Garlic Butter Pasta recipe made with simple ingredients like spaghetti, garlic, butter & Parmesan cheese! Easy buttered pasta done in just 20 minutes & perfect for dinner or a side dish.
Garlic buttered noodles is an easy pasta recipe that combines the greatest flavors in life. Garlic + Butter + Pasta = Every carb lover’s dream come true. With a little effort, you can have dinner served in under 30 minutes. Perfect for a quick dinner on those busy nights so you can spend more time eating and resting and less time on your feet.
Garlic butter pasta for Dinner
This easy garlic butter pasta is a combination of parmesan cheese, spices, garlic, butter, and spaghetti noodles. Made in about 20 minutes, the garlic butter sauce for pasta is an easy to make addition to perfectly cooked al dente noodles. Serve it up with meat or your favorite vegetables for a complete meal.
Reasons to Make this Buttered Pasta for Dinner
- Just 5 ingredients, plus salt & pepper! These simple ingredients are likely items you already have on hand.
- It’s the perfect Meatless Monday dinner! I love making a meatless dish for my family each week. They’re a fantastic low cost option.
- Comforting dish everyone loves! This is often my default dinner idea for when I just need a homestyle meal for my family. Plus, it tastes amazing!
Garlic Butter Noodles Ingredients
Spaghetti: We need 8 ounces of spaghetti, which is roughly half a box of noodles. To use an entire box you’ll need to double the recipe below.
Garlic: 3-4 cloves of sliced garlic will make our dish flavorful and wonderful. Perfect for keeping vampires at bay.
Butter: We need 4 tablespoons of butter for this recipe, but the amount will be divided and used separately as specified below.
Parmesan cheese: Adding 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese will make our pasta nice and cheesy while giving it a subtle salty taste that pairs well with everything else.
Parsley: 1/4 cup of freshly chopped parsley will make our dish look vibrant and taste fresh.
Salt and pepper: We need 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper to make sure our pasta dish is well seasoned.
How to make garlic butter pasta
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
Cook your spaghetti until al dente following the directions of the back of the box.
Drain the water, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water for the sauce.
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
Add in your sliced garlic and saute very lightly.
Add your drained cooked pasta and 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water, tossing to coat.
Add in the remaining butter.
Keep tossing the mixture and add in more pasta water if needed.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Remove the skillet from the heat and add the freshly grated parmesan cheese and chopped parsley to the top while tossing continuously to combine.
Transfer the pasta dish to a serving bowl and then top with additional parmesan cheese before serving. Enjoy!
Garlic Butter Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 oz dried spaghetti
- 3-4 cloves garlic minced
- 4 tablespoons butter divided
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated
- 1/4 cup parsley finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cook spaghetti until firm to the bite (al dente) according to the package instructions. Drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta water.
- Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced garlic, saute very lightly.
- Add drained, cooked pasta and 1/4 cup of reserved pasta water; toss to coat. Add the remaining butter. Keep on tossing and add more pasta water if needed. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Remove from heat, and add freshly grated parmesan cheese and chopped parsley. Toss continuously. Transfer to serving bowl and top with extra grated parmesan cheese.
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How do you thicken garlic butter pasta sauce?
This simple recipe uses reserved pasta water (the water that the pasta cooked in!) to thicken the sauce as it contains starch. So adding in a bit more of the starchy water will help thicken the sauce.
How to Make Light Garlic Butter Sauce for Pasta
There are several things you can do to make this dish lighter in fat and calories. You can replace the pasta with zucchini noodles or use spaghetti squash instead. You could also use some variety of lower calorie pasta. Swapping in olive oil for butter reduces fat and you can use Nutritional Yeast in place of Parmesan cheese. Or you could just enjoy the recipe how it is and eat a smaller portion with a side of steamed veggies!
What meats would go well in a garlic butter noodles recipe?
