Creamy Lemon Butter Pasta Sauce is the stuff that dreams are made of. It’s delicious, it’s simple and it is a restaurant style meal right at home. Save this recipe to Pinterest so you can always find it!
When we first moved to Grand Rapids, I realized there were not a lot of Italian restaurants here. Seeing that I am Italian and the Kevin loves Italian, I was frustrated. We do have one place that is supposedly great near us but the hours are weird, they don’t have take out, they don’t take reservations and apparently service inside the restaurant is ridiculously slow according to those that have been. There is one other place downtown that is okay, but we came from Chicagoland where we had plenty of good options for Italian. We came from having a neighborhood Italian restaurant that we absolutely loved and went to almost every date night to Italian and pasta that was just okay.
That Pasta fix
Due to this, I started making pasta every Sunday. We call it Pasta Sunday in our house. My goals for Pasta Sunday include:
- Eat delicious Italian food at least once a week.
- Have a day where I will eat ALL THE CARBS and not feel guilty.
- Help me to get more familiar with my Italian roots and push my creativity when it comes to creating sauces and pasta dishes.
I make a different recipes on a regular basis and I’ll even make my own pasta sometimes. (That recipe is coming.) This Creamy Lemon Butter Pasta Sauce with Spaghetti was one of our first Pasta Sunday meals and it is one we have on repeat. We all find this incredibly delicious and it is one we make over and over again. And while I wouldn’t call Creamy Lemon Butter Pasta Sauce with Spaghetti overly creative, 🙂 I would call it Italian Girl Comfort Food. It gives me my fix of carbs for the week and Kevin says, “It tastes better than a restaurant anyways.” So maybe Creamy Lemon Butter Pasta Sauce is Irish Boy Comfort Food too? He certainly prefers it to corned beef and cabbage.
Creamy dreamy flavor
The flavor of the Creamy Lemon Butter Pasta Sauce is like a dream come true. It’s very buttery with a light touch of lemon, a splash of cream and some . It won’t feel like a heavy sauce like my Homemade Alfredo Sauce. Instead, it will just coat the pasta nicely and give you all the flavor without weighing you down.
Unlike a sauce that’s meant for fish like my Shrimp Scampi, my Creamy Lemon Butter Pasta Sauce is meant specifically for pasta. In fact, you don’t even add the parmesan in until the pasta is in the pot with the sauce.
And even though it is a lighter kind of sauce, it will still coat the pasta well and you’ll have that beautiful flavor in each bite.
Making Creamy Lemon Butter Pasta Sauce with spaghetti
Creamy Lemon Butter Pasta Sauce is about a 20-minute recipe. Aside from the taste, that’s my favorite thing about it. For us, Sunday is often anything but a day of rest. At the farm, it’s a day when we catch up on chores. We always have a lot to do and by 3:30 – quitting time – I’m exhausted and don’t want to cook. Making quick pastas is really another bonus for Pasta Sunday.
Creamy Lemon Butter Pasta sauce combines garlic, shallots, butter (of course!), lemon zest, lemon juice, cream and parmesan. Once you heat the butter and soften the shallots and garlic, it’s really just about combining the other ingredients to create a rich and buttery sauce and adding salt and pepper to taste.
Tips for making Creamy Lemon Butter Pasta Sauce
- Use good quality extra virgin olive oil. This is key to this recipe because it sets the base for the salt.
- Use coarse sea salt when seasoning. It just adds so much more flavor and the recipe is based on using coarse sea salt. Measurements for other versions of slat will be different.
- Keep the heat medium to low in the pan to avoid burning the butter. Butter has a lower burn point than olive oil so I almost always start with olive oil and then lower the temperature before adding in butter.
- Make sure to zest just the yellow part of the lemon skin. You don’t want the white part.
- You can make this with any kind of noodles you like but I recommend a long cut pasta like spaghetti or fettuccini versus a penne or rigatoni.
- Save this Cream Lemon Butter Pasta Sauce with spaghetti in the refrigerator for up to three days. Reheat it in the microwave for a few minutes or over a low flame. You might want to add an extra teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil when reheating.
Looking for other pasta recipes?
If you love a good pasta recipe, try these!
- Caramelized Wild Mushroom Pappardelle {HERE}
- Lemon Carbonara Pasta {HERE}
- Garlic Ricotta & Arugula Pasta {HERE}
- Sun-dried Tomato Pasta with Chicken {HERE}
- Creamy Apple and Gouda Sausage Pasta {HERE}
- Roasted Garlic and Parmesan Pappardelle {HERE}
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Thank you so much for visiting today! I hope you enjoy today’s pasta recipe. You can find the full, printable recipe for the Cream Lemon Butter Pasta Sauce with spaghetti below. Happy eating!
