This Buttery Lemon Pasta is so incredibly good and couldn’t be any easier. It comes together in the time it takes to boil the pasta, 10 minutes max, making it the perfect weeknight supper. You may also have a lot of these ingredients already in your fridge. The creamy lemon sauce is luxuriously rich but the sharpness of the lemon cuts through the butter, cream and cheese so that this lemon pasta doesn’t feel heavy. In the 10 minutes it takes to cook, you’re left with a silky smooth creamy lemon sauce that coats each pasta strand, making buttery lemon pasta.
Since this recipe includes eggs alongside the cheese, it could almost be thought of as a lemon carbonara. In Italy, this recipe is known as Pasta Al Limone but they tend to omit the egg yolks. We love the egg yolks in this recipe as it really pulls together the buttery lemon sauce.
What do you need to make this buttery lemon pasta?
- linguine (or use whatever shape you would like but the creamy lemon sauce is well paired with a longer pasta shape)
- maldon sea salt flakes
- black pepper
- egg yolk (much like in a carbonara, the egg yolks help to give the sauce its creamy texture)
- double cream (we’ve used 150ml here, the exact size of a small pot of double cream from the supermarket. Don’t worry, the sauce is not heavy from the cream as the lemon cuts through)
- Parmesan, freshly grated
- 1 unwaxed lemon, zested and juiced (an unwaxed lemon means that you grate the zest and don’t just end up grating the wax off the outside of the lemon)
- butter (the key to this buttery lemon pasta; use salted or unsalted depending on what you have)
- parsley or basil, chopped (use what you prefer for a bit of green and brightness on the buttery pasta)
How it's made
Once your pasta is boiling, mix together the sauce which is just cream, egg yolks, parmesan, lemon juice and lemon zest.
Once your pasta has boiled, add the butter and mix together before tossing in the creamy lemon sauce. Stir really well until it thickens into a gorgeously rich sauce. Then serve up with fresh herbs on top.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can keep lemon pasta in the fridge for a few days in an airtight container. The best way to reheat is in a pan over medium heat. Add a splash of water and heat gently, stirring until the sauce heats up and coats the pasta. An extra knob of butter would make it extra creamy at this stage.
The eggs add body to the sauce and are rich and delicious but if you want to leave them out, the sauce will still be good just not as thick. Just toss really well when you pour into the mixture and add pasta water. Pasta water is your friend here to make the sauce thick from starch in place of eggs.
Pasta water is a key ingredient here. As the pasta boils, the starch is released into the water and this will then help thicken up the sauce when you add it alongside the cream mixture. Make sure you remember to reserve a mug of the pasta water once the pasta has boiled as you can't use standard water in its place.
Since the sauce contains egg yolks, you do run the risk of scrambling the eggs when it goes into the pan which will give you a clumpy sauce. To avoid this, make sure your heat is turned right down and toss really well when the sauce goes into the pan. Using a good pair of tongs makes this easier.
This buttery lemon pasta doesn’t freeze well so we would recommend making it from scratch when ready to eat. If you want a freezable recipe, try this easy tomato sauce which freezes well and then toss in fresh pasta.
Other recipes you might enjoy
Easy Tomato Pasta (4 ingredients)
Creamy Courgette Pasta (also as quick as this recipe)
Stanley Tucci’s Weeknight Tomato Pasta
PrintButtery Lemon Pasta
This recipe for buttery lemon pasta is as easy as it is delicious. Creamy lemon sauce tossed through linguine or whatever pasta you like, it is so good!
- Prep Time: 0 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: Serves 2
Ingredients
- 200 grams linguine/spaghetti
- Maldon sea salt flakes
- Black pepper
- 2 egg yolks
- 150ml double cream
- 50 grams freshly grated Parmesan
- zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon
- 30 grams butter
- Fresh parsley or basil, to top
Instructions
- Get a pot of heavily salted water on to boil. Once boiling, cook the pasta for 1 minute less than the package instructions. Mix the cream, Parmesan, egg yolks, lemon zest and juice in a medium bowl.
- Once the pasta is al dente (it will finish cooking in the sauce), reserve a mug of pasta water, drain and return to the pot. Turn the heat right down to low. Toss the butter with the pasta then add the cream mixture. Toss well, and add a heavy splash of pasta water. It’s important to add this after you add the mixture until it’s lovely and glossy. Keep stirring really well, mixing until a creamy lemon sauce forms, adding more pasta water as needed.
- Serve immediately with black pepper on top and fresh herbs.
Equipment
Microplane | Gourmet Fine Grater
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Oxo Good Grips | Polished Stainless-steel And Silicone Tongs 30cm
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Top with either fresh basil or parsley, depending on what you like and have in.
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