Eating out is a wonderful treat, but an occasional one for us, especially with the rising costs. When the craving for an Italian pasta dish hits, this 3-ingredient broccoli Alfredo sauce is one of my favorite pantry staple hacks. I get that creamy, cheesy comfort food in 15 minutes, and my wallet is happy too!
As you can see, this is semi-homemade as I started this with a jarred sauce. I’m all for cooking from scratch, but when I’m in a rush, I’m just way more likely to reach for an easy base to my recipes like a jarred sauce and jazz it up a bit.
This was one of those times since I was in the midst of a freezer cooking adventure. You can definitely use a homemade alfredo sauce as a base for this recipe if you prefer.
🥦 Ingredients
✅Alfredo Sauce – I used a 15oz. Jar. Any old variety from the store will do. I lean towards the fairly plain sauce for this recipe as I want the other ingredients to shine through. My one word of warning is not to use too much on a single serving of pasta. This is one of those times where a little goes a long way!
✅Steam-In-Bag Broccoli – I love these bags. It is so easy just to throw them in the microwave as it just saves another step in the process.
✅Onion powder – Use this to taste. I like the flavor, so I include it. Be careful not to use Onion Salt, though. I have mixed those up more than a few times!
📝 Instructions
👉Step 1: Steam the bag of broccoli in microwave according to package directions.
👉Step 2: Pour the jar of Alfredo sauce into pan on medium heat. Stir the steamed broccoli into the sauce. Let come to a slight boil. Make sure to stir it frequently to avoid any burning on the bottom of the pan.
👉Step 3: Use a potato masher to mash the broccoli florets into the sauce until there are no large pieces remaining. If you prefer a very fine texture, you can mix everything together in a blender or food processor. I like the texture of having small chunks of broccoli (and it is much easier to clean the potato masher than the food processor!)
👉Step 4: Season to taste with onion powder.
📌 Expert Tips
🔸Freezer meal option. This is the sauce was featured in my recent $0.24 Freezer Pasta Packets post. I cooked pasta, flash froze it, and then portioned them into individual sized servings and stuck it in the freezer with a little bit of sauce.
Pour a little bit of the sauce into the individual sized containers and put a lid on it. These freeze extremely well and stack nicely. It is fun to grab one with your pasta and have a fun, tasty lunch.
🔸No steam bag? If you have a regular bag of frozen broccoli (or fresh!), just boil or steam it separately until it is very tender before adding it to the sauce. It needs to be soft enough to mash!
🔸Add protein. This is a vegetarian base, but it pairs wonderfully with protein. Rotisserie chicken, cooked shrimp, or even canned tuna work great here.
📌 FAQ
Absolutely! Some diced chicken would be heavenly. You could also add in some cooked sausage, salmon, shrimp, or tuna. Add whatever you like, and be sure to let us know what you tried and how it turned out.
Sometimes, we will eat this dish all by itself when we don’t feel like eating anything else. Other times, we will serve it with a big fat steak or some grilled chicken. It also goes lovely with breadsticks too. A salad is also a great compliment.
If you have leftovers (which is rare in my house!), store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. You may need to add a splash of milk when reheating to loosen the sauce up again.
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Easy Broccoli Alfredo Sauce (Three ingredients!)
Ingredients
- 1 jar Alfredo Sauce I used a 15 oz. jar
- 1 bag Broccoli steam-in-bag
- 1 tsp Onion Powder or to taste
Instructions
- Steam the bag of broccoli in the microwave according to package directions.
- Pour a jar of Alfredo sauce in a sauté pan on medium heat. Add the steamed broccoli.
- Stir frequently to avoid burning until the sauce starts to simmer.
- Mash the broccoli florets with a potato masher into the sauce until there are no large pieces remaining.
- Pour over your favorite pasta for a fast dinner, or pour to single serving sized containers for freezing.
Notes
Nutrition
Hi!
Ginny Collins is a passionate foodie and recipe creator of Savor and Savvy and Kitchenlaughter. Indoors she focuses on easy, quick recipes for busy families and kitchen basics. Outdoors, she focuses on backyard grilling and smoking to bring family and friends together. She is a lifelong learner who is always taking cooking classes on her travels overseas and stateside. Her work has been featured on MSN, Parade, Fox News, Yahoo, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and many local news outlets. She lives in Florida where you will find her outside on the water in her kayak, riding her bike on trails, and planning her next overseas adventure.
That’s probably one of those opportunities where you could use an immersion blender too. I’ve never had one, but people seem to find them useful for soups and sauces.
This looks delicious! I wonder if my hubby would notice the broccoli …
Oh definitely – an immersion blender would be perfect for this! If I had one myself I’d find any excuse to use it – I think they’re so cool!
My husband isn’t a huge fan of broccoli in general but he keeps requesting this sauce so it’s broccoli-hating-man-approved, or at least it is in this house. 🙂
Question – I have not seen Alfredo Sauce here (Ireland). Is it a plain white sauce? Love the idea of making this and freezing it, I imagine it would be tasty with boiled ham. Thank you
Alfredo sauce is a creamy white sauce. I believe the base of most alfredo sauce recipes is heavy cream or sometimes cream cheese. You can make your own alfredo sauce with fairly basic ingredients if you have trouble finding it in store.