You Need A Lot Of Butter For Copycat Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce
A few components of a meal at Olive Garden let you know you're back in the welcoming embrace of America's most successful chain of Italian restaurants. For some people, it's the unlimited breadsticks. For others, it's the lasagne. If neither of those is your favorite, then you're probably all about the Alfredo sauce. In 2021, Mashed asked U.S. customers to choose the best dish at Olive Garden, and over 55% of those polled voted for dishes featuring Alfredo sauce, whether it was the chicken Alfredo, fettuccine Alfredo, or the Tour of Italy (chicken parm and lasagne with a side of fettuccine Alfredo). You can even buy a to-go side of Alfredo sauce to dip your breadsticks in. The fact that the sauce goes so well with bread makes sense once you find out how much butter it takes to make it!
Replicating a beloved staple of Italian-American cuisine at home is a challenge, but Mashed recipe developer Jake Vigliotti understands what folks are looking for from their Alfredo sauce. It's all about creating that sense of comforting creaminess and a cheesy, garlicky tang. In Vigliotti's copycat Olive Garden Alfredo sauce recipe, he demonstrates what is needed to recreate the full fettuccine experience at home. The key is plenty of dairy, including about 3 ounces of unsalted butter.
All of that butter requires balancing
Vigliotti's copycat Alfredo sauce uses ¾ of a stick of butter as its base. Unlike traditional Alfredo sauce, this homemade recreation of the Olive Garden Alfredo sauce is thickened with flour to form a roux. This is turned into a thick white sauce by adding full-fat milk and heavy cream. That's how Vigliotti achieves the silky look and luxurious mouthfeel of Alfredo sauce. However, so much dairy fat and plain flour, while rich, buttery, and satisfying, would be pretty bland and difficult to eat on its own. The butter needs balancing, and for that, Vigliotti turns to three of Italian cuisine's favorite flavors — garlic, Parmesan, and Pecorino Romano.
Combining garlic, butter, and carbs is always a winner. By sauteeing freshly minced garlic in the melted butter before making the roux, Vigliotti ensures the aromatic flavor will infuse throughout the sauce. Vigliotti's recipe doesn't call for any added salt, instead relying on a combination of two freshly grated hard cheeses to season the sauce. Parmesan cheese is familiar to pasta lovers, and its aged umami notes add depth and a little sweetness. Less of a household name, Pecorino Romano is a traditional Italian cheese that's salty, hard, and looks similar to Parmesan but adds a pleasant tang to the sauce, thanks to the sheep's milk it's made from.