Lemon Garlic Pasta Recipe
Keep this Lemon Garlic Pasta Recipe for a simple dinner idea or filling side dish. Pasta tossed with lemon, olive oil, red pepper flakes, parmesan and roasted garlic.
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Sometimes you just crave carbs. When I get the pasta craving I make sure to indulge in a delicious bowl full of it! But not just pasta. I add a ton of flavor with Roasted Garlic, Lemon, Pamesan and Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
When a recipe only uses a few ingredients, make sure those ingredients are high quality. Use your favorite pasta. The garlic and lemon needs to be fresh. The parmesan cheese must be high quality. And use a premium olive oil.
This Lemon Garlic Pasta Recipe is simple and comforting. Two of my favorite things: Lemon and Roasted Garlic. Because why would you eat garlic any other way?
If you have not tried roasted garlic, check out my post on How To Roast Garlic. It is, dare I say, life changing! {the roasted garlic, not my post}
How can you make this recipe even quicker?
An easy dinner idea that can be made quickly. Especially if you already have roasted garlic hanging out in your refrigerator.
If not, it doesn’t take long to lightly roast the garlic. Pop it in the oven right when you get home from work. Then do your after work routine {change clothes, check facebook, crack open a beer, whatever}. The garlic can be ready in about 40 minutes!
What can you add to this dish?
This pasta dish is fantastic as is. Or dress it up a bit with some roasted chicken, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, shrimp or fresh vegetables.
This simple dinner meal is absolutely satisfying and loaded with flavor! Perfect with a glass of wine.
What kind of pasta should you use?
This lemon garlic pasta recipe calls for angel hair pasta. But you can use regular spaghetti noodles or, my personal favorite, bucatini.
What if you are sensitive to lemon or garlic flavor?
I’m not sure why you are still reading this, if so 😆 Feel free to decrease the amount of roasted garlic. lemon or both to your preference.
What tools do you need for this recipe?
You will need a good skillet, Cuisinart Classic Stainless 10-Inch Open Skillet
. A
Terra Cotta Garlic Roaster
and Citrus Juicer
come in handy too!
Want more lemon garlic recipes?
For more lemon infused dinner ideas, be sure to check out my Lemon Garlic Drumsticks, Lemon Garlic Kale Salad, Lemon Poppy Seed Chicken Salad or Lemon Butter Chicken Thighs.
And here are a few lemony recipes from around the web:
Lemon Garlic Pork Chops by Dinners, Dishes & Desserts
Oven Roasted Chicken with Lemon Rosemary Garlic Butter by FoodieCrush
Ham Lemon Orzo by Oh, Sweet Basil
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Table of Contents
Lemon Garlic Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 Head of Garlic 10-15 cloves
- 1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 4-5 Tb Fresh Lemon Juice 1 large or 2 small lemons
- Lemon Zest
- Pinch of Salt
- 1/8 tsp Red Pepper Flakes or more if you like spicy
- 1/2 lb Angel Hair Pasta - cooked
- Fresh Grated Parmesan
Instructions
- Place peeled garlic cloves in an oven safe dish, drizzle with olive oil and cover with foil. Oven roast at 400° for 30-40 minutes (until lightly golden browned). Let cool for 2-3 minutes, then chop.
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Feel free to use a different type of pasta if you prefer.
- In a large sauté pan over medium/low heat - heat the olive oil and chopped garlic for 4-5 minutes while stirring.
- Add the lemon juice and continue cooking for 2-3 minutes.
- Reduce heat to low - add the salt and red pepper flakes.
- Add the cooked pasta and toss with the lemon garlic sauce until fully coated.
- Transfer to serving dishes and top with a drizzle of olive oil, lemon zest, fresh grated parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes (optional).
Nutrition
Welcome!
Nicole Harris is the recipe creator behind WonkyWonderful, sharing fast, budget-friendly meals for busy families. Since 2012 she’s been developing 30-minute dinners, kid-approved favorites, and holiday dishes with flair - all with real ingredients and no fuss. She grew up stretching simple pantry staples into something delicious, and that shows up in every recipe: easy, affordable, and full of flavor. Read more...
