You have probably seen pasta with Alfredo sauce on the menu at your local Italian eatery. It’s a classic dish that combines a buttery white sauce with steamy noodles. It’s a creamy delight.
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But did you know you can use Alfredo sauce on homemade pizza too? Alfredo sauce makes an excellent base for a white pizza.
What is White Pizza?
White pizza is made without tomato sauce. Instead of the traditional red marinara sauce, white pizza uses a white sauce. However, which white sauce depends on the chef.
Some pizzaiolos use a simple white sauce similar to a bechamel, and others prefer an Alfredo sauce as a base for a white pizza.
A white pizza varies in toppings. Some pizzaiolos like to keep the white theme and may only use white toppings like chicken, onions, and cheese, lots of cheese. White pizza always has a few different kinds of cheese, from ricotta to mozzarella to feta to asiago.
Without the tanginess acidity of marinara sauce, white pizza has fewer flavors to balance and works with many other toppings like:
- Bacon and spinach
- Red onions and arugula
- Roasted garlic and zucchini
- Proscuitto and mushrooms
- Artichoke hearts, mushrooms, and bacon
- Sun-dried tomatoes and sausage
- Smoked oysters and asparagus
- Shrimp, spinach, and black olives
If you aren’t concerned about keeping the color theme, you can put just about anything you want on a white pizza, that is, except marinara sauce.
There is another version of white pizza for pizza lovers who follow a vegan diet. This version of white pizza doesn’t use any sauce, and instead, the crust is drizzled with olive oil and garlic and then topped with different vegetables skipping the cheese entirely.
White Pizza Sauce vs. Alfredo Sauce
The two main options for white sauce are white pizza sauce and Alfredo sauce. While both have many of the same ingredients, they are actually different. Alfredo sauce is made with butter, heavy cream, and Parmesan cheese. Since it’s typically paired with pasta, it’s a thinner sauce.
A classic white pizza sauce is usually just flour, milk, butter, and sometimes a bit of cream cheese. It’s a basic simple sauce that can be used on pasta or even as a dipping sauce.
It’s similar to a French bechamel sauce. Bechamel sauce is one of the five basic mother sauces in the French kitchen. It’s made with butter, whole milk, flour, eggs, and salt.
Since white sauce and bechamel both have flour, it seems a little much to put on a pizza. We prefer using an alfredo sauce since the consistency is better for the artistic canvas that is the pizza crust.
How to Use Alfredo Sauce on Homemade Pizza
Making Alfredo sauce at home is easy, and you probably already have all of the ingredients in your fridge.
- ½ cup butter
- 1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
- 2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- A pinch of salt and pepper
A traditional Alfredo sauce only has these four ingredients, but since we are making it for pizza, we like to add some garlic and Italian seasoning as well.
Optional:
- 4 cloves minced garlic
- 1 tbsp Italian seasonings
Add the butter and heavy cream to the skillet, heat it up for about 2 minutes, then whisk in the parmesan cheese and seasonings. Keep whisking until the cheese has melted.
Next, roll out your pizza dough. If you are using homemade pizza dough, it’s a good idea to pre-bake it before spreading the Alfredo sauce on homemade pizza crust. Roll the dough out and brush with a little olive oil and bake for a few minutes. This will prevent the Alfredo sauce from making the dough too soggy.
Next, add your cheese and toppings. And bake till bubbly and delicious.
A word of caution, white pizza has an extra amount of cheese, sometimes two or three different ones, so be careful when cooking as the cheese melts, it spreads.
Leave plenty of extra room for spreading near the crust. Look, we would never tell you how to cheese your pizza, but nobody likes to clean an oven with melted cheese stuck to the bottom. Trust us. We made that mistake once.
Helpful Tips
- Don’t be afraid to experiment with this Alfredo sauce recipe. Try using Gran Padano instead of Parmesan, or add a sprinkle of crushed red pepper to give it a kick.
- Use unsalted butter that way you have more control over the salt level.
- Alfredo sauce goes well with all types of seafood. If you are new to seafood on pizza, give it a try. We like shrimp, scampi, smoked oysters, and even smoked salmon with alfredo sauce.
- Fresh parsley is a lovely addition to an Alfredo sauce.
- Alfredo sauce should be used immediately. You can store leftovers in the fridge for about two to three days.
- Although the internet tells us you can freeze Alfredo sauce, we have to disagree. Technically yes, you can put it in the freezer. But since it’s dairy and due to the temperature changes, and well, science, the ingredients split. When you thaw it, it is grainy, and the texture is… just off. We don’t recommend freezing it.
Why We Love This Recipe
Alfredo sauce is a great sauce to know how to make. It should be one of your core sauce recipes because it works with so many dishes. We love alfredo sauce on pizza sauce because it makes our homemade pizza and sauce just that little bit more elegant. Almost as much as vodka sauce or creamy garlic sauce!
Sometimes you want to take it up a notch and make pizza night a little bit better. We also love this sauce because for those nights that you use a store-bought premade crust, yes, we do that sometimes too, topping a pre-made crust with an alfredo sauce is a great way to add something special without too much work.
How do you use Alfredo sauce on homemade pizza? What do you like to put on your white pizza?
