My first taste of Olive Garden’s Alfredo sauce was a culinary revelation that changed my life. Living in rural East Texas, the nearest Olive Garden was a 90-minute drive away, making their creamy pasta a rare and special treat. After one particularly memorable dinner, I couldn’t stop thinking about that velvety sauce coating every strand of fettuccine.
I became determined to recreate it at home, spending weeks perfecting the recipe until I finally achieved that signature richness and flavor. That first successful batch was more than just dinner—it was the moment that inspired me to launch CopyKat.com, beginning my journey of recreating restaurant favorites at home. Thirty years later, this Olive Garden Alfredo recipe remains my most treasured recipe, bringing that restaurant magic to my family table in just 20 minutes, no long drive required.
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Table of Contents
What makes Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce so good?
There are many reasons why this sauce is so good. This pasta sauce is known for its richness. It is made with heavy cream, butter, and lots of cheese. The sauce has a luxuriously thick and creamy texture. While made with rich and flavorful ingredients, the ingredients are straightforward.
Why you will love this copycat recipe
This copycat version is tried and true. You can make this iconic sauce from the comfort of your kitchen with ingredients commonly found in your grocery store. I love that this recipe tastes just like a restaurant version, but the best part is you can make this pasta recipe in less than 20 minutes. Add a copycat Olive Garden salad, and you can recreate the restaurant taste with this accessible homemade version.
Homemade Alfredo ingredients
What You’ll Need to Make this Recipe:
- Garlic puree or garlic powder – you can make your puree out of fresh garlic
- Butter – I have used both salted and unsalted butter
- Heavy whipping cream – please use only heavy cream, milk, half and half, and fat-free half and half aren’t thick enough to develop the rich texture of the Olive Garden’s sauce
- Grated fresh Parmesan cheese
- Salt & Pepper
- Fettuccine pasta – I recommend Barilla pasta, or De Cecco pasta
- Parsley for garnishing, if desired
You don’t need an egg yolk or flour to thicken the sauce for this recipe. The creamy sauce will thicken nicely and thicken with heat, so it is gluten-free.
How to make easy alfredo sauce like Olive Garden
- In a medium saucepan, melt butter and brown the garlic puree.
- Whisk the heavy whipping cream to the browned garlic.
- Once the butter and cream bubble, add the freshly grated Parmesan cheese and salt & pepper.
- Stir on medium heat until the cream mixture starts to thicken. If it does not thicken after a couple of minutes, turn the heat up to high until it does, then turn off the heat and continue to stir.
- In a separate pot, follow the instructions to make your fettuccine noodles, be sure to drain off the pasta water.
- Combine the pasta with the alfredo sauce and garnish with chopped parsley.
Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce recipe video
Recipe tips and variations
- Use a block of fresh Parmesan cheese and grate it yourself. Pre-grated cheese has an anti-caking agent that may prevent the cheese from melting well.
- Heat the butter and cream until they bubble before adding the cheese. This helps the sauce thicken and sets the cheese at a temperature that will melt.
- If you plan on having some extra sauce, do not store the sauce with the pasta. The pasta can soak up the sauce.
- This is perfect for a large family or a party. If you want to serve a fancy pasta bar, you can easily put this sauce in a slow cooker once it is finished. Placing the slow cooker on low allows you to keep this sauce for a long time.
- With this sauce, you can add some grilled chicken for chicken alfredo or even grilled shrimp for shrimp alfredo.
- If you like creamy alfredo sauce, add cream cheese to this recipe.
Olive Garden Alfredo dipping sauce for breadsticks
Did you know this is the same sauce used as an appetizer? I am sure you have seen on the menu where you can order the Alfredo dipping sauce; this is the same sauce used in the Alfredo Dipping Sauce. So you don’t need to place the dipping sauce order anymore! You now know how to make the special sauce!
Frequently asked questions about Alfredo sauce
Can you make Alfredo sauce with half and half? Yes, you can. It may not thicken as well, but when combined with the pasta, the starch in the pasta will help thicken the sauce.
Is this sauce better than Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce? Many people who have tried this pasta sauce think so; check the comments.
What type of pasta should I use for alfredo? Use your favorite pasta. Fettuccine is most often used, but you can use anything you have on hand.
