Gluten-free Alfredo sauce

Restaurant-quality Gluten-free Alfredo Sauce that’s rich, creamy, garlicky, and so easy to make at home. Serve it with your favorite gluten-free pasta and enjoy this Italian comfort food classic!

Fettuccine alfredo was one of my favorite menu items to get at Italian restaurants – it was such an indulgent treat! Unfortunately, when I went gluten-free, it was one of the many Italian classics I needed to say goodbye to.

Well, until I started creating homemade gluten-free Italian recipes that are just as good, if not better, than anything you can order at a restaurant. This gluten-free baked ziti, gluten-free meatballs, Sunday sauce, and gluten-free garlic bread are some of my favorite classics. And now I can add gluten-free fettuccine alfredo to this list.

Reasons you’ll love this recipe

• Easy to prepare. Five simple ingredients are all you need to make this delicious gluten-free alfredo sauce, and it comes together in about 15 minutes.
• Super flavorful. You can’t get enough of this cheesy, garlicky alfredo sauce.
• Nobody knows it’s gluten-free. Everyone that tries this alfredo recipe loves it and doesn’t even question whether or not it has gluten.

Ingredients

This Alfredo sauce recipe is a restaurant-style version that uses full-fat ingredients. If you wish for a lightened-up version, check out this healthy alfredo sauce on my sister site.

Heavy cream. For a rich, authentic alfredo consistency and taste, grab a carton of heavy cream for this alfredo sauce. I recommend purchasing organic and making sure the only ingredient is heavy cream. Believe it or not, some heavy creams include additives and preservatives that can aggravate someone with gluten intolerance.

Salted butter. I’ve made this alfredo sauce with both unsalted and salted butter. Both will work, but I feel salted butter gives the sauce a better flavor. If you use unsalted, then adjust the salt at the end. Also, a lot of Alfredo sauce recipes include a lot of butter; I only use four tablespoons in this recipe – this is the perfect amount to get the best flavor without being too heavy. 

Gluten-free flour. Authentic alfredo sauce doesn’t include flour, but many restaurants and alfredo store-brands include flour as a thickener. I have made Alfredo sauce with and without flour, and here are my thoughts. Alfredo without flour will still coat the pasta, but the consistency will be thinner, and the only way to thicken it up is to add more cheese. So if you’re looking for an Alfredo sauce with a thicker consistency that doesn’t require an extra 2lbs of shredded cheese, adding about two teaspoons of gluten-free flour will do the trick. Any gluten-free flour will work.

Minced garlic cloves. Garlic is another ingredient not found in authentic alfredo sauce recipes; it’s more common in the Italian-American version. Original alfredo sauce recipes include just cream, parmesan cheese, and lots of butter. We love garlic, and it gives this gluten-free alfredo sauce a great flavor. Of course, we often measure garlic with our hearts when adding it to recipes, so use more or less garlic depending on taste. I also have other garlic suggestions in the cooking tips section.

Parmesan cheese. For best results, I highly recommend using freshly grated parmesan cheese. Not only does fresh give the best flavor, but pre-shredded cheese often has gluten or other additives and preservatives.

Gluten-free fettuccine pasta. I recommend Barilla gluten-free fettuccine or Bionature gluten-free linguine or spaghetti. The alfredo sauce in this recipe will coat 12-ounces of gluten-free fettuccine pasta.

Supplies

• Large skillet, pan, or pot
• Small bowls or measuring cups
• Whisk

How to Make Gluten-Free Alfredo Sauce

• If you’re serving this with gluten-free pasta, I recommend cooking the pasta first, so it’s ready to toss in as soon as the alfredo sauce cooks.
• Melt the butter over low to medium heat in a large skillet, saucepan, or pot. Add in the garlic before all of the butter melts. 
• Sauté the garlic in the butter until it becomes fragrant.
• Slowly whisk in two cups of heavy cream. Cook over medium-low heat until the cream steams and cooks down some. It might start to bubbly slightly, but you don’t want it to boil because you’ll risk burning the sauce.

• In a measuring cup or small bowl, whisk together ¼ cup of cream and two teaspoons of gluten-free flour until the flour dissolves into a slurry.
• Slowly whisk the slurry mixture into the sauce and continue cooking for another 3-5 minutes until the sauce thickens.
• Stir in the grated parmesan cheese and remove from the heat.
• Give it a quick taste for salt and black pepper.
• If you’re serving gluten-free fettuccine alfredo, add the cooked noodles to the alfredo sauce and toss until the sauce coats the pasta.
• Serve hot with additional grated parmesan cheese. If you want to get fancy, then sprinkle with parsley.

Serving suggestions

This alfredo sauce isn’t just for pasta.

You can use this creamy, garlicky sauce:

• Over chicken and rice
• In baked pasta dishes
• Keep it low-carb and serve it with shrimp and veggies or spaghetti squash.

If you are having a big ole bowl of fettuccine alfredo, then enjoy it with one of these side dishes:

• Gluten-free Garlic bread
• Caesar salad
• Roasted broccoli, asparagus, or other veggies.
• Enjoy a chicken alfredo for some extra protein.
• You can even increase the fiber by stirring spinach or broccoli into the Alfredo sauce.

Cooking Tips

• Cook the sauce over low to medium heat. Gluten-free alfredo sauce comes together quickly, but it’s not a recipe you can turn the stove on and walk away from because it has delicate ingredients like garlic, cream, and butter that can burn if you’re not paying attention.
• You want the cream to steam and be hot enough to cook down some but mainly for the parmesan cheese to melt into the sauce.
• When the garlic becomes fragrant as it cooks in the butter, that’s when you know it’s done cooking. As I said, you want to keep an eye on it because garlic can go from perfectly cooked to burnt in a matter of seconds. So, right when you’re starting to smell it, that’s when you want to whisk in the cream.
• If you don’t want pieces of garlic in your alfredo sauce, then I have a couple of solutions. First, you can crush garlic and then cook it that way in the butter and cream. Before serving it with the pasta, remove the chunks from the sauce, and this will infuse garlic flavor without having pieces of garlic in the sauce. 
• You can also swap in garlic powder if you don’t want to use raw garlic, and it will still be tasty but won’t have that fresh garlic butter flavor. I recommend one teaspoon of garlic powder stirred in after adding the cream. You can add onion powder for extra flavor too.
• Or leave the garlic entirely out for a more authentic alfredo sauce.
• Don’t add more than two teaspoons of gluten-free flour. I’ve made this recipe numerous times, and that’s the perfect amount to get a thicker consistency without the sauce becoming goopy or overly thick.
• If the Alfredo sauce becomes too thick, thin it out with chicken broth or extra cream.
• This gluten-free Alfredo sauce is already creamy and tasty, but if you want more, then stir in 4-ounce cream cheese with cream.
• Cook the pasta al dente, especially if you’re going to coat the pasta with the alfredo sauce. 
• You can make a dairy-free Alfredo sauce using unsweetened coconut milk, olive oil, and nutritional yeast for dairy sensitivity.

Storage tips.

Because of the cream and butter, Alfredo sauce doesn’t refrigerate or freeze like other sauces. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy leftovers or make the Alfredo sauce ahead of time. 

Store leftover Alfredo sauce in a glass airtight container or jar and refrigerate for 3-4 days. Reheat the sauce low and slow in a saucepan on the stovetop. The milk and butter might start to separate, but you can bring it back together by whisking in a little extra cream.

Did you make this recipe?

Have you tried this Gluten-free Alfredo Sauce yet? If so, I’d love for you to rate this recipe and leave a comment below. We all learn from each other’s experiences. Thank you.