Garlic Cream Sauce
Creamy garlic sauce with only 6-ingredients! This sauce will become your go-to for quick and easy meals.
For an even simpler sauce, try our 3-Ingredient Alfredo Sauce.
Just like our popular Vodka Sauce recipe, this garlic cream sauce will become a staple in your kitchen.
Garlic Cream Sauce
Want to make someone’s day? Make them this garlic cream sauce!
It’s made with basic ingredients such as butter, garlic, and Parmesan cheese. Not to mention it’s ready in about 20 minutes time.
The flavor of this sauce is everything you expect: creamy, garlicky, and rich. It’s delicious tossed with cooked pasta or use as a base in casseroles and bakes.
It will surely become your go-to recipe for quick and easy meals.
What is Garlic Sauce Made Of?
The best part about this garlic cream sauce recipe is that it’s made with only 6-ingredients:
- Butter: Salted or unsalted butter works great.
- Garlic: Fresh garlic is the way to go. Avoid garlic powder. Even the pre-cut garlic is not always fresh. Garlic isn’t the most exciting thing in the world to peel and chop but taking a few extra minutes to do so will make a difference in the taste of your sauce.
- Flour: I like using all-purpose flour to thicken this sauce.
- Half and Half: Half and half is simply equal parts of whole milk and light cream. It adds the perfect amount of creaminess. Avoid fat-free half and half.
- Parmesan Cheese: Get the good stuff! Buy a chunk of Parmigiano-Reggiano and grate it yourself. It tastes the best. Do not use pre-shredded cheese. It’s normally covered in an anti-clumping powdery coating. It won’t melt well into the sauce.
- Parsley: Delicate fresh parsley adds the perfect bright freshness to the sauce. You can substitute with 2 teaspoons of dried parsley.
Half and Half Substitute
You can easily make the sauce with milk. It’s slightly less creamy with milk but still very good. Make sure to use whole milk. I do not recommend lower-fat milk. Allow an extra few minutes for the milk to thicken.
How to Make Garlic Cream Sauce
- Step 1: Make the roux – In a large non-stick skillet (or a sauté pan) melt butter over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in flour and cook for about 1 minute or until lightly golden.
- Step 2: Add half and half – Gradually whisk in the half and half. Season the mixture with salt and pepper. Simmer until thickened, about 1-2 minutes.
- Step 3: Stir in Parmesan – Stir in Parmesan cheese and parsley. The cheese should immediately melt into the sauce. Remove from heat and serve immediately.
Cream Sauce Variations
Feel free to change up this recipe and make it your own. Love basil? Make homemade pesto and stir in 1-2 tablespoons of pesto into the sauce to brighten up the flavor.
Make the sauce spicy by adding a sprinkle of chili flakes to the sauce or make cajun cream sauce. The contrast of creamy with spicy is always a delicious combo!
Want more flavor? Try different herbs, like basil or chives. Or different spices, like Italian seasoning, thyme, or rosemary.
Ways to Serve It
Garlic cream sauce is very versatile and can be served with pasta or as a base for many other dishes.
Which pasta is best for cream sauce? Our pick is fettuccine pasta. It’s wide, thick shape allows you to pick up the maximum amount of sauce with each bite. But honestly just about any other pasta works too!
Looking to add more nutrition to your pasta? Toss in your favorite cooked veggies and protein, such as grilled chicken tenders or grilled garlic shrimp.
Also, this cream sauce can serve as a base in other dishes, such as whole wheat mac and cheese, chicken broccoli pasta bake, and chicken mushroom spinach lasagna.
Video: How to Make Garlic Cream Sauce
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Garlic Cream Sauce
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 10 min
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Sauce
- Method: Simmer
- Cuisine: American
Description
Creamy garlicky sauce with only 6-ingredients! This sauce will become your go to for quick and easy meals.
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp. butter, salted or unsalted
- 4 cloves garlic, grated with a microplane
- 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 1 3/4 cups half and half (not fat-free)
- 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1–2 Tbsp. fresh parsley, minced (or 2 tsp. dried parsley)
- Kosher salt and fresh black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a large non-stick skillet, melt butter over medium heat. When hot, add garlic and cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant, stirring constantly. Make sure not to burn the garlic.
- Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute or until lightly golden, stirring constantly. You want to cook it just long enough so it doesn’t taste like raw flour.
- Gradually whisk in half and half. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer until thickened, about 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally. If any lumps form, just whisk them out. Simmer time will depend on multiple factors, one of them being the size of your pan. You basically want the sauce to cook just until thickened. Properly thickened sauce should coat the back of your spoon.
- Stir in Parmesan cheese and parsley. Remove pan from heat. Sauce is best when served immediately. It will thicken upon standing. See notes on serving suggestions.
Notes
- Garlic: For best results, use a microplane to grate the garlic. If you do not have a microplane, use a garlic press.
- Parmesan: Buy a chunk of fresh Parmesan cheese and grate it yourself. Bagged cheese normally has anti-clumping agents and does not melt well.
