This Lemon Garlic Pasta is the perfect go-to weeknight meal! Simple, yet packed with vibrant flavor, this dish requires just ONE pot and comes together in 28 minutes or less!
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Pasta Al Limone is Italian for Lemon Pasta and is the perfect light dish for warm spring or summer days. Much like our Cream Cheese Pasta, our Lemon Garlic Pasta can be served alone or as a side dish with one of your favorite proteins, like Panko Parmesan Pork Chops or Easy Baked Cod. It would also make a great side for a holiday ham or turkey!
This dish was inspired by our Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta, but with an added creaminess and lemon flavor. It also pairs well with our Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan and Blackened Shrimp Caesar Salad.
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👍 Why We Love Lemon Garlic Pasta
Quick-Like all of our recipes, this dish can be made in 28 minutes or less.
Bursting with flavor! The best part about this Pasta Al Limone dish is fresh lemon juice, which imparts so much flavor! The freshly squeezed lemon juice and red pepper flakes give this dish a unique pop of flavor that you won't be able to get enough of!
Basic Ingredients- You are likely to have many of the ingredients in your panty or fridge/freezer.
ONE pot! You'll only need ONE pot for this lemon garlic pasta. Minimal mess, minimal cleanup! If you love creamy, one pot pasta and rice dishes, be sure to try our Creamy Vegetable Pasta and Creamy Chicken Pea Skillet!
🛒 Ingredients
Notes on Ingredients (full list of ingredients and quantities available in recipe card):
- Pasta- Any long, dry pasta will work. We've made the dish with both Bucatini and spaghetti!
- Chicken broth/stock- We love Better Than Bouillon Organic Roasted Chicken Base.
- Garlic-Chopped or minced.
- Lemon- Freshly squeezed lemon juice is best.
- Milk- We used 2% milk to keep this dish lite, but heavy cream or half and half can also be used for a richer finish.
- Seasoning- Red pepper flakes are totally optional but do add a little heat to this dish!
- Parmesan-Grated or finely shredded. We recommend a high-quality Parmigiano-Reggiano.
👩🏾🍳 Instructions
Step 1. Heat oil in a pot. Add garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes until brown and fragrant.
Step 2. Add chicken broth, seasoning and pasta to the pot. Bring to a boil and cook for 8-10 minutes.
Step 3. Stir in milk and lemon juice and cook together another 3-5 minutes on low.
Step 4. Add parmesan and stir until melted. Optional: Add 2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes for extra spice. Serve with lemon slices/wedges and top with extra parmesan and parsley as desired.
🥄 Kid Steps: Let kids mix everything together! They can toss pasta using a large spoon or tongs!
✔️ Expert Tips and Tricks
- Use a large pan or pot to fit pasta as it cooks. If pasta won't fit in pan, simply break pasta in half.
- While we love fresh garlic, jarred, chopped or minced garlic always works when you're in a pinch!
- Be sure to roll your lemon before juicing. See these tips on juicing a lemon!
- If pasta is not covered by broth, slowly add more broth until spaghetti is just barely covered.
- Use fresh basil and/or parsley instead of jarred if possible!
➡️ Recipe Variations and Add-ins
- Proteins- This lemon pasta pairs nicely with manny proteins, like chicken, pork, salmon or shrimp. We love serving this pasta with Panko Parmesan Pork Chops or Easy Baked Cod.
- Spice- To add more or less “heat,” simply modify the amount of red pepper flakes. Start with a pinch or 1 teaspoon and add more as needed.
- Vegetables- Feel free to mix in veggies for added flavor and nutrients. Roasted cherry tomatoes give this dish an awesome pop of flavor and color. Peas, asparagus or broccoli would also be nice additions to this lemon garlic pasta.
- Crunch- Consider sprinkling a handful of breadcrumbs or cracker crumbs onto this dish for extra crunch.
- Herbs- In addition to the parsley, oregano and basil, arugula or chives would also add some nice flavor to your lemon pasta.
- Lemon zest- For more lemon flavor, consider topping your Pasta Al Limone with lemon zest!
