 5 of us.  Served over penne, added chopped fresh tomatoes and basil to mine.  Easy, cheap and comforting, and not super greasy like my other recipe.  I did add a few dashes of nutmeg and parsley, pepper, and more salt to taste once I had tossed it.  Thanks!

BY THE WAY: DON'T rate a recipe if you COMPLETELY change it!!!!  That is extremely unfair and none of us want to hear about how you changed every measurement and dumped a bunch of ingredients in it and thought it was so-so.  Not cool!!

Outstanding. Sublime. Fantastic. I could think of infinite adjectives to describe this sauce becuase its so wonderful. I am generally a traditionalist, but the addition of cream cheese is pure genious. I have never made such a velvety alfredo before.  This is my new standard recipe. I did, however, make the following changes; I used some cream and some milk. I also used more parmesan than called for, and topped it off with some nutmeg and fresh parsley. I have also used this sauce as a base for many other sauces, creamy pesto, garlic and mushroom, creamy basil and tomato, the possibilities are endless.  Thanks very much for a great recipe.

I was highly disappointed and will not make again! With all the rave reviews I was expecting something comparable to the sauces in finer Italian restaurants. To me, this sauce is equal to that of a “fast-food” one.  It tastes too much like a cream cheese sauce, not alfredo. I doctored the sauce up at bit. Try sautéing some garlic, diced ham and fresh peas in a tsp. of butter then add to the sauce before serving over cheese tortellini. The added ingredients made the sauce edible.

This really is a great tasting sauce!!  I was surprised that you can not taste the cream cheese at all; very "authentic" texture & flavor!!  (I was a bit worried at first when my butter and cream cheese did not blend smoothly, and I thought it was because I used margarine and lite cream cheese, but upon adding the first bit of milk it became creamy and the end result was wonderful.)  This is an instant classic at my house.

Very excellent recipe. So much smoother, creamier, and easier than other alfredo recipes I've tried. I did make a few of my own adjustments; I used 1 cup of cream and 1 cup of milk like a few others suggested, I used nutmeg instead of garlic powder and pepper, and used parmesean and romano cheeses. It was so luxurious, and reheats slightly better than some homemade sauces. Great for tossing with pasta or more substantial items like meat and veggies. Definately a keeper!

We made this for dinner last night.  It was awesome!  My daughter likes it better than my old recipe.  Her boyfriend said it tastes like Olive garden.  I served it with noodles and topped with grilled chicken.  The recipe is easy to make.  The key trcik here is to make the sauce on low heat and add the cheese a little at a time. Do not let it start to boil as the butter will seperate.  We will definitely be using this recipe again.  We made no substitutions but made the recipe exactly as written.  Please help me encourage other Allrecipe reviewers to not rate any recipe lower than 5 stars if they do not follow the recipe exactly.  Why do people make changes to recipes and then rate them 3 stars?  Makes no sense to me.  

Watch how to make a simple Alfredo sauce that’s rich and creamy.

quick and easy alfredo sauce

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total: 10 minutes

Servings: 4

Cost: $7.12 /serving

Author : DAWN CARTER

Ingredients

Instructions

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