Spaghetti with Alfredo Sauce

Spaghetti with Alfredo Sauce is a creamy, cheesy pasta recipe that works any night of the week. Super quick and easy to make, it is going to be the recipe you get asked to make over and over! Dinner can be as simple and sorted as the entire family favorite spaghetti alfredo recipe.

Recipes like the Rigatoni Alfredo, Penne Alfredo and Macaroni Alfredo are all about pasta with a simple creamy sauce.

The Grilled Chicken Alfredo, Salmon Fettuccine and Spaghetti Alla Bolognese combine protein be it chicken, smoked salmon or ground beef with twirl worthy pastas.

Jump to:

• 🤍 Recipe Highlights
• 🥗 Ingredients
• 🍳 Instructions
• 👩‍🍳 How to Make Spaghetti with Alfredo Sauce
• 🍽 Serving Suggestions
• 👍 How to Guide
• 😉 Substitutions and Variations
• 💡 Tasty Tips
• 🤓 Frequently Asked Questions
• 😍 More Easy Dinner Recipes
• 📖 Recipe

🤍 Recipe Highlights

I have summarised everything that you will come to know and love (LOVE ❤) about the recipe in the points below:

• Budget friendly: this is an economical easy recipe that can be pulled together without breaking the budget! The cream, cheese and butter will be the most expensive of the ingredients and you can find a no name brand of each at the lower end of the price range.
• Simple ingredients: we only need 8 ingredients to bring the dish together. You might already have some of them in the cupboard or fridge meaning you can whip out the recipe as the need arises.
• Versatile: you can serve the creamy alfredo sauce and pasta as a main, or use smaller portions and pair it with other dishes. The recipe is very flexible and lends itself to a number of serving ideas.
• Vegetarian: if the whole family wants couple of meatless nights then a vegetarian pasta recipe with a homemade alfredo sauce will do the trick. This also saves on buying premium meat products.
• Minimal effort: once you have made the recipe for the 1st time, you will see how easy it is and get used to making it again and again effortlessly. It is an easy dinner idea with the added bonus of being exceptionally delicious!
• Butter, cream, garlic and lots of cheese: enough said, right 🤣👍😉.

🥗 Ingredients

The photo below is to show you everything you need to make the recipe. Please refer to the printable recipe card for specific ingredient measurements as well as detailed instructions.

As you can see the recipe calls for:

• Parsley: we use the fresh parsley as a garnish when serving the spaghetti.
• Salt: we add a little bit of this to the alfredo sauce.
• Black pepper: another ingredient we use to garnish the dish for serving. Simply sprinkle the black pepper over the pasta and then add the parmesan cheese and chopped parsley.
• Butter: I recommend using unsalted butter. This is because we add salt to the sauce as a separate ingredient. Try and get a creamy French butter - they are THE BEST!
• Garlic: we sauté this in the melted butter till it is golden brown.
• Parmesan cheese: fresh parmesan cheese finely grated with a microplane zester is best. It is lovely and soft and melts perfectly into the creamy sauce.
• Cream: heavy cream or cooking cream is what this will be called. In the fridge section at the supermarket. It is different to dollop cream and has a thinner consistency.
• Spaghetti: everyone's favorite pasta right!! Spaghetti noodles are budget friendly, cook quickly and are delightful to twirl a fork in.

Tasty Tip: I like to provide you with a number of substitutions and variations giving you an array of options when making the recipe. If in doubt of any of the above ingredients, or wanting alternatives, read this section (further below) before jumping into the instructions on how to make the recipe which are coming next 😉👌.

🍳 Instructions

Here are the step by step instructions to make the recipe. We start by making the sauce.

• Melt butter (Photo 1)
• Add garlic and salt (Photo 2)
• Pour in cream (Photo 3)
• Add parmesan cheese (Photo 4)

👩‍🍳 How to Make Spaghetti with Alfredo Sauce

We want to start by placing a large saute pan on the stove. Then turn the heat to high and melt butter.

Once the butter has melted add the garlic and salt and let them cook for 1 minute. Use a wooden spoon to stir it every now and again.

The garlic will be a lovely golden brown when it is done.

Next add the cream to the pan and reduce the heat to low.

Then transfer the parmesan cheese into the centre of the pan.

Let this melt stirring as you go whilst getting ready to cook the pasta on a separate element on the stove.

Fill a medium sauce pan with water, place it on the stove, turn the heat to high and add a pinch of salt. Then read and follow the package directions to cook the spaghetti.

We want it to be slightly chewy (al dente) so you can reduce the specified cook time by 1 minute.

Moments before it is ready use a heatproof jug to scoop out some of the pasta water and set it aside.

Then use a colander over the sink to drain pasta and discard the remaining water.

