4 Ways To Thicken Alfredo Sauce

If you cannot afford pasta with Alfredo sauce in a restaurant, you can easily make this delicious dish at home as making homemade Alfredo sauce isn’t a hassle, it also brings more flavors per your preference by adding some other ingredients compared to the original recipe. 

When it comes to a perfect Alfredo sauce, the texture should be thick and creamy, nobody wants a thin and watery Alfredo sauce. Even amazing pasta cannot salvage the whole dish if your sauce is totally a mess. 

Therefore, thickening an Alfredo sauce is something that every chef expects to learn. With the detailed guideline below, we bet you can achieve it without any effort.  

How to thicken Alfredo sauce with a starch thickener

In this section, you will learn how to thicken a runny Alfredo sauce using a very common ingredient in your kitchen: a starch thickener such as flour or cornstarch.

Material

  • 3 tbsp. of flour/ 1 tbsp. of cornstarch 
  • A half cup of water

Tools

  • A saucepan
  • A bowl   
  • A wooden spoon

Instruction

  • Pour the Alfredo sauce into a saucepan and heat over a low heat
  • Meanwhile, dilute the materials above in a bowl
  • Add the mixture to the saucepan then stir the sauce occasionally
  • Increase the temperature to medium until it boils
  • Reduce the heat again when the sauce starts to boil and keep stirring it reaches the desired consistency
  • Take the pan out of the heat and serve

Notes

  • The amount of flour and corn starch is a bit different so better read the instruction carefully
  • Make sure to completely dissolve the mixture of water and the thickener before adding to the sauce to prevent clumping 
  • It’s recommended to add a little by little of the slurry to the sauce to avoid turning the sauce too thick 
  • Using cornstarch might change the flavor of the sauce a little bit

How to thicken Alfredo sauce with cheese

Although a starch thickener like flour or cornstarch is popular, if you don’t have any starch left in your kitchen or prefer cheese flavor, adding cheese is an alter way to thicken your sauce.

Material

  • A block of cheese

Tools

  • A saucepan
  • A wooden spoon
  • A cheese grater

Instruction

  • Grate the amount of cheese you want to add
  • Bring your Alfredo sauce into a boil and add the grated cheese in
  • Stir until cheese has melted and mixed well with the Alfredo sauce
  • Take the pan of sauce out of the heat and serve

Notes

  • You can use any kind of cheese per your favorite
  • If your sauce isn’t thick enough as you expected, add more cheese a little by little
  • Adding more ingredients in your original recipe if you feel the sauce has lost some of its flavors

How to thicken Alfredo sauce with egg yolk

In addition to the use of thickening agents or cheese, you can also opt for another simple way to achieve a thick sauce as guided below. 

Material

  • 1 or 2 egg yolks (depending on the amount of Alfredo sauce)

Tools

  • A saucepan
  • A wooden spoon

Instruction

  • Adding the egg yolk to Alfredo sauce when it is warm and not too hot
  • Once you have blended one or two egg yolks into the sauce very evenly, turn the heat back on and let the Alfredo sauce simmer
  • Keep stirring until smooth and creamy

Notes

  • Adding yolks to the sauce while it’s still warm will allow mixing the yolk well into the sauce without cooking it right away, otherwise, you can make an uneven texture and egg yolk strips.

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