How to Make Prego Alfredo Sauce Better? [9 Simple ideas]
Cooking pasta with Alfredo sauce is one of my favorite activities, especially if I have the time to make the sauce myself. Still, I prefer Prego Alfredo when in a hurry, but I always make some quick and simple alterations to make it more homemade. So, how to make Prego Alfredo Sauce better?
Adding more cheese or garlic, different spices, a bit of lemon zest, cream or broth, vegetables, meat, seafood, and mushrooms are some of the adjustments you can make to improve the taste of Prego Alfredo sauce.
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
Prego Alfredo sauce already contains parmesan and pecorino romano cheese. Still, if you prefer a sauce with more cheese, try heating it in the saucepan and adding parmesan, pecorino, or both to your flavor.
Since this will thicken the sauce, consider pouring some milk into the sauce before adding cheese. This way, you will avoid making it too thick.
If you are out of milk or don’t want to use too much dairy, another good solution is the water you use to boil pasta. Add two or three kitchen spoons into the sauce to dilute it, and blend with cheese and pasta.
Instead of parmesan, you can use shredded mozzarella, Asiago, Monterey Jack, Grana Padano, cheddar, or Gruyere cheese.
Garlic
Garlic is an ingredient that gets along well with almost any kind of white sauce. Prego Alfredo usually contains it, but the taste might be lighter than you would like. So, to make the sauce you will enjoy, add more garlic.
Stores offer various brands of pre-minced, ready-to-use garlic, and it can be a good, fast solution when you are on a short schedule. However, the best way to make the most of it is to use fresh, finely chopped garlic.
To make a well-balanced sauce, saute garlic in butter, then pour in the Prego Alfredo sauce and stir it for a few minutes. Before removing it from the fire, make sure to blend all of the ingredients.
Lemon Zest
Lemon zest is an ideal solution whenever you wish to add a fresh aroma to your meal and make it zesty. It is also a simple way to enrich store-bought Alfredo sauce.
Put one lemon in the water for 15-20 minutes. Heat Prego Alfredo sauce, and zest the lemon into it. Mix it all up and serve it with pasta while it is warm.
Seasoning
Although Prego Alfredo sauce contains seasoning such as pepper, powdered onion, and garlic, consider adding other spices such as oregano, basil, lemongrass, paprika, chives, dill, or parsley. Each of these spices will give it a specific aroma and enhance its flavor.
You can add the seasoning while heating the sauce. If you are using dry seasoning, mix it until it blends up well. However, if you decide to use fresh herbs, the best option is to chop them and sprinkle them over the meal after adding the sauce to the pasta.
Cream or Broth
When you heat Prego Alfredo sauce, it will most likely thicken. To avoid that, add cooking cream or broth.
Adding chicken broth is a better option if you wish to keep your sauce a bit runny. Cooking cream contains fats, which means it will also thicken if you leave it on the heat for too long. On the other hand, the broth will cook slower, allowing you to control the density of the sauce better.
Both of these ingredients will also change the taste of the sauce. The cream will give it a mild, milky aroma, while the broth will give it the flavor that pairs well with chicken meat.
Meat
Alfredo sauce matches well with different sorts of meat. The most common combination is chicken sauce Alfredo, but adding turkey, ground beef, or pork will also make a lovely meal.
Before adding the meat to the sauce, ground or chop it up into small pieces. Season it with salt, pepper, and onion powder, and fry it with olive oil. Once the meat changes to a golden brown, pour in the alfredo sauce and stir until it blends.
Whether you ground or chop the meat depends on your personal preferences. Still, when I add poultry meat to the sauce, I prefer chopping it up into smaller pieces. This way, the sauce will be chunkier and preserve more meat juices.
Bacon is another good addition to Prego Alfredo. Just bake it until it becomes crispy, chop it into small pieces, and add it to warm sauce.
Vegetables
By adding vegetables, you will improve the taste and the visual aesthetic of the meal. To do this, use broccoli, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, spinach, peas, string beans, carrots, sweet corn, cherry tomato, or colorful paprika.
Before adding these ingredients to the sauce, the best option is to season them with salt and fry them with a small amount of olive oil. Fry the vegetables for 5-7 minutes.
Make sure to take them off the stove after 7 minutes. This is especially important when cooking cherry tomatoes because they soften in the pan pretty quickly — for Alfredo sauce, you want to keep them whole.
I like to make Alfredo sauce with broccoli or Brussels sprouts because I like this combination the best. Just cook the Brussels sprouts for two or three minutes and then saute them in butter. Simple as that!
Mushrooms
Mushrooms are a great addition to any white sauce, homemade or store-bought, and Prego Alfredo is no different. To give your sauce that specific nutty flavor, chop up some white buttons, cremini, portobello, shitake, porcini, oyster, or morel mushrooms.
If you are a beginner in the kitchen, white button, cremini, and portobello are the easiest and safest options. Just clean them with a kitchen towel, slice or chop them into smaller pieces, and cook with olive oil or butter until all water from the mushrooms evaporates. Avoid cooking them on low heat because they will become soggy and chewy.
Once the mushrooms lose the extra liquid, add Prego Alfredo sauce and stir until everything blends.
Seafood/Fish
If you prefer a white pasta sauce with seafood, try mixing it with Prego Alfredo sauce. Most of the stores have seafood in the frozen food section. The mix usually contains shrimp, octopus, surimi, squid pieces, and mussels.
Stir-fry your choice of seafood with some olive oil. Season the mix with a pinch of salt and pepper, and when it is done, add the sauce. Serve it while it is warm.
In case you prefer a fishy flavor, try using smoked salmon instead. Chop up some onions and stir-fry them with olive oil and dill, then add a cup of water and use it for cooking the pasta. While the pasta is cooking, chop up smoked salmon.
When most of the water evaporates from the pan, and when the pasta is done, add salmon and Prego Alfredo Sauce and mix it. Season it with some fresh, finely chopped chives. Enjoy!
Prego Alfredo Sauce (Like Homemade)
Ingredients
- 1 jar Prego Homestyle Alfredo Sauce (14.5 oz)
- 1 cup Frozen Shrimps (I used the cooked frozen ones.)
- 2 tsp Olive Oil
- Salt and Pepper to Taste
Instructions
- Cut off the tails from your shrimps and stir-fry them with olive oil.
- Season the mix with a pinch of salt and pepper, and when it is done, add the sauce.
- Keep it on medium heat until the sauce is warmed over.
- Done and done! Serve it while it is warm with your favorite pasta!
