Creamy Lemon Pasta
This decadent but delicious recipe for creamy lemon pasta has all the elements of classic alfredo sauce, but with a zing of lemon. Welcome to your new favorite pasta supper!
Jump to:
- ❤️ Why we love this recipe
- 🤔 What is lemon zest?
- 🍋 Ingredients you need
- 📝 Ingredient notes and substitutions
- 👩🏻🍳 How to make this recipe
- 🤔 Recipe FAQs
- 🥣 Equipment we used for this recipe
- 🍽️ What to serve with this recipe
- 😍 Other lemon pasta recipes we love!
- ⭐️ We want to know what you think!
- Creamy Lemon Pasta
❤️ Why we love this recipe
This easy peasy creamy lemon pasta is very much like pasta alfredo, but with a lighter cream sauce and a zing of lemon to brighten up the taste.
And! It takes less than a half hour from walking into the kitchen to sitting down to a plate of creamy, dreamy pasta deliciousness.
You do have to like lemons, because we are going to use both lemon juice and lemon zest to add some delectable lemony flavor to the sauce, but I’m here to tell you that it tastes like springtime on a plate. 🌼
🤔 What is lemon zest?
Lemon zest comes from the yellow outer skin of a lemon. It is made by grating just the yellow outside layer (not the white layer underneath) with a zester or a grater so that you end up with light and fluffy shreds of lemon peel.
🍋 Ingredients you need
📝 Ingredient notes and substitutions
- Pasta: We like linguine for this recipe but it will work with pretty much any pasta you have on hand.
- Lemons: Look for lemons that are firm but with a little give to them. Pro tip: if you pop your lemons in the microwave for 30 seconds before you juice them them they will get softer and easier to juice. PRO TIP: If you want a milder lemon taste, you can use the juice from one lemon and/or leave out the zest.
- Parmesan Cheese: As always, we recommend fresh grated parm if you can get it!
- Cream: You do need to use heavy cream (also known as whipping cream) for this recipe, but just a little!
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities and nutritional information.
👩🏻🍳 How to make this recipe
STEP 1: Cook your pasta according to package directions in heavily salted water. Scoop out a cup of the pasta water before you drain it, then drain the pasta and set it aside while you make the sauce.
STEP 2: Pour 1/2 of the cup of reserved pasta water, and some cream into a large deep skillet and bring it to a simmer. Add the pasta to the skillet and toss. Add some butter, some lemon zest, some lemon juice and some Parmesan cheese and toss it again.
STEP 3: Cover the skillet, turn off the heat and let everything sit for two minutes. Uncover and give it another good toss, adding a little more of the pasta water if the sauce needs thinning out. Taste and add some salt and pepper if you think you need it.
STEP 4: Divide your pasta among plates and garnish with some parsley, a little more lemon zest and a scattering of Parmesan cheese. Twirl, taste and happy sigh!
🤔 Recipe FAQs
When pasta cooks, it releases starch into the water (that is what makes it a little cloudy). And since hopefully you have thoroughly salted your water, at the end of the pasta cooking time you have a starchy, salty water that is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT for making or loosening up a light pasta sauce. It’s truly magical.
Start with the zesting! There are all kinds of fancy lemon zesting tools out there, but I love my microplane zester – it does the job quickly and you can also use it for cheese. Simply drag the lemon over the zester and little chopped lemon peel pieces will come out the other side. As for juicing, you can get as fancy as having a citrus juicer that squishes the juice out and leaves the seeds, or you can simply squeeze that lemon juice into a prep bowl with your hands.
Technically yes…store it in the fridge and reheat it slowly over medium low heat…but it is at its very best when you first make it. And it is super speedy!
Pop your question in the Comments section under the recipe card and I will answer pronto!
🥣 Equipment we used for this recipe
These are some of my favorite kitchen tools! These are Amazon affiliate links, which means I get a little something if you buy through my links at no extra cost to you. (Which helps pay for all that bacon I keep buying! 😄) And I only share things I use and love. I’m so grateful for your support!
- Measuring Cup: We love these angled cups that show the measurements on both the inside and outside of the cup.
- Cutting Board: These sturdy, dishwasher-safe cutting boards come in all different sizes.
- Cheese Grater: My dad found this one after testing millions of them, and it is the best grater we’ve ever used.
- Citrus Juicer: We love this handy juicer that catches every single seed.
- Food Scale: We use this for measuring everything from pasta to meat to flour.
- Large Pot: We have a lot of these but this is our fave!
- Large Skillet: We have a few of these in our cupboard but this is one of our faves.
- Microplane Zester: This handy tool perfectly grates off the zest from lemons, oranges and limes. It’s also a handy tool for a quick grating of Parmesan cheese!
- Strainer: This classic version is just right for these potatoes and your favorite pasta recipe (one of ours is pasta with egg sauce!)
🍽️ What to serve with this recipe
We like to add some veggies on the side…asparagus, carrots and tomato salad are a few of our faves.
And for dessert, let’s have some chocolate chunk cookies!
😍 Other lemon pasta recipes we love!
⭐️ We want to know what you think!
If you try this recipe, we would love to hear how it came out for you! I’d be super grateful if you could leave a star rating (you pick how many stars! 🌟 ) and your thoughts in the Comments section below the recipe card.
Creamy Lemon Pasta
This decadent but delicious recipe for creamy lemon pasta has all the elements of classic Alfredo sauce, but with a zing of lemon.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 6 ounces linguine
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- zest and juice from 2 lemons
- 1/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese, plus a little extra for garnish
- Freshly ground pepper
- Chopped fresh parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions in heavily salted water. Scoop out a cup of the pasta water before you drain it, then drain and set aside while you make the sauce.
- Pour 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water and the cream into a large deep skillet and bring to a simmer. Add the pasta to the skillet and toss. Add butter, half the lemon zest, the lemon juice and the cheese and toss again.
- Cover the skillet, turn off the heat, and let everything sit for 2 minutes. Uncover and toss it again, adding a little more of the pasta water if the sauce needs thinning out. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.
- Divide pasta among warmed plates and garnish with parsley, the remaining lemon zest and a scattering of parmesan cheese. Twirl, taste and happy sigh.
Notes
-
- Pasta: We like linguine for this recipe but it will work with pretty much any pasta you have on hand.
-
- Lemons: Look for lemons that are firm but with a little give to them. Pro tip: if you pop your lemons in the microwave for 30 seconds before you juice them them they will get softer and easier to juice. PRO TIP: If you want a milder lemon taste, you can use the juice from one lemon and/or leave out the zest.
-
- Parmesan Cheese: As always, we recommend fresh grated parm if you can get it!
-
- Cream: You do need to use heavy cream (also known as whipping cream) for this recipe, but just a little!