I can’t wait to share the newest one pan recipe with you! This one pan fettuccine alfredo is a simple meal for any night of the week. It’s made with pantry staples and is true comfort food.

The idea for this recipe hit me one day when I was working on another one pan pasta dish and watching the Food Network at the same time. Someone was talking about fettuccine alfredo and it just hit me, I could totally do that in one pan. So I got to testing it. And wouldn’t you know, my family loved it! I made it a few times, to get the flavor just right, but the method really lends itself to this dish.

simple fettuccine alfredo piles high on a plate with broccoli in the background

Now this fettuccine alfredo recipe is going into heavy rotation this fall and winter. It’s easy enough to make for a weekend lunch, comforting enough for a blustery fall night, and delicious enough to make quite often. Serve it with a protein of your choice and you’ve got a quick complete meal in less than 30 minutes.

“This post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase using this link.”

Question about the ingredients

Since there are so few ingredients in this recipe, you’ll want to work with ingredients that you trust and you use all the time. For me, that’s nothing fancy. When testing this simple fettuccine alfredo recipe, I used store brand pasta, Trader Joes fresh grated Parmesan, Costco butter. As I talked about in this post I have a love affair with frozen cubes of goodness. I used just one garlic cube from Dorot here.

So how does this one pan pasta thing work?

As pasta cooks it is naturally absorbing the water from the cooking liquid in order to soften or “cook” the noodles all the way through. By adding the pasta to a sauce, in this case milk with garlic, the pasta not only absorbs the liquid as it cooks, but also the flavor of the sauce. This helps to ensure the most flavorful dish possible in the shortest amount of time.

Additionally, the pasta gives off some starch through the cooking process, and this starch thickens the alfredo sauce making the finished product thicker and creamier than other recipes might produce. No runny fettuccine alfredo here!

simple fettuccine alfredo piled in a ceramic crock with broccoli on the side.

This is not one of those dishes that I recommend making dairy free. It’s just not going to work out right. You need the milk and the cheese to create the creamy decadent sauce that you are going for. If you are looking for a one pot dish that can be made dairy-free, try my one pan tomato basil pasta instead!

Tips and Tricks:

Crispy roasted broccoli is the perfect vegetable to accompany a dinner of simple fettuccine alfredo. The crispy bits add a nice texture difference, and the broccoli adds a nice pop of color to an otherwise bland looking dish.
If I’m serving this with a protein, I like to go the fish route. Either a simple roasted salmon with olive oil, salt and pepper or a sauteed tilapia with lemon. Both pair well with this one pan pasta.
This is a dish best served right after it’s made in order to take full advantage of the creamy sauce. The leftovers reheat well, but won’t be quite as creamy.

Looking for other great pasta recipes that your family will love? Check these out!