Quick Answer: Wine Pairing with Chicken Alfredo
There are several options for delicious wine that perfectly complement your chicken alfredo, including a Chardonnay, a Pinot Grigio, Barbera, or a Pinot Noir! Enjoying your delicious dish of chicken alfredo with your favorite and perfect choice of wine makes your culinary experience complete and incomparable!
Pick from a range of these excellent, delicious wines that go wonderfully with chicken alfredo!
This is your ultimate guide, sourced carefully consulting the OG books on the topic, along with intensive research into expert opinion.
It is my mission to ensure you enjoy the best experience!
Without further ado, let us get right into it.
About Chicken Alfredo
Chicken alfredo combines a creamy pasta sauce with tender slices of lean protein. The white meat is butterflied for quick cooking and seasoned for maximum flavor.
The heavy cream reduces until a smooth and velvety sauce is able to cling to the fettuccine noodles.
It was created in Rome in 1914 by chef Alfredo di Lelio and served at his restaurant, Alfredo’s.
Legend has it that in 1927, silent-film stars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks discovered this dish while honeymooning in Rome.
Now, to get into what wines would taste best with this heavenly dish!
Best Wines To Go With Chicken Alfredo
These are my top picks of the wines to go with Chicken Alfredo –
1. Chardonnay
| Name | Chardonnay |
|---|---|
| Origin | France |
| Taste | Sweet and dry |
| Primary Flavors | Apple and lemon |
| Acidity | Moderately acidic |
| Serving Temperature (C) | 50 degrees |
| Glass Type | Traditional white wine glass |
| Storage (years) | 3-7 years |
| Wine Body | Full |
| Alcohol % (ABV) | 13.5 to 14.5% |
Chardonnay is dry, medium- to full-bodied with moderate tannins and acidity.
It typically has tropical fruit flavors (pineapple, papaya, and mango) although it’s not sweet.
If Chardonnay is aged in oak barrels, it will have a creamier texture and buttery taste with hints of vanilla and spice.
Since Chardonnay has a buttery taste, it complements well with buttery chicken found in chicken Alfredo.
This restrained taste gives the Chardonnay less of an oaky taste and more of a buttery taste. You want to look for Chardonnay that is more restrained because it will more likely complement your Italian dinner.
Do note, however, that A Chardonnay that is too oaky might overwhelm the chicken or make the Alfredo Sauce taste too woody or sweet.
Furthermore, there are wine producers who cheap out when it comes to Chardonnay and often use wood chips, which can make the buttery flavors taste like rancid popcorn.
Thus, for this pairing to work, seek out a mid-range Chardonnay from California or France known for their quality, such as white Burgundy like Mâcon, Puligny Montrachet, or a Mendocino Chardonnay from California.
You can also check out this very efficient guide to this wonderful wine, including all that you possibly need to know about it:
2. Pinot Grigio
| Name | Pinot Grigio |
|---|---|
| Origin | France |
| Taste | Sweet and citrusy |
| Primary Flavors | Lime and lemon |
| Acidity | Relatively lower |
| Serving Temperature (C) | 45 - 49 degrees |
| Glass Type | Standard white wine |
| Storage (years) | 1-5 years |
| Wine Body | Full |
| Alcohol % (ABV) | 13.50% |
The Pinot Grigio is a dry white wine that has a punchy acidity with flavors of lemons, limes, green apples, and honeysuckle.
It is lighter-bodied, crisp, and filled with stone fruit and floral aromas and perhaps, a bit of spice.
The Pinot Grigio is an excellent wine of choice to go with your chicken alfredo. With a lot of acidic flavors, this particular wine balances well with the savory taste of the chicken Alfredo.
The acidic and crisp taste also pairs well with creamy dishes like the chicken Alfredo.
While Pinot Grigio won’t complement any of the flavors in Chicken Alfredo, this crisp white wine will keep your mouth refreshed in between bites. The issue with Alfredo Sauce is that it is rich and fatty.
Thus, on top of clogging your arteries, it also clogs up your taste buds, muting flavors over time so that everything after three or four bites begins to taste bland.
Pinot Grigio solves this problem, as the acidity of the wine whisks in and scrubs the fat off your tongue. Hence, you end up eating less, as you are satisfied much earlier.
The Pinot Grigio, therefore, is among the top choices for white wine you should definitely choose to drink with your plate of delicious chicken alfredo.
