I Tried 9 Jarred Alfredo Sauces and This Is the Only One I’ll Buy From Now On
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The winner is restaurant quality.
Allrecipes / Sara Haas
Alfredo sauce is hearty, cheesy bliss. The blend of Parmesan, Romano, garlic, and cream takes your meal to another level, whether it’s the main attraction or just a featured ingredient, like in these Grilled Chicken Alfredo Flatbread Pizzas. Although making Alfredo at home isn’t a huge challenge—personally, I adore my mother-in-law’s Alfredo recipe and get excited whenever my husband makes it—some days simply call for prepared sauce. Sometimes, we just don’t have the time, capacity, or sheer amount of cheese and heavy cream necessary to make it from scratch.Convenience shouldn’t be the only factor to consider when it comes to using jarred Alfredo sauce—it should also taste good. But which store-bought Alfredo sauce stands above the rest? I assembled a tasting group, and we put nine sauces to the test.How I Chose the ContendersI selected the Alfredo sauces that were easiest to find nationwide at major grocery stores. I also added a few store-brand sauces from major retailers like Whole Foods and Walmart to the roster.How I TestedMy tasting group samples each Alfredo sauce on cooked linguine. I cooked the pasta ahead of time and separated it into nine portions, one for each sauce. Then, we heated each batch of linguine in sauce and ate it immediately so we could enjoy it warm.We judged the Alfredo sauces by taste and consistency, as well as how they interacted with the pasta. For example, a good pasta sauce should coat the noodles rather than glopping over them. Here are our top six.Best Jarred Alfredo Sauce Taste Test6th Place: Prego Homestyle Alfredo
Allrecipes / Sara Haas
Prego’s jarred Alfredo sauce had a nice flavor, but the overly thick texture didn’t adhere to the pasta or spread easily. This interfered with the pasta-to-sauce ratio and didn’t provide the best textural experience. However, if a strong cheese taste is more important to you than a smooth consistency, then you’ll be satisfied with this sauce.
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5th Place: Bertolli Alfredo
Allrecipes / Sara Haas
Bertolli managed to balance both the taste and texture that's expected in a good jarred Alfredo sauce. Sure, it wasn’t the best, but it definitely works for an easy weeknight dinner. I think it could easily be dressed up, with additional ingredients like chopped vegetables, poultry, or seafood, or work in recipes such as this Garlic Alfredo Tilapia.
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4th Place: Trader Joe’s Alfredo Pasta Sauce
Allrecipes / Sara Haas
Trader Joe’s Alfredo has a stronger Pecorino Romano flavor, so if you prefer the sharper, funkier Romano over the more mellow Parmesan, you’ll like this sauce. We also noticed that its ingredient list, which starts with water, cream, and Parmesan cheese, was less artificial, which is especially noteworthy considering the $3.29 price tag.3rd Place: Whole Foods Roasted Garlic Alfredo
Allrecipes / Sara Haas
We really misjudged this one and assumed that since it was darker, it would have an unpleasant garlic flavor. However, the Whole Foods Alfredo had a lovely consistency and a subtle taste from the roasted garlic. It felt elevated and would be good with chicken or seafood or for a dish that emphasizes Alfredo and garlic flavors, like this Garlic Shrimp Pasta Bake, but if you’re looking for a classic Alfredo sauce, we recommend going with something else.
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2nd Place: Giovanni Rana Alfredo Sauce
Allrecipes / Sara Haas
Rana’s Alfredo sauce had a wonderful silkiness—it clung to the linguine, and we even encountered a tiny cheese pull in the saucepan. It definitely tastes like it could be homemade, but the cheese flavor (Rana uses a combination of Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino Romano, and leans towards the Pecorino) deviates from the classic Alfredo one Plus, it has to be refrigerated, which makes it less convenient than a jarred sauce.
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1st Place Winner: Rao's Homemade Alfredo Sauce
Allrecipes / Sara Haas' title='A jar of Rao's alfredo sauce on a white surface with a red linen.'>
Allrecipes / Sara Haas
Rao’s doesn’t play, and I knew this sauce would be good. What I didn’t know is that Rao’s Alfredo sauce would blow me away. This sauce has everything you could possibly want in store-bought Alfredo: a creamy consistency, a sharp cheese flavor that doesn’t overwhelm, and a tantalizing aroma. I know it’s not the same as my mother-in-law’s Alfredo recipe, but Rao’s tasted and felt like it could be served at the dinner table of a nice Italian restaurant. It also coated the linguine wonderfully and had a super silky texture.
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The Bottom ThreeThese were my tasting group’s least favorite Alfredo sauces. If your favorite sauce landed on our bottom three, then you do you. This ranking comes from a few friends’ opinions, and taste is subjective, so don’t be afraid to give another brand a try.Classico Out of the bottom three sauces we tried, Classico’s was the closest to okay. There was no discernible flavor, but at least it felt like pasta sauce. RaguRagu’s Alfredo had a slightly better texture than Great Value’s, but in exchange, it had a funkier flavor than all the other sauces, a cross between fish essence and artificial ingredients.Great Value Alfredo SauceGreat Value’s Alfredo sauce was the least expensive of the bunch, but it was also the least satisfactory. Its consistency was clumpy like gravy, and the taste was a combination of must and fishiness. Read the original article on All Recipes.We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation.
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