Cook's Illustrated

Lighter Fettuccini

Published April 2, 2007.

Could we lighten Fettuccine Alfredo enough to take it out of the once, maybe twice a year, category?

The Problem

Give Fettuccine Alfredo's simplicity and the fact it relies on a handful of high-fat ingredients, it seemed highly improbable we could make a decent low-fat Alfredo sauce.

The Goal

We wanted to cut the fat and calorie numbers sufficiently to allow us to enjoy this dish more frequently.

The Solution

Our biggest challenge was to find a way to reduce the amount of cream and then thicken it to a sauce-like consistency. We found that we could substitute 3/4 cup half-and-half thickened with cornstarch for 1 1/2 cups heavy cream. And we could omit all the butter. While we couldn't find a substitute for authentic Parmesan that had the same flavor punch, we could reduce the amount of cheese, ultimately using just 2 ounces of finely grated Parmesan.

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