Garlic Butter Noodles with Parmesan (2024)

Incredibly easy to make, aromatic garlic butter noodles with Parmesan.

These garlic butter noodles are incredible. If you have never had them, you should make them as soon as possible. Today, actually, they are that good!

This butter Parmesan pasta recipe became an instant classic in our house; both kids devoured everything, and they kept asking me to cook them again regularly.

Check out more garlic Parmesan combinations: Garlic Parmesan Chicken Wings, Roasted Garlic Parmesan Mashed Potatoes, or Chicken Parmesan Garlic Pasta.

Ingredients

• These butter garlic noodles are a simple dish using basic and cheap ingredients.
• You can use any sort of noodles you like: spaghetti, linguine, tagliatelle, shorter noodles...
• Otherwise, what you need is good-quality butter, lots of garlic, and some Parmesan.
• You can use either salted or unsalted butter. If you use salted butter, adjust the taste accordingly at the end of the cooking process.
• I always recommend using freshly grated Parmesan; I cannot stand the already grated sort, which is full of preservatives and tastes nothing like real Parmesan.
• If you want to make this garlic butter sauce for pasta vegetarian, choose a vegetarian hard cheese instead.

How to make garlic butter noodles?

• Start by cooking the pasta.
• While the pasta cooks, make the sauce.
• Press or grate the garlic cloves.
• Slowly melt the butter in a smaller saucepan, stirring often, about 3 minutes.
• Add the grated garlic cloves and stir for about 2 minutes until they are golden. It is very important to stand by the pan during this time and keep stirring; the garlic should only get golden and not too brown. If it gets too much color, it will get rather bitter.

• Add the salt, pepper, and some chili flakes to taste; the garlic butter sauce for pasta should get slightly frothy by now. Remove from the heat.
• Drain the noodles, place them back in the pot, and mix them with the garlic butter sauce immediately.
• Add the freshly grated Parmesan, sprinkle with some parsley (if desired), and serve immediately with a green salad.

Expert Tips

• Adding the cheese: Don't be tempted to add the Parmesan directly to the butter sauce. I did that once, and all the cheese clumped into a ball. I had to throw it all away and start again... Annoying!

• Use quality ingredients: Since this recipe relies on just a few key ingredients, it's important that they are high-quality. Use fresh garlic, real butter, and freshly grated Parmesan cheese for the best flavor.

• Careful with the garlic: When cooking it in butter, make sure to keep the heat on medium and stir frequently. This will prevent it from burning and turning bitter. You want the garlic to become fragrant and lightly golden.

Recipe FAQ

What to serve with buttered noodles?

More noodles?

Recipe

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