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
Okay, so I feel like a loser because even though the taste was great, it turned out very runny. I followed the directions exactly and just went over it again to see if I did something wrong… I don’t think I did. I’m not that great of a cook anyway, so if you have any advice on thickening, that would be appreciated. (I did use skim milk instead of 1%, but a lot of other people mentioned they did too without any problems???)
You may have just not simmered it long enough Jasmine, sometimes you have to ignore the times mentioned and just cook it long enough for it to thicken.
I found this site, and this recipe, via pinterest. I tried it and I LOVE IT! Quick question; can I make a bunch of this and then freezez it? Would it be any good that way? Just askin’ in case anyone else had tried it 🙂
I’ve never tried freezing it so I’m really not sure how it would turn out. Sorry!
I was wondering the same thing!! If anyone gets brave enough to try it let me know 🙂
This was amazing! My toddler ate it right up too! Thank you so much! I’m never buying the jar stuff again!
I was skeptical but this was amazing! Even my toddler loved it. Thank you!
I’m a little slow on the up-take, but I found this recipe on Pinterest and knew I had to try it. My lighter-version-hating boyfriend and I used this sauce with lobster ravioli from Trader Joe’s, and when he caught a peak of the recipe, told me he was more than skeptical that it would taste good.
Much to both of our amazement, he LOVED it, told me it was a winner, and asked me to keep the recipe for the future. It seriously is SO good (especially compared to the icky jarred versions)!! Thank you for the recipe!
Yum!! Best Alfredo sauce I ever made or tasted, definitely does not taste healthy I am so happy I can enjoy this sauce and not feel guilty 😉
I am on a low sodium diet and halfed the salt and used nosalt butter but it turned out AMAZING!!! I will make again thank you.
My family just loved this. What I loved the most was there was no grease left on our plates after we had finished, like the kind made with cream & butter.
Winner, winner, winner.
Yum! I made this last night and felt like I’d had a little piece of heaven! It’s so good! I just got my library to order your cookbook and can’t wait until it gets here! Love you girls!
I just made this for dinner but added pesto in the blender. Cooked some fresh mushrooms and set aside and in a separate pan I cooked some chicken breasts, chopped into squares and threw in some extra pesto (thank you Costco – easy, cheap and HUGE jar so you can freeze it) then threw in some garden tomatoes and let that simmer. In the mean time I made your recipe, added the mushrooms to the chicken tomato mixture and mixed it together… OH MY GOODNESS!! It was amazing! I served it over Costco’s chicken ravioli with spaghetti squash.
THANK YOU!!! It tasted really guilty but wasn’t at all compared to my regular (famous chain) recipe.