one-pot spaghetti al limone
a 20-minute meal!
This one-pot spaghetti al limone is a fast (20 minutes!), easy, cozy meal that you can keep in your back pocket for when you’re exhausted and/or the fridge is totally bare. I bet at least half of you already have the ingredients needed to cook this recipe (all you need are spaghetti, lemon, cheese, butter, and garlic!), and I promise you have the energy to cook this dinner, no matter how little energy you have. You will only need to wash one pot, a microplane (or grater, but I highly suggest using a microplane), a knife, and a pair of tongs. No colander or second pot required — we make our creamy lemon sauce right in the pot where we cook our noodles!
PS, if you were expecting a Valentine’s date-night-in recipe, it’s coming next week! We will have marry me risotto, crabcakes, and garlicky broccolini in your inbox next THURSDAY instead of Saturday so that you have plenty of time to shop.
How much flavor your pasta has is entirely up to you — add more lemon, cheese, and pepper to oomph it up, or keep it low-key and cozy, like a grown-up buttered noodle. Leave out the garlic, if you’d like! Use olive oil instead of butter! Use fettuccine or bucatini, but for the love of God do not use angel hair. I tried and tried and it simply does not work here.
If you can’t eat gluten, this recipe should work using brown rice noodles. As always, read the “gluten-free” note for more tips if making that swap.
My family and I have been happily eating big bowls of pasta al limone for dinner all week (the “easiest” recipes are the hardest to develop) so I can confirm that it makes a delightful and filling meal all on its own. But if you want to add some extra protein and/or vegetables to your dinner, I’d pair this pasta with perfect pan-seared chicken breasts and a simple salad of arugula, shaved Pecorino Romano, any nut or seed, kosher salt, freshly cracked pepper, lemon juice, and extra-virgin olive oil! You can also toss in a handful of fresh spinach at the end, it’ll wilt in the heat.
One-pot cheesy pumpkin pasta is another excellent one-pot pasta option for winter. It’s chock full of rich, warming flavors like nutmeg, mustard powder, pumpkin or butternut squash purée, and smoked Gouda. If you want more lemony noodles in your life, try my one-pot lemony garlic butter shrimp orzo. Another super simple yet insanely delicious recipe to keep in your back pocket for pasta night is fried egg pasta with garlicky crunchies. There’s also this lemon basil pasta, which was on repeat in my house all summer!
Serves 4 to 6
Cook time: 20 minutes
Tools:
Large saucepan, Dutch oven, or pot (the widest one you own)
Microplane (you could use the smallest hole on a box grater instead, but I really recommend using a microplane if you have one!)
Knife
Measuring cup
Ingredients:
1 pound dry spaghetti
2 lemons, preferably organic, zested and juiced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and grated
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 1/2 cups water
3 ounces (2 to 3 cups) finely grated Pecorino Romano cheese
Put 1 pound dry spaghetti in a large saucepan or pot that is wide enough that it can fit across the bottom. If you don’t have a pot wide enough, just choose your widest and smoosh the spaghetti down into the water as soon as it becomes soft enough to do so (that will make sense in a second). Use a microplane or grater to grate in the zest of 2 lemons and 2 peeled garlic cloves. Cut 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter into several pieces and add them to the pot. Add 1 teaspoon kosher salt and several grinds of black pepper.
Add 4 1/2 cups water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-high and use tongs to turn the pasta every 30 seconds or so until the pasta is al dente (that means until it’s tender but still has a slightly firm, chewy bite to it) and most (but not all — there should be a thin layer of liquid on the bottom of the pot) of the water has evaporated, 7 to 9 minutes. If the water evaporates before the pasta is al dente, add another splash and keep cooking.
Stir in 1/4 cup lemon juice from the 2 zested lemons. Remove from heat, and let the pasta cool for 3 minutes. This is important! Let it cool! Otherwise the cheese will clump up and harden!
While the noodles are cooling, use a microplane (or the smallest hole of a box grater) to finely grate 3 ounces (2 to 3 cups) of Pecorino Romano cheese. A little bit at a time, add the grated cheese, using tongs to vigorously mix it into the pasta. Add the next tiny bit only once the first bit is incorporated. Stir VERY vigorously with your tongs as you work.
