The homemade sauce in this easy keto chicken alfredo recipe tastes just as good as store-bought alfredo sauce, without all the unhealthy additives.  Best of all it doesn’t take any longer to make than store-bought keto alfredo sauce would.

In my easy keto appetizers post, I talked about how much I miss being able to order an appetizer platter from restaurants.  Second on my list of foods I miss being able to order since going back to keto is chicken alfredo. 

When I realized that alfredo sauce wasn’t high in carbs, I knew it would be easy to make a keto version of my favorite pasta dish at home.

Initially, I tried using these Shirataki Fettuccine noodles to make a simple keto chicken fettuccine alfredo. 

I really, really wanted to like these keto fettuccine noodles.

But after attempting to eat 10 pieces, and spitting each one out, I gave up. 

While most of the reviews I read about them were great, and most ketoers don’t mind the texture or at least get used to it, I couldn’t get past the rubbery feeling of it between my teeth.

Luckily there are lots of vegetables that work well in a keto chicken alfredo in place of the fettuccine noodles.

Is Chicken Alfredo Keto?

How many Carbs are in chicken alfredo?

A plate of chicken alfredo from a restaurant has around 100 grams of carbs in it.

Of course, most of those carbs are from the fettuccine pasta.

So, what about the sauce? Is Prego alfredo sauce keto?  Is olive garden alfredo sauce keto?  How many net carbs are in alfredo sauce?

Finding store-bought keto-friendly alfredo sauce actually isn’t that hard. 

Prego alfredo sauce only contains 3 grams of net carbs per ¼ cup serving (or 6 grams per ½ cup serving, which is a more realistic serving size for most alfredo dishes).

As for Olive garden, a pint of their alfredo sauce is 21 grams of carbs, which works out to just over 5 grams of net carbs for a ½ cup serving.

So, if alfredo sauce is already low carb, why make your own?

While store-bought alfredo sauce contains the same basic ingredients as home-made versions, they also contain a bunch of other added ingredients that really aren’t needed or healthy (like MSG and GMO-containing thickeners).

Alfredo sauce is super easy to make, so why not make your own and skip on those unnecessary fillers?

Keto Chicken Alfredo Sauce

A basic keto 3-ingredient alfredo sauce contains heavy cream, butter, and parmesan cheese.

My keto alfredo sauce adds in some garlic (for a better flavor) and some cream cheese (to thicken it).

The Cream

A lot of people think that heavy cream is a free for all food on keto since nutrition labels list it as having 0 grams of carbs per tbsp serving. 

The truth is it actually contains 6.76 grams of net carbs per cup, but because it has less than 1 gram of carbs per serving companies are allowed to list it as 0.

So, is heavy cream keto?

While a tablespoon serving actually has around 0.42 grams of carbs, it’s still a great ingredient to use on keto.  You just need to make sure you are counting the carbs in it accurately.

What is the difference between heavy cream and heavy whipping cream and whipping cream?

While heavy whipping cream is just another name for heavy cream, whipping cream is actually a different product.

Heavy cream (or heavy whipping cream) is cream that contains more than 35% milkfat and 6.76 grams of carbs per cup.

Whipping cream (also called light whipping cream) only contains 30%-35% milkfat.  It also has slightly more carbs at 7.07 grams per cup.

While heavy cream and whipping cream are not actually the same thing, the difference between them is so small it’s not a problem to use heavy cream instead of whipping cream or vice versa in recipes.

The Butter

Is butter keto-friendly?

Butter is also listed as having 0 grams of carbs on nutrition labels. 

While this isn’t entirely true, butter only has 0.1 grams of carbs per cup.  Unless you’re eating it by the tub, you really don’t have to worry about the carbs in it.

The Cheese

Shredded Parmesan cheese has 1 gram of carbs per 1/3 cup serving. 

You can buy parmesan cheese that is already shredded, but most of it contains some kind of starch (potato or corn) to prevent caking. 

While this doesn’t increase the carbs in the cheese much, if you want to avoid unnecessary additives in your food it’s easy enough to shred your own and freeze it. Just put the shredded cheese in a large freezer bag and lay it flat until it’s frozen so it doesn’t all stick together.

The Garlic

One clove of garlic (or one tsp) has just under 1 gram of net carbs.

Since I don’t use fresh garlic very often, and end up throwing most of it out when I do buy it, I prefer to get freeze-dried garlic.  If you prefer fresh garlic, it will work just as well in this keto chicken alfredo recipe.

Cream Cheese

The first time I tried making my own alfredo sauce I just used the cream, butter, garlic, and Parmesan cheese. 

While the taste was good it was way too watery, so the next time I added some cream cheese in to thicken it.

One tablespoon of cream cheese has 0.8 grams of carbs.  While this does make the sauce a bit higher in carbs than a basic home made alfredo sauce recipe, it’s quicker than simmering the sauce to thicken it.

Low Carb Chicken Alfredo Meals

There are a lot of options for making a low carb chicken alfredo.

I have seen some recipes that skip out on replacing the pasta and just do a baked chicken with alfredo sauce on top.  Others swap out the pasta for some kind of vegetable and make it a keto chicken alfredo casserole.

While my recipe does use a vegetable replacement for the pasta, I don’t bake it like you would for typical casserole.  Instead, I just prepare everything on the stove and combine it all before serving to keep it quick.

There are a lot of different ideas for what to replace the fettuccine with for a keto chicken alfredo too.  I chose to use broccoli for mine, but if a keto chicken broccoli alfredo doesn’t sound appealing to you, here are some alfredo dishes you can try using my keto alfredo sauce recipe.

• Keto chicken alfredo with shirataki noodles
• Keto chicken alfredo with zoodles (spiralized zucchini)
• Keto cauliflower chicken alfredo
• Keto chicken alfredo with spaghetti squash
• Keto chicken spinach alfredo casserole

While the broccoli does a great job of replacing the pasta for me, I am tempted to do some experimenting with other vegetables too. 

Maybe I’ll try a brussels sprout or asparagus keto alfredo chicken bake next time.

No matter what vegetable (or keto-friendly noodle) you use, this low carb chicken alfredo recipe is a quick and easy option to add to your weekly menu.

What’s your favorite vegetable to use in place of noodles in keto pasta dishes? What vegetable did you use for this keto chicken alfredo recipe?

Let me know on my Facebook Post. Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook for more keto recipes and to see what else I learn on my journey to live a healthier and happier life.