Homemade Alfredo Sauce (Without Heavy Cream!)

Making alfredo sauce at home is so easy. Once you try this, you’ll never buy the jarred stuff again! And the best part, you don’t need to use heavy cream to make a luscious, creamy alfredo. Why add the extra calories when it’s just as good without, right? Right. So let’s make it!

Ingredients for homemade alfredo sauce without heavy cream

• Butter
• Flour
• Garlic
• Milk
• Parmesan cheese
• Romano cheese
• Dried Basil
• Dried Oregano
• Salt and Pepper

As you can see, the ingredients for making alfredo are super simple. Instead of the typical heavy cream laden alfredo sauce recipes you are likely to find, I just use regular milk in mine and I do not miss the cream one bit. It’s still very creamy and rich tasting, but I like knowing I saved a few grams of fat. These are all ingredients you can get in any large chain grocery store which I also love about this recipe. And not only are the ingredients very simple, the process is also very very simple.

How to make alfredo sauce

Make the roux

As with most cream sauces, we start this alfredo by making a roux with flour and butter. What is a roux? Its equal parts flour and melted fat that is used as a base to thicken sauces and soups. This, along with parmesan and romano cheese will help thicken the sauce yielding a drool-worthy alfredo sauce.

The butter gets melted first, then add the garlic and let that cook for just a minute. Then add the flour and cook again for another minute but whisk frequently. We let the flour cook like this for a minute to get rid of the raw flour taste. It’s a thing, I promise.

Add the milk

Pour in the milk slowly, whisking continuously to get rid of any lumps. Now the sauce needs to simmer over medium-low heat until it’s gently bubbling.

Add the parmesan, romano, basil, oregano, salt and pepper

Once the milk mixture is bubbling, it should start to thicken. Turn off the heat and whisk in the dried herbs, cheese, salt and pepper. You’re homemade alfredo is ready! Can you believe how easy that was?

Do I really need to use parmesan and romano cheese you ask? While you certainly don’t have to. If all you have is parmesan cheese and you can’t get to the store, you can just use double the amount of parmesan in place of the romano. However, I highly recommend using both cheeses. Romano adds a pungent cheesiness that really makes this sauce mouthwatering.

Where to use alfredo sauce

There is of course the classic– alfredo over some fettuccini pasta or linguini. I topped mine with some fresh basil, extra parmesan and a little crushed red pepper flake. Man was that good. But there’s lots of other places to use alfredo!

One of my favorites is on this pizza. Creamy alfredo, provolone, roasted eggplant and green olives make an amazing flavor combination you will not forget.

I also use this alfredo recipe in my butternut squash lasagna that I make everything Thanksgiving.

Tried this recipe?

If you’re looking for a recipe for alfredo sauce made without heavy creamy, I hope you give this recipe a try! It’s so delicious and easy to make. I’d love to hear from you if you try it, leave a comment below or find me on instagram @thefigjar 🙂 Enjoy!