You can have this garlic cream sauce ready before your pasta finishes boiling. It takes only 8 minutes and a few simple ingredients to make a rich topping for your favorite weeknight meals. Ideal for fish, pizza, steak, chicken, and pasta.
Why You'll Love This Easy 8-Minute Cream Sauce
- Budget Friendly You can skip the expensive imported cheeses because this recipe relies on heavy cream and basic pantry staples to create a rich flavor.
- Incredible Speed You can finish the entire sauce in just 8 minutes, which is often faster than waiting for a pot of pasta water to boil.
- Simple Ingredients This recipe uses only six real food items that you likely already have in your kitchen.
- Versatility While it tastes great on pasta, it also works as a savory dip for pepperoni bread or a topping for roasted meats and tray bakes. This is an ideal sauce for fish and chicken also.
Ingredients for the Easy Garlic Sauce
- Heavy Whipping Cream Provides the fat and body needed for a rich mouthfeel without needing a cheese base.
- Cornstarch This acts as the thickening agent. It keeps the sauce stable and prevents it from breaking.
- Water The water is mixed in with the cornstarch to make a thickening slurry for the sauce.
- Fresh Garlic Using fresh cloves provides a pungent, aromatic punch that jarred garlic cannot match.
Making the Quick Garlic Sauce
- Heat the Cream Pour the cream into a medium skillet over medium-high heat.
- Season Add the sea salt, pepper, and garlic. Stir occasionally until the liquid is hot to the touch (about 130°F).
- Prepare the Slurry In a small bowl, whisk the cornstarch and room temperature water until smooth.
- Thicken Slowly pour the slurry into the skillet while stirring constantly. Continue stirring over medium heat to prevent clumps.
- Testing for Thickness After about 5 minutes, the sauce should coat the back of a spoon. Draw a line through the sauce on the spoon; if the line stays clear, it is ready. This is a great test for pastry creams and sauces.
Troubleshooting Your Garlic Sauce
- Lumpy Texture This usually happens if the cornstarch is added directly to hot liquid or if you stop stirring. Always mix the cornstarch with room temperature water first to create a smooth slurry.
- Sauce is Too Thin If the sauce has not thickened after five minutes, keep it on the heat for another minute or two. The cornstarch needs to reach a specific temperature to thicken the sauce.
- Sauce is Too Thick This sauce can become very dense as it sits. Simply stir in a tablespoon of milk or water at a time until you reach your preferred consistency.
- Separation If the sauce looks oily, the heat might be too high. Keep the burner on medium to medium-high and maintain a steady stir to keep the cream emulsified.
Roasting Garlic Before Adding it To the Garlic Sauce
Roasting your garlic before adding it to the sauce will take the edge off of the raw garlic. Roasted garlic has a more mellow garlic flavor than the sometimes overpowering raw garlic.
Other Ideas for Your Garlic Sauce
- Pasta sauce is always the first that comes to mind when making this sauce. We have tried it on roasted veggies and chicken. Usually with a tray bake or sheet pan bake. Tray bakes are easy to slap together with whatever you have around. Roast the veggies and/or meats. Then dish them up and add the sauce.
- Try my pasta recipe to make with the garlic cream sauce!
- You can also use this as a dip for my pepperoni bread!
- It is the base for my zucchini pizza and can be a base for other pizzas.
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FAQ's
This delicious garlic cream sauce comes together incredibly quickly, in just about 8 minutes, making it ideal for last-minute meals.
Yes! The recipe starts with raw garlic , but you can easily make it milder by incorporating roasted garlic for a richer finish.
This is a thick sauce, but it's very easy to thin out. Simply add a bit of regular milk gradually while stirring until it reaches your desired consistency for salads or other dishes.
This sauce is incredibly versatile! It's fantastic on roasted vegetables, beef, pork, or chicken. It also works wonderfully as a dip for things like pepperoni bread and shawarma.
Yes, you can make a batch of this garlic sauce and store it in the fridge. It's a great option to have on hand for quick meals throughout the week.
Recipe
8-Minute Garlic Cream Sauce for Quick Dinners
Ingredients
- 2 garlic cloves finely diced or passed through a garlic press
- 2 cups whipping cream
- ½ teaspoon of sea salt
- ½ teaspoon of cracked black pepper
- 2 tablespoons of cornstarch
- ¼ cup of room temperature water
Method
- Pour the cream into a medium sized skillet over medium-high heat.
- Next, add the sea salt, pepper, and diced garlic.
- Stirring the cream mixture occasionally until it gets hot to the touch.
- Next, add the two tablespoons of cornstarch to a bowl or small glass. Then add the water and mix well. While stirring the cream mixture, add the cornstarch mixture. Keep stirring the sauce over a medium to medium high heat. Don’t walk away or stop stirring because the cornstarch will clump up.
- After about 5 minutes or less the mixture will thicken to the point where it coats the back of a spoon. Leave it on the heat if you want it thicker. When it gets to the desired thickness, take the pan off of the heat.
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