Sometimes the simplest dishes are the best. Honestly, this is my favorite way to eat pasta!
Truth. I love when recipes have only a few ingredients … I’m lazy like that. Have a great weekend, Tanya!
This is my kind of pasta dish! Love roasted garlic and lemon together!
Thanks Jessica! Garlic & Lemon are a perfect combo, for sure.
You are so right… roasted garlic is life-changing! SO good! Love the idea of lemon with it. YUM!
I go through a lot of garlic at my house!
I love the simplicity of this pasta dish.
So light and yet fulfilling for a super easy dinner
thats simply delicious. Roasted garlic is almost like the butter
to this dish….oh so good!
Thanks Mandy! You are right, roasted garlic is like butter 🙂
Your pasta looks wonderful and sounds so fresh! I love using simple ingredients to create great flavor, those are always the best dishes! This sounds delicious!
Thank Maria 🙂
How many serves would this recipe be?
Hi Sam! This recipe will serve 3-4 easily. 2 servings if you are really hungry 😀
If adding cherry tomatoes as suggested–should they be sautéed as we’ll or just rinsed and tossed in? I am a bit of dodo when it comes to cooking so I was just wondering. Thank you.
Whatever you prefer, Darchelle. I think sauteed cherry tomatoes are absolutely divine! So, I would probably go that route. 🙂
Roast your cherry tomatoes when you roast the garlic. Sprinkle them with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and your favorite seasonings. Delicious
Yum! That sounds fantastic! I love roasted cherry tomatoes.
Nicole – This pasta is exactly what I need to brighten my day. I’ve been struggling to fight a cold all week. Hopefully this citrus will help me fight it! If not, oh well. 😀
Oh yeah. That lemon and garlic will help to fight that cold!
This looks like the perfect entree or side dish!
I love tasting my food and this is just perfect. light refreshing ingredients, delicious xoox
Thanks Beverley! I agree. I love recipes that aren’t overly fussy, just a few delicious ingredients 🙂
I love using lemons in my dishes too. And I also love roasted garlic. This pasta is just amazing! It would really be great for dinner. My friends would love to see this on the table.
Thanks Maureen!
Amazing!!!
Thanks so much for the inspiration for tonight’s dinner. Cynthia of What a Girl Eats posted your recipe a few days ago and I’ve been obsessing ever since. It’s delicious.
Eating a bowl of this just now… It’s very zingy, and works well with a little bit of tarragon and rosemary 🙂 Definitely gonna have this again. Simple, tasty food 😀
I love simple and tasty food! 🙂
Beautiful! This simple dish just makes me so happy to eat! Thank you for sharing
Thanks, Martin!
Wow..this lemon garlic pasta definitely looks yummi! I love your recipe cuz it contains healthy ingredients! Thanks a lot for sharing Nicole!
Thanks! This is easy and nutritious!
Thank you very much. You obviously put a lot of work into making your site beautiful. The idea of keeping it simple with lemon, garlic, oil and fresh shredded cheese is genius.
Thanks, Larry 🙂
cheesy toes pasta, never again.
Ok. I’ve been reading the recipe all day. Excited to make it tonight. And I read to the middle of directions and it says “ sauté CHOPPED garlic….”. But this is ROASTED garlic – as explained in the first part of the recipe.
So …. is it chopped roasted garlic ??
Shoot! Sorry I didn’t get back to you before you made this. I must’ve missed the notification for your comment. The garlic is roasted, then chopped. I saute the roasted garlic for a few minutes to infuse the oil with that roasted garlic flavor 🙂
What is is the required amount of lemon zest?
The zest from 1 lemon should be fine. But really, it’s up to you how lemony you want it to be 🙂
I prepared this today for a special company lunch as the vegan option (Parmesan was on the side) and the feedback was amazing, the whole bowl was devastated.
A couple of notes:
1. I doubled the amount of pasta in the recipe (~600 grams) and I needed to add some extra lemon juice after mixing it in to get the lemony flavor to come out.
2. Chopping the garlic was more of a “mashing the garlic” experience for me, it still came out great.
3. The Mrs. said this sauce would also make an excellent base for baked Salmon.
Awesome! I;m glad everyone enjoyed 😀