There are some things you know you should make from scratch. Creamy, cheesy alfredo sauce is probably one of those things. In fact, you can find easy alfredo sauce recipes with just four or five ingredients. Still, sometimes you just don't have the time or energy to whip something up yourself.
When that happens, you want to know: what is the best store bought alfredo sauce?
That answer to that question, however, depends on what's most important to you. Do you want the richest, most decadent alfredo sauce money can buy, or rather a waistline-friendly option? Do you need a gluten free alfredo sauce, or are you avoiding artificial preservatives? With some of these criteria in mind, here are a few products to consider:
Best Store Bought Alfredo Sauce for Dieters

Buitoni Light Alfredo Sauce
- 90 calories per serving
- fewer ingredients than other light alfredo sauces - no soybean oil!
- 15% of daily sodium allowance in 1 serving
Buitoni advertises that this alfredo sauce contains 50% less fat and 35% fewer calories than their standard alfredo sauce. The good thing is, the ingredient list is still rather simple, unlike many other light alfredo sauces with long, nearly incomprehensible ingredient lists. That's a big plus in our book.
Highest Quality Store Bought Alfredo

Victoria Vegan Alfredo Sauce
- 70 calories per serving
- made with cashews, so you're getting healthy fat!
- gluten free
- 15% of daily sodium allowance in 1 serving
You might scoff at vegan alfredo sauce, but you shouldn't. Cashew cream has been making the rounds in the vegan community for some time now, and cashews really do lend creaminess without any dairy. The ingredient list here is pretty clean too (not to mention gluten free), and clean eating alfredo sauce isn't exactly easy to come by.
Best Tasting Store Bought Alfredo Sauce

Bertolli Alfredo Sauce
- 110 calories per serving
- best taste according to ChefsBest
- pretty long ingredient list
- 18% of daily sodium allowance in 1 serving
According to ChefsBest, which tested Bertolli, Ragu, Classico, and Prego, Bertolli is your best bet in the flavor department. Unfortunately Buitoni didn't make their test list, and certainly not the vegan alfredo sauce, but you can at least favor Bertolli over some of the other major pasta sauce brands.
Our Pick for the Best Store Bought Alfredo Sauce
All in all, the Victoria Vegan alfredo sauce has our vote. Since it's probably harder to find, though, we'd settle for the Buitoni sauce in a pinch. We're thinking store bought alfredo sauces are probably all pretty mediocre (sorry guys), so for us, the best choice is going to be the one with the least number of questionable ingredients.
Depending on what's most important to you, there's no reason you can't reach for a jar of alfredo sauce in your pantry in a pinch. If you want to fake it a little and go at least halfway homemade, you could try an alfredo sauce mix too, such as this one from Simply Organic.