Keep stirring vigorously and adding more cheese until everything is saucy and combined. Want it creamier? Add more butter, or another splash of water! Taste and keep adding more lemon juice (I like more!) or cheese until it’s as lemony and salty as you like it.
Plop onto 4 to 6 plates and garnish with more grated cheese and pepper.
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Make ahead/love your leftovers: This pasta reheats beautifully so feel free to make it ahead of time! Leftovers keep for 4 days packed in an airtight container in the fridge. When you’re reheating, add splashes of water, as needed, to loosen up the sauce.
Feeding kids: Adjust the flavorings as needed for your family’s taste buds. You can use 1 garlic glove instead of 2, and/or only use the zest and juice of 1 lemon if you think they won’t go for noticeable garlic and/or lemon flavor. If you pull back on those flavors, it will taste more like butter noodles with just a hint of lemon. Delish! You can always add more lemon juice to the adults’ bowls. Also, add LOTS grated cheese on top and call it snow!
Must have meat: Pair this meal with perfect pan-seared chicken breasts or peeled and deveined shrimp seasoned with a little kosher salt and pepper, cooked with EVOO or butter in a skillet over medium heat. Scallops would also be great. Or roasted salmon!
Gimme some greens: Above the recipe I share what salad I’d make with this meal! Find more easy and delicious side veg ideas here.
Why organic lemons? I like using organic citrus anytime I’m using the zest. But if you can only find conventional lemons, no prob, use those!
Vegetarian: Already is.
Dairy-free: Use a plant-based butter and either a DF Parm or omit the cheese and add a tablespoon or 2 of extra butter.
Gluten-free: I haven’t made this with GF noodles but we really think it will work as a one-pot recipe if you use brown rice spaghetti noodles (chickpeas or lentil noodles would overpower the taste here) and cut back on the water — use 4 cups instead of 4 1/2 — to help keep the noodles from getting mushy. Add more water a little at a time, if needed, just until all the noodles are covered. Make sure to pull the noodles off the heat right when they hit al dente. When you add the lemon juice, stir in 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch, too, which will help the sauce get creamy since the GF noodles are missing the starchiness of pasta with gluten. Add the cheese in teeny tiny pinches and stir, stir, stir! It won’t be identical to the original recipe but should be very close and delicious.
Another option would be to cook the noodles and sauce separately. So you would cook the GF noodles per package directions until al dente and reserve 1 1/2 cups of the pasta cooking water before draining. Add the butter, zest, garlic, salt, and pepper to a saucepan over medium heat and let the butter melt, stirring often. Once melted, add 3/4 cup of the pasta cooking water and stir until incorporated. Add the lemon juice and stir to combine, then stir in the cooked noodles. Remove from heat and mix in the cheese a teeny bit at a time until saucy!
Spaghetti: Another dried long noodle like bucatini or linguine. Do not use angel hair — it doesn’t work, I tried! I think that a short noodle like penne or rotini will be fine if it’s what you have in the pantry (report back if you try it!), but this recipe has only been tested with spaghetti and that is your best bet! See the “gluten-free” note if using a GF sub. If you have fresh noodles, you can use them, but you’ll need to change things up. Use less water, like 2 cups (and you might need to add more if it all cooks off). Add the water to the pot with the lemon zest, garlic, butter, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium-high and drop the fresh noodles in. They’ll only need 2 to 3 minutes to soften. Proceed with the recipe once they reach al dente.
Lemon: No sub for lemon in pasta al limone!
Garlic: Omit if needed, or add 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder to the pot with the water, butter, etc.
Unsalted butter: You could swap butter out for 4 to 6 tablespoons of EVOO or olive oil. Or use salted butter and cut back on the kosher salt a little.
Pecorino Romano: Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano
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Made it with penne to appease my kid! I reduced the water and it turned out great. Very tasty. Served with roasted lemony broccoli. (My kid of course only ate garlic bread, but still)
This was so good! I’m here for all the Italian recipes to make and eat during the Milan Cortina Olympics! We’ve been trying to clean out stuff from our freezer so after I took the pasta out of the pot, I sautéed some shrimp in the same pot, and it was a delicious addition.