Easy Fettucine Alfredo Recipe

Hey I’m John Canel and today on Prey Kitchen we’re making a creamy amazing fettuccine Alfredo so let’s get started.

Ingredients & Prep

First off grab a large pot and add 2 to 3 teaspoons of salt. Now we’re going to fill our pot with water and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover it up and now we’ll do some prep work for the sauce. There’s ever so little prep work; this recipe comes together in a flash.

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup (113 g) freshly grated Parmesan
• 3–7 garlic cloves (to taste)
• ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter
• 1 pound fettuccine

A Bit of History

This delicious recipe dates all the way back to 1914 and we can thank Alfredo de Lelio who made this for his restaurant in Rome. Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, who were the most famous stars in the world at that time, came to his restaurant, had the Alfredo and fell in love with it. They ended up bringing the recipe back with them and it became so popular—and for good reason. It’s the most delicious comfort food you can make in just a few minutes; it’s fast and easy and everybody likes it.

Garlic & Cheese Prep

Measure cheese and garlic with your heart. This is just about a cup—a little bit generous but that’s fine. The recipe calls for three garlic cloves. I like to imagine the largest elephant-garlic cloves ever and translate that to regular cloves, meaning I have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 garlic cloves, but you do you—take what you want.

I really don’t mince garlic anymore unless it’s absolutely necessary, and it’s never absolutely necessary for me. I’m using a garlic press; it’s going to mush the garlic up, give me beautiful small pieces that are great for the sauce and really express all those delicious oils from the garlic as well, and it’s saving my fingers from stinking of garlic. Sticky garlic fingers is so annoying.

Cooking the Pasta

My cream, cheese, garlic and butter are all prepped and the water’s come to a boil, so grab one pound of fettuccine and we’re going to pop that in. Use your tongs and move that fettuccine around just a bit at the beginning and a little bit afterwards too, because you do not want it to stick together—that would be very annoying.

Making the Sauce

Grab a large pan and let’s make our sauce. Add half a cup (113 g) of unsalted butter into your pan—although to be honest you could use salted butter if you really like things salty. Place that over medium heat. Right now you just need your butter to melt, so keep an eye on that, give your pasta a little stir, and really this recipe is nearly done.

This is a guaranteed meal to please. You could have it alone by itself, you could add any protein you want on the side or incorporate that in. I think that sautéed shrimp go really well in this. If I was having this for dinner I would serve it with a large salad, some shrimp, and call myself a very happy person.

By the way, if crackling butter really bothers you, switch to European-style butter which has less water in it so it’s more fat.

Adding Garlic

Now it’s time to add your garlic in and you’re going to mix, mix, mix. You do not want it to burn, but the nice thing is that there’s enough butter in here to really insulate it. Oh my gosh it smells so good—butter and garlic go hand in hand. Stir, stir, stir and you’re going to cook the garlic for about 30 seconds or so or until it’s fragrant; you don’t want to burn it.

Adding Cream

Once that beautiful smell hits your nose it’s time to add one cup of cream. Stir the cream in and you’re going to cook this for about a minute or so or until the cream is warm and bubbly. You don’t want to add your Parmesan into an ice-cold mixture; it’ll just not melt happily, it’ll be a weird situation, things might break.

Adding Parmesan

While you’re stirring, take a look at your pasta—keep an eye on it; you want it to be nice and al dente. One of the main problems you can have with an Alfredo sauce is it getting really chunky and solid. There’s a lot of delicious butter and cheese in here. This is bubbly, so it’s time to add the cheese in. Sprinkle it in and stir. This smells like heaven—it’s so good.

Final Tips

This sauce tends to thicken up when it gets cold and also the pasta will absorb and suck water out of it, so make sure you save at least ¼ cup of the pasta water.