Spicy Alfredo Sauce

Name: Spicy Alfredo Sauce
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 60 min
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1/2 pound fresh mushrooms (sliced); 1 sweet onion, large (diced, about 1 cup but if the onion is large it'll be more like 2 cups which will work fine); 3-4 chicken breasts, about 2 pounds (diced, chicken tenders work great too); 4 tablespoons butter; 3 tablespoons cream cheese; 4 cups half and half; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon pepper; 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder; 1 cup parmesan cheese (freshly grated, plus more for garnish when serving); 1 cup sliced pepperoncinis (add an additional 1/4 cup for more spicy flavor and some for garnish on each serving ); fettuccine pasta (or any pasta of your choice, about 1 pound )

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Spicy Alfredo Sauce is a smooth homemade Alfredo sauce and the perfect base for tangy slices of spicy pepperoncini, caramelized onions, simmered mushrooms and tender, diced chicken. There's no heavy cream in the sauce but tastes like something you'd enjoy in a fancy restaurant. This is a delicious and easy-to-make dish that is perfect for a family dinner or a date night at home.

A serving of spicy chicken Alfredo on a plate with a fork that has a scoop of pasta and sauce. — The smooth sauce in this recipe blends beautifully with tangy pepperoncini, caramelized onions, mushrooms and tender chicken.

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⭐ Why You'll Love Spicy Alfredo Sauce
🥘 Ingredients to Have on Hand
🧂You Control the Spiciness
🍽 What Makes Spicy Alfredo Sauce Special?
📋 Step-by-Step Instructions
🥘 Use One Skillet
💭 Recipe FAQs
🍲 Pasta Options for Spicy Alfredo Sauce
🥣 Stir and Thicken Spicy Alfredo Sauce
🍴How to Serve
👩🏻‍🍳Storage and Leftovers
📖 More Pasta Recipes
Recipe
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⭐ Why You'll Love Spicy Alfredo Sauce

Pasta and spicy sauce just go great together! Try Chicken Spaghetti with Rotel and you'll have another spicy pasta dish in your dinner rotation.

The smooth sauce in this recipe blends beautifully with tangy pepperoncini, caramelized onions, mushrooms and tender chicken.

Spicy Alfredo Sauce is ready to eat in about an hour. While you're working on dinner, serve your guests Cranberry Jalapeno Meatballs, an easy, spicy appetizer that cooks in the Crockpot.

🥘 Ingredients to Have on Hand

Spicy Chicken Alfredo ingredients on a wooden block, displaying a carton of half and half, mushrooms, uncooked chicken, a sweet onion, grated parmesan cheese and a plate of pepperoncinis.

Simple ingredients combine in this recipe for a restaurant-quality pasta sauce. Include chicken, or not. But either way, this is a delicous way to elevate a traditional Alfredo sauce.

Chicken Breasts: While chicken doesn't add to the spice of the Alfredo sauce, it's a great way to include a hearty protein in this dish.

Half and Half: I prefer this to heavy cream, it still gives the sauce plenty of luxurious texture but with fewer calories and a little less fat.

Mushrooms: These are optional, but add an earthy flavor and lovely texture to the sauce.

Pepperoncini Peppers: These are the spice babies! The pepperoncini peppers are what give this sauce a little kick.

Parmesan Cheese: The tangy, bold flavor of Parmesan cheese is incredible in Alfredo sauce. You can also swap it for Asiago or Romano cheese.

Cream Cheese: This also adds a little tang to the sauce and contributes to its velvet-like consistency.

Scroll to the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.

🧂You Control the Spiciness

This Spicy Alfredo Sauce can be less, or more spicy depending on how many pepperoncini pepper slices you add.

One cup of sliced pepperoncini gives the sauce a tangy "bite" but the sauce is so creamy, thanks to butter and cream cheese. Most folks tell me it's still mild enough even for kids.

My family loves a Spicy Alfredo Sauce so sometimes we add extra slices of those juicy pepperoncini slices on each serving.

Pro Tip: Not in a spicy mood? Leave the pepperoncini peppers out or swap them for sliced red or green peppers instead.

A stick of butter and a package of cream cheese on a wood block.

🍽 What Makes Spicy Alfredo Sauce Special?

Who doesn't love a good, creamy pasta dish? A few tablespoons of cream cheese make a big difference in this smooth, spicy Alfredo sauce.

This is a classic Italian dish, spiced up with caramelized onions, mushrooms and pepperoncini peppers.

Spicy Alfredo Sauce will soon become a fast family favorite!

Butter and cream cheese are added to the hot skillet as the base for the sauce.

