Cooking pasta with Alfredo sauce is one of my favorite things to do, particularly if I can create the sauce myself. When I’m in a rush, I still love Prego Alfredo, but I usually add some fast and easy changes to make it more handmade. So, how can you improve Prego Alfredo Sauce?
You may modify the flavor of Prego Alfredo sauce by adding extra cheese or garlic, other spices, a little of lemon zest, cream or broth, vegetables, meat, fish, and mushrooms.
To help you determine which of these ingredients will give your sauce a homemade taste, I will describe in the following lines how to go about it and how you can easily make these alterations to adjust this store-bought alfredo sauce to your taste.
Cheese
The Alfredo sauce in Prego already has parmesan and pecorino romano cheese. If you like a cheesier sauce, try heating it in a pot and seasoning with parmesan, pecorino, or both.
Consider adding extra milk to the sauce before adding the cheese to thicken it up. This way, you won’t make it too thick.
If you’re short of milk or don’t want to use too much dairy, the water you use to make pasta is another wonderful option. Dilute the sauce with two or three kitchen spoons before blending with the cheese and noodles.
Shredded mozzarella, Asiago, Monterey Jack, Grana Padano, cheddar, or Gruyere cheese may be substituted for the parmesan.
Garlic
Garlic is an ingredient that complements practically every kind of white sauce. Prego Alfredo normally has it, although the flavor may be milder than you want. So, add extra garlic to produce the sauce you’ll adore.
Stores sell several types of pre-minced, ready-to-use garlic, which might be an excellent, quick answer when you’re short on time. The best way to make the most of it, though, is to use fresh, finely sliced garlic.
To prepare a well-balanced sauce, sauté garlic in butter for a few minutes before adding the Prego Alfredo sauce and stirring for a few minutes. Make careful to thoroughly combine all of the ingredients before removing it from the heat.
Lemon Zest
When you want to add a fresh scent and zest to your food, lemon zest is an excellent choice. It’s also a quick way to jazz up store-bought Alfredo sauce.
For 15-20 minutes, soak one lemon in water. Warm the Prego Alfredo sauce and stir in the lemon zest. Mix everything together and serve with warm spaghetti.
Seasoning
Although Prego Alfredo sauce has seasonings such as pepper, powdered onion, and garlic, try adding oregano, basil, lemongrass, paprika, chives, dill, or parsley. Each of these spices will provide a distinct scent and taste to it.
Seasoning may be added while the sauce is cooking. If you’re using dried spice, stir it in well. If you want to use fresh herbs, cut them and sprinkle them over the dish after you’ve added the sauce to the pasta.
Cream or Broth
When Prego Alfredo sauce is heated, it will most likely thicken. Add cooking cream or broth to prevent this.
If you want your sauce to be a little runnier, add more chicken broth. Cooking cream includes fats, so if you keep it on the fire for too long, it will thicken. The broth, on the other hand, will simmer more slowly, enabling you to better regulate the density of the sauce.
Both of these additions will alter the flavor of the sauce. The cream will provide a light, milky scent, while the broth will impart a taste that complements chicken flesh.
Meat
Alfredo sauce goes nicely with a variety of meats. The most popular combination is chicken sauce Alfredo, although turkey, ground beef, or pork will also produce a delicious supper.
Ground or cut the meat into tiny pieces before adding it to the sauce. Season with salt, pepper, and onion powder before frying in olive oil. When the meat has become golden brown, add the alfredo sauce and stir until combined.
It is entirely up to you whether you grind or cut the meat. Even so, I like breaking up the turkey flesh into tiny pieces before adding it to the sauce. The sauce will be chunkier and include more beef juices this way.
Another tasty addition to Prego Alfredo is bacon. Simply bake it until crispy, then slice it into little pieces and add it to the heated sauce.
Vegetables
Adding veggies improves both the flavor and the visual appeal of the dish. Use broccoli, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, spinach, peas, string beans, carrots, sweet corn, cherry tomato, or colored paprika to do this.
Season these ingredients with salt and sauté them in a tiny quantity of olive oil before adding them to the sauce. Cook for 5-7 minutes with the veggies.
Make careful to remove them from the heat after 7 minutes. This is particularly crucial when cooking cherry tomatoes since they soften rapidly in the pan and you want to retain them whole for Alfredo sauce.
Because I like this combination, I prepare Alfredo sauce with broccoli or Brussels sprouts. Simply blanch the Brussels sprouts for two or three minutes before sautéing them in butter. It’s as simple as that!
Mushrooms
Mushrooms work well with any white sauce, handmade or store-bought, and Prego Alfredo is no exception. To add a nutty taste to your sauce, slice up some white buttons, cremini, portobello, shitake, porcini, oyster, or morel mushrooms.
If you are a rookie in the kitchen, the simplest and safest alternatives are white button, cremini, and portobello. Simply wipe them clean with a kitchen towel, slice or cut them into smaller pieces, and sauté in olive oil or butter until all of the water from the mushrooms has evaporated. Cooking them on low heat will lead them to become mushy and chewy.
When the mushrooms have lost their excess moisture, add the Prego Alfredo sauce and mix until everything is combined.
Seafood/Fish
Mix it with Prego Alfredo sauce if you like a white spaghetti sauce with fish. The frozen food department of most supermarkets has fish. Shrimp, octopus, surimi, squid bits, and mussels are common ingredients.
Stir-fry your fish of choice in olive oil. Season the mixture with a touch of salt and pepper before adding the sauce. Serve while it’s still warm.
If you want a fishy taste, substitute smoked salmon. Chop some onions and stir-fry them in olive oil and dill, then add a cup of water and boil the spaghetti in it. Prepare the smoked salmon while the pasta is cooking.
When most of the water has evaporated from the pan and the pasta is done, toss in the salmon and Prego Alfredo Sauce. Season with freshly chopped fresh chives. Enjoy!