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
I am new to the blog and have to say that I tried this recipe with some changes/alternative in the ingredents. I used tofutti cream cheese, almond milk, vegan butter, and wheat flour. I didn’t skimp on the romano cheese. I use an all nature ramono cheese. I have to say it was delicious. And I am not an Alfredo fan.
Thank you. I will be trying anothe recipes from this site.
How much pesto do you add to make the creamy pesto sauce?
Just add to taste!
I just eyeball it 🙂
Just an FYI for those of us scatterbrained housewives that don’t always keep fresh parmesan on hand, I made this tonight and used the shameful Kraft shaker parm! Still turned out delish. I have made this the original way as well, not a huge noticeable difference. I also added a deli slice of harvarti cheese for a little more creaminess. I added 2 chopped zucchinis and a cup of cooked chicken to the garlic and sauteed it all together before the milk. So yummy!
Just made this, it was DELICIOUS!!! Thanks for the recipe!
Just made this last night – subbed in nonfat milk instead of lowfat, and ricotta cheese instead of cream cheese, mostly because that’s what we already had on hand 🙂 Delicious, will definitely be making in the future – there’s so much you can do with this and so many fun ways to tweak!
I just made this tonight for the first time. It was so very delicious! My (very picky) husband loved it and said he felt fancy eating it. That’s a compliment. 🙂 Thanks for taking the time to post these delicious recipes.
I love this alfredo sauce, I use it all the time! I make it with my immersion blender and use it for pasta sauce. So good. I most recently used it for shrimp pasta primavera.
http://bloginspiredcooking.blogspot.com/2013/01/light-alfredo-sauce.html
I swear someday I’m going to use it to make a white pizza, if only I can get my husband to agree that a non-pepperoni pizza is still pizza. 🙂
I have to try this recipe this weekend! I love alfredo sauce and pretty cream sauces in general but the calories and fat are atrocious. The jar alfredo sauce is craptastic and sodium packed (low-sodium dieter here!). I made a creamy ground turkey and spinach angel hair bake with a diabetic version of alfredo sauce…..the sauce was…for lack of a better word…crap. I wanted to use the ground turkey, peppers, spinach, onions, garlic and angel hair mixture with mushrooms and sundried tomatoes but in skillet form with alfredo sauce but was loathe to use the jar or package. Thanks for giving me an alternative!!!
Such a great recipe! When I made this last night, I ended up with 2.5 cups of sauce. I used 1% milk. According to the WW recipe builder (5 servings) 1/2 cup is 5 points plus while (10 servings) 1/4 cup is 2 points plus.
Tried it. LOVED it. Will never eat store bought alfredo sauce again!