Creamy Lemon Butter Pasta Sauce with spaghetti
Ingredients
Creamy Lemon Butter Pasta Sauce
- 3 cloves of garlic, grated
- 1 small shallot, minced
- 5 Tbsp. of butter
- 1 Tbsp. lemon zest About two lemons
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
- 1/3 cup pasta water
- 1 Tbsp. of lemon juice I squeeze half a lemon over it and go with that. As long as your lemons are ripe, that will do.
- 2 Tbsp. fresh basil, chopped
- 1 Tbsp. fresh thyme leaves
- 2 Tbsp. of olive oil
- Optional: Red pepper flakes
Pasta
- Water for pasta
- 2 tsp. salt for the water
- 1 box spaghetti
Instructions
- Boil pasta water and add salt. Then add the pasta and cook per instructions.
- Add olive oil to a heated pan on low. Once it's warm, add garlics, shallots and lemon zest. Stir continuously until softened and fragrant. About 2 minutes.
- Add the butter and melt stirring frequently. Heat about 3 minutes.
- Add in cream and simmer.
- When the pasta is done, reserve 1/3 cup pasta water and add to the sauce pan.
- Drain pasta and add it directly to the pan with the sauce. Add lemon juice and stir.
- Add parmesan and mix well with tongs.
- Add in fresh basil and mix again.
- Salt and pepper to taste.
- Plate and then add additional salt and pepper, thyme leaves, basil and red pepper if you like.
Amber Myers says
I can’t wait to try this out! We love having pasta for dinner here.
Jamie says
YUM!! Pinning this recipe to try for my family soon. Looks amazing!!
Forever My Little Moon says
I would love to try this pasta! Looks so yummy!
Alita Pacio says
I love the buttery flavor with a little bit of lemon. I’m saving your recipe!
Tara Pittman says
I am drooling over this pasta. The lemon sounds like a great flavor.
Terri Steffes says
This is our favorite go to sauce. I like the way you make it, its a bit different, so I am going to tweak ours and try it!
Kathy says
I’ve been looking for different ways to use up some spaghetti noodles. I’m going to give this a try. I’m sure my family will love it to.
Beth says
This looks so delicious! I think my family will love it when I make this weekend.
Ashley t says
Oh my goodness this looks so delicious. Definitely saving this to make this weekend.
Richelle Escat says
I would love this simple pasta recipe with my steak, it sounds like a great pair.
Helen Little says
This could possibly be my perfect pasta dish! So simple yet delicious 😋
Anasha Khan says
This looks incredibly delicious. Can’t wait to try this for dinner. So good!
Dana says
Ooh! I have to try this one! This reminds me of Spaghetti with white clam sauce but without the clams. It looks really good!
Laura says
This recipe looks so good! I’ve never had lemon butter pasta before!!
MELANIE EDJOURIAN says
This sounds like a really tasty recipe. I do love pasta.
Stefani Tolson says
I so want to give this a try. This looks like a great little pasta twist my family would enjoy.
Gervin Khan says
A new pasta recipe that I need to try. It looks so good and tasty!
Cyndi Buchanan says
This looks so good! And so easy to make!
Claudia says
This recipe looks delicious! I love pasta it’s one of my favorite foods!
Sharon says
This pasta dish is so simple to make but big on bright and zesty flavor with the addition of lemon.
Jessica says
This looks delicious! Pasta is a meal that my whole family enjoys, and I especially love the lemon flavor in this one!
Melissa Cushing says
My husband is Italian so he will go wild for this and so will my kids. I have pinned this recipe and will be recreating it for my family this week 😉 Delish!
Janeane Davis says
This sounds like it would be a delicious and refreshing dish. I would like to try it.
mel says
Looks like a lovely creamy pasta sauce, I love pasta and so does my family so I need to make this recipe soon,!
Angie Rose says
This looks absolutely delicious! I’ve been looking to switch it up from regular red sauce to something unique. Definitely adding this to my list!
Julie says
This sounds delicious! Adding it to the list of things to try!
ChaRasing says
This sure is a good pasta recipe to try. We’ll have it on our next pasta night.
Swathi says
Creamy lemon butter pasta sauce with spaghetti looks delicious great meal. I love it.
rachel says
This sounds SO good and so simple! Can’t wait to try making it!
Lynndee says
We love a good pasta over here, and that certainly looks delish! Going to save your recipe for later.
Danielle says
This recipe looks so yummy. I’ll have to try it out.
Jennifer Passmore says
Oh my goodness, this pasta dish sounds like heaven! I have to try and make it some time!
Everything Enchanting says
Yum yum! This creamy lemon butter pasta looks absolutely yummilicious 😍 I am going to give it a try soon!
Marysa says
What a great combination of buttery pasta and fresh herbs. Wonderful way to use up fresh thyme as well.
vidya says
this is definitely going to get added to my dinner menu in the near future..thank you
Paula M says
Looks delicious but what can I substitute the cream with?
Anita Lowe says
Delicious!!!
Sue E says
This sounds lovely. I’m hosting an Italian theme night and want to make this. Can I substitute dairy free butter and cream? I have two dairy intolerant and a coeliac and a vegetarian attending!