The Delicious Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce Recipe

The Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce Recipe is Perfect for Pasta or Dipping

If anyone is looking to recreate the famous Alfredo Sauce, we’ve got you covered. If you’ve seen any of our other detailed recipes, we want to outline some history and also outline some major tips to avoid running into mistakes. There’s nothing worse than ruining a dish you spent time on and then throwing it in the trash to either make another batch or just calling it a day and getting fast food (not that we have anything against fast food, just saying 😂).

In our Facebook Group; we get countless requests for this copycat recipe. We also have Olive Garden employees that jump in and clarify ingredients from time to time, so we have this recipe as close as we can get.

Olive Garden was Going to Win from the Beginning

Very few restaurants have the financial backing or power to be successful from the start. Olive Garden had both, since they opened their doors in 1982. It may surprise you, but Olive Garden didn’t come from Italy and isn’t Italian; despite having the focus on providing Italian cuisine. The restaurant started in Orlando, Florida and was started by none other than General Mills, the cereal giant. 🤯

With General Mills backing the restaurant, it was easier to take chances and to innovate without running out of cash. This allowed the restaurant to be the first to offer unlimited salads and expand to 840 locations across the country. In the 1990’s is when the company used the famous slogan ‘When you’re here, you’re family’ along with the campaign of unlimited soup and breadsticks. Although a fun fact: Post Malone, the famous musician, actually owns the rights to their former slogan. He was given the rights from late night talk show host, Jimmy Fallon, who brought on the Olive Garden President in 2013.

Olive Garden Has Fast Food Secrets

We all love fast food secrets especially when they’re not well known or if they’re recently discovered. I’m going to reveal four of my top Olive Garden secrets. I’m guessing there is at least one of them you might not know.

Olive Garden Healthy Menu

This may be a surprise, but Olive Garden doesn’t have just creamy sauces and endless pasta. There is a hidden menu you have to ask your server for that is filled with healthy menu items.

Olive Garden Specialty Pasta

One common question is “Does Olive Garden make pasta from scratch?” and the unfortunate answer is no. It’s confirmed from Olive Garden employees that the company uses Barilla for all of their pasta. Barilla is an Italian pasta maker that was founded in 1877 (!!) that has 21 brands and makes about $5 billion a year.

Despite not having pasta from scratch, Olive Garden does release specialty pasta for a limited time every season. There is always a new pasta you can try out.

The Viral Olive Garden Cheese Grater for Sale

In 2023, Olive Garden went accidentally viral when a Tiktoker discovered that you can buy an Olive Garden cheese grater inside of any Olive Garden stores. But not only that, Olive Garden provides you with a MASSIVE amount of parmesan cheese to enjoy with your cheese grater, and the cost is cheaper than buying from Amazon.

Olive Garden Kids Meal Hack for $6.99

Sometimes the most simple hacks are the best hacks. Have you ever ordered an Olive Garden kids meal to go? Me neither, until when I tested this out! I like to compare Olive Garden to Cheesecake Factory when it comes to massive portions, and getting a to-go order is nothing different, even with an Olive Garden kids meal. The portion is incredible and is half the price of a regular meal to go. If you don’t plan on meal prepping a regular meal of pasta, go for the kids meal hack!

It’s Time for the Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce

Every recipe needs to have a “star ingredient” that stands out to whomever you are serving to. That star ingredient needs to have something unique and not be overpowered by the others. For example, if you’re ordering a garlic pasta, you better hope that the garlic stands out and has some great aroma.

For the Olive Garden Alfredo sauce, it’s all about the cheese! Don’t get me wrong, cheese is expensive and the economy is tough, so it’s completely understandable if you need to get the cheese on the dry shelf that’s probably been sitting there for a while (and is filled with a lot of artificial preserves).

But to do this recipe right I’m going to recommend the following:

• Pick your cheeses from the cold aisle. These have less preservatives and are typically grated very recently. I’ve purchased parmesan and romano cheese already combined which can also save a little money.
• If you have an opportunity to get parmesan as a block, use that! You may need to overbuy just to be safe you don’t grate enough. Need a cheese grater? Here’s one on Amazon, the same that Olive Garden uses.
• Black pepper should be fresh cracked, not already in a container. The fresh grind of cracked pepper adds a nice peppery taste which is how Olive Garden does it.
• Minced garlic is a tricky one, because this references my earlier “star ingredient”. I prefer using minced garlic that is already in a container in olive oil. If you use fresh garlic and mince it yourself, it will 100% overpower your cheese and pepper flavor and it won’t have the same Olive Garden feel.

Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce Recipe

I'm going to show you how to make your own Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce right at home! It's creamy, cheesy, and super easy to make, saving you a trip at OG. With just a few ingredients, you can create one of the best tasting alfredo sauces in no time. Perfect for pasta, chicken, and of course breadsticks. Let's get it!

• 6 Tablespoons salted butter (high quality)
• 1 Tablespoon minced garlic (minced)
• 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups heavy cream
• 1 ½ cups whole milk (1% or 2% can be used if needed)
• ½ cup parmesan cheese (grated and at room temperature)
• ½ cup romano cheese (grated and at room temperature)
• salt (add to taste)
• black pepper (add to taste)
• 1 lb. Fettuccine
• Parsley (to garnish)

1. Boil the fettuccine according to package instructions. As the water preheats, begin the sauce.

2. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for one minute.

3. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring continuously.
4. Add the heavy cream in splashes, stirring continuously. Add the milk in the same manner.
5. Bring to a gentle bubble, then reduce heat to low to bubble. It will continue to thicken as it simmers.
6. Slowly stir in the cheese. Taste and season with salt/pepper if desired.
7. Drain the pasta and carefully mix it into the sauce until well incorporated. The pasta will absorb the sauce and it will continue to thicken.
8. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve!

Note: You may be tempted to add more cheese to thicken to sauce, but it continues to thicken upon standing and even when added to the pasta.

For more sauce, less pasta: Use 3/4 lb. pasta instead of a full pound.

Main Course

Italian

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