Garlic Butter Spaghetti
This is what I cook when I want dinner in less time than it takes to scroll a menu. It's three ingredients plus pasta water, and the trick is that the pasta water is doing the heavy lifting. It emulsifies the butter into a glossy little sauce that clings to every strand. Don't skip the cheese at the end if you have it.
- Prep
- 5 min
- Cook
- 12 min
- Total
- 17 min
- Serves
- 2 servings
- Cost/serving
- $1.10
Ingredients
- ·200 g spaghetti pasta
- ·4 tbsp butter
- ·4 cloves, thinly sliced garlic
- ·to taste salt
- ·to taste black pepper
- ·30 g, grated cheddar cheese (optional)
Method
- 1.Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a hard boil. Add the spaghetti and cook one minute under the package time.
- 2.While it cooks, melt the butter in a wide skillet over medium-low heat. Add the sliced garlic and let it sizzle gently for 2-3 minutes until pale gold. Not brown.
- 3.Scoop out a mug of pasta water before draining. Drain the spaghetti.
- 4.Add the pasta to the skillet with a few tablespoons of pasta water. Toss hard for 30 seconds until the sauce turns glossy and coats the noodles.
- 5.Season with salt and a lot of black pepper. Top with cheese if using and serve immediately.
If you don't have…
- spaghetti: any long pasta. Linguine, fettuccine, or even broken angel hair
- butter: olive oil works; use a generous 4 tbsp and skip the browning step
- cheddar: parmesan, pecorino, or a hard cheese rind grated fine
