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This Creamy Lemon Pasta is bright, buttery, and packed with fresh lemon flavor in the most comforting way. It’s a simple weeknight pasta that feels a little fancy but comes together in about 20 minutes with just a handful of ingredients.
You’ll also love our Creamy Rose Pasta, our Pesto Cream Sauce, AND our Easy Creamy Alfredo Pasta!
Why you’ll love this easy lemon butter pasta
Growing up with an Italian father, i’m no stranger to pasta al limone! It’s one of my all time favorite super simple pasta dishes to make. Admittedly, mine isn’t exactly classic but a version that I’ve adapted over the years and I really love how it turned out. We often eat this as our main course with a protein on the side BUT it also makes a great side dish!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Bright and creamy: fresh lemon balances the richness of butter and cream.
- Quick dinner: ready in about 20 minutes from start to finish.
- Simple ingredients: made with pantry staples plus fresh lemon and parmesan.
- Restaurant-worthy flavor: silky, glossy sauce that coats every bite of pasta.
- Easy to customize: add veggies, herbs, or protein if you want to bulk it up.
In this post…
Ingredients needed
The ingredients for this creamy lemon pasta recipe are listed fully down in the recipe card but let’s briefly go over the pantry staples needed including a few substitutions you can make as desired!
- Pasta. We used some fun spiral pasta from Trader Joe’s, but any long or short type of pasta will work. Use whole wheat, gluten free, or any other pasta of choice.
- Lemon juice + zest. Use fresh lemon juice and zest to give this dish a lovely, bright and sunny flavor.
- Butter. Thickens the sauce and makes it rich and decadent.
- Heavy cream. For all that delicious creaminess!
- Garlic. Fresh garlic is pretty much a must in any pasta dish, IMO.
- Salt + fresh black pepper. Brings out all of the delicious flavor!
- Parmesan cheese. I highly recommend high quality and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Because this recipe contains so few ingredients, quality really counts! And always grate extra parm for serving :)
How to Make It
Just a reminder that you can find the FULL written recipe down in the recipe card, but I want to quickly go over how to make them with visuals for you :)
- While the pasta cooks, start the lemon cream sauce. In a large skillet over medium heat, saute the garlic in a little butter and olive oil.
- Whisk in the cream and lemon zest and bring to a simmer. Cook for a few minutes until the sauce begins to thicken a bit. Add in the remaining butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, waiting to add the next tablespoon until the last one has melted.
- Add in the al dente pasta along with about 1/2 cup of pasta water. Stir to combine.
- Finally, mix in the parmesan and lemon juice and continue to stir until the cheese is fully melted and the pasta is coated in the creamy lemon sauce. Garnish with additional lemon zest, red pepper flakes, and fresh parsley and enjoy!
Recipe Tips
- Reserve pasta water. The starchy water helps emulsify the sauce and makes it silky.
- Use fresh lemon. Bottled lemon juice won’t give the same bright flavor.
- Add lemon juice last. This keeps the flavor fresh and prevents bitterness.
- Grate parmesan finely. It melts much smoother into the sauce.
- Don’t overcook the pasta. Slightly undercook it so it finishes cooking in the sauce.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! You can skip the cream and use extra pasta water and butter for a lighter lemon butter pasta.
Absolutely. This pasta is great with sautéed spinach, roasted asparagus, broccoli, peas, shrimp, chicken or crispy tofu.
The starch in pasta water helps thicken the sauce and makes it cling to the pasta better.
Storage recommendations
- To store. Place leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 to 4 days. We do not recommend freezing this pasta dish.
- To reheat. Gently rewarm leftovers in a Dutch oven or large pot on the stovetop over medium-low heat, splashing in cream, almond milk, regular milk or water as needed to loosen the sauce. You can also reheat individual servings in the microwave.
More easy pasta recipes to try:
Creamy Lemon Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 ounces pasta
- 1 lemon, zest and juice
- 4 tablespoons butter, cut into 1 tablespoon chunks and divided
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- ¾ cup parmesan, finely grated
- Salt and fresh black pepper to taste
- Optional: 1 teaspoon of flour to thicken sauce
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to package directions until al dente. You want it to be *slightly* undercooked as it will cook a little more in the skillet with the sauce. Be sure to save ½ cup of the pasta water.
- When the pasta has 5 minutes left, start the sauce. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add in the garlic and sauté for 2 minutes. Whisk in the lemon zest and cream and continue to whisk until the liquid comes to a gentle simmer.
- Add the remaining butter in, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring continuously until all of the butter is added and melted. If your pasta is not yet done, remove the sauce from the heat.
- Once the pasta is done, return the sauce skillet to the heat over medium and whisk in ½ cup of the pasta water. Then transfer the pasta to the skillet with the sauce and stir to coat.
- Mix in the parmesan until it’s fully melted. Finally, add in the lemon juice and stir to combine. The sauce should be a little on the thinner side but it thickens quickly as it begins to cool. However, if you think it’s too thin, you can sprinkle on a teaspoon of flour and stir to mix.
- Season to taste with additional salt and pepper. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- To store. Place leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 to 4 days. We do not recommend freezing this pasta dish.
- To reheat. Gently rewarm leftovers in a Dutch oven or large pot on the stovetop over medium-low heat, splashing in cream, almond milk, regular milk or water as needed to loosen the sauce. You can also reheat individual servings in the microwave.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
1
This was so delicious! Perfect early spring meal. Paired it with your air fryer asparagus recipe and some garlic bread. Leftovers were amazing too, the flavor really soaked in overnight!! Will definitely be making this again!