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
Have to say that I was really skeptical of this… cream cheese in alfredo? But it is soooo very good! Kudos! My husband, mom, and dad all loved it! And I loved serving them a healthy alternative. The best part is, they didn't even notice anything was missing!
This looks delish!
I used this last night to make Tuna casserole and it worked beautifully. All my kids loved it and had seconds.
Thanks for sharing. I hate buying the bottles they are so expensive.
Ok – I'm back with the scoop on soy! So, this isn't really a great review, as I don't have the "real thing" to compare it to. But… my alfredo turned out quite nicely with soy milk! It was a little lumpy, but I think that was due to not blending the cream cheese enough (I'm impatient!). Thanks again for the recipe – my husband LOVED this over a little past and grilled veggies – yum!
Ok, so after drooling over the thought of this for a few days, because I looovvveee alfredo sauce, I finally got around to making it tonight……wow. WOW. Seriously, you will NOT be disappointed. It is soooooo delicious I bet God himself uses this stuff as shampoo. Bravo!!
Katie- I bet it would work fine with soy milk. It would taste a bit different, but as far as thickening and everything, it should work. If you try it, come back and let us know!
Ok LOVE LOVE LOVE your blog. I made the grilled pizza last week and my husband and I thought we'd died and gone to heaven. THANK YOU!
Quick question – do you think this would work with soy milk? I'm not super tolerant of dairy (the small amount of cheese would be ok) but the milk would be too much.
Let me know what you think! Thanks!
Just tried tonight and LOVED it. I have been looking for a good alfredo recipe for a long time. I have enough left over for the alfredo pizza. So excited to try that. Thanks for all your great recipes.
Sara, thank you! We had my father in law over last minute and I had no idea what I was going to make for dinner. I looked through your recipes and ended up making this delicious alfredo sauce with some chicken fettuccine and Kate’s breadsticks out of items I had in my pantry. Now I will be making them all the time, so yummy!
I used this to make shrimp fettuccini…AMAZING! I made the sauce, boiled 12 oz noodles, then sauteed 1 lb of raw shrimp in 1 Tbs. of butter and 1 clove of pressed garlic, then tossed them all together. It was very close to the dish I order at my favorite Italian resturaunt, and I’m sure much less calories! Thank you!!