Garlic Parmesan Sauce
Published 1/17/2023
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This creamy and flavorful garlic parmesan sauce is made with a few ingredients and is perfect tossed with pasta or as a chicken wing sauce.
Garlic Parmesan Sauce
Two of the best ingredients of all time are married together into the creamiest and most delicious sauce you’ll ever eat. The garlic parmesan sauce is made with minced garlic, a classic roux base, and freshly ground parmesan.
We love using this sauce as a vegetable dip, a pasta sauce, or a tasty sauce for chicken wings. However, don’t stop there, use this sauce however your heart desires.
Why you’ll love it!
- It is ready in less than 15 minutes.
- Garlic parmesan sauce is so creamy.
- This garlic parmesan sauce is so versatile.
- It is always a hit when entertaining.
- You can make this sauce gluten-free!
Featured Ingredients
- Parmesan: we highly recommend using freshly grated parmesan for this recipe. It tends to melt better and there is just something wonderful about freshly grated cheese.
- Garlic: just like the parmesan, we suggest using freshly minced garlic. You can always add more or less garlic based on your preference.
- Butter: the base of this sauce is a roux, we suggest using unsalted butter so you can control how salty your sauce is.
- Milk: whole milk makes this sauce rich and delicious. If you don’t have whole milk feel free to use 2% milk, 1%, or even unsweetened nut milk would work.
- Fresh Thyme: traditionally a garlic parmesan sauce is garnished with fresh parmesan, but we chose fresh thyme instead. Both are delicious and great options.
How to Make Garlic Parmesan Sauce
Prepare ingredients
Once you begin to make this garlic parmesan sauce, things move quickly. We suggest grating the cheese and mincing the garlic before starting anything. Then, measure out all of your ingredients and have them close.
make a roux
Add the butter to a small saucepan and heat it over medium/high heat. When the butter has melted, add the garlic. When the garlic is fragrant, add the flour and whisk all the ingredients together. Cook the flour and butter for a few minutes.
Add milk
Slowly add the milk to the saucepan, whisking until it is combined and begins to thicken into a sauce.
add cheese
Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the parmesan cheese. Stir the cheese into the sauce until it is melted and the sauce begins to thicken.
Place the saucepan back onto the heat and add the salt, pepper, and fresh thyme. Warm the sauce to your desired temperature and serve.
here’s a tip
If the garlic parmesan sauce is too thick for your liking, add 1 tablespoon of additional milk at a time until it reaches your desired consistency.
Try it!
Parmesan Cheese Recipes
Love parmesan cheese? Check out some of our very best recipes featuring parmesan cheese!
Top Tips for Perfect Garlic Parmesan Sauce
Measure your ingredients out before starting!
Change up the consistency of your sauce depending on how you serve the sauce. Add more milk for a thinner sauce and less milk for a thicker sauce.
Don’t skip the salt. Salt enhances the flavors of all of the other ingredients.
Always add fresh herbs. The fresh herbs add lightness and a burst of flavor to this recipe.
FAQ
Garlic parmesan sauce is usually made of garlic, parmesan, milk, butter, and a fresh herb.
No, though they are similar they are different sauces.
You can use a 1:1 gluten-free flour mixture to make this recipe gluten-free.
Delicious
Garlic Parmesan Pasta
Another delicious combination of garlic parmesan in a delicious pasta. This garlic parmeasn pasta is one of our favorite pasta recipes.
Storage
Store this sauce in an air tight container and store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. We only recommend reheating this sauce once.
To reheat the sauce: Add the sauce to a saucepan and heat over low heat. Add milk to the sauce to thin the sauce out.
Try it!
Parmesan Cheese Recipes
Love parmesan cheese? Check out some of our very best recipes featuring parmesan cheese!
Garlic Parmesan Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons garlic, minced
- 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 cups whole milk, plus more if you want a thinner sauce
- 2 cups freshly grated parmesan cheese
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme, de-stemmed and chopped
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Instructions
- Heat a small saucepan over medium/high heat and add the butter to the saucepan. When the butter is melted, add the garlic to the butter. Sauté the garlic in the butter for 1-2 minutes until fragrant.
- Add the all-purpose flour to the butter and whisk the two ingredients together. Cook the butter and flour mixture for 2 minutes.
- Slowly pour the milk to the saucepan, whisking constantly as you add the milk to the butter and flour mixture. The mixture should thicken pretty quickly.
- Once the mixture has thickened, remove the saucepan from the heat and add the parmesan cheese. Stir the cheese into the thickened mixture until the cheese is completely melted.
- Place the saucepan over the heat and turn the heat to low. Add the salt, fresh thyme, and ground pepper to the sauce and stir to combine.
- Serve over chicken wings, as a warm dip for vegetables, or toss with pasta sauce.
Tips & Notes
- We used whole milk, but we tested this recipe with 2% milk and almond milk. They both worked.
- Feel free to add more milk to the sauce if you would like a thinner sauce.
- Feel free to substitute the fresh thyme with fresh parsley.
Watch It
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Perfect creamy- we used it over rigatoni pasta the cheese sauce collected perfectly in the hollows! We topped the dish with chicken breast we cooked in the air-fryer
Tasty quick meal – made it with my staples !