How to Make the Best Fettuccini Alfredo!

Hey, welcome to making meals with Mika. So today I'm going to share the secret of making the most fabulous, most delicious alfredo sauce. But before I go into the secret, I need you to subscribe to my channel if you haven't done so already and like this video. Okay, let's get that thumbs up. All right. So today we are making chicken alfredo. The star of this dish is the alfredo sauce. All right. I love alfredo sauce. I know every video I start off saying that I love what I'm cooking. Well, I do. Okay. I love to cook. I'm a foodie. I love trying different things. Alfredo sauce is one of my favorite pasta sauces. However, I thought that it was, you know, pretty difficult to make, you know, when I had it at restaurants. It's not even, it's not that difficult to make. So the recipe I am going to give you, I guarantee, okay, I don't guarantee a lot of things, but I guarantee once you start making this recipe and you become comfortable with it, you are going to prefer this recipe over any restaurant's recipe. Now, if there's just an Italian restaurant and you think that they have like the most delicious alfredo sauce, don't leave me a comment. Leave the restaurant's name in there. And if that restaurant is, you know, local, I would go and try it out and I will compare it to this alfredo sauce. Okay. But I'm telling you right now, once you start making this sauce and you make it your own, you're going to absolutely love it. And you're going to prefer this sauce to any restaurant sauce. All right. So these are the ingredients that you're going to need for this sauce. All right. So starting off, you're going to need a whole package of cream cheese. And I like mine to be nice and soft before I start using it. So one package of cream cheese, and this is not the low fat or fat free cream cheese because those tend to have more sodium in it. So this is just regular cream cheese. Okay. You're going to need around four ounces of shredded Parmesan. I always tell you guys that I prefer to shred my own cheese instead of using a pre shredded cheese or break my own cheese. If you don't want to do it, that's fine. But get a nice brand of shredded Parmesan cheese. Okay, shred it. I don't use the grated get shredded. All right. You're also going to use a half a stick of butter or four tablespoons of butter. This recipe is garlic heavy. I love garlic. Garlic is delicious. It smells good. It's one of my favorite seasonings. I put garlic in everything. So this is about five cloves of garlic. Okay. Then I have a little parsley for you know my garnish. This is flat leaf parsley. You can use the curly parsley if you want. I just like flat leaf parsley. You're also going to need two cups of cream. Now when you go to the grocery store, there's heavy cream and there's cream. How do I decide which one is which? So depending on how thick you want your sauce, you can do heavy cream. It's going to be a thicker consistency. This right here is just cream. Okay, it's not heavy cream. But you want to use heavy cream you can your sausage is going to be a thicker consistency. Salt and pepper are the only seasonings that I put in this sauce. Simple yet delicious. All right. I know you see these red pepper flakes up here. The red pepper flakes is to season my chicken. I make my Alfredo with chicken, but you can use shrimp in this recipe if you want to. Those are interchangeable. In the recipe in the links, it's going to have two chicken breasts. But you guys know I always say I don't want to waste food. So today I'm only cooking one. And another really, really good point is the pasta that you use. In this recipe, I use refrigerated fettuccine noodles. These noodles, to me are far superior than the regular dried pasta that you find on the shelves. Okay, so if your grocery store has the refrigerated fettuccine, use the refrigerated fettuccine for this dish. If they don't, it's okay. No worries. We're not going to flip out. You're going to use the regular dried fettuccine. Okay, and you're going to cook that as directed. But if your grocery store has this, I mean, it doesn't have to necessarily be this brand. If they have any brand of refrigerated fettuccine, go ahead and use that fettuccine in this restaurant. Okay, I mean this restaurant in this recipe. I'm sorry. Another thing, I said we're going to use butter. Please do not substitute this butter for margarine. Margarine and butter, they're not the same. They're not equal. They're not made the same. Okay, they're two totally different entities. This recipe calls for real butter. Butter is delicious. Okay, so this is everything you need to make this spectacular, super delicious fettuccine alfredo. So let's get ready to make this meal with Mika. The star of this alfredo, this chicken alfredo, is the alfredo. So we have to treat it like it's the star. The majority of your time is going to be spent making this sauce. So we have to make it with love. So you start with your pot on a medium heat. You are going to add your cream. Now this pot was already heated just a little bit. So you heard that sizzle. Okay, you're going to add your cream. And you're also going to turn it down a little bit. So we're going to cook this on like a low, a medium low to low. And we're not going