I’ve been alllll about the easy side dishes lately and this Lemon Parsley Pasta is one of the best! It only takes a few ingredients to really transform plain pasta into something totally scrumptious. And that scrumptious, lemony, garlicky, Parmesan-y goodness makes a great side to just about anything. Or just add some chicken or shrimp and make it your main dish! YUM.
What Kind of Pasta is Best?
While you can technically use any pasta shape for this (what pasta isn’t good with Parmesan and garlic??), I really like thin spaghetti or angel hair. The fine pasta creates tons of surface area for the lemon and Parmesan to adhere, so you get tons of flavor in every bite!
Do I Need Fresh Lemon?
Yes, you absolutely want to use fresh lemon for this Lemon Parsley Pasta. This recipe takes advantage of the lemon zest, which provides a lot of lemon flavor without adding a ton of acidity like the juice. This recipe is the perfect candidate for using up any frozen lemons you might have stashed in the freezer (see my tutorial on how to freeze lemons).
What to Serve with Lemon Parsley Pasta
I served my lemon parsley pasta with something new this week (recipe coming in a couple of days), but there are so many other things it would go great with. It would make a great bed for Garlic Butter Shrimp, Garlic Marinated Chicken, Tomato Basil Chicken, Garlic Butter Baked Cod, or even these Sheet Pan Greek Chicken and Vegetables. And because the pasta has so much flavor, you can always add a simple green side, like Oven Roasted Broccoli.
Lemon Parsley Pasta
Servings 4Ingredients
- 8 oz. thin spaghetti ($0.50)
- 1 fresh lemon ($0.89)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.16)
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley ($0.70)
- 1/8 tsp freshly cracked black pepper ($0.02)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.16)
- 2 Tbsp butter ($0.14)
- 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan ($0.22)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Once boiling, add the pasta and boil until tender (about 7-8 minutes). Drain the pasta in a colander.
- While the pasta is cooking, zest the lemon (you'll need about 1 Tbsp). Chop the parsley and combine it with the Parmesan, lemon zest, and pepper in a bowl. Set the bowl aside.
- While the pasta is draining, add the olive oil and minced garlic to the pot used to cook the pasta. Sauté the garlic in the oil over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, or just until it becomes fragrant.
- Remove the pot from the heat and add the drained pasta and butter to the pot with the garlic. Toss the pasta until the residual heat has melted the butter and the pasta is coated in garlic and butter.
- Add the parsley Parmesan mixture to the pot and toss to coat again. Squeeze about 1 Tbsp of the lemon juice over the pasta and season with salt (about ¼ tsp). Toss to combine, then taste, and adjust the salt, pepper, or Parmesan to your liking. Serve warm.
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Equipment
Nutrition
Video
How to Make Lemon Parsley Pasta – Step by Step Photos
Begin cooking the pasta first because most of the other prep can be done while the pasta is cooking. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, add 8 oz. thin spaghetti and continue to boil until the pasta is tender (about 7-8 minutes). Drain the pasta in a colander.
While the pasta is cooking, zest the lemon (you’ll need about 1 Tbsp zest) and chop about ½ cup fresh parsley. Add the parsley and lemon zest to a bowl, along with 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan and ⅛ tsp fresh cracked pepper. Stir to combine.
Once you’ve drained the pasta, add two cloves minced garlic and 1 Tbsp olive oil to the pot used to cook the pasta. Sauté the garlic over medium heat for 1-2 minutes.
Turn the heat off and add the drained pasta back to the pot (it should still be hot) along with 2 Tbsp butter. Toss the pasta and allow the residual heat to melt the butter. Toss until the pasta is coated in the melted butter.
Add the parsley and Parmesan mixture to the pasta and toss to coat again. The pasta should be very warm at this point but not hot enough to melt the Parmesan. You want the Parmesan to sort of coat the pasta instead of melting in.
Squeeze about 1 Tbsp lemon juice over the pasta and season with about ¼ tsp salt. Toss to coat one final time. Give the pasta a taste and adjust the salt, pepper, or Parmesan to your liking.
Serve warm! (I sliced up the remaining lemon and used it as garnish, but that’s just me being extra fancy.)
I made this tonight for dinner with shrimp – it was amazing!!! Definitely making this again.
Finally got around to making this and it’s absolutely delicious!!! I used Angel Hair pasta and vegan parmesan. The flavors are so well blended with a pop of lemon. Thank you for this amazing recipe!
Shit was bomb.
I knew I had to make it after reading your comment !! Lol – yes it is!!
I really enjoyed this recipe. Made it for lunch when I didn’t have many ingredients on hand, but had all of these. Thanks!
After reading some of the other comments about the dish being too bland, I cut the pasta down to 6oz instead of 8oz, and kept everything else the same. I thought this ratio was well balanced, and the pasta was light but flavorful. The only thing I would do differently next time is also cut down a bit on the parsley because it ended up being a little too “herb-y” for my taste, but I’m sure that’s just personal preference because my boyfriend loved it as is! Great recipe for a summer pasta side dish.
I used Nutritional Yeast instead of parmesan to veganfy. This was really tasty!!!
Ooooh thanks for this, I was wondering how to replace the parmesan cheese!
The combination of pasta and lemon gives nice flavours. The recipee doesn’t have vegetables, so I served it with green aspargus and mushrooms, as well as skrimp. That combined well with the lemon. I got feedback that it needed a few more ingredients, like pine nuts and cherrie tomatoes.
The pasta was still too hot when I put in the grated parmezan, so the cheese melted (my fault). Next time, I will serve the parmezan/parsley mixture separately so that we can put it on top of the pasta on the plates.
Nice garlic taste but lemon didn’t come through. Like others said, I’d halve the pasta.
I used an entire box of pasta and think it was way too much and not enough flavor. Next time I’ll use about half the box.
I am so surprised by th amount of flavor this pasta had. I actually thought this was really good! For anyone concerned about the lack of flavor, definitely try doubling the recipe. I halfed the recipe but only made about 1/4 of the pasta amount called for. Beth I just bought your book I have been so impressed by how good all of these recipes are. Don’t stop cooking!! :)
Super bland! I ended up just dumping a bunch of pesto on it so the pasta didn’t go to waste. And I only used 1/2 the pasta the recipe called for, so I doubt I would have tasted anything if I’d used a whole box!
This is such an easy recipe! I love pasta and make a similar one with garlic and parmesan and peas too! Thanks
http://www.cookeatdelicious.com/cheese-recipes/parsley-parmesan-lemon-pasta-recipe.html
I’ve been looking for easy, light herbed pasta recipes to replace the box stuff I’m trying to stop buying. This was perfect! I cut the pasta in half and kept everything else the same, but only because I didn’t pay attention…oops. It was really good. Thanks!
This is not as flavorful as I would have liked, would it be worth doubling the gremolata? I’m not sure what I would do with 4 peel-less lemons, though.
You could also take the lemon juice and put it into ice cube trays and freeze. This is handy because then when you need juice and no zest you are already prepared!! Good Eats!!