Traditional Alfredo sauce is insanely delicious and sometimes considered a splurge with its indulgent amounts of butter, cream, and cheese. This version still gives you a creamy luxurious experience but lowers fat and calories significantly, and all comes together in 10 minutes, so it’s perfect for last minute meals. This isn’t a recipe whose purpose is copycat the original with different ingredients. This recipe still uses real cheese, and real butter, just way less of it and some clever additions to make up the difference. This healthy, low-fat Alfredo sauce is one of the most popular recipes on our site. Originally shared in August 2008, this recipe has been a family staple in millions of households all over!
Ingredients Needed
- low-fat milk – anything from nonfat to whole milk works, I really like 1-2%. If you’re not tracking your calories, go ahead and make it with whole milk. It’s still going to be waaay lighter than using cream, and it tastes extra delicious.
- low fat cream cheese – adds creaminess and also adds body to the sauce.
- all purpose flour
- salt
- butter
- garlic
- parmesan cheese – you can make this recipe with fresh grated parmesan or even the crumbled kind in the bottle. They turn out just a bit different in texture, but honestly either one works. I almost always have both on hand so I tend to do half and half. Just experiment and see what you like.
How to Make Guiltless Alfredo
This is a simple overview of the recipe, you’ll find a full printable recipe below!
- Blend milk, cream cheese, flour, and salt until smooth.
- Sauté garlic in butter over medium heat until fragrant.
- Stir in the milk mixture and cook until thickened and creamy.
- Reduce heat, add cheese, and stir until melted.
- Let stand a few minutes to thicken before serving. Adjust seasoning as needed.
Storage & Other Tips
- Thickening: this sauce thickens a lot as it cools, so don’t panic if it seems too thin when it’s done.
- Refrigerate: let cool slightly, then store in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 – 5 days. It will thicken a lot when it cools, so you’ll definitely want to add a splash of milk to thin it back out.
- Freezing: probably possible, but will definitely affect texture. We’ve never tried it this way so we can’t guarantee results. If you try it, let us know how it goes in the comments!
- Ways to Use It: this recipe is so versatile! Of course this is fantastic on pasta, but it’s also really great as a sauce on pizza, or a dip for breadsticks, or even drizzled over vegetables.
Frequently Asked Questions
1 – 2% work well, and whole milk is also delicious! We did have a reader in the comments said she had good success using soy milk, so maybe give that a try if you are sensitive.
Blending these together helps make the mixture smooth and avoids lumps when cooking.
If it’s too thin, it might need a bit more time to simmer or cool. This sauce thickens a lot upon cooling, so give it a bit of patience and it should work out just fine!
Freshly grated does give a nice texture, but pre-grated works great too. Sometimes I like to do half fresh and half grated, and I’ve noticed that works out really well.
Reheat it gently, in a thick-bottomed sauce pan with a splash of milk while stirring. This is the best way to get that nice, smooth consistency back.
Guiltless Alfredo Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 cups low-fat milk
- 3 ounces low fat cream cheese
- 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 3 cloves garlic finely minced
- 1 cup parmesan cheese, fresh grated
Instructions
- Place milk, cream cheese, flour, and salt in a blender and blend until smooth.
- In a non-stick sauce pan over medium heat, melt butter and add garlic. Let the garlic saute for about 30 seconds.
- Add the milk mixture to the pan. Stir constantly for about 3 or 4 minutes or until it just comes to a simmer. Keep stirring and let it cook for a few minutes more. It should be much thicker now.
- When it's nice and thickened turn heat to low. Add the cheese, stir it up to melt and then remove pan from heat and cover.
- Let stand for 5-10 minutes before using. It will continue to thicken upon standing. Season with additional salt if needed.
Questions & Reviews
This sounds super delicious, and I’m going to try it regardless but, I don’t have a blender! What should I do!?
Just so you know, the link for the Asian BBQ Chicken Pizza in your post (where you said, “this is the garlic cream sauce I was referring to in this recipe”) is broken. Just thought you’d like to know! 🙂
I cannot wait to make this sauce…yummy! But, I have a question. For how long this sauce is good? For how long can I store the sauce in the fridge? Thanks!
I made this for dinner last night and it was a hit! My husband loved it! It was so delicious! 🙂 Thanks for a yummy meal!
Made this tonight over chicken and spinach with angel hair pasta. The only cheese I had on hand was pre-shredded italian mix. It did leave some tiny little clumps but not huge enough that it was too noticeable. We all gobbled it up! I’m making another batch of it tomorrow to keep on hand in the freezer. I had no idea it was this easy!
I just made this and it was so delicious, super easy and I had all the ingredients!!! Thank you! The best part; my little ones all loved it!
This recipe is fantastic. The only problem was that it made so much more than I needed. 🙂 Do you think I could freeze this sauce or would it turn funky?
very very good! thank you!
This sauce is soooooooooo good! Loved it!
Oh and I just been meaning to say…..I absolutely LOVE this website! I’m 16 and I’ve always liked to cook but it wasn’t until my mom bought your cookbook that I really started LOVING it! Each of us kids has our own “dinner night” at our house where we pick and make dinner. So whenever it was my turn I just turned to your book! And i loved every single recipe (except for the ones I screwed up on which kinda happens a lot lol! 🙂 But I’ve got years to learn right?) Anyway I was in heaven with all those yummy recipes….but that was before I found this blog and HOLY COW!! I just can’t tell you how much I love everything on here! You two are amazing!!! I love just looking at the mouth watering pictures and I can’t wait to make every recipe!! Haha I’m kinda on this website a lot and sometimes my mom’ll ask me to get off the computer….”Mom I’m just on Best Bites”……”honey get off”……….”I’ll make dinner…;)” and you can take it from there haha:) Me and my sister have made a ton of your recipes and sometimes when we just feel like cooking somethin we just pull out the cookbook or the computer. Haha once she made your Guiltless Alfredo Sauce with fettuccine and it was soooooooo good! Our whole fam loved it! Now our little 3 yr old brother calls it “Megan’s Pasta” lol! Well I could go on forever on this blog but I probably should get goin on making dinner! Probably Creamy Chicken Taquitos tonight! =)
Excellent sauce! My picky husband loved it so much he had 2 plates full, scraped the plate clean and requested it be packed for his dinner tonight (3rd shift work)! It was the perfect amount and flavor mixed with the chicken, zucchini, squash, broccoli and whole wheat linguini.
Thanks for this keeper!