Garlic Parsley Pasta

These notes are here to help make this recipe a success; they cover some but not all ingredients; for a complete ingredient list, check out the recipe card below.

Pasta: I always use long pasta noodles for this recipe, but it will work with any shape you like. Egg pasta is especially lovely with this simple sauce.
Butter: You can use salted or unsalted butter. Just adjust the seasoning of your final dish accordingly.
Garlic: There are 6 cloves in this garlic parsley pasta; it mellows as it cooks in the butter. But as I always say, garlic should be measured by the heart, so add more or less as you prefer.
Parsley: The parsley here is an ingredient rather than a garnish, so you really do need to use fresh parsley. I prefer Italian flat-leaf parsley, but you can use curly parsley, but half the quantity.

Why You'll Love This Garlic Parsley Pasta

• It is a quick and easy dinner idea.
• It works as a main or a side dish.
• You'll already have most of the ingredients at home.
• It is easy to adapt to suit what you have available.

We've tested this recipe at least 3 times to ensure it works well for you, have a look at our tips for getting the best dish you can!

• Place the water onto boil for the pasta before you prepare any other ingredients. This is the longest step (unless you have an electric kettle).
• Please don't skip the salting of the pasta water; it makes so much difference to the taste of the finished dish.
• If you thinly slice the garlic, it is less likely to burn than minced garlic.
• Before you drain the pasta, reserve 2 cups of the cooking liquid. This helps combine the simple sauce and allows it to coat the pasta.
• After you have drained the pasta, it is mixed with the sauce and some reserved cooking water. This step gives you a dish where each strand of pasta is coated in sauced rather than just having a pool of sauce at the bottom of the bowl.

These are all just suggestions and things that have worked in our test kitchen, but it is your dinner, so adapt it to suit your family. That is the beauty of cooking; we can all create our own delicious meals.

• Add Protein: Add meat or seafood to the pasta. If you have leftover cooked chicken, pork shrimp, steak, or salmon, add them to the garlic parsley butter sauce before adding it to the pasta. Or if you are cooking your protein to add to the pasta, cook it in the skillet before you start the sauce, and set it aside, tented with foil. You can add it back when you mix the pasta and sauce.
• Add Vegetables: Vegetables like asparagus, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, or beans are all delicious additions. Blanch them in the pasta cooking water for 2 minutes, then add to the finished dish when you mix the sauce and pasta.
• Cheese: Top your finished pasta with parmesan or creamy goat cheese. Or add some chopped baby mozzarella balls or some crumbled ricotta.
• Pangratatto: Adding toasted breadcrumbs to pasta gives it a crunchy, crispy texture. I'll be posting a variety of pangratatto recipes soon.

We will often make this garlic parsley pasta as a main and just add a couple of quick and easy sides to complete the dinner:

• Simple Green Salad
• Garlic Green Beans
• Chili Sugar Snaps
• Kale and Bacon
• Tomato Salad
• Fig, Ricotta and Prosciutto salad

But pasta makes a great side, so you can serve it along side these mains:

• One Pan Garlic Butter Chicken
• One Pan Creamy Garlic Chicken
• Italian Chicken Breasts
• Seared Lemon Paprika Garlic Butter Scallops
• Baked Chicken with Cherry Tomatoes