Don’t worry, your kids will ask for seconds of broccoli when it’s made as part of this Broccoli Alfredo Pasta recipe—tender vegetables served with thick ribbons of pasta and smothered in a creamy, cheese sauce.
Whenever I think of alfredo sauce, that scene from The Office (the American version) in which Michael “carb loads” by scarfing down a big serving of it before running the “Michael Scott’s Dunder Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Pro-Am Fun Run Race For the Cure”. He then duly feels… less than well a couple of kilometers in.
So let me preface this recipe by saying that, while I don’t recommend you rely on it for your energy a minute or so before a big race, I do recommend it for a lovely family meal and a great way to get your kids to eat broccoli. The secret to making vegetables yummy for kids (and adults, for that matter) is in its preparation. Roasting it? Tasty! Spicing it up? Give me more! Smothering it in a luxurious alfredo sauce? Just hook it to my veins!
Everyone will love the taste while you will love how quickly the dish comes together. It’s vegetarian so you won’t need to worry about cooking your meat beforehand. The result is a meal that takes little time to prepare and can be enjoyed by your vegetarian pals, should they stop by for a midweek dinner. Healthy and easy? Meredith Palmer would have wanted it that way.
My Alfredo Sauce is Too Thick/Thin. Help!
Consistency is key when it comes to alfredo sauce. It should be thick enough that it clings lovingly to your noodles but not so thick that it gets all clumpy and dry. To avoid that demise, add more liquid, whether that be milk, cream, or broth. Add it slowly so you don’t have the opposite problem, which we’ll get to in a sec. Reserve plenty of your pasta water, so you can thin out your sauce without compromising the starch and flavor. If you used half ‘n’ half or whole milk and regretted the decision, use a skimmed milk the next time you make the sauce.
Though your sauce may be too thin, it is still salvageable. The easiest steps involve adding more of an ingredient you already have on hand: the Parmesan. If you don’t have any more, or would prefer a less-cheesy taste, you can make a roux by slowly mixing flour and butter (or oil). Once it has browned, add it to your sauce.
Ingredients
- 1 lb. fettuccine pasta, uncooked
- 3 tbsp butter
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 4 tbsp flour
- 3 cups whole milk
- ½ cup Parmesan, grated
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- 1 large head broccoli
How to Make Broccoli Alfredo Pasta
Step 1: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the fettuccine and cook for 5–8 minutes. Reserve ½ cup of the pasta water and then drain the fettuccine.
Step 2: While the pasta cooks, melt the butter in a large skillet over MEDIUM heat. Sauté the garlic for 2 minutes.
Step 3: Add the flour. As you do so, continue to whisk to make a paste. Slowly pour in the milk, continuing to whisk to remove any lumps. Simmer for 5 minutes to thicken the sauce. Add the broccoli florets and Parmesan. Add the pasta water in increments until the desired consistency is achieved. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon for another 8–10 minutes.
Step 4: Add the pasta. Toss to coat everything in the creamy sauce.
FAQs & Tips
Let the pasta cool completely then store it in an airtight container. It should keep in the fridge for up to 4 days. You can also freeze it, if you want to keep it around longer. It should keep for up to 2 months. Bear in mind you should let it thaw in the fridge overnight or it won’t cook evenly when you eventually try to do so. You may also find it needs a splash of cream to “fix” its consistency. Pasta can degrade in quality when frozen so, my advice? Freeze the sauce separately and cook up fresh pasta when you are ready to eat your leftovers.
No. In fact, I usually have a tough time finding whole milk unless I’m shopping at a higher-end “boutique” grocery store, so I get that you may want to know of alternatives. Which alternative you should use will depend on the consistency you seek in your sauce. Going with a half ‘n’ half will add a richness to your alfredo, while a skimmed milk will provide you with a lighter dish. And if you don’t want to use any milk, you can use a veggie or chicken broth, though you will probably need to add more flour to thicken up the consistency.
There are roughly 503 calories in a serving of this pasta dish, assuming you’re able to get 6 servings out of the box of fettuccine. It’s the actual noodles that have so many calories, so you may want to opt for a more nutritious version like whole wheat or vegetable pasta noodles, or make “noodles” out of zucchini.
The garlic happened. You probably overcooked it. It takes little time for the garlic to be cooked enough to elicit its flavor, which means, if you left it by itself in the pan for more than a minute or two, there’s a good chance it turned dark brown/black. Next time, err on the side of caution and keep your garlic-cooking time to a minimum. It’s better to be underdone than overdone.
The reason we add the pasta water is so that you don’t water down the flavor. The pasta water tastes like, well… pasta, and will enhance the flavor of your sauce. As well, the water contains the starch and a bit of the fat from the pasta, which should help thicken your sauce. Last, the starch in the water will help the sauce stick to the noodles.
Serving Suggestions
What is a pasta without a crusty loaf of bread? Not a pasta dish at all, as far as I’m concerned. If you wanted to raise the level of that bread, slice it open and smother garlic butter inside. As it warms in the oven, just think of all the sauce you’ll soak up with its garlic-infused dough. A light salad will also balance a meal some may a bit heavy, so try my Tomato, Basil, and Blue Cheese Salad, though I recommend dropping the blue cheese in favor of more Parmesan (I’m not sure how the two will taste together). If you intend on using the pasta as a side, serve as an entree this Baked Boneless Chicken Breast. If you like, you can drizzle some alfredo sauce over the chicken for one creamy combo.
Broccoli Alfredo Pasta Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb. fettuccine pasta uncooked
- 3 tbsp butter
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 4 tbsp flour
- 3 cups whole milk
- ½ cup Parmesan grated
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- 1 head broccoli
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the fettuccine and cook for 5–8 minutes. Reserve ½ cup of the pasta water and then drain the fettuccine.
- While the pasta cooks, melt the butter in a large skillet over MEDIUM heat. Sauté the garlic for 2 minutes.
- Add the flour. As you do so, continue to whisk to make a paste. Slowly pour in the milk, continuing to whisk to remove any lumps. Simmer for 5 minutes to thicken the sauce. Add the broccoli florets and Parmesan. Add the pasta water in increments until the desired consistency is achieved. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon for another 8–10 minutes.
- Add the pasta. Toss to coat everything in the creamy sauce.
Nutrition