to rush it. We want this to be delicious. So you're going to add your cream and then you're going to add your garlic. Okay, stir that around. And you want your garlic to permeate throughout this sauce. So the garlic is going to get nice and comfortable in this in this nice cream and it's going to permeate throughout the sauce. And you're also going to add all of your cubes of cream cheese. Okay, now, once the cream cheese gets nice and softened, we're going to whisk it but not now. So you're going to add all your cream cheese, have your heat on medium. And you're just going to let these ingredients just get to know each other in here. Okay, you might want to give them a little privacy. So we're going to step away in a second. But right now we just have the cream cheese. We have the garlic and then we have the cream. Now while these ingredients are getting a little familiar, we are going to go cut our chicken and you don't have to worry about putting a top on here. We're going to come back once the cream cheese is softened in about five minutes and we're going to whisk it. Now this is cream. So cream has a very low burn temperature. So you don't want this on high or even medium. You want your temperature on low because you don't want to scorch your cream. So we'll come back and check on this in about five minutes. I'm going to show you guys how I cut my chicken. Now, if you notice that I always use a separate cutting board or cutting mat when I cut my chicken and my meats, then I do my vegetables. I cut my vegetables on a nice wood cutting board. Don't ever cut your chicken on a wood cutting board. Get a plastic one or get these nice little handy dandy mats. And this is what I use to cut my chicken. So for my alfredo, I like my chicken nice and thin. So what I do is I start with cutting this breast in half. Put your hand on top of it, press down, and just glide your knife through it, okay? And you have the two separate pieces, right? Keep them together because I like a lot of pieces of chicken in my alfredo. Now you can cut these bigger if you want. You can cut them smaller. You can cut your chicken how you want, but this is how I cut my chicken. So after I've sliced it in half, I keep these pieces together, and I'm just going to go, and the chicken tells you how to cut because there's these little lines. You see those lines? And just cut across the lines, nice little strips, okay? Now, if you don't have a really good kitchen knife, I'm advising you to get a good kitchen knife. It's one of your best tools in the kitchen, all right? So slice, slice, and you're going to do this for both of your chicken breasts, all right? Now, if you notice that this hand has remained clean. It hasn't touched anything. So I always tell you guys, when I'm cooking, I have one hand that does all the dirty work, and the other hand is the clean. The clean hand you're going to use to season your food. So I like to season my chicken before I put it in the pan. So that's with the salt, a nice generous amount, a nice generous amount of pepper, and also a nice generous amount of these crushed red pepper flakes. That is totally optional. You don't have to use those red pepper flakes. I like my food a little kick, and then there you go. So this is all nice and seasoned and ready to be cooked. Another tip is, when you're cutting and when you're using meat for your recipes, let your meat get to room temperature. Never take your meat out of the refrigerator and throw it directly into the pan. So if you have chicken breast and things like that, let the chicken breast get to room temperature. The Alfredo sauce has been marinating. Well, not the sauce. The cream has been marinating for about five minutes on low heat, and then you're going to take your whisk and you're going to come in and you're going to whisk all of that cream cheese so your cream mixture becomes nice and smooth. You're going to mix all that in there. Continue to whisk, continue to whisk, continue to whisk. Okay, so it's going to be fully incorporated, and then you're going to add your four tablespoons of butter or your half a stick of butter, and you're going to slowly whisk that in there as well. All right, no rush. This is on a medium to low heat. All right, now so far in this pan, I mean in this pot, all we have, we have the two cups of cream, we have our package of cream cheese that's been softened and whisked in, and then the butter. All right, now here is the most important part. It's time to add the Parmesan cheese. The Parmesan cheese is what makes your sauce the Alfredo sauce. Okay, this smells amazing already. Mind you, I haven't put any salt, any pepper, anything in here as far as flavoring except for the garlic. So the cream, the butter, the garlic, it smells delicious. You have to cook with all your senses, and the best one is the smell. So with your Parmesan cheese, you're going to add this very slow increment. So I'm going to add about one fourth of this right now, and I'm just going to whisk it in. Now this is where this takes patience. This sauce doesn't take a long time to cook, but you have to be very, very patient. So I'm going to keep whisking until that cheese is incorporated. You see how it's looking now? You don't want really big blobs of cheese, of Parmesan