• Stir to combine (Photo 5)
• Reserve pasta water (Photo 6)
• Cooked spaghetti into sauce (Photo 7)
• Add reserved pasta water (Photo 8)

Next you can add the cooked spaghetti to the alfredo sauce. Then measure (125ml) ½ cup of the pasta water and pour that in.

You can turn the heat off for this step as you can see from the photos there is a lot of hot steam from the pasta and that will allow us to toss and combine the alfredo and spaghetti.

A pair of tongs and wooden spoon are helpful to use when tossing the hot pasta with the cream sauce and starchy pasta water.

Once that is done you can grab the trio of pepper, cheese and parsley and get your garnish on like shown in the photo below.

• Garnish the spaghetti for serving (Photo 9)

🍽 Serving Suggestions

I know some readers will see this as a meal in one main dish and some will want to use it as smaller portions for other mains.

I hear both options and I get it 👍😉. Here are some suggestions for both options.

For salad sides the Cherry Tomato Caprese Salad, Herb Salad or Healthy Panzanella Salad offer bright pops of colour and texture.

For breads the Garlic Pizza Bread, Turkish Garlic Bread or Ciabatta Garlic Bread will go down a treat.

If you want pasta and pizza and ribs try the BBQ Lamb Ribs, Easy Oven Baked Pork Ribs or Sticky Pork Ribs.

For feeding a crowd add the Bruschetta Pizza or Ciabatta Pizza,

For a glass of white wine on the side try a Pinot Grigio. Or for red wine try a Pinot Noir. Each type will go down a treat with the creamy, cheesy pasta.

👍 How to Guide

How to Store

Next day leftovers are even more amazing than same day eating! Store leftovers in a sealed airtight container in the fridge.

They can be kept for 3 days and are best consumed hot.

How to Freeze

I don't recommend freezing this dish. The reason being you get mixed results with creamy pastas when freezing and reheating. So fresh is best.

😉 Substitutions and Variations

Here are my sub ins and outs that you might be thinking about as you read the post and I will tell you if I think they will work or why they won't:

• You can use pecorino romano cheese in place of the parmesan cheese if you prefer.
• For additional cheese grated mozzarella cheese is a great addition.
• If you want to try a different pasta type fettuccine noodles or linguine noodles are both great options. Penne pasta will also work!
• If you want to add some vegetables some good choices are steamed broccolini, cooked peas (you can microwave them) or baby spinach leaves.
• For additional protein try adding cooked chopped Italian sausage, shrimp or chicken.
• Or you can use shredded leftovers from a rottersisse chicken if it is easier or you need a use for them.

💡 Tasty Tips

Here are my top tips and tricks that I want to share with you so that you master the recipe from the get go:

• If you don't have time for the water to boil on the stove, fill the kettle and then use that boiling water in the pan to cook the spaghetti. It will be much faster than waiting for room temperature water to boil.
• Also use a lid on the saucepan to start when boiling the water. This is another way to speed up the time it takes for the water to boil.
• If at anytime the sauce looks like it is bubbling at the edges turn the heat down lower.
• The sauce will need a few stirs when on low heat. Don't be worried if it looks like it is seperating into 'cheese' and 'cream'. With another stir or 2 it will come back together perfectly.
• There will be a lot of steam coming off the cooked spaghetti when you are adding it to the alfredo sauce. This heat will be enough to toss and combine, so you can turn the heat off at this point. Or gently reheat later as needed.

🤓 Frequently Asked Questions

What is it called when you mix spaghetti sauce and alfredo sauce?

Combining spaghetti sauce and alfredo sauce has been a massive trend on Tik Tok of late. This combination is known as 'Tik Tok Million Dollar Baked Spaghetti'. In less pop cultural terms it is called rose pasta sauce.

What's the difference between Alfredo and Béchamel sauce?

Alfredo uses cream and cheese whereas bechamel uses milk and flour. These are both white pasta sauces.

Is white lasagne sauce the same as Alfredo?

White lasagne sauce is more likely bechamel sauce. Alfredo sauce is not used to make lasagne.

😍 More Easy Dinner Recipes

Din, dins hey! 🤣. We need plenty of ideas for it, every night of the week! I think the key is to have some quick recipes, some more time intensive recipes and a variety of proteins up our sleeve.

Here is some more ideas I hope you will love:

• Beef Osso Bucco
• Honey Sriracha Meatballs
• Pesto Pappardelle
• Red Wine Short Ribs
• Pappardelle Bolognese
• Crumbed Lamb Cutlets
• Mongolian Beef Noodles
• Kottbullar (Swedish Meatballs)
• Garlic Pepper Beef
• Italian Short Ribs

Its time to get our fork twirling through our spaghetti with alfredo my friend! You can also find all of my pasta recipes in the one spot!

Adrianne

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