How to store and reheat Alfredo Sauce
If you have leftovers, I recommend storing the sauce in an airtight container. Do not combine the pasta and the sauce in the same container. The pasta will soak up the sauce, and reheating it like this will result in a plate of very thick pasta and no sauce.
I recommend reheating the sauce in a small saucepan over low heat. When the sauce melts due to the heat, you may need to add a tablespoon or two of heavy cream to thin it out. The second time I serve the sauce, I typically make fresh pasta for my fettuccini Alfredo.
Love Olive Garden? Try these copycat recipes
- 3 Meat Spaghetti Sauce
- Asiago Tortelloni
- Olive Garden Spicy Alfredo Chicken
- Chicken Alfredo Tortellini
- Pasta Rustica Recipe
- Seafood Dip
- Chicken Margherita
- Asparagus Recipe
- Olive Garden Italian Dressing
- Olive Garden Soups
Popular sauce recipes
Check out more of my easy homemade sauces and Olive Garden recipes.
Did you make and love this recipe? Please review it below and share your creations by tagging me on Instagram!
Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce Easy Copycat Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 cups heavy cream
- 8 ounces butter
- 1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon garlic puree or garlic powder
- 1 pound pasta cooked according to package directions
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to the package directions.
- In a saucepan, cook garlic puree, in butter over medium heat. Add the cream once the garlic becomes fragrant.
- When the butter and cream become bubbly, add Parmesan cheese, and stir. Turn up the heat slightly and continue to stir. The sauce will thicken.
- In a large bowl combine cooked pasta and Alfredo sauce. Stir well, and serve. Season with salt and pepper if desired.
Video
Notes
- You may want to add 2 tablespoons of cream cheese if you do not like the thickness of the sauce.
- You may omit the garlic if desired.
- Ground white pepper adds a nice touch to Alfredo sauce.
- While the Olive Garden does not use nutmeg in their sauce, many people like a touch of nutmeg in the sauce.
I just gained a lb reading the recipe… sounds delicious.
Fantastic!!!!!
Made this tonight and EVERYONE LOVED it! I will DEFINITELY be making this again!!! No more can Alfredo sauce for me!
We really should stay away from canned stuff whenever possible. This was so easy wasn’t it?
I tried this with a little more cream cheese and it turned out delicious. Everybody thought I learned while I was living in Italy. Really, really good!
I have uses this recipe for years and my kids think it tastes better than O.G. I use exact recipe as it’s printed.
I have been using this recipe for years and everyone loves it! It’s easy, the ingredients are practical and I never have left overs to waste. I do add salt and pepper to taste and sometimes more cheese if I’m in the mood. Love it!! Thank you for sharing.
If you have any left over, which is hard to imagine, store the sauce in its own container. Reheat on the stove top is best, and you may need to add a little more cream as the sauce may thicken.
Thank you for this, I will definitely have to try it as I have tried alfredo at a dozen restaurants and never found the delicious taste of Olive Garden’s.
if you go on olivegarden.com they give the recipe for their alfredo sauce
Their recipe for the alfredo sauce contains 4 or 6 egg yolks, I really don’t think you need to add that many egg yolks to make alfredo sauce. I have never seen a recipe for the alfredo sauce that contained egg yolks except theirs.
I know when I make Spaghetti Carbonara & Creamy Mac & Cheese it calls for 4whole eggs. That’s what makes the silky/creamy texture : )
I can’t get this recipe to work half the time. It won’t let the butter stay mixed in it. It starts out good and mixed then as i let it simmer it seperates. What am I doing wrong. I have made it right before but I dont know what it is that i do different when it mixes well.
I would make a couple of suggestions, make sure the butter, and cream are very hot before adding the cheese, when you add the cheese whip it a great deal to make the mixture uniform. Also, some cheese that comes pre-shredded has an additive to keep the cheese from clumping together in the package. I really recommend shredding cheese just before you use it if you are going to melt it into a sauce.
I used real salted butter and it did fine no seperating.
It’s not the butter that is the issue. It’s the cheese. When cooked for too long, it tends to curdle. Don’t let it simmer too long or at too high of a heat. You don’t want it to boil at all. I’ve learned from my own mistakes.
