Sauce solidifying when refrigerated

Hi everyone,

Last night, I made homemade alfredo sauce, and it was a little on the thinner side. However, when I put in the fridge after dinner, it completely solidified.

Is there any way to prevent it from becoming gelatinous in the fridge? I know the store-bought sauces use all kinds of stuff in there, but is there anything I can add to it to keep it as a liquid, even if I make it thicker next time?

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FrankM_3301

What are the ingredients? Why does it matter? Do you want to use it cold? I am guessing it will return to its original consistency once heated.

Eric_511492

For the one I made the other day, it had butter, milk, cream cheese, and parmesan cheese (along with other spices and various ingredients that wouldn't contribute to the solidifying). But it happens with any variation of alfredo sauce I make. Obviously, based on the ingredients, that's completely normal, but I was hoping there was something I could add to keep it as a liquid even when refrigerated.

For the most part, it does return to normal when heated, but I like cold sauce sometimes, and occasionally use it for dipping.

wolfiegirl

Any ingredient that was solid to start is going to return to a solid when it's cold again. Thus the cream cheese, butter and Parmesan are not going to stay liquid or saucy as they cool. What you made was not an Alfredo but a cheese sauce. Alfredo sauce is butter, cream and Parmesan and perhaps a scrape or two of fresh nutmeg. Period. I don't know of anything that would keep cheese sauce from returning to it's natural 'cheese' state when cold but it does melt when reheated. Your better off either making the real Alfredo or make smaller portions of the cheese mixture your making. As for jar sauces, I don't have a clue what is in them. And I don't think I want to know either. I've tried some of those "alfredo" jar things (long, long time ago) and except that they were creamy in color, none of them had any flavor remotely close to a real Alfredo. They are gag worthy and not much else.

Eric_511492

I was going for a healthier option this time around, which is why I opted to not use cream. But I've made alfredo with butter and cream and it does the same thing. I do know about why they solidify when cooled. I was just hoping there was something I could add to keep it from doing so.

wolfiegirl

Cream cheese and butter aren't exactly healthy so don't fool yourself in that respect. If anything, opt to use olive oil instead of butter and half & half instead of cream and totally ditch the whole idea of using cream cheese. To loosen the sauce if you make too much, I would suggest to reserve a cup or more of pasta water in lieu of adding more half & half or oil. I am not aware of any additive (that I would consider eating) that will keep a cheese based sauce from thickening.

Eric_511492

I didn't say healthy; I said healthier lol. I suppose I should have said low-calorie instead of healthier. It uses light margarine, and low-fat neufchatel. The sauce is a perfect consistency when warm. It's not a huge deal; it reheats very well. I was just curious if there was a way to keep the consistency when cooled.

lakersgirl_1080898

hey just recently joined the forum and came across this thread. I had crap like that happen to me too. Try putting it not in the fridge itself but rather a cool place. it shouldn't go bad in the time-span of a day unless you live somewhere extremely hot. when we were working at a local fundraiser we found out that commercial display fridges do the trick. The food remains cool but not gelatinous. Since not everyone has access to that type of fridges i would suggest a cool place with low humidity.

brian_martin2001

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