Olive Garden’s Five Cheese Alforno Copy Cat

I sometimes feel like a broken record on this blog because most of the recipes that I post are from family and friends that I got them from. My sister Tanya is a great cook, and this is one recipe that she came up with after tasting it at Olive Garden. You can see her posted recipes HERE. I like to do the step by step photos because I feel it makes a dish less intimidating. If you see each step, I feel one is more likely to give it a try since there is no mystery of a certain word that you have never seen or heard of; hopefully you feel the same and I am not wasting my time ;p. This is the Five Cheese Alforno Olive Garden Copy Cat. If you want it to taste exactly like it, then use a spaghetti sauce that is as close to marinara as you can. I just use the same pasta sauce I use for lasagna to spaghetti to this recipe because it is easier to buy one type.

Gather your ingredients.

Slice your onion.

Add it to a skillet with garlic and some olive oil.

This recipe has you adding lots of things in order, so I like to measure out most of the messier  items to make it go faster. It might make more dirty dishes,but this way there is a smaller likelihood for me to mess up on the measuring.

Sautee until the onions are clear.

Add the white cooking wine or whatever white wine you want to use.

Add the sauce of your choice, Grant prefers the Ragu Robusto parmesan and garlic which has a black oval around the type on the label. I grew up with homemade sauce,but it costs me the same to make it homemade and to buy it. Since Grant is very partial I am lazy and that is how I roll. 🙂

Add one of your seasonings.

 Add the other.

Add the sugar, I add the amount that the recipe calls for,but if you have never made this recipe before, add a quarter or it first stir and taste before adding all of it. Or add the sugar last to get the full effect. This recipe tends to have a little bit of sweetness to it.

Now add the good stuff, the cream. 🙂

Either take precooked noodles or cook some penne or whatever shorter noodles you like. Don’t make a whole pound as it will be too much. I make around 9-12 ounces. It should be enough to fill the 9/13 half way or a tad bit more.

Add some of your cheeses; I normally do parmesan and mozzarella.

Stir and this is how it will look.

Pour on top of the cooked noodles and stir so everything is evenly coated.

Add the rest of the cheese on top and then put in the oven.

You only put it in the oven to heat the noodles again and to melt the cheese. If you leave it too long the sauce might reduce too much and it will be kinda dry so keep it to 15-20 mins.

Then enjoy, my nieces LOVE this dish either at home or at Olive Garden so at least it is kid friendly. Also, you might have noticed that there is no meat in this dish. I cannot say that this makes it much cheaper since the cream and wine might be things you don’t have on hand,but most people never notice that there isn’t meat in it unless you point it out.

Five Cheese Alforno

1 jar of Ragu
3 garlic cloves minced
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1 Cup of Five Cheese/Parmesan
Salt
Pepper
1 Onion chopped
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1/4 cup white cooking wine
1/2 cup heaving whipping cream
1 Tablespoon Basil
1/2 -1 Tablespoon Oregano

12 oz of cooked Pasta or a little bit less.

Preheat oven to 350ᐤ F. Boil Pasta, and when it is done drain, and put it in a glass 9×13. This dish makes a little bit less than to fill it up. Make sure you fill the glass dish half way or 3/4 of the way with noodles, so there is a good ratio. Saute the onions and garlic in olive oil. Add in cooking wine and Ragu. Add in Seasonings Next. Then add in the sugar, half of the cheese, and the whipping cream. Then Pour over the noodles, and then top with the remaining cheese. Leave this in the oven until it is hot and bubbling. If you leave it in too long then the will taste more dry.