Lemon Garlic Butter Pasta is a recipe you can make with minimal effort and ingredients but it always tastes great. Frugally using up kitchen spices and noodles to create a dish that's cheap, easy, and perfect for dinner.
Recipe: $2.82 | Per Serving: $0.47 | Servings: 6
We make a simple lemon butter garlic pasta sauce and toss our noodles in it to create a classy tasting dish that's completely homemade. This meal is something you're going to look forward to over and over again.
Serve it up with a side of Italian Green Beans with Tomatoes or Frozen Garlic Bread in Air Fryer for a complete meal. For a different variation of this recipe, make sure to check out my Zucchini Penne Pasta.
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🍯 Why This Recipe Works
- It's a faster dinner option. Made in just minutes, you can be eating this pasta meal in 20 minutes or less. Perfect for when you're in a hurry! Faster dinner options like this and our Lazy Enchiladas With Taquitos are fabulous for busy schedules.
- It's customizable! Add in meats like shrimp, cooked chicken, or steak. Use fresh parmesan cheese instead of canned, etc. Adjust the recipe to suit your wants and tastebuds.
- Even the leftovers taste incredible! Enjoy this butter garlic lemon pasta on any night of the week and look forward to leftovers the next day because they taste just as good.
🥘 Ingredients
Ingredient Notes:
Spaghetti noodles- You'll want to use spaghetti noodles for this recipe, but in all honesty, any noodle variety would work just fine. Note that we also use spaghetti noodles in our Instant Pot Chicken Spaghetti recipe.
Reserved pasta water- This will help to create a sauce and help it to thicken and cling to the noodles.
Lemon juice- Use fresh lemon juice or bottled depending on what's easiest. This will add a nice contrast of flavor by adding freshness and acidity.
Parmesan cheese- I like to use the green containers of grated parmesan cheese because it's cheap and always in my fridge, but you can just as easily use freshly shredded parmesan.
For specific ingredients and measurements, please see the recipe card below.
📖 Variations
Noodles. You can use any long slender pasta that you want for this lemon garlic parmesan pasta recipe. They all work well and all you'd have to adjust is the cooking time to boil them as thicker noodles take longer to cook.
Creamier. Making the easy lemon garlic butter sauce for pasta couldn't get any simpler, but it could get creamier. By swapping out the reserved pasta water for heavy cream you can get a creamy pasta variation.
🥣 Recipe Add-Ins
- Red pepper flakes
- Tomatoes
- Peppers
- Seared scallops
- Blanched or softened asparagus heads
Another great idea would be to add in artichoke hearts and chicken for a nice Tuscany feel. Some sundried tomatoes would be great with that too! Similar to our Creamy Roasted Garlic and Tomato Pasta.
If you have zucchini on hand, you can try my Zucchini Penne Pasta, which is a variation of this recipe.
🔪 Instructions for Lemon Garlic Butter Pasta
Step 1: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add in your spaghetti noodles. Cook according to the package directions, reserving ½ cup of pasta water before you drain it.
Step 2: To prevent the pasta from sticking as it sits in the colander, you can choose to run it under cold water and toss in a little olive oil.
Step 3: Return your empty pot to the stove over medium heat. Add in the butter and let it melt completely.
Step 4: Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Step 5: Add in lemon juice, salt, pepper, parmesan cheese, and ¼ cup of pasta water.
Step 6: Remove from heat and stir in the cooked spaghetti noodles.
If desired you can slowly add in more pasta water until you get a good coating on all of your noodles. You shouldn't need much as this won't be a "wet" noodle recipe.
Step 7: Garnish with fresh parsley leaves if desired.
Serve warm.
🥩 Meat Addition Ideas
This recipe offers a delicious vegetarian option loved by the kids and me. However, if you have a meat enthusiast in the family like my husband, consider adding cooked chicken breasts or Air Fryer Chicken Breasts for an extra protein boost.
For a seafood twist, try adding cooked shrimp. Simply toss frozen tiny cooked shrimp into the boiling pasta water right before draining it, ensuring they warm through without overcooking.
🍴 Recipe Tips
- Fresh Lemons. While fresh lemons offer a vibrant taste, bottled lemon juice is a convenient alternative that works just as well.
- Parmesan Cheese. For a delightful melt-in-your-mouth texture, consider using freshly shredded parmesan cheese.
- Garlic Intensity. Feel free to adjust the amount of garlic to your liking, adding more cloves for a bolder flavor or reducing them for a milder taste profile.
🍳Reheating
Reheating this lemon garlic pasta dish is easy. Just plop a serving size of it on a plate and pop it into the microwave for about 1-2 minutes until heated through.
For larger serving sizes I'd recommend placing the pasta in a large pot over medium heat on the stove with a few tablespoons of water or butter. Reheat until warmed through.
🥗 Side Dishes
This pasta goes perfectly with any number of side dishes. We like to keep this meal light and simple so we usually opt for garlic bread and a simple green side salad.
Other yummy options include Air Fryer Canned Green Beans or Cast Iron Green Beans, but Microwave Yellow Squash and Instant Pot Steamed Broccoli would be great options too.
💭 Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can use any noodle of choice to pair with this sauce. Feel free to use short-cut noodles like penne or long noodles like linguine. Whatever you have on hand should work just fine.
You can keep this pasta dish in your fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days, giving you plenty of time to repurpose or enjoy the leftovers (assuming that there are any).
During the hotter summer months, I enjoy making this recipe in the early morning/afternoon before the house gets hot and then simply reheating it again before dinner. It works great this way because the house doesn't heat up too much and we can all enjoy a light dinner.
❤️ More Delicious Pasta Recipes
If you tried this Lemon Garlic Butter Pasta, please leave a ⭐️ star rating and share your feedback in the 📝 comments section below. I would truly appreciate it!
📖 Recipe
Lemon Garlic Butter Pasta
Ingredients
- 16 ounces spaghetti noodles ($0.98)
- ½ cup reserved pasta water ($0.00)
- 4 Tablespoons butter ($0.50)
- 4 teaspoons minced garlic ($0.26)
- ⅓ cup lemon juice ($0.29)
- 1 teaspoon salt ($0.01)
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper ($0.04)
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese ($0.74)
- fresh parsley for garnish *optional
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add in your spaghetti noodles. Cook according to the package directions, reserving ½ cup of pasta water before you drain it.
- To prevent the pasta from sticking as it sits in the colander, you can choose to run it under cold water and toss in a little olive oil to prevent the noodles from sticking.
- Return your empty pot to the stove over medium heat. Add in the butter and let melt completely.
- Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add in lemon juice, salt, pepper, parmesan cheese, and ¼ cup of pasta water.
- Remove from heat and stir in the cooked spaghetti noodles.
- If desired you can slowly add in more pasta water until you get a good coating on all of your noodles. You shouldn't need much as this won't be a "wet" noodle recipe.
- Garnish with fresh parsley leaves if desired. Serve warm.
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