As quintessential as it is to your dinner rotation, Alfredo sauce is pretty uncommon in Italy. As the story goes, the name came from a Roman restauranteur, Alfredo di Lelio, who named his butter-and-cheese linguine after himself back in 1914. American tourists frequented his eatery and brought the concept back to the U.S. Nowadays, there are a ton of jarred sauces modeled after the O.G. We sampled more than a dozen of them to find out which ones are worth adding to your cart. Here, the five best store-bought Alfredo sauces you can buy, according to our rigorous taste test.
The 5 Best Store-Bought Alfredo Sauces, Based on Our Taste Test
•
Published Mar 1, 2023
The Best Store-Bought Alfredo Sauces at a Glance
GMVozd/Getty Images
Scroll down for in-depth reviews of each.
- Best Store-Bought Alfredo Sauce Overall: Rao’s Homemade Alfredo Sauce
- Best Quality Alfredo Sauce: Good & Gather Alfredo Sauce
- Most Kid-Friendly Store-Bought Alfredo Sauce: Newman’s Own Alfredo Sauce
- Best Value Store-Bought Alfredo Sauce: Bertolli Alfredo with Aged Parmesan Cheese Sauce
- Most Indulgent Store-Bought Alfredo Sauce: Bertolli D’Italia Four Cheese Alfredo Sauce
How We Chose the Best Store-Bought Alfredo Sauce
In its plainest form, Alfredo sauce should have cream, butter, cheese (usually Parmesan or Pecorino Romano) and salt. Some brands add seasonings like garlic and black pepper to their jarred varieties. It should be rich and creamy, and thick enough that it clings to pasta with ease instead of running off.
We tried all the store-bought Alfredo sauces warm, both solo and on pasta. Then, we ranked them based on five factors:
- Value: Is the Alfredo sauce worth what it costs given the ingredients and taste?
- Quality: Is the Alfredo sauce made with authentic ingredients? Is it full of fillers, preservatives or gums?
- Flavor: Is the Alfredo sauce pleasantly cheesy, salty and flavorful?
- Sauceability: Does the Alfredo sauce cling well to the pasta? Is it thick or runny?
- Mouthfeel: Is the Alfredo sauce rich and creamy in texture?
The 5 Best Store-Bought Alfredo Sauces
Best store-bought Alfredo sauce overall
- Value: 17/20
- Quality: 19/20
- Flavor: 19/20
- Sauceability: 18/20
- Mouthfeel: 18/20
TOTAL: 91/100
Rao’s won our chicken noodle soup taste test as well, so we had high hopes for their Alfredo sauce. Luckily, it met our expectations with a rich texture and cheesy flavor. The addition of cracked black pepper gives the taste a homestyle touch that we appreciated. Once warm, it remained a tad thin, but still stuck to the pasta without running off. As for ingredients, it’s made with light cream, Parmesan and Romano cheeses and butter, plus egg, xanthan gum and cornstarch for richness and thickening. It’s a bit pricier than others on this list, but if you’re looking for a jarred Alfredo sauce that tastes like you made it yourself, it won’t disappoint.
Best quality Alfredo sauce
- Value: 17/20
- Quality: 20/20
- Flavor: 18/20
- Sauceability: 16/20
- Mouthfeel: 18/20
TOTAL: 89/100
This Good & Gather gem from Target has the simplest ingredient list of the bunch: heavy cream, whole milk, Parmesan and Asiago cheeses, corn starch, salt, black pepper and nutmeg. Because it’s perishable, unlike all the other Alfredo sauces we tried, we expected it to taste fresher than the most, which it did. It’s very cheesy in flavor and tastes like you prepared it yourself, but it’s not as creamy as we hoped it’d be. The main con was sauceability; it’s a bit thin, some running off the pasta into a puddle onto our plate.
Most Kid-Friendly Store-Bought Alfredo Sauce
- Value: 18/20
- Quality: 18/20
- Flavor: 18/20
- Sauceability: 18/20
- Mouthfeel: 18/20
TOTAL: 90/100
Some Alfredo sauces are sharper, even funkier, than others, due to the cheeses used. If you—or your picky kids—prefer a milder cream sauce, look no further than this one from Newman’s Own. Its consistency is on the thinner side, but it’s not unpleasantly runny. Made with cream, Parmesan and Romano cheeses, egg yolk, gums for thickening and garlic, this Alfredo sauce will satisfy your craving for something comforting and decadent without bogging you down with an excessively rich texture or intense flavor.
Best Value Store-Bought Alfredo Sauce
- Value: 19/20
- Quality: 17/20
- Flavor: 17/20
- Sauceability: 18/20
- Mouthfeel: 19/20
TOTAL: 90/100
If you prefer a more intensely flavored Alfredo sauce, you’ll love this pick from Bertolli. Aged cheese gives it a drool-worthy saltiness and sharp edge, a stellar foil for heavy cream and butter. (It also contains soybean oil, egg yolk and xanthan gum for thickness and texture.) It’s creamy in texture and clings to the pasta like a charm. We compared it to Bertolli D’Italia Alfredo Sauce and thought it was decidedly tastier, despite being more than $2 cheaper.
Most Indulgent Store-Bought Alfredo Sauce
- Value: 17/20
- Quality: 17/20
- Flavor: 17/20
- Sauceability: 20/20
- Mouthfeel: 19/20
TOTAL: 90/100
When it comes to a creamy, thick Alfredo sauce that will give you all the warm and fuzzies, this extra cheesy option by Bertolli is sure to hit the spot. Made with cream, butter, egg yolk powder and xanthan gum for thickening and four cheeses—Parmigiano Reggiano, pecorino Romano, gorgonzola and fontal—the sauce is super salty and sharp. It feels rich and luxurious and sticks to the pasta like a charm. Might we suggest making it a five-cheese situation and topping your bowl with more?
Honorable Mentions
We obviously couldn’t test just five brands. (We’re talking about creamy, dreamy Alfredo sauce, after all.) Some honorable mentions, in alphabetical order, include:
- Bertolli Creamy Basil Alfredo with Aged Parmesan Cheese Sauce
- Bertolli D’Italia Alfredo Sauce
- Prego Homestyle Alfredo Sauce
Want to know which buzzy products are *really* worth buying? Sign up for our shopping newsletter to uncover our favorite finds.
The PureWow100 is a scale our editors use to vet new products and services, so you know what’s worth the spend and what’s total hype. Learn more about our process here.
Taryn Pire is PureWow’s associate food editor. A former bartender and barista, she’s been writing about all things delicious since 2016, developing recipes, reviewing restaurants and investigating food trends at Food52, New Jersey Family Magazine and Taste Talks. When she isn’t testing TikTok’s latest viral recipe, she’s having popcorn for dinner and posting about it on Instagram @cookingwithpire.
