Store-Bought Alfredo Sauce Gets A Smoky Makeover With This Sizzling Ingredient

When you are low on time and need to make a convenient yet delicious meal, using a store-bought sauce on pasta is a desirable option. You might even choose to make a comfort food favorite such as pasta with Alfredo sauce using a jar of it from the grocery store. Even though jarred Alfredo sauces are usually rich and creamy, you might feel the need to enhance the flavor of the store-bought variety to make it more appealing. There are numerous ingredients to add to Alfredo sauce to improve the flavor, and one enticing possibility stands out amongst the rest — bacon.

Adding bacon to Alfredo will create a smoky, bold flavor that will complement the creamy sauce in ways that maintain its rich and comforting appeal, also giving it a crunchy texture. When you add bacon to store-bought Alfredo sauce, you'll want to utilize the best cooking method for the bacon to support your need for convenience as well as superb flavor. One of the best ways to cook bacon is in the oven. It's hands-free and prevents making the mess you'd have to clean up if you were pan frying it. Plus, the taste will be unmatched when you cut up the bacon strips and toss them into your Alfredo dish.

Adding bacon to pasta with Alfredo sauce creates a dish that's similar to pasta carbonara, an Italian pasta dish that uses a sauce made from Parmesan cheese, eggs, salt, and pepper with the addition of bacon or pancetta. In the homemade version, these ingredients, including the raw eggs, are added to hot pasta, which cooks the eggs without curdling them to create a rich, decadent sauce.

To help you choose your Alfredo sauce, we ranked jarred Alfredo sauce brands so you can discover which one is best for you. To further optimize your store-bought sauce, there are more tricks you can utilize. If your sauce is a bit too runny for your taste, simply add Parmesan Reggiano or pecorino Romano cheese to thicken Alfredo sauce.

To heighten the flavor of jarred Alfredo sauce even more, add sautéed garlic and fresh herbs, such as oregano or parsley. You can also brighten the creamy sauce by topping the pasta with freshly grated lemon zest, which will make your meal feel lighter. In another nod to pasta carbonara, use a dash of pepper to spice up your Alfredo. To make your dish even more rich and creamy, mix in mascarpone cheese, cream cheese, or butter.