I have a picky son who absolutely loves Alfredo Sauce. But traditional Alfredo Sauce is through the roof with fat, saturated fat, and calories. Since he eats so much cheese, I've been concerned about his heart health. Children today are so much less active than they were when I was growing up, and Nathan is no exception. So, I decided to find a reduced fat Alfredo Sauce to try. (Post may contain affiliate links).
I found a recipe for reduced fat Alfredo Sauce online a few months ago.
We tweaked it a bit. It was a hit! In fact, shortly after trying this recipe, I bought regular Alfredo Sauce at the deli of our local grocery store. If you can believe it, Nathan likes my reduced fat version better. So we make it for him quite frequently.
One thing many people don't realize about cheese is that dry Italian cheese has richer flavor, and weighs less by bulk. So a 3/4 cup serving of Romano Pecorino cheese has less calories and fat than 3/4 cup of cheddar cheese, for example. This is one reason why this recipe was actually pretty easy to create.
Although Alfredo sauce is traditionally served with Fettucine, you can add this sauce to different types of pasta to add variety. And it will all taste delicious!
We serve our reduced fat Alfredo sauce with Ravioli, whole grain pasta, and legume pasta. It also tastes delicious on vegetables, such as broccoli, and with chicken and beef. We're still trying to get Nathan used to the idea of eating broccoli, chicken and pasta Alfredo together as one dish. However, he's not going for it–yet.
The good news is that he will eat chicken and broccoli on the side as long as the pasta is in a separate bowl.
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as Nathan does. Oh, for comparison.
1 cup serving of traditional Alfredo sauce with Fettucine: 571 calories, 38 grams fat, at least 20 grams saturated fat.
Reduced Fat Alfredo Sauce with Whole Grain Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp Butter
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1 tbsp all purpose flour or gluten-free flour of choice
- 1 cup 2% reduced fat milk
- 2 tbsp cream cheese softened
- 1/2 tsp lemon zest grated, fresh
- 1 tbsp parsley fresh, chopped
- 3/4 cup romano pecorino or other favorite italian cheese
- 1 dash white pepper optional
- 1/4 tsp salt may use up to 1/2 tsp
- 8 oz whole grain pasta or other favorite pasta
Instructions
- Melt Butter in saucepan
- add garlic and lemon zest; cook until soft, about 1 minute
- add in flour, stir
- add milk, whisk together until smooth; cook, stirring constantly, at medium temp until thickened and bubbly, about 3 minutes
- add cream cheese and romano pecorino cheese;
- Note that cream cheese will be difficult to completely mix into the milk; if will taste good even if you see little pieces. However, if you want to combine it until it's creamy, you can use an immersion blender.
- Add chopped parsley
Nutrition
If you or your can't tolerate casein or you suspect that you can't, click to read my article on Casein-Free Dairy Alternatives.
If you're interested in reading about whether or not food affects autism, click here.