- Half and Half Substitute: You can make this sauce with whole milk. It will be slightly less creamy but still good. I do not recommend lower fat milk. Allow more time for the sauce to thicken when using milk.
- To Serve: This recipe makes enough sauce for 8 oz. of dry fettuccine pasta. Reserve some of the pasta water to thin out the sauce as it will thicken upon standing and when tossed with cooked pasta.
- Leftovers/Reheating: Sauce will keep in the refrigerator for 4-5 days. Reheat over medium-low heat with a splash or two of half and half or milk.
- Nutrition is for the sauce only, not including pasta.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 159
- Sugar: 5.2 g
- Sodium: 216.6 mg
- Fat: 9.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 13.8 g
- Protein: 5.9 g
- Cholesterol: 25.1 mg
Creamy garlic sauce is a versatile cooking ingredient and I use them in making different dishes. However, I use ghee in making the sauce as a butter substitute as I love ghee flavor and ghee is safer option in food as it is lactose and casein-free unlike butter.
I made this garlic cream sauce with egg noodles, shrimp, cherry tomatoes, and chives. It was one of the best meals I’ve made! My family LOVED the dish!! I love this recipe and am definitely going to use it in the future 🙂
It’s very good! Definitely on the thick side. I only used 2 cloves of garlic but it definitely needs 4. I’m sick and my throat has been hurting so I wanted it to be a bit bland this time. This is literally the only thing I can eat right now other than literal plain bread so thank you!!!!
Katya,
It is evident you are a very good cook. I just dropped by to see if other people used half and half, stiffened with flour in place of heavy cream. The way you Keep It Simple, was a tell that you knew what you were doing. (and the warning against pre-shredded cheese.) Just a simple compliment and thank you. Im always looking for ways to cut corners without losing deliciousness. Your Lemon Ricotta Pancakes sound great. I always put sour cream in my batter. I may try ricotta cheese it sounds really yummy.
Made this exact to the recipe the first time. Everyone loved it.
The second time i made some modifications. Great base recipe. I used some salted water to thin the sauce. I subbed aged asiago for the parm. Red pepper flakes and more fresh ground black pepper to balance the richness. Served with fire roasted ravioli. If serving without tomato I would add an acid.
Scrumptious! Used freshly harvested garlic for a shrimp & fettuccine feast. Made a double batch, but will use that tonight over cauliflower and beans. Truly a keeper recipe. Thanks so very much.
your pasta recipe made me hurl
This sauce is such a good base. I cooked dinner for myself and was a little worried that 1 serving wouldn’t be enough based on the calories. However, I was surprised at the amount I had left and will definitely be using the leftovers! I subbed the garlic cloves for powder and didn’t want to use all my half and half so I swapped half for milk and it turned out great. I used a dash of Hungarian paprika and ground red pepper, then served the sauce over some spaghetti, and added grilled chicken. So good!
Add pesto, super fine blended minced onion and garlic. Original recipe just lacks something.
Great easy basic base!!
Add smoked salmon on top, great!
How much fettucine pasta do you recommend with this recipe?
You’ll need 8 ounces of dry fettuccine pasta for this recipe.
Thank you!!!
Loved it!
This is a great Base for a pasta creamy sauce but to really enhance the flavour I added a chicken stock and I also used basil. Was lovely!
I substituted half and half for heavy cream! Absolutely divine. Also added in some fresh thyme and lemon zest. This was such a simple recipe I’ll never buy any sort of cream sauce ever again. 5 stars!
You answered my question, I was wondering about using heavy cream. Thank you!!
Was a very good base sauce recipe I added fresh lemon and Cajun seasoning and it was perfect! Dinner comes together in a breeze.
Very delicious
So delicious & easy to make. YUM!!! Thank you ????
It’s good sauce base, but it is very bland. I used more garlic and cheese and salt and pepper than recommended and it was still lacking flavor. Next time I would brown butter the sauce ans add the garlic in. This would enhance the flavor significantly. I would still use more cheese and pepper , perhaps some crushed red pepper too. I would half the creamer and use pasta water to help thicken it to a less fettuccine style sauce. I am pretty savvy in the kitchen and definitely know how to make great food. Sorry but this doesn’t appeal to my pallet as I hoped.
Agreed. Super bland could barely taste anything.
this came out perfect, thank you!
I love a good cream sauce and this one is excellent and easy. I’m not able to eat dairy so I tried it with Nut Pods (almond and coconut creamer) and, while it’s not exactly the same, it satisfies my craving for pasta with cream sauce. I’ll definitely find more ways to use this sauce.
I’m lactose intolerant and while I still eat dairy sometimes, my suitemates and I used oatmilk in substitution for the half and half and it honestly turned out great! You might have to add a little more flour depending but it tasted really good 🙂
I basically used this recipe but didn’t have it open in front of me when making the sauce so I didn’t follow the measurements of the recipe. Also since we don’t have half and half where I live I used a combination of full cream milk and whipping cream. I used minced garlic as I already had some in the fridge. I also added some finely chopped mushrooms, sliced brussel sprouts and grated carrot and zucchini into the sauce to help with my vege intake. It turned out great.