cheese in your cream sauce. So you're going to keep whisking. I told you this is the star, and you know superstars, they need a lot of pampering. So I need you to pamper this sauce, okay? You're making it with love. So continue to whisk, continue to whisk. All right, and once the first batch is completely incorporated, go ahead add the second batch. You're doing like one fourth at a time. Go ahead and whisk it, and you can see this is what you don't want, okay? So you're going to continue to whisk, and basically you're just incorporating the cheese. You're letting it melt in there, all right? And it's really good to use not a wire whisk, but to use one of these rubber whisks. So this is going to take a lot of just patience. Now I'm going to keep the camera on here, and I'm going to whisk all this in here just so you can see the actual time this takes to make. It really isn't a long time. You just have to stay with it, and baby it, and pamper it, you know, you know, pamper the sauce. It's made with love. All right, so that's fully incorporated. Now you see, you see the difference? You might see a little chunk here and there, but you see the difference? Once you can pull your whisk out, and it, you know, nothing is like sticking to it, it's time to add the next batch of cheese. You don't want to dump this all in there at the same time. I don't do it like that, but if you're like really impatient, and you're like, you know what, I'm just dumping it all in here, and I'm just going to whisk it, go ahead and try it. You know, leave me a message in the comments. Let me know how it worked your way. You know, cooking is all about finding your method. This is the method that I found that best incorporates all of my cheese into my sauce, but if you're like, hey, I'm just going for it, I'm dumping it all in here, go ahead. Let me know how that works out for you, okay? I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but you know, I don't have anywhere to go. I'm chilling right now, so I'm gonna make sure this sauce tastes delicious. Do you hear me? All right, so you can see, now you can start to see that thickening up. My whole entire sauce is starting to thicken up. I wish you could smell this right now. It smells so good. It smells good, and if you continue to do it, you'll see your cream is starting to look like sauce, a real sauce, okay? All right, last, the last of the Mohegans, the last batch of cheese. I'm gonna continue to work this in there. Now, we're gonna season this in a second, and I use black pepper. Now, I heard that there's a rule that when you're making white sauces, you should use white pepper. Now, I do have white pepper. I'm just not a really big fan of white pepper, so if you want to use white pepper, you can. I just prefer black pepper. Can you see that? That's called deliciousness. That's what that's called. All right, now, I don't know how long it's taking me to do this from start to finish right now, but ideally, our sauce is done, right? So, I'm gonna keep stirring. I'm gonna get a spoon to taste it after we add our seasoning. So, we're gonna add now about a tablespoon of salt. Remember, cheese is naturally salty, so you don't want to over-salt this, and about a teaspoon of black pepper, okay? And I like the way the black pepper looks in my sauce. I just do. You guys see that? Now, I'm gonna get a bigger spoon because all of my cheese is now incorporated. You're going to continue to whisk this until your cheese is incorporated. You got to be dedicated to it. You want a good sauce. Once your cheese is all incorporated, you can pull your whisk up and I feel pretty confident. Then, you can switch to your spoon, okay? This is the spoon that I use to put the ingredients all in this pot. Switch to your spoon. Turn your eye all the way down. You want this one a very low simmer. Look at that. This is your sauce, and this is going to thicken, right? Delicious! Let me try this real quick. Let me try it. Just a little taste, just a little taste. It needs a little bit more salt, okay? Now, essentially, this sauce is done. How hard was that? How hard was that? It didn't use 300 ingredients. It wasn't anything like, you know, super duper, you know, exclusive or anything. Simple, basic ingredients to make a great homemade sauce. If you use canned or jar Alfredo sauce, you will never, and not never, not N-E-V-E-R, you will never, N-E-V-A, go back to using that type of sauce again. I stole that word from my friend, Tangie. She says, never. So anyway, I'm going to now, I don't want to mess with it too much. Now, I'm just going to turn this down on low. I can cover it now, okay? And start to cook the chicken. You're going to come back and stir this about every five minutes, but essentially, your sauce is done. Let's get started on this chicken. Okay, this is how your stove should look. We have the Alfredo sauce just marinating, doing its thing. If you've noticed, I have my pasta water getting ready to boil. Now, it's time to cook my chicken. So I'm just going to add a couple of, about one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in this pan. Take it, run it around, you know. Take my chicken, slide it in there, okay? And then we're just going to let this cook. Chicken breasts do not take a long time to