While this meal is great on its own, we all know that one person who doesn’t consider it a meal unless there’s meat involved. Thankfully this dish is very versatile. Sausage, shrimp, chicken, meatballs, scallops, and ground beef are just a few examples of meats that would taste great added to this dish.
What vegetables would go well in a butter sauce for pasta?
Serve this dish up with freshly cooked peas, spinach, broccoli, or Italian style green beans and it would feel pretty complete. A simple green side salad and bread roll on the side can also help to bulk up this easy frugal meal.
Storing & Reheating Garlic Butter Noodles
Can you make buttered noodles ahead of time?
This dish comes together so quickly, but you can make it in advance, if you’d like. I recommend reheating the pasta in the microwave and then adding another tablespoon of butter and sprinkling of Parmesan cheese just before serving.
FAQ for Garlic Butter Noodles
You can use 1/2 tsp – 1 tsp garlic powder in place of the minced garlic. I love garlic, so I always add more!
You can pretty much use any type of pasta for garlic butter noodles! Angel hair, bowties, fettuccine and linguine are my favorites.
Our recipe yields 4 servings, each being about 365 calories. The calorie content will vary a bit depending on how much Parmesan cheese you put on the top of your pasta.
Butter is fantastic on pasta! Not only does it help the pasta noodles not stick together, but it also adds fantastic flavor.
Want more pasta? Check out these great meals:
- Sausage and Pepper Pasta
- Chicken Chili Pasta Bake
- Pizza Pasta Salad
- Spinach Chicken Pasta Salad
- Fiesta Ranch Chicken Pasta Salad
- Martha’s One Pan Pasta
- Greek Pasta Salad
- Creamy Lemon Pasta with Chicken
- Mexican Chicken Alfredo Pasta
- Summertime Pasta Salad with Lemon Dressing
- Pasta Caprese
- Easy Zucchini Pasta
- Chicken Pasta Salad
- Fresh From the Garden Pasta Salad
- Grilled Italian Chicken Pasta
You’re going to love this simple and easy garlic butter pasta recipe. With just a few minutes of effort and a few basic pantry staples, you can have a frugal meal that tastes incredible.
Garlic Butter Pasta recipe made with simple ingredients like spaghetti, garlic, butter & Parmesan cheese! Easy buttered pasta done in just 20 minutes & perfect for dinner or a side dish.
Robin says
Just delish! Easy and yummy. Going to try it with scallops and also with shrimp.
Sandra says
I am using left over pasta, thus I have no pasta water to add. What could I substitut?
Nicole says
You can still use regular water in place of the pasta water. You may want to mix it with about 1/4 teaspoon of cornstarch first.
Chris J says
I made this and then added a package of frozen shrimp scampi in garlic butter sauce. O.M.G.!!!! It was delicious!! I will make this again. Even the hubster loved it.
Nicole says
That sounds truly delicious
anonymous says
Yum!
Nicole says
Thanks!
Florence Bwalya says
Very delicious
Jessica says
Glad you liked it Florence!
Marie Busby says
I made this last night as a side with Salisbury steak and beets. The pasta was wonderful and so easy. My husband loved it.
Jessica says
Sounds like the perfect dinner Marie!! So glad you liked it !
Ellie says
I really loved this recipe! It was so simple and very easy to follow and to recreate. I will definitely be making this again
Jessica says
So glad to hear Ellie!
Aaron says
Would some lemon juice go good with this?
Jessica says
I think lemon sounds like a great addition!
Tara says
So simple! Tastes amazing! My now go to pasta.
Jessica says
Mine too Tara! So glad you liked it!
Megan says
Turned out great! I added some mushrooms in the recipe & we cook this a lot since I found this recipe 😊 thank you!
Delia says
This dish was delicious! I substituted regular butter with vegan butter and regular Parmesan with vegan Parmesan- yummy!! I will definitely make this again! I paired it with a baked tilapia and spinach salad 🎉
Jessica says
Sounds so amazing Delia!