5 Ingredient Alfredo
Alfredo is one of the easiest sauces to make and tastes a million times better than the canned stuff. Just 5 ingredients too! Enjoy.
- Prep Time5 min
- Cook Time10 min
- Total Time15 min
- ServesServes 6
Ingredients
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- 1 Stick Butter
- 3-4 Cloves Fresh Garlic
- 2 C Half & Half
- 3 TBS Cream Cheese
- 1 1/2 C Fresh Grated Parmesan Cheese
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- Parsley for garnish (optional)
Method
Dice your fresh garlic and set aside. If you are shredding your cheese, do that now as well as set aside. In a hot pan, add the butter and fresh garlic. Cook on high, stirring constantly, until the butter melts and the garlic turns a light blonde color.
Next, add in the half & half and cream cheese and cook on medium heat until the cream cheese melts. Whisk occasionally. **Be careful not to boil.
Turn the heat to low and pour in the Parmesan cheese. Stir continually until the cheese is completely melted. Once melted, turn off the heat.
Taste the sauce and add in salt and pepper to taste.
Serve over cooked pasta and top with parsley as a garnish. Great as a chicken Alfredo as well!
When recipes have such minimal ingredients, it’s important to get as fresh and quality of ingredients as you can. I know it may be tempting to use already diced garlic, but trust me, it makes all the difference to use fresh.
5 Ingredient Alfredo
5 Ingredient Alfredo…..WHAT?! Seriously, Alfredo is a ridiculously easy sauce to make but is super impressive tasting. Get ready for some, “This is amazing! You made this?!”.
My biggest tip to give to you when making this meal as tasty as possible, is to use fresh ingredients. I know it may be tempting to use pre-diced garlic or, if using parsley, dried parsley. But when there are so few ingredients it’s important to make sure that each ingredient is of good quality. Now, this doesn’t mean spend $100 on Parmesan cheese, but maybe spring for the good stuff just this once.
Let’s get Saucy!
First, to make this 5 ingredient Alfredo, you’ll want to have your garlic ready to throw into the pan. Dice it up and set aside. If you need to shred your cheese, you’ll also want to do that now. Heat up a large sauce pan on high heat. Add your butter and garlic and with a whisk or spatula stir constantly. You’ll want to melt the butter completely. The garlic should turn to a light blonde color. Just be careful not to cook it too long as it may burn the garlic. This step usually takes about 1-2 minutes.
Next, turn the stove down to medium heat. Add in your half & half and cream cheese. With a whisk, stir occasionally until your cream cheese melts completely. PRO TIP: Be careful not to boil the sauce at this point. You don’t want to burn your half and half as it will curdle.
After your cream cheese melts, turn your stove to low and add in your grated Parmesan cheese. Whisk constantly until the cheese is melted. This will help the cheese to keep from sticking to the bottom of the pan, as well as create a smooth creamy dreamy sauce.
Once your Parmesan cheese melts, turn off the heat. This will again, prevent the sauce from burning as you do a quick taste test. Every Parmesan cheese product is going to have a different level of salt to it. Some parmesans don’t require adding salt to your sauce, while others do. Taste your sauce before adding in any salt to see what level of saltiness your sauce has. Gradually add in the salt as you see fit. Pepper is a bit easier as it’s mostly left to your preference. I usually add about 1/4 – 1/2 tsp of ground pepper to my sauce.
Serve it up
Finally, pour your sauce over cooked noodles. My favorite is bow tie, but really any noodle will do. Top with chopped parsley if you want to add a pop of color. This is also great with some grilled or pan seared chicken. Feel free to finish it off with a few more cracks of black pepper. Enjoy!
