These 15-minute garlic butter noodles flip 5 components into a quick and scrumptious, spur-of-the-moment weeknight meal. Select your favourite pasta and toss the nice and cozy noodles with good-quality butter, lemon juice, parsley, and loads of contemporary garlic.
Do that straightforward garlic butter noodles recipe with baked rooster, sautéed or grilled shrimp, or mushrooms!

Immediately’s garlic butter noodles are for anybody who’s arrived dwelling on a weeknight considering, “What can I prepare dinner, with out actually cooking?!” This can be a easy pasta tossed in butter, garlic, lemon juice, and contemporary herbs. But it surely’s tremendous versatile, too. Add parmesan or toppings, like leftover rooster bites, or toss your garlic butter noodles with shrimp, steak, greens, and seasonings. It’s prepared quicker than you may say “Bon appétit!”
The Straightforward Garlic Butter Noodles Recipe That Will Change Your Weeknights
- quarter-hour. Or much less! Principally, you’ll have a satisfying pasta dinner prepared in nevertheless lengthy it takes to boil your noodles.
- 5 components (plus a game-changer!). I’ll present you how you can use easy components and leftover pasta water to make a scrumptious and creamy garlic butter sauce with out cream.
- Limitless potentialities. This recipe is SO versatile, and it’s straightforward to adapt these garlic butter noodles for choosy eaters. You possibly can modify the garlickiness and components to swimsuit nearly any desire.

You’ll Want 5 Elements. That’s It.
We’re principally making pasta with my home made garlic butter sauce, mixing in a splash of starchy pasta water, and including a squeeze of contemporary lemon.
- Noodles – These could be spaghetti, egg noodles, and even ramen. Lengthy pasta noodles pair finest with mild, silky sauces, just like the garlic butter on this recipe.
- Butter – I like getting ready this recipe with unsalted butter vs. salted butter. This fashion, it’s simpler to keep away from an oversalted dish, particularly since we’ll be utilizing the salted pasta water to thicken the sauce.
- Garlic – Use FRESH garlic for one of the best taste. Recent garlic can be stronger than garlic powder. Jarred garlic is an choice when you’d choose a milder dish.
- Lemon Juice – Only a squeeze. In case you don’t have a contemporary lemon, you possibly can skip it. I discover that bottled lemon juice simply doesn’t have the identical brightness and taste.
- Parsley or Optionally available Toppings – This pasta pairs completely with chopped parsley (or basil). Optionally available toppings embody freshly grated Parmesan, a sprinkle of crushed pink chili flakes, and add-ins like sun-dried tomatoes, cooked crumbled bacon, and many others.
FAQ: Why Ought to I Save the Pasta Water?
In cooking, pasta water is liquid gold. That is the cloudy, starchy water leftover after you’ve cooked your noodles. The starches in pasta water can be utilized to thicken sauces, they usually assist the sauce cling to the pasta. It’s the key to shiny, restaurant-style garlic butter noodles at dwelling.
Not simply this recipe, both. Save your pasta water to make use of in beef ragu, alfredo sauce, and carbonara recipes. As a result of pasta water is (and needs to be) seasoned with salt, it additionally enhances the flavour. In case you’re not already utilizing pasta water in your pasta sauces, I believe you’ll after in the present day!

What to Serve with Garlic Butter Noodles
Serve these Italian garlic butter noodles with herbs, like chopped parsley or basil, and a beneficiant sprinkle of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. I like garlic butter noodles as a aspect dish for coulotte steak and roast rooster. It’s additionally nice with oven-baked or air fryer salmon.
Straightforward Recipe Variations
- Add protein. Toss your garlic butter noodles with rooster, shrimp scampi, steak, or salmon. Make it possible for the protein is absolutely cooked earlier than you add it to your pasta.
- Vegetarian. This recipe is vegetarian as-is, however you may toss in further veggies like mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, and spinach. I like to recommend pre-cooking any add-ins.
- Dairy-free. Substitute common butter with vegan butter or olive oil. The starches within the pasta water will assist emulsify the oil into the sauce.
- Gluten-free. Make gluten-free garlic butter noodles with gluten-free pasta, or attempt a variation with zucchini noodles.
- Asian-style. Make Asian garlic butter soy sauce noodles with sesame oil and low-sodium soy sauce or tamari. Swap lemon juice with rice vinegar and add sautéed stir-fry greens, like snap peas.

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Prepare dinner the noodles. Prepare dinner your noodles in line with bundle instructions in a pot of salted boiling water. Drain the noodles, reserving ¼ cup of the pasta water.
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Assemble. Add the cooked noodles to a pot or a big bowl. Add butter, pasta water, garlic, and lemon juice.
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Soften and serve. Toss to mix, permitting the pasta to soften into the butter. You possibly can season to style with salt if wanted. Serve heat, garnished with chopped parsley.
- At all times use contemporary garlic. It has extra taste and is stronger. In order for you a milder garlic taste, then you should utilize jarred garlic.
- For this recipe, you should utilize any lengthy pasta.
- The noodles pair nice with freshly grated Parmesan.
- As a substitute of parsley, attempt contemporary basil. The sweetness of the basil works nicely with the remainder of the components.
Energy: 306kcal | Carbohydrates: 44g | Protein: 8g | Fats: 11g | Saturated Fats: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fats: 1g | Monounsaturated Fats: 3g | Trans Fats: 0.4g | Ldl cholesterol: 27mg | Sodium: 85mg | Potassium: 145mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 316IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 1mg
Dietary data is an estimate and offered as courtesy. Values could range in line with the components and instruments used. Please use your most well-liked dietary calculator for extra detailed data.
Pasta Cooking Suggestions
- Salt the cooking water. You could be beneficiant and add 2-3 heaping tablespoons of salt to the water you employ to prepare dinner the noodles. Coarse sea salt or kosher salt works completely right here. Save fancy ending salt or flaky salt to season the noodles after.
- Don’t overcook. Al dente is the Italian time period for pasta that’s cooked “to the tooth”, that means tender however nonetheless barely chewy. That is the feel we’re going for, and most pasta manufacturers embody instructions on the bundle for cooking the pasta al dente.
- It’s higher to have greater than much less. When reserving the pasta water for the sauce, I at all times err on the aspect of warning and advocate setting apart no less than ¼ cup. It can save you as much as 1 cup, simply to be secure. You don’t have to make use of all of it, but it surely’s higher to have an excessive amount of than not sufficient, IMO.
- Toss the pasta with the butter straight away. Don’t wait too lengthy to mix your noodles with the garlic butter components, because the pasta must be heat sufficient to soften the butter for the sauce.

Storing and Reheating Garlic Butter Noodles
- Refrigerate. These garlic butter noodles will final for as much as 3 days in an hermetic container within the fridge. The pasta does are likely to dry out and absorb the butter sauce with time, nevertheless, so take pleasure in leftovers sooner slightly than later.
- Reheat. Heat the pasta within the microwave or on the range. I like to recommend stirring in a bit extra butter or olive oil when reheating to assist loosen up the noodles once more.