Give Alfredo Sauce A Smoky Upgrade Using This Breakfast Staple

Alfredo sauce is a wondrous addition to pasta of all types, chicken bakes, seafood, and so much more. You can buy from a variety of brands, including low-fat and non-dairy options for those with dietary restrictions. More than that, it's simple to make from scratch at home. According to most recipes, Alfredo sauce can be made using only three ingredients – butter, Parmesan, and cream. However, for an easy upgrade, all you need to do is add a little bacon.

Alfredo sauce purists may turn up their noses at this suggestion, but the flavor of bacon transforms it into something even more luxurious and rich. Bacon is a cured, smoked meat, and that salty, savory flavor works well with creamy Alfredo. To complement grilled shrimp Alfredo with a surf and turf vibe, add in some bacon. Crunchy crumbled bacon gives a nice texture change-up to classic fettuccine Alfredo. In chicken bakes, the bacon's smoke notes can spread throughout the entire dish as it heats in the oven.

One common misconception about Alfredo sauce is that it always contains cream. While modern iterations of the recipe often do, the original Alfredo contained only butter, pasta water, and Parmigiano Reggiano. With that in mind, think about how much grease bacon creates, and how useful that fat is in adding flavor to foods. By replacing some of the butter in the recipe with bacon grease, you'll get a richer, pleasantly smoky profile.

Inexpensive store-bought cream sauces can especially benefit from bacon. These sauces often have an artificial or chemical taste from cheap packaging or synthetic preservatives. Bacon has such a strong flavor that it can mask these deficiencies, making the sauce taste more decadent.

If you're looking for other ways to elevate your Alfredo sauce, you're in luck. If you amp up your store-bought Alfredo sauce with nutmeg, you'll find it has a fuller, more homemade flavor profile. You can also add basil, garlic, onion, or other spices to give it a nice herbal taste. Although it won't be purely Alfredo in the traditional sense, it will make it taste better — which is the ultimate goal.