Creamy garlic parmesan sauce can be served in so many ways. It's cooked easily in a pan on the stove using butter, cream, freshly grated parmesan and garlic. Toss, dip, drizzle or coat all your favorite recipes with this delicious sauce!

spoon pouring garlic parmesan sauce into bowl

Creamy Garlic Sauce

This garlic parmesan sauce is so rich and creamy and full of delicious flavor! It can be served with a variety of dishes. Serve with pork chops, chicken breast, salmon, or white fish.

It makes the perfect pasta sauce and can be used as a gravy drizzled over potatoes. Use as a dip with buffalo wings, chicken tenders or cauliflower. It's so versatile which is why I like to keep it handy for a mixture of recipes.

Recipe Ingredients

2 Tbsp unsalted butter
4 garlic cloves - minced
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp Italian seasoning
¾ cup vegetable broth
1 ½ cups heavy cream - or half and half
8 oz shredded parmesan cheese - fresh works best
¼ tsp black pepper

How To Make Garlic Parmesan Sauce

See the recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.

You'll need a frying pan or a medium-sized pot for this recipe. Follow the steps below or see the full ingredients and instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of this blog post.

Frying pan with butter and sprinkled with flour.

Heat a pan or pot over medium heat and add 2 Tbsp of salted butter to the pot. Once it's melted, add the 4 cloves of minced garlic, and let that cook for 1-2 minutes until the garlic is pretty fragrant. Make sure that the pan isn't too hot during this process or the garlic will burn.

Now add the 2 Tbsp of all-purpose flour then stir everything together using a spatula. Do this quickly.

Frying pan with flour, butter and broth and spatula.

Next, add in the ¾ cup of vegetable broth and allow that to cook for about a minute or until the sauce starts to thicken up. Stir slowly while it thickens.

Parmesan, spices and cream dumped into a frying pan then mixed with spatula to create creamy sauce.

Now you can add the 1½ cups of heavy cream, 8 oz of freshly grated parmesan cheese, 1 tsp Italian seasoning and ¼ tsp black pepper. Use a spatula to stir and melt the parmesan. Keep stirring until there are minimum lumps (a few is okay) and the sauce is smooth and creamy.

Remove the pan from the heat and serve the sauce!

Recipe Tips:

I highly recommend using fresh parmesan for this recipe! You'll want to shred it yourself. Those pre-shredded bags of parmesan contain fillers that keep the cheese from clumping. This additive doesn't melt well and you won't get a smooth consistency.
Stay hands-on near the stove during the whole process. Stir frequently but slowly so that no ingredients burn.
Do not overheat the pan. If it's too hot, fragile ingredients like the minced garlic, may start to burn.
You can all sorts of veggies to the pan. Mushrooms, peas, and corn are perfect and add a little color to the dish. You can add sliced mini potatoes for a heartier meal but just be sure to cook them to your desired softness.
Such a rich saucy dish deserves a side of fresh homemade bread to help mop up the plate. Our one-pot dutch oven bread is so easy to make and can be stored in the freezer and then thawed to go with this meal.

Storage

Refrigerate – Keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days when stored in an airtight container. Water may start to separate from the sauce after 1 day. Simply stir while reheating.
Can I Freeze This? This sauce will not freeze well! The cream will separate and the liquid will turn grainy when it thaws. It's best to use this sauce up within 3-4 days.
Reheat – You can reheat the leftovers in the microwave or over medium in a saucepan. Stir the sauce as it heats to keep it from burning.

bowl with spoon scooping garlic parmesan sauce

Tools For This Recipe

(Amazon affiliate links) - Check out all of my kitchen essentials here.

Frying Pan - Similar to the grey one I used in the pictures.
Box Grater - Freshly grated parmesan is essential for making this sauce. Pre-shredded versions at the store contain fillers that won't allow the cheese to melt as perfectly.
Garlic Mincer - Makes mincing fresh garlic a breeze.
Spatula - Gentle enough to scrape along the bottom of the pan without scratching it. This is a sauce-making must-have!
Measuring Spoons - I love these magnetic ones which stay nice and organized together when storing them! Perfect for measuring all your ingredients.

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