This Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken and Vegetables is a restaurant style recipe you can make right in your own home. It takes under an hour to make this delicious pasta dish.
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Restaurant Pasta Recipe
For years I worked in a restaurant and this is how we made our alfredo sauce. Today, I have paired this creamy, cheesy sauce with linguine, chicken, and vegetables.
Just a few simple ingredients are all it takes to make this quick family dinner.
According to Lidia, Roman Restaurateur made this for his pregnant wife.
This is a wonderful recipe to use all those fresh fall vegetables from your garden. Try new vegetable combinations – just 4 cups of veggies, paired with chicken and cheesy, cream sauce. Yum!
Great Recipe for a Variety of Toppings
Alfredo sauce is a recipe that is the basis for several versions when topped with any combination of ingredients. Experiment a little.
Today, I used onion, broccoli, and cauliflower. However this recipe is perfect for shrimp, asparagus, broccoli, mushrooms, green peppers, zucchini, carrots, or fresh basil.
Heavy Cream is Delicious in This Sauce
Restaurants use heavy cream to make the sauce creamier and help the butter not separate when heated.
Pasta Choices
Make this recipe using fresh or dried pasta. If you are using a fresh pasta, it takes just a few minutes to cook. When using dried pasta, it will take a few minutes longer, generally 8-20 minutes. However, this dish sauce will hold up to a sturdy pasta choice such as linguine, fettuccine, penne, or bow tie.
The following photo is when I made this recipe with penne, chicken, and fresh basil. Delish!
Creamy, comforting, delicious, and super easy.
Three Main Ingredients to Sauce
The sauce is incredibly easy with only three main ingredients: butter, cream, and cheese.
Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken and Vegetables Recipe Tips
The sauce will thicken as it cooks. When you add the heavy cream, you might feel that the sauce is too thin. However, do not worry, it will thicken as it cooks and thicken even more once the cooked pasta is added. The starches from the pasta will give the alfredo sauce a creamy consistency.
Grate your own cheese. If you use a pre-shredded cheese, it could have cellulose in it, which can cause the cheese not to melt as well. Cellulose is an anti-caking agent. It absorbs moisture and coats ingredients in a fine powder, which makes it the ingredient of choice for anti-caking applications. There are a variety of items that have this ingredient, such as; shredded and grated cheeses, spice mixes, and powdered drink mixes are just a few of the many food items that take advantage of cellulose as an anti-caking agent.
This Alfredo Sauce Can be Made Ahead of Time
Quick Pasta and Creamy Sauce on a busy weekday!
Make this Alfredo Sauce ahead of time and store in the refrigerator up to 3 days. This is great for freezing too. Just put in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. Before using the frozen alfredo sauce, it is best to thaw it first as it can burn easily upon reheating. Make sure when reheating the sauce, it is best to heat on low. Even better if you can reheat using a double boiler.
How to Make Your Own Double Boiler
I often use a medium-sized kettle with a few inches of water in it. Bring that to a simmer and put a stainless-steel bowl on top. The steam will heat up the sauce nicely without burning the cream-based sauce. You want it to fit snugly without touching the water (if it dips into the water, it will get too hot). There you go! You can use a double boiler to melt chocolate, heat dips, Hollandaise Sauce or anything that you want to gently warm.
Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken and Vegetables
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Kitchen Essentials
Ingredients
- 4 Tablespoons Butter
- 1 Small Onion Diced
- 4 Cups Vegetables (today I used cauliflower and broccoli) broccoli, mushrooms, green or red peppers, celery)
- 1 Clove Garlic Minced
- 3 Large Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts Diced in Bite-Sized Pieces. Rotisserie chicken would work well here too.
- 1 Pound Dried Pasta Cooked Linguine or Fettuccine are great choices
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
- 4 Cups Heavy Cream
- 1/2 Cup Romano Cheese Grated
- 1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese Grated
text ingredients
Instructions
- Put a large kettle of lightly salted water on the stove and bring to a boil. While the water is heating up, add the butter, onion, garlic, and vegetables to a large 12-inch skillet. Cook until caramelized. Remove from pan and set aside.
- In the same skillet, add the diced chicken breasts and cook until just done. Making sure to salt and pepper to taste.
- Add the vegetables back in the skillet.
- By this time, the pasta water should be boiling. Add the linguine to the water.
- Add the cream to the skillet, simmering to thicken. When the pasta is done, add that to the skillet. Save the pasta water.
- Add in the Romano and Parmesan cheeses and use a tongs toincorporate. I sometimes need to add a few ladles of the pasta water to makethe sauce saucier. Sometimes, the pasta soaks up the sauce quickly and thisdish is best with a lovely, silky sauce.
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Notes
Alfredo Sauce and Linguine
Nutrition
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I hope that you liked this recipe. If you are looking for more ideas on what to make, here are a few other recipes that you may enjoy.
You can find Victoria crocheting, quilting, and creating recipes. She has cooked in restaurants for over 20 years, including many larger parties. She learned to crochet when she was just 11 years old and has been crocheting ever since; over 50 years now. Over 40 years ago, she loved her first class in sewing and continues to hone her skills in quilting. Many have enjoyed the handmade gifts over the years. In her professional career, she has worked in management in a wide variety of businesses including higher education as a dean of a division. All the while attending college part-time to achieve her doctorate in higher education with an emphasis in e-learning.