📋 Step-by-Step Instructions

Although the result is impressive and full of flavor and may remind you of a tasty Alfredo sauce from a restaurant, this is an incredibly easy recipe to make.

Diced mushrooms and onions on a cutting mat.

Step 1: Dice the onions and mushrooms, then toss them in the pan with the hot olive oil. Cook the diced onions and mushrooms until the onions start to caramelize and turn soft, it takes about 10 minutes over medium-high heat. Stir often.

Diced onions and mushroom in a large skillet.

Step 2: While the diced ingredients are cooking and carmelizing in the olive oil, dice the uncooked chicken and shred the Parmesan cheese.

Diced chicken, cooked and in a skillet on the stove. — Cook the chicken until it's lightly browned.

Step 3: Remove the onions and mushrooms from the pan, place in a dish and cover to keep warm. In the same large skillet, place the diced chicken breast (if using chicken), season lightly with salt and pepper and cook until lightly browned. Remove from pan, add to the same dish with the onions and mushrooms and cover to keep everything warm.

Butter melting in a hot skillet on the stove. — The little bits and pieces of the chicken, onions and mushrooms add to the flavor.

Step 4: In the same skillet melt butter, add cream cheese and stir until melted. Mix in half and half, garlic powder, salt, pepper and add parmesan cheese. Stir until it begins to thicken. Whisk frequently over medium heat. It takes about 10 minutes until it starts to thicken.

Alfredo sauce, chicken, mushrooms, onions and pepperoncinis in a skillet.

Step 5: Add the cooked chicken, onions and mushrooms back into the skillet with the sauce, stir to combine then add sliced pepperoncini peppers. Cover and simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes while your pasta cooks. The sauce will continue to thicken.

Drain the pasta and serve with large spoonfuls of the sauce on top of each serving.

From start to finish, your delicious Spicy Alfredo Sauce is ready in about an hour.

🥘 Use One Skillet

Everything for Spicy Alfredo Sauce cooks in the same pan. Well, almost everything.

The pasta will need to be cooked in a large stock pot of boiling water of course. But each step of this recipe uses just one large pan, pot or skillet.

I cook it in my biggest skillet because the sauce and ingredients need plenty of room to simmer together. But a Dutch Oven such as Le Creuset will work great too.

💭 Recipe FAQs

Do I need to use a sweet onion?

Sweet onions are milder than other varieties like white or yellow onions and they caramelize beautifully in the hot butter with the sliced mushrooms.

Can I use milk instead of half and half?

You can, and it will taste fine but the Alfredo sauce will not be nearly as creamy. I totally understand the desire to cut down on calories or fat which is why I use half and half instead of heavy cream.

🍲 Pasta Options for Spicy Alfredo Sauce

Any shape of pasta will work great with this recipe, but fettuccine is the most common to serve with an Alfredo sauce, so that's what I use and recommend.

The thickness of the fettuccine noodles hang onto the creamy Alfredo sauce better than a thin spaghetti.

🥣 Stir and Thicken Spicy Alfredo Sauce

The Spicy Alfredo Sauce thickens as it cooks on the stovetop so don't worry if the sauce seems a little thin at first. If your family loves a thick white sauce, be sure to try Garlic Parmesan Pizza Sauce for your next pizza night.

Watch the video below to see how thick my sauce was right after I mixed in the chicken and pepperoncini peppers.

After simmering for about 15 minutes the sauce will be creamy and perfect.

🍴How to Serve

Cook your pasta according to the package directions and drain.

Place a serving of the cooked pasta in a pasta bowl or on a plate.

Top with plenty of Spicy Alfredo Sauce and garnish with additional freshly grated parmesan cheese.

👩🏻‍🍳Storage and Leftovers

Store the leftover Spicy Alfredo Sauce separate from the pasta.

Place in a covered bowl or sealed container in the refrigerator, the sauce sometimes thickens a little after being refrigerated so just add a little milk when you warm it to create the consistency of when it's served hot from the stove.

Leftovers will stay fresh for 4 -5 days in the refrigerator in a covered, airtight container.

A serving of spicy chicken Alfredo on a plate with a fork and a napkin on the side. — Tangy pepperoncini is the perfect complement to this smooth Alfredo sauce. I like to add a few more slices on top of each serving for eye appeal.

📖 More Pasta Recipes

Cooking with pasta is a great way to share delicious comfort food with family and friends. I think you'll love my Homemade, Baked Meatball Recipe, meatballs go great with pasta. Here are a few more pasta-centric recipes I think you'll enjoy.

If you tried Spicy Alfredo Sauce or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the 📝 comments below.

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5 from 131 votes (124 ratings without comment)