I’ve been playing around with a chili crisp Alfredo — starting with leftover Alfredo sauce I had made using my copycat Olive Garden-style recipe. That base matters. It’s familiar, rich, and intentionally a little flat in the way classic Alfredo often is. Adding chili crisp wasn’t about making it spicy or trendy — it was about seeing how a strong, textured condiment behaves when introduced into a sauce built for comfort. What stood out wasn’t whether it worked — it did — but how quickly it could overpower the sauce if treated like a main component instead of a seasoning. A few things that made the difference: - Using the chili crisp sparingly, like a finishing spice - Blooming it gently so the aromatics integrated instead of sitting on top - Letting the bitterness and heat cut the fat, rather than compete with it It was a good reminder that even very familiar flavors change once you shift their context. If there’s interest, I can share the copycat Olive Garden Alfredo recipe I used as the base. Let me know in the comments.