I had heavy cream left over from Christmas so the end of December I made this recipe, I made about triple the recipe and froze it. Last week I cooked it I added cooked chicken served it over cheese tortellini for my grandchildren and husband they loved-loved-loved it and I did use the cream cheese. I’ve never made Alfredo Sauce (was so easy to open a jar) before because I thought it was a lot of work and I love to cook. This is the only recipe for Alfredo Sauce I will ever use, and no work at all.
Thanks for sharing
Ive been making this recipe for about 3 years and everyone I make it for absolutely loves it! I have even gone to Olive Garden and ordered just a large salad and breadsticks and everyone thought I bought the sauce too! I love it and this is a quick and easy recipe! My fiance’ can even do it without the recipebook!
I love this recipe and have been using it for almost 10 years. The only thing I do different is I add salt to taste and it is perfect. It’s the best alfredo sauce I’ve ever had and I can’t bear to order it in a restaurant because it will never compare to this recipe!!! I would love to feature this recipe on my blog sometime.
how many servings does this recipe yield?
You can make 4 very large servings, or 6 to 8 smaller servings with this amount of sauce.
I have made this many times from this recipe and all people do is rave over how great the taste is. I also add grilled chicken to mine or put it over cheese ravioli’s. This recipe is awesome!!!
I work for Olive Garden and I can tell you that their sauces are made from scratch. However you are right about the recipe on the website not being the one they use. Unfortunately, I’m not able to give that recipe.
I too work for olive garden and this is no where close. And I agree with Matt, it is cheaper to buy it from the restaurant if you can.
The recipe on the website is not the one they use? I would imagine the egg yolks would make it totally awesome!
Okay, what is will the post about "think Olive Garden’s food is palatable"?
Yes, I do think at one time they did make it form scratch; whether they do now is a different matter. Have you ever tried reheating alfredo sauce? It is not easy to achieve reheating the sauce to exactly the same texture and taste; in fact, it is very hard to do(the more butter in the sauce, the harder it is to do so). The post for the Olive Garden Sauces are a least a three years old based on my earlier copy.
I worked for a catering company several years ago which claimed to have the Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce recipe….and everyone who tasted it agreed. I have misplaced the recipe showing the measurements, but I can tell you that we used several scoops of Knorr Alfredo Sauce Mix (institutional size) along with lots of grated parmesan cheese and heavy whipping cream. If I ever find the recipe I will send it in to post.
Anonymous for the win…
First, you people *seriously* think that Olive Garden’s food is palatable?
Second, you think they actually make it from scratch??? At a corporate chain restaurant?
I worked at Olive Garden and they DO make their sauces and soups from scratch. Every day.
I don’t believe you. My daughter ate the Chicken gnocchi soup the other day and it tasted like a metal can. Literally. A metal can.
thats because there sauces are made by nestle.
Olive Garden doesn’t put their recipes online that they like to serve in their restaurants. Often they are vastly different. They post tasty recipes online, but their alfredo sauce doesn’t have eggs in it.
Hmm I just made this recipe as shown in the video then to look underneath the video to find it needs cream cheese Stephanie Manley can you confirm cream cheese or no cream cheese and if so are we talking bagel cream cheese?
It says ‘if the sauce is too thin, try a little cream cheese.’
There website posts recipes and both of the alfredo ones on here are different from what they posted… I have made it a couple times. A friend told me that they forgot to post to put a stick of butter in the recipe as well. So I’ve done that… never tried making it without the butter.
1 1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup imported Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup imported Romano cheese, grated
6 egg yolks from fresh jumbo eggs
Salt and black pepper to taste
Procedures
1.HEAT milk and cream in a heavy bottom saucepan until it begins to simmer. Turn off heat. Slowly whip in cheese, then remove from heat.
2.PLACE egg yolks in a separate bowl and slowly whip in a portion of the hot milk and cream mixture. Slowly add egg yolk mixture back into remaining cream mixture. Place back on very low heat and continually stir until simmering. Take sauce off heat so it thickens. (This will increase temperature of egg yolks, known as tempering).
3.SEASON to taste with salt and black pepper. Serve over your favorite pasta.
I used to work at Olive Garden, we made the sauce in house and there were no eggs in it.
Thank you ;). At some point I want to make this and demonstrate is is no where close to the recipe on their website.
I still find this to be a wonderful recipe
I am glad you are happy with the recipe.
I work at Olive Garden and we use egg yolks in ours. Some places might not follow corporate protical and some may.