cook. This is going to take approximately about five to eight minutes to cook, all right? Make sure they're all scattered in the pan where they have their room. You see, they have room to cook. You see, my chicken is seasoned very well. You guys have to season your food. You have to. There's no excuse for under-seasoned food. I like to see my seasoning. This is just salt, pepper, red pepper flakes with a little olive oil. And we are going to saute this for about five minutes or until there's no pink. You guys, pink is good on beef. Pink is good with lamb. Pink is not good with chicken, okay? Now, everyone's stove is different. So you're going to cook this till there's no pink. None. Not a little bit, okay? We can't have medium chicken. No medium chicken. So my chicken is cooking. My pasta water is getting hot, ready to boil. I'll show you what this is supposed to look like when it's done. We are rocking and rolling over here, y'all. We're rocking and rolling. My chicken is almost ready to come out. You see, it's all nice and brown. The water is boiling. When the water boils, you want to heavily salt this water. This is where you flavor your pasta. Do not, I repeat, do not put any oil in your water. When you do that, the oil is going to coat the pasta. Nothing's really going to stick to it. Now, this package of pasta says cook for two minutes. That's right, only two minutes. You don't have to cook for 11 minutes, 13 minutes, two minutes. So we're going to boil this pasta for two minutes. It's so nice and soft and eggy and delicious. So we're going to let that boil for two minutes. While that's boiling, we're going to check on our chicken. So here's another indicator that your chicken is done. You know when you first put raw meat in a pan and it has that sizzle, right? Because it's raw and it's cooking. When the meat becomes completely cooked, that sizzle, it kind of simmers down. You don't hear the intense sizzle. So my chicken is done and I'm going to show you why. I want to just take a piece, right? I can cut it with my spoon, cut into it. Let me see here. And it should be no pink. Let me see. No pink. Good to go. So I'm going to take this out, put it on a plate because we are going to, or I mean at home, I'm just, why am I playing with y'all? Look at that. Put that on a good plate like that. Set it down, right? I'm going to take a paper towel. I'm going to turn this down. I'm going to turn this pan down. I'm going to take a paper towel and just wipe this out because we're not done with this pan. Okay? Now this is what's going to make your dish great. So we got our pasta cooking right here. Now I am going to plate this up just for video purposes, just for me. I would do, typically I would do all of the noodles, but I'm not going to do it right now because my husband's not home yet and I don't want his dinner to be cold. So keep your pan just like that. All right, we are going to take, our sauce is good and delicious, nice and thick and creamy. My pasta is done, right? I'm going to take about a cup of this sauce. I'm going to put it in my pan. Turn this all the way down. Okay. I'm going to take my pasta, just one serving of it. I'm going to put it directly into the sauce. Okay. And basically what you're going to do is you just want to make sure that this pasta is coated with the sauce. I know, you know, sometimes at restaurants or movies, you see that they put the pasta down and then they just pour the sauce over it. You don't want to do that. With this, you want every single pasta noodle to get that sauce. Okay. Then what you want to do is take some of your chicken, put a couple of pieces of that chicken in there and let it live happily ever after with the sauce as well. Do that for about two to three, not even two to three minutes, about a minute. All right. Then we're going to plate it up, plate it up, let you know what it tastes like. All right. Y'all know what time it is. It's tasting time, my favorite time. So I plated this up for y'all. See, I flipped that around. I plated it up. I have the Alfredo with the fettuccine. I put the chicken around it, just topped it with a little garnish. And if you want to, you can put a little more Parmesan cheese on top, but it's time to taste it. Now, so let me go and get a look at that. You see the steam? Nice and hot. The sauce is sticking on there. I got to get, I got to get a big, I got to get a big, a big hearty fork full. Let me blow it a little bit. This is delicious. I mean, I cooked it, so I'm rarely going to say anything that I cook is not delicious. This is delicious. You, you can taste the really thick, creamy sauce. The noodles are nice and tender and soft. The chicken is seasoned to perfection. And this meal did not take long at all. So from start to finish, this should take you about 30 minutes. Okay. Now, please try this recipe at home. I love, you know, to hear the feedback from you and compare this to your favorite restaurant's Alfredo. I'm telling you, this is going to win every single time. So this was fun. I don't know if y'all had fun, but I had a ball. I need to go ahead and finish my meal real quick. I don't like my pasta, you know, and then my sauce to get cold. Anyway, I hope you guys had a great time making meals with Mika and I will see you next time.