🥖 What to Eat with Lemon Garlic Pasta
Our lemon pasta recipe will serve 4 as a main dish, up to 6 as a side. You can pair this dish with bread or a starter, like salad or soup. You might consider pairing with one of the following:
- Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan
- Panko Parmesan Pork Chops
- Easy Baked Cod
- Turkey Burger Sliders
- Baked Chicken & Squash
- Butternut Squash Soup
- White Bean Soup
❓FAQ
Because of the chicken broth, this dish is not considered a vegetarian meal. To make it vegetarian, simply swap the chicken broth for vegetable broth.
To make this dish vegan, simply replace the chicken broth with a vegetable base/broth (double-check it's vegan) and use a dairy-free option like cashew or almond milk instead of cow's milk. Finally, either omit the parmesan altogether or swap for a couple tablespoons of nutritional yeast.
We strongly encourage you to use fresh garlic for this lemon pasta, but you can use garlic powder. The flavor just won't be nearly as vibrant.
Typically, a large lemon can produce 4 Tablespoons of lemon juice, which will be plenty for this lemon garlic pasta dish.
👶🏾 Tips for Picky Eaters
🍅 Let kids pick the pasta! Any long, thin pasta of their choice will work!
🍅 Tone down the spice. Leave out the red pepper flakes or add them at the end to individual servings.
🍅 Kids choose a side. Garlic Bread is always a hit! My kids' favorite is Pepperidge Farm's frozen garlic bread. Or, let kids choose a side of their favor fruit or raw veggies, like cucumber slices, sugar snap peas, baby tomatoes, celery sticks, carrot sticks, grapes, sliced apple or sliced pear.
🧊 Storage
Store: This dish is best served immediately. Store this lemon garlic pasta in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
Reheat: Reheat in the microwave or in a saucepan over the stove. Note: To prevent the lemon pasta sauce from having a sticky texture when reheating, sprinkle with 1-2 Tablespoons of water before reheating.
Freezing this lemon pasta is not recommended.
🧶 Crafts for this Recipe
Need a craft to keep kids busy while you cook? We've got you! Use extra dry spaghetti to make Rainbow Spaghetti Art with Words or grab a extra lemon for a Lemon Volcano Experiment!
🍽 Other Pasta & Rice Dishes
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🍋 Lemon Garlic Pasta
Equipment
- Wide skillet, pan or pot
Ingredients
- 1.5 Tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic chopped or minced
- 3.5 cups chicken broth
- 1 pound spaghetti or linguini
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon basil
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk 2 percent
- 3 Tablespoons lemon juice ideally freshly squeezed
- ½ cup parmesan cheese grated or finely shredded
- 1-2 teaspoon red pepper flakes optional
Instructions
- Heat oil in a pot. Add garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes until brown and fragrant.
- Add chicken broth, seasoning and pasta to the pot. If pasta is not covered by broth, slowly aadd more broth until spaghetti is just barely covered. Bring to a boil and cook for 8-10 minutes.
- Stir in milk and lemon juice and cook together another 3-5 minutes on low.
- Add parmesan and stir until melted. Optional: Add 2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes for extra spice. Serve with lemon slices/wedges and topped with extra parmesan and parsley as desired.
Notes
- Use a large pan or pot to fit pasta as it cooks.
- While we love fresh garlic, jarred, chopped or minced garlic always works when you're in a pinch!
- Be sure to roll your lemon before juicing. See these tips on juicing a lemon!
- If pasta is not covered by broth, slowly add more broth until spaghetti is just barely covered.
- Use fresh basil and/or parsley instead of jarred if preferable!
- To add more or less “heat,” simply modify the amount of red pepper flakes. Start with a pinch or 1 teaspoon and add more as needed.
Nutrition
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. While we are not certified nutritionists, we work with a Wordpress-integrated nutrition API to calculate our recipes' ingredient values.
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The lemon juice doesn't curdle the milk?
Hey Beth! Good question. We found that the milk didn't curdle, or if it did, just barely. That's because we were using cold milk. Hot milk combined with a citric acid tends to curdle right away and cold milk will potentially curdle a little, but delayed. If you're worried about it, you could make a slurry or roux beforehand and add it to the broth before adding the milk. That helps prevent curdling, but this isn't a super saucy/brothy recipe, so not sure if it would be worth it. Here's an article about milk curdling that I think is useful:
https://www.thespruceeats.com/prevent-milk-from-curdling-when-cooking-996067
Let us know if you try out any different techniques. I'm curious :). Cheers --julie