Today I made absolutely delicious Lemon Garlic Pasta with Parmesan Cheese. It is an unsual pasta. After all, lemon is not the first ingredient when we think about making fantastic sauce for pasta. But believe me, If you give a chance to that little yellow sour fruit, it might surprise you.
In this sauce, you will feel the gentle taste of lemon. If you’re afraid this pasta may taste too sour, don’t be. Lemon gives this dish a good, energetic vibe. It’s ready to serve in about 20 minutes!
I like it for a few reasons… It has an unusual taste, it’s addictive, fast, comforting, and easy to make, and yes… lemon, garlic, and Parmesan work beautifully together.
When I first introduce this lemon garlic sauce pasta to my family I was afraid that my “dinner without meat is not a real dinner” dad will not like it. After all, I didn’t add any meat or seafood. Imagine my surprise when he said: “that lemony thing was really good” 😉
SO... Let's get cooking Lemon Garlic Pasta...
What is Lemon Garlic Pasta?
Pasta with lemon is an addictive, refreshing, unusual dish full of flavor. It is the perfect combination of sour lemon, the unique taste of Parmesan cheese, delicate cream, and the characteristic taste of garlic. You can easily prepare them in your kitchen. Pasta Al Limone is famous in Italy and lemons are widely used in cooking. However, this is not the original Italian recipe (it was not my intention in this post to make an original Al Limone Pasta), but it is close to it. I hope that thanks to this pasta you will feel like you are on holiday 😉
What can you add to the Lemon Garlic Pasta?
Well, the lemon garlic pasta is perfect, but if you want a bit more versatile dish you can add chicken, shrimp, mushrooms, or your favorite vegetables. You can also top it with pistachios.
If you want to provide your body with more protein, I strongly recommend adding chicken breasts. I think well-seasoned chicken pieces would be perfect here. I also recommend well-cooked shrimp, especially if they are a bit spicy. Lemon Garlic Pasta is a great base for other dishes.
Is Lemon Garlic Pasta vegetarian?
Well, answer yes and no. If you use vegetable broth rather than chicken broth, this dish will be vegetarian. But beware! Due to a large amount of dairy, it is not suitable for vegans. If you use additives, e.g. pieces of chicken, it will no longer be suitable for vegetarians
Ingredients you will need to prepare Lemon Garlic Pasta
LEMON GARLIC PASTA – WHAT DO YOU NEED…
Make sure you’re using high-quality ingredients.
Pasta – any long pasta noodles can be used to make lemon pasta. I’ve used spaghetti, but you can also use bucatini (bucatini is like spaghetti but with a hole down its center), linguine, tagliatelle, angel hair, or fettuccine.
Lemon – try to use good quality lemon, because in this recipe you’ll be using not only fresh lemon juice but also zest.
Garlic – use fresh garlic. I don’t recommend using Garlic powder in this recipe
Butter – use unsalted butter.
Sour cream – it will be better when you will remove the sour cream from the fridge when you start cooking. Let it come up to room temperature.
Broth – using broth adds much more flavor than water. It doesn’t have to be chicken broth, vegetable broth works perfectly here.
Parmesan cheese – I recommend using original Parmesan cheese, but you can replace it with Pecorino Romano (but watch out, it’s saltier), Grana Padano, or Piave.
Fresh Parsley – I recommend using fresh herbs in this recipe. It doesn’t have to be parsley. Basil, chives, dill, and oregano will pair with lemon and garlic perfectly well.
How to make Lemon Garlic Pasta – step by step with video.
STEP 1
Pour water into the deep pot. When the water comes to a boil, add salt, let it come to a boil again, and add the pasta of your choice. Cook the pasta until just al dente according to the instructions on the pasta package.
Zest the lemon – lemon zest is the yellow outer layer of the fruit. Use one medium-sized lemon. Remember to wash the lemon first!
Grate the cheese if you’re not using a package with already grated cheese.
STEP 2
Put butter on the pan. Cook over low heat until the butter is melted. Then add chopped garlic, and fry it for about 30 seconds up to one minute (until fragrant, but doesn’t color). Stir occasionally.
STEP 3
Then add to the pan chicken or vegetable broth, sour cream, cheese and lemon zest. Mix everything and cook over medium heat. After 2-3 minutes add lemon juice and cook for about 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. The sauce will thicken. Add salt and pepper. If the broth is salty enough you may don’t want to use more salt. Taste the sauce and decide how much salt and pepper you want to use.
STEP 4
When the sauce thickens, add pasta and mix. The sauce should cover the whole pasta. Heat for another 2 minutes. During this time pasta should absorb the flavor of the sauce.
STEP 5
If you want you can add more fresh ground pepper and fresh parsley. If you using fresh parsley add some to the pan and combine with pasta. You can also sprinkle it with more cheese.
♥♥♥ENJOY YOUR MEAL!!! ♥♥♥
