15-minute Garlic Butter Pasta

Make this easy Garlic Butter Pasta with Parmesan Cheese in just 15 minutes, with just a few common ingredients. Creamy, cheesy, garlicky with a touch of peppery heat.

Jump to:

• Why you will love this recipe
• What you need to make it
• How to make Garlic Butter Pasta
• Tips & tricks
• Recipe FAQ
• Recipe variations & additions
• How to serve Garlic Butter Pasta
• More 15-minute Pasta Dinners
• Recipe
• Reviews

If you asked me to name my 3 favorite ingredients, they'd probably be garlic, butter, and pasta. So of course, I had to create a Garlic Butter Pasta recipe.

Why you will love this recipe

• It's quick - the 15 minutes even include heating your pasta water (!)
• It's easy - just a few steps and a tiny bit of chopping
• It's full of delicious garlic butter flavor
• Super creamy thanks to the pasta water mixing with the cheese and butter
• Well balanced thanks to a hint of spice & acidity to beautifully balance the heaviness of pasta and butter
• It's versatile and a great main dish served as a meal on its own, as a side dish for your favorite protein, or as a simple pasta dish in a traditional multi-course Italian dinner

What you need to make it

Ingredient notes & substitutions

• Salted butter can be swapped for unsalted butter and a a pinch of salt. It can also be swapped in part or fully for olive oil, with some change to the (still delicious!) taste.
• Fresh ground black pepper does make a difference for this recipe - but if you don't have it, use the pre-ground kind
• Spaghetti can be switched for another type of pasta, preferably another thin kind like linguine, tagliatelle or angel hair, but others also work. You can also use fresh homemade or store-bought pasta instead of dry pasta.
• Shallots can be substituted for red or yellow onion, or leeks
• White wine can be switched for sparkling white wine - champagne, prosecco, cava or something else
• Minced garlic adds more garlic flavor than chopped garlic - feel free to use either depending on how garlicky you like it
• Parmesan cheese can be switched for Pecorino cheese or a generic "Italian hard cheese"

How to make Garlic Butter Pasta

This recipe is a quick one - so first of all, get your pasta cooking if using dry pasta.

1. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat
2. Add chopped shallots
3. Mix and sauté for 1 minute, taking care that the shallot doesn't burn
4. Add the minced garlic, mix, and sauté for another minute, without letting the garlic or shallots burn. A little color is great, just don't burn it.

5. Add the Worcestershire sauce and mix.
6. Add the white wine, stir, and cook for 30 seconds
7. The sauce should now be a little bit thickened.
8. Drain pasta and add to the pan, remember to save some of the pasta water

9. Add pasta water
10. Mix well, making sure that all the pasta gets well coated
11. Add the Parmesan cheese
12. Mix well, and top with fresh ground black pepper and extra Parmesan cheese when serving

Tips & tricks

• Cook pasta in heavily salted water in a large pot- it should taste like the sea
• Cook the pasta al dente and not more. The best way to find out if the pasta is done is to taste it - I do this the first time when it's 1 minute left according to the package instructions. It should be soft, but still give some resistance when you bite into it. When you think "maybe it should have just one more minute" - it's usually done.
• Keep the temperature at medium when making the sauce, to avoid burning the garlic
• Pasta cooking liquid is the secret to making this sauce really creamy - don't skip it!
• Make it even better with fresh homemade pasta. This will cook quicker, so get the pasta water started and then add the pasta to the water just before you add the Worcestershire sauce to the garlic butter sauce.
• Make it vegetarian by switching Parmesan for an Italian "Parmesan-style" hard cheese without animal rennet
• Store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days
• Freeze leftovers for up to 3 months

Recipe FAQ

Recipe variations & additions

This is such a simple recipe, and while this version is delicious as it is - you can also vary it in multiple ways.

Here are some of my favorite ingredients to add:

• Fresh herbs like chopped parsley or basil at the end
• Veggies like cherry tomatoes for a bright pop of flavor, or roasted peppers for a different flavor profile. I would add both of these at the end to preserve their texture.
• Bacon - because bacon makes everything better
• Mushrooms - add them to the butter first of all, and add more butter until they are not absorbing any more. Add a few extra tablespoons of butter for the sauce, followed by the shallots and the minced garlic.
• Spinach - to get some more nutrients in there. I'd add it at the same time as the pasta.
• Chopped walnuts - raw or roasted - for a bit of a crunch

How to serve Garlic Butter Pasta

• As a meal on its own
• With the protein of your choice - I'd go for shrimp, steak or chicken. Either on the side, or mixed in with the sauce.
• With vegetables such as asparagus or broccoli (fried, plain steamed, air fried - or roasted with garlic) on the side, or mixed in with the sauce
• As the pasta course when serving a traditional Italian multi-course dinner
• With garlic bread or Texas Toast for a full on garlic dinner

More 15-minute Pasta Dinners

• Red Pesto
• Spicy Sausage Pasta
• Tortellini Carbonara
• Creme Fraiche Carbonara with Bacon
• Buffalo Chicken Pasta
• Smoked Salmon Pasta with Spinach & Lemon

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