You only need a few ingredients and half an hour to make this wonderful sauce for your Fettuccine Alfredo, and other dishes. And you can easily learn how to make alfredo sauce from this easy step-by-step guide!
Alfredo sauce is available in the supermarket, but do you really want to buy something that’s easy to make at home? There’s no shame in that. But the culinary and flavor rewards are higher if you learn how to make Alfredo sauce at home. It’s a very creamy sauce originating in Rome in the 1920s, and it’s made from butter, heavy cream and wonderfully salty parmesan cheese. Alfredo di Lello created it as part of his namesake dish, Fettucine Alfredo, which has become a classic. But you don’t need a trip to Italy to enjoy it!
After you learn how to make the sauce, you will also see that it’s versatile and works with other dishes, too, if you don’t feel like pasta. You can taste and combine it with whatever you want, but there are some already classical options like homemade pizza, roasted vegetables with Alfredo sauce, and you can also top off casseroles with this! It has such a complex flavor that you can use it to bring more extravagance to modest dishes or sides.
How to make Alfredo sauce in 11 easy steps
1. Gather your ingredients
You need two tablespoons of butter, one cup heavy cream, and half a cup freshly grated parmesan cheese. Wait, maybe you should have more cheese, to sprinkle on top after you’re done. It depends on how much a cheese fanatic you are! Don’t forget the ever-essential seasonings: salt and freshly ground pepper are indispensable. As for equipment, you shall need a saucepan, a wooden spoon.
2. Melt the butter
Set the saucepan on the stovetop over medium heat and melt the butter in it. Don’t let the butter brown, though, or it might alter the creamy white color of Alfredo sauce.
3. Pour the cream
Add the cream over the melted butter in the saucepan. Mix it in with a wooden spoon.
4. Season
Add the salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste.
5. Boil
Bring the butter and cream mixture to a boil.
6. Simmer
Once the mixture starts boiling, reduce the heat on the stovetop and bring it down to a simmer.
7. Cook sauce
Cook the sauce until it starts to thicken. Use the wooden spoon to keep stirring frequently. The cooking part should take about 3-5 minutes.
8. Remove pan
Remove the saucepan with the thick creamy mixture from the heat.
9. Add the cheese
You can only add the cheese to the sauce once it’s off the stove. High temperatures can make the cheese form clumps. If you add it to the hot cream, without high heat, the parmesan will melt smoothly and surely.
10. Stir
Use the wooden spoon to stir in the cheese and enable its melting, up until the parmesan is completely incorporated into the sauce.
11. Use
Now you can toss with the pasta of your choosing – it doesn’t have to be fettuccine all the time. Or you can use the sauce in your culinary experiments.