You can also go ahead and check out this efficient guide which covers more or less everything you need to know about the delicious white wine Pinot Grigio and how to go about pairing it with dishes:
3. Barbera
| Name | Barbera |
|---|---|
| Origin | Italy |
| Taste | Juicy and fruity |
| Primary Flavors | Strawberry and sour cherry |
| Acidity | Highly acidic |
| Serving Temperature (C) | 55-58 degrees |
| Glass Type | Red |
| Storage (years) | 4 years |
| Wine Body | Medium - full |
| Alcohol % (ABV) | 13-15% |
What you eat drastically impacts the flavor of the wine you drink along with it, and certain types of wine might overpower your food choice.
When it comes to pairing wine and food, it’s all about balancing the primary flavors of each. In the case of pairing wine with chicken Alfredo, which is a heavy, creamy, cheesy dish, you’ll want a heavier, fuller-bodied wine.
There are some red wines which do this perfectly too!
You don’t always have to have white wine with chicken Alfredo, especially if you rather enjoy red wine. The Italian Barbera is a red wine that offers a high acidic flavor to balance out the full flavor of the chicken Alfredo.
The Italian Barbera is also great with most creamy and cheesy dishes.
Somehow Barbera wine tastes both rich and light bodied. However, the taste of Barbera has notes of strawberry and sour cherry: flavors synonymous with light-bodied wines.
Light tannin and high acidity make it taste ‘juicy’.
The bright acidity in the wine will make a rich fatty or high tannin dish like the delicious chicken alfredo complete! You can find out more about it here in this efficient video guide:
4. Pinot Noir
| Name | Pinot noir |
|---|---|
| Origin | France |
| Taste | Dry and sweet |
| Primary Flavors | Cherry and raspberry |
| Acidity | Bright acidity |
| Serving Temperature (C) | 55-60 degrees |
| Glass Type | Burgundy |
| Storage (years) | 5 years |
| Wine Body | Light - Medium |
| Alcohol % (ABV) | 12-15% |
Pinot Noir is a thin-skinned grape variety that is native to Burgundy, France. Pinot Noir wines are light to medium body and range in style from light and fruity to complex with aging capability.
Pinot Noir is produced around the world despite being notoriously difficult to grow.
The Pinot Noir is another red wine that goes well with Italian dishes, especially the chicken Alfredo. This wine offers a light and fruity flavor that cleans your palate. In doing so, it brings out the full flavor of the chicken.
The fruity and acidic body of Pinot Noir ensures that this red wine can cut through the rich Alfredo Sauce. Meanwhile, the forest floor flavors will complement the mushroom notes in the dish.
Pinot Noir is also earthy and goes well with mushroom and spice dishes, which is commonly found in chicken Alfredo. Any of these wines will provide your palate with an enriching experience that goes well with chicken Alfredo.
When done right, it produces lighter-bodied wines of elegance, complexity, and longevity. You should definitely try this delicious wine with your plate of lip-smacking chicken alfredo.
Also don’t forget to check out this guide to know more about the exquisite wine that is the Pinot Noir:
Wine Pairing Guide for Chicken Alfredo
Picking what wine goes with chicken Alfredo will make this Italian dish taste exquisitely better.
The alcohol in wine actually helps release molecules in food that make it taste a lot better.
Choosing wine for any Italian dish can enrich your dining experience. You will also be more familiar with what wine to choose every time you eat chicken Alfredo.
These are our top recommendations, however, which you can further narrow down based on your own preferences.
For example, if you prefer white wine to dark, you could go with a Chardonnay or a Pinot Grigio.
However, if red wine is more up your alley, you will positively love a glass of Pinot Noir or Barbera with your plate of hot and delicious chicken alfredo.
Chicken Alfredo pairs best with fruity but dry white wines. Alfredo Sauce is a rich and creamy pasta sauce that you can buy in a jar or make at home using cream, butter, and Parmesan cheese.
Chicken Alfredo is usually Chicken and Fettuccini tossed in Alfredo Sauce, making for a creamy protein, fat, and carbohydrate dish.
As Alfredo sauce is fatty, acidic wines are a must, as the acidity in the wine cuts through the fat so you can taste the chicken and pasta in every bite.
FAQs
When it comes to fine dining and Italian food, taste pairing is everything. There’s a reason Italian food and wine go together; the beautiful combination of rich, herb-infused cuisine and aged, tangy wine create a dining experience that can’t be beat.
All the wines mentioned here work perfectly with most Italian dishes.
A Pinot Noir, a Zinfandel, a Riesling or Merlot would work excellently with most pasta-based dishes.
Bottom Line
I hope this detailed guide has helped you understand how to pair delicious wines with your chicken alfredo dish!
If you have any other tips or hacks you have figured out, share them with us!
If this guide has helped you, do share it with your friends and other wine-lovers! Enjoy!