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This Brown Butter Lemon Pasta recipe is easy to make with 5 ingredients in less than 30 minutes and tastes absolutely divine. Feel free to add in any proteins or veggies that you would like too!
Every time that I post about my husband making this brown butter lemon pasta for us on Instagram, my inbox instantly fills up with a hundred requests for the recipe. I must admit, though, that one of my favorite things about this recipe up until this point is that I haven’t known how to make it. Barclay always takes charge of the kitchen on our lemon pasta date nights and shoos me away to go relax before dinner’s ready anytime that I try and help. (Yes, dream husband.) But…this pasta is so delicious and so many of you have asked about it that I insisted on hovering behind him in the kitchen recently so that I could jot down the ingredients that he used (he never measures) to make a batch.
And I’m telling you, you guys are going to love this one. ♡
The recipe itself calls for just 5 simple ingredients — pasta, butter, lemon, Parmesan and black pepper — but the magic of this recipe is in how each of these ingredients are cooked to bring out the best of their flavors and create the most luxuriously rich and glossy brown butter lemon pepper sauce. It’s a quick and easy recipe to follow and comes together quickly in just 25 minutes, making it perfect for busy weeknights or any special occasion when you don’t want to spend much time in the kitchen! Barclay usually serves with our favorite green side salad and some sort of veggie that he roasts up in the oven while the pasta cooks too. But of course, you’re also welcome to pair this lemon pasta with a protein that sounds good (I would recommend salmon, shrimp or chicken) or add in any other extra ingredients that sound good.
Bottom line, I look forward to this pasta every time that he makes it, and am certain it’s going to become a new favorite in your home too. So grab some lemon and butter and let’s make some pasta!
Brown Butter Lemon Pasta Ingredients:
Since the ingredient list for this recipe is so short, I really recommend investing in quality (especially a block of aged Parmesan and some good-quality pasta). Here is a quick overview of the ingredients you will need…
- Pasta: I’m really partial to a thicker pasta that will give you a good bite for this recipe. We typically go back and forth between rigatoni and bucatini in our house, but really, any pasta will do here.
- Butter: We wrote the recipe below using salted butter, but if you only have unsalted on hand, just add an extra 1/4 teaspoon of salt to the butter sauce.
- Lemon: We will simmer the lemon zest in the brown butter and then add in the lemon juice to the sauce just before adding in the pasta.
- Parmesan: As always when making a cheesy pasta sauce, it’s important to use Parmesan that has been freshly grated so that it will melt well into the sauce. We also always grate some extra Parmesan atop each serving dish, which I highly recommend!
- Sea salt: The only time that we salt this recipe is by generously salting the pasta water — which both soaks into the pasta itself, and also salts the pasta sauce when the starchy pasta water is later added to the brown butter. If the finished pasta still needs extra salt, you can always add in an extra pinch while you are tossing the hot pasta. And as always when cooking pasta, I recommend using sea salt (instead of table salt).
- Freshly-cracked black pepper: Finally, to bring out the best flavor of freshly-cracked black pepper, it is simmered in the brown butter sauce. And then we also can never resist adding a few twists to our serving bowls besides diving in. (We like a lot of black pepper here in our house.)
Ingredient amounts are listed in the recipe box below.
How To Make This Pasta:
This recipe is all about multi-tasking once it’s time to begin cooking the pasta and browning the butter. So I recommend measuring all of your ingredients while the pasta water heats so that they are ready to go and you can fully concentrate on the sauce while cooking. Also, be sure that the sauté pan you are using for the brown butter sauce is large enough to fit all of that pasta!
Here is a quick overview of the cooking process, with a few important tips in there too:
- Cook the pasta. Just to reiterate — it is very important that you generously salt the pasta water for this recipe! That salty pasta water is the only chance that you have to salt the pasta itself, plus it will also serve double duty in this recipe by salting the sauce when we add a ladle-full of the pasta water to the brown butter. So bring a stockpot of water to a boil, salt it generously, then add the pasta and cook until it is about 2 minutes shy of al dente.
- Brown the butter. Now, time for some multitasking! Around the same time that you add the pasta to the boiling water, begin cooking the butter in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. The butter will begin to simmer, then foam (at this point, add in the lemon zest and a few twists of black pepper), and then eventually the solids will separate and begin to turn golden and release a delicious nutty aroma. Keep a very close eye on the butter and stir it pretty constantly, as it can accidentally burn quickly. Then once it’s ready to go…
- Add the remaining sauce ingredients. Using a heat-safe measuring cup, scoop out 1 cup of the starchy pasta water from the stockpot and immediately, carefully pour it into the brown butter mixture. Stir and simmer the mixture for a few minutes until it has reduced and thickened a bit. Whisk in the grated Parmesan and lemon juice until combined.
- Finish the pasta. Then once the pasta is 2-ish minutes shy of al dente, use a strainer to transfer the pasta directly to the brown butter sauce. And toss it for 2 minutes or so, until the pasta is al dente and the sauce is glossy and coats the pasta evenly. (If the sauce seems too dry, just add in some more starchy pasta water to thin it out.)
- Serve. Serve immediately, garnished with an extra sprinkle of Parmesan and cracked black pepper if desired, and enjoy!
Possible Recipe Variations:
As I mentioned above, this recipe stands well on its own or could be customized with any number of add-ins or variations that you might want to try. For example, feel free to…
- Add a protein: Chicken, shrimp, salmon, or scallops would all be some delicious proteins that you could add to this pasta or serve alongside it.
- Add veggies: You could also sauté or roast some of your favorite veggies to add in, such as asparagus, broccoli, mushrooms, or tomatoes.
- Add crushed red pepper flakes: In my opinion, you can never go wrong with adding a small pinch of crushed red pepper flakes to simmer in pasta sauce. (Or if you would really like to taste the heat, add in a few pinches.)
- Add white wine: This brown butter sauce would also be delicious with a generous swirl of dry white wine added in.
- Use less butter: We have also made this recipe using 1/3 or 1/4 cup of butter, and while it’s definitely not as rich, it is still delicious and is a great option if you would like to make this sauce a bit healthier.
- Make it gluten-free: And of course, if you would like to make this recipe gluten-free, just use your favorite certified gluten-free pasta.
More Favorite Pasta Recipes:
Here are a few of my other favorite pasta recipes if you are looking for some good ones to try! ♡
Description
This Brown Butter Lemon Pasta recipe is easy to make with 5 ingredients in less than 30 minutes and tastes absolutely divine. Feel free to add in any proteins or veggies that you would like too!
Instructions
- Cook the pasta. Heat a large stockpot of generously-salted water until boiling. Add the pasta (at the same time you being browning the butter, see below) and cook until 2 minutes shy of al dente.
- Brown the butter. At the same time* that you add the pasta to the boiling water, begin cooking the butter in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Continue cooking until the butter has melted and begins to foam, stirring frequently to ensure that the butter cooks evenly. Add in the lemon zest and a few twists of black pepper and continue cooking the butter, stirring frequently, until it starts to turn golden brown and smells toasty. (Keep a very close eye on the butter so that it does not burn; it can go from golden to burnt very quickly!)
- Add the remaining sauce ingredients. Using a heat-safe measuring cup, scoop out 1 cup of the starchy pasta water from the stockpot and immediately pour it into the brown butter mixture. (Be careful and pour slowly because it will bubble.) Let the mixture simmer and reduce for a few minutes until it has thickened slightly, stirring occasionally. Add in the grated Parmesan and lemon juice and whisk until combined.
- Finish the pasta. Once the pasta is 2 minutes shy of al dente, use a strainer to transfer the pasta directly to the brown butter sauce. Then toss it with the sauce, stirring gently and constantly, until the pasta is al dente and the sauce is thick and glossy and coats the pasta evenly. (If the sauce seems too dry, just add in an extra 1/4 cup at a time of the remaining starchy pasta water as needed.) Taste and season with extra salt, if needed.
- Serve. Serve immediately, garnished with an extra sprinkle of Parmesan and cracked black pepper if desired, and enjoy!
Notes
Butter: If you are using unsalted butter, you will need to add about 1/4 teaspoon of fine sea salt to the butter.
Timing: I wrote this recipe based on the time that my stove takes to brown butter and the time that it takes rigatoni to cook, but those times may vary based on your stove and the type of pasta that you choose. If the pasta finishes early, go ahead and drain the pasta (being sure to reserve some of the starchy pasta water before draining, in case it is needed later) until the brown butter sauce is ready to go. Or if the sauce finishes early, just remove it from the heat for a few minutes until the pasta is ready to go.
