Name: Low Fat Alfredo Sauce
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 1 (16oz) package of fettuccine (we used gluten free quinoa pasta); 1 ½ cups milk; 1 garlic clove, peeled; 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour; 2 tablespoons fat-free cream cheese; ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese; 2 tablespoons butter; Salt/Pepper to taste

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Besides just pleasing your taste buds, this Low Fat Alfredo Sauce will also be one of the easiest alfredo sauces you have ever made. You probably already have everything you need to make this creamy goodness and all it takes are a few basic ingredients and about 10 minutes of your time.

Contents

Healthy Pasta Recipes

While I am not (currently) on any specific diet, I do always try to find ways to make my meals healthier and more nutritious. I don’t follow strict gluten free rules but I try to cut out gluten when possible. I indulge in fatty foods from time to time but I also try to eliminate fat whenever I can. Essentially, I try to eat a balanced diet and if there is a healthier way to cook something, I want to find it.

When it comes to pasta dishes, it can be hard to find a recipe that is on the healthier side. Sure lots of pasta is full of vegetables or made with olive oil instead of butter but all that gluten and fat and carbs are still there. But the thing is, I can’t give up pasta.

Pasta is seriously one of my all-time favorite foods and I will do whatever I can to make it healthy. But then comes alfredo sauce. My beloved, favorite pasta dish. Alfredo sauce is decadent for sure- loaded with cheese, cream and butter. All of the things that taste so good but are just so, so unhealthy. I had to find a better way. I just really can’t give it up, I’ve tried! So rather than skip my pasta with alfredo, I would just make it healthy. Sounds easy enough, right?

Fat Free Alfredo Sauce

I started doing some research on how to make alfredo sauce lower in fat and right away I found a few recipes that were completely void of fat. While a few of these recipes seemed to have good ingredient replacements (skim milk instead of cream or less cheese that you would typically use), there were a few ingredients I was not really a fan of.

Cauliflower is the one ingredient that, I have to admit, I totally wanted to skip. So many of the fat free alfredo sauce recipes featured pureed cauliflower in the place of creamy cheese. Yes, I want to eat healthier but no, I do not want to eat pureed cauliflower and pretend it is cheese. I have just never been a fan of the strong taste of cauliflower and, no matter what you put cauliflower with, whatever spices you pair it with, I always feel like you can taste it. It really is just not for me.

While you may disagree and be obsessed with the idea of cauliflower as a cheese replacement, I just can’t wrap my head around it. They are two very different things and while it may taste delicious, it is just not cheese. I don’t think it is even close to being cheese! It just won’t do in my alfredo sauce!

I decided that I would definitely rather have some real cheese, a little bit of fat and call my alfredo sauce “low fat” rather than “fat free”. Sorry cauliflower lovers, I need the real deal when it comes to cheese! I also think it makes a world of difference. Having just a little cheese truly makes the pasta sauce taste amazing. So skip the cups and cups of cheese that is typically in alfredo sauce and just cut back. We can all do that I think! It’s very manageable.

Skinny Alfredo Sauce With Milk

So back to the ingredients that I did like and decided to try in my low fat alfredo sauce recipe. First, milk instead of cream. It just makes sense! Traditional alfredo sauce is made with heavy cream, half and half or whole milk. All so fatty and all so easily replaced. Take a look at this super informative video about the differences in milks. You may be surpirsed what those percentages actually mean.

Skim milk works wonders in this alfredo sauce recipe. It is still creamy and flavorful while being much lower in fat. This was an easy win for my new recipe! One more reason skim milk works so well is because I decided to keep that little bit of cheese in the recipe. If I opted for not cheese and skim milk, well, it may be a little too “low fat”. We all need a little bit of fat, right?!

Creamy Low Fat Alfredo Sauce

When you eliminate the cream in the recipe, the alfredo sauce can be a little more watery, I will admit it! However, this is a problem that is easily solved. You just need more cheese. A low fat recipe requiring more cheese? Let me explain.

In order to get that creamy alfredo sauce texture (and flavor), I decided to try using low fat cream cheese. The second I began stirring it into my sauce, I knew I had a winner. The cream cheese melted into a thick, smooth sauce, adding the texture I needed without the extra fat and calories.

Cream Cheese also gives the sauce a little bit of a tang to it. Many alfredo sauce recipes will all a bit of lemon juice to get this same effect but when you use cream cheese, you don’t need to! The flavor is there already. With low fat cream cheese, you get a delicious taste, a creamy texture and none of those unwanted calories. Why don’t all alfredo recipes use cream cheese?! It seems like a no brainer.

Healthy Alfredo Sauce with Organic Quinoa Pasta

To tackle that carb loaded pasta I typically use, I looked for gluten free options which are always lower in carbs and typically higher in fiber as well. I found a great organic quinoa pasta that was full of plant based proteins, fiber and minerals. Could it get any better than that?

The quinoa pasta boiled quickly (just like a regular pasta!) and it held on to the low fat alfredo sauce perfectly. One bite and it was clear this pasta and my new sauce were a match made in heaven! If you have never tried quinoa pasta, I would definitely recommend it. It also goes great with basically any sauce that you would typically put on pasta.

Of course, you can use any pasta you’d like! Just keep in mind these lower carb options:

Spaghetti Squash ‘noodles’
Spiralized vegetables
Vegetable pasta (like Barilla veggie penne)
Black Bean spaghetti
Konjac noodles

If you aren’t concerned with the carbs, opt for a pasta that is whole wheat, whole grain or has veggies added to the noodles. There are a surprising number of healthier pasta options that you can use rather that just plain old white noodles. Besides, anytime you can add a little nutrition to a dish, you definitely should!