Name: Ricotta Cheese Sauce Alfredo
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 15 min
Cuisine: Italian-American
Ingredients: ¼ cup butter (melted); 3 Garlic cloves (minced); 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning; 2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese; 1 teaspoon fine sea salt; 1/4 teaspoon white pepper; 1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream; 1 cup shredded Parmesan

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This Ricotta Cheese Alfredo is undeniably a new favorite in the house. I LOVE Alfredo sauce. It is unquestionably, one of my favorite food things. Give me a big bowl of pasta smothered in alfredo and a slice of cheese garlic bread jammed directly next to the pasta any day of the week!

Alfredo sauce in general, is a very rich and indulgent dinner, and yet, so worth every calorie. I also love that it only takes about 15 minutes to whip up a batch! This ricotta alfredo sauce recipe will yield approximately 3 ½ cups of sauce in total. It can easily be doubled if you are feeding a crowd but this amount will easily cover 16oz of uncooked pasta.

I promise you when I try this Ricotta Cheese version, it will beat out any bottled Alfredo sauce from the store.

What people are saying

“This was really delicious and easy to make. We all loved it. The right proportions of cheese.”

Vivian Schummer

(via Pinterest)

WHAT IS ALFREDO SAUCE?

Traditional Alfredo is very basic. It’s a simple (white)cream sauce. It is made from butter, heavy cream, and parmesan cheese, that’s it. While the original version is great, I personally LOVE what the Ricotta, garlic, and Italian seasoning do to the Alfredo sauce, and make it taste even better! This Ricotta Cheese Alfredo Sauce is extra cheesy, garlic-forward, and absolutely delicious.

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QUICK OVERVIEW

These are the Ricotta Cheese Alfredo Sauce cooking instructions with details and explanations on why or how to do things. If you just want the Ricotta Cheese Alfredo Sauce recipe itself and missed the “jump to recipe” button at the top, keep scrolling.

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS

STEP ONE: Add the butter, Italian seasoning, and garlic to a large skillet.

STEP TWO: Simmer over low heat for 3-4 minutes (it should be fragrant, but not a burning smell). This brings out the flavor throughout the sauce and cuts the bite from the fresh garlic.

STEP THREE: Add the ricotta cheese, continually stirring until it becomes a creamy texture, and eventually becomes more sauce-like.

JENN’S TIP

This recipe is NOT a walk away and come back. You do need to continuously stir or you will have scorched cheese or burnt garlic (neither sounds appealing).

STEP FOUR: Add the heavy cream (this will loosen up the cheese and may look a little thin, but don’t crank up the heat or freak out). Continue to stir for about one minute.

STEP FIVE: Whisk in the parmesan cheese until fully melted and the sauce has thickened.

STEP SIX: Add salt and pepper (adjust to taste).

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image of the sauce after the parmesan as been melted and showing the thickness as it drips from a whisk.

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image of the heavy cream added to the ricotta and a whisk showing the thickness.

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image of the ricotta "melted" and a whisk showing the thickness.

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STEP SEVEN: Serve immediately with your choice of pasta.

COOKING WITH KIDS

DISCLOSURE: Please keep in mind that the following tips are general and are meant to be suggestive. I personally use these strategies with my own kids, who are all unique even within my own family of five. Therefore, please regard these as suggestions or ideas. If you feel that your child requires more or less assistance, then go with what you and your child are comfortable with. Ultimately, you know your child best.

Ingredient measuring
Shredding Cheese
older kids can help cut or cook.

HOW TO ADD YOUR PASTA

For either of these techniques, cook your pasta just under al dente. This is because you will be cooking the pasta in the sauce a bit.

For freshly made Ricotta Cheese Alfredo Sauce: Add about ¼ cup of pasta water to the sauce before adding your pasta to ensure it covers and coats it properly. Let the pasta cook in the now slightly watered-down sauce until it re-thickens.

For Ricotta Cheese Alfredo Sauce from the fridge: Add about ⅓ cup of pasta water to the sauce and stir to warm up and loosen the sauce. Add the pasta and heat on medium continuously stirring. Let the pasta cook in the now slightly watered-down sauce until it re-thickens.

One of my favorite ways to add the pasta is to simply take a spider and quickly add the pasta (water still draining) into the Ricotta Cheese Alfredo Sauce. you’ll get a good amount of pasta water with the noodles.

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STORAGE DETAILS

This Ricotta Cheese Alfredo Sauce is “cream base” so it doesn’t last long in the fridge. But the Yeild is enough to use on 1 lb of pasta, so you can get away with two meals out of it.

It will last 3-4 days in a food-safe jar/container in the fridge.

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alfredo sauce covering rotini on a ceramic plate next to a jar of the sauce.

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