These 15-minute garlic butter noodles turn 5 ingredients into a fast and delicious, spur-of-the-moment weeknight meal. Choose your favorite pasta and toss the warm noodles with good-quality butter, lemon juice, parsley, and plenty of fresh garlic.
Try this easy garlic butter noodles recipe with baked chicken, sautéed or grilled shrimp, or mushrooms!
Today’s garlic butter noodles are for anyone who’s arrived home on a weeknight thinking, “What can I cook, without really cooking?!” This is a simple pasta tossed in butter, garlic, lemon juice, and fresh herbs. But it’s super versatile, too. Add parmesan or toppings, like leftover chicken bites, or toss your garlic butter noodles with shrimp, steak, vegetables, and seasonings. It’s ready faster than you can say “Bon appétit!”
The Easy Garlic Butter Noodles Recipe That Will Change Your Weeknights
- 15 minutes. Or less! Basically, you’ll have a satisfying pasta dinner ready in however long it takes to boil your noodles.
- 5 ingredients (plus a game-changer!). I’ll show you how to use simple ingredients and leftover pasta water to make a delicious and creamy garlic butter sauce without cream.
- Endless possibilities. This recipe is SO flexible, and it’s easy to adapt these garlic butter noodles for picky eaters. You can adjust the garlickiness and ingredients to suit just about any preference.
You’ll Need 5 Ingredients. That’s It.
We’re basically making pasta with my homemade garlic butter sauce, mixing in a splash of starchy pasta water, and adding a squeeze of fresh lemon.
- Noodles – These can be spaghetti, egg noodles, or even ramen. Long pasta noodles pair best with light, silky sauces, like the garlic butter in this recipe.
- Butter – I like preparing this recipe with unsalted butter vs. salted butter. This way, it’s easier to avoid an oversalted dish, especially since we’ll be using the salted pasta water to thicken the sauce.
- Garlic – Use FRESH garlic for the best flavor. Fresh garlic is also more potent than garlic powder. Jarred garlic is an option if you’d prefer a milder dish.
- Lemon Juice – Just a squeeze. If you don’t have a fresh lemon, you could skip it. I find that bottled lemon juice just doesn’t have the same brightness and flavor.
- Parsley or Optional Toppings – This pasta pairs perfectly with chopped parsley (or basil). Optional toppings include freshly grated Parmesan, a sprinkle of crushed red chili flakes, and add-ins like sun-dried tomatoes, cooked crumbled bacon, etc.
FAQ: Why Should I Save the Pasta Water?
In cooking, pasta water is liquid gold. This is the cloudy, starchy water leftover after you’ve cooked your noodles. The starches in pasta water can be used to thicken sauces, and they help the sauce cling to the pasta. It’s the secret to glossy, restaurant-style garlic butter noodles at home.
Not just this recipe, either. Save your pasta water to use in beef ragu, alfredo sauce, and carbonara recipes. Because pasta water is (and should be) seasoned with salt, it also enhances the flavor. If you’re not already using pasta water in your pasta sauces, I think you will after today!
What to Serve with Garlic Butter Noodles
Serve these Italian garlic butter noodles with herbs, like chopped parsley or basil, and a generous sprinkle of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. I love garlic butter noodles as a side dish for coulotte steak and roast chicken. It’s also great with oven-baked or air fryer salmon.
Easy Recipe Variations
- Add protein. Toss your garlic butter noodles with chicken, shrimp scampi, steak, or salmon. Make sure that the protein is fully cooked before you add it to your pasta.
- Vegetarian. This recipe is vegetarian as-is, but you can toss in additional veggies like mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, and spinach. I recommend pre-cooking any add-ins.
- Dairy-free. Substitute regular butter with vegan butter or olive oil. The starches in the pasta water will help emulsify the oil into the sauce.
- Gluten-free. Make gluten-free garlic butter noodles with gluten-free pasta, or try 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 vegetables, like snap peas.
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Cook the noodles. Cook your noodles according to package directions 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 large bowl. Add butter, pasta water, garlic, and lemon juice.
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Melt and serve. Toss to combine, allowing the pasta to melt into the butter. You can season to taste with salt if needed. Serve warm, garnished with chopped parsley.
- Always use fresh garlic. It has more flavor and is more potent. If you want a milder garlic flavor, then you can use jarred garlic.
- For this recipe, you can use any long pasta.
- The noodles pair great with freshly grated Parmesan.
- Instead of parsley, try fresh basil. The sweetness of the basil works well with the rest of the ingredients.
Calories: 306kcal | Carbohydrates: 44g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 27mg | Sodium: 85mg | Potassium: 145mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 316IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
Pasta Cooking Tips
- Salt the cooking water. You can be generous and add 2-3 heaping tablespoons of salt to the water you use to cook the noodles. Coarse sea salt or kosher salt works perfectly here. Save fancy finishing salt or flaky salt to season the noodles after.
- Don’t overcook. Al dente is the Italian term for pasta that’s cooked “to the tooth”, meaning tender but still slightly chewy. This is the texture we’re going for, and most pasta brands include directions on the package for cooking the pasta al dente.
- It’s better to have more than less. When reserving the pasta water for the sauce, I always err on the side of caution and recommend setting aside at least ¼ cup. You can save up to 1 cup, just to be safe. You don’t have to use it all, but it’s better to have too much than not enough, IMO.
- Toss the pasta with the butter right away. Don’t wait too long to combine your noodles with the garlic butter ingredients, as the pasta needs to be warm enough to melt the butter for the sauce.
Storing and Reheating Garlic Butter Noodles
- Refrigerate. These garlic butter noodles will last for up to 3 days in an airtight container in the fridge. The pasta does tend to dry out and soak up the butter sauce with time, however, so enjoy leftovers sooner rather than later.
- Reheat. Warm the pasta in the microwave or on the stove. I recommend stirring in a bit more butter or olive oil when reheating to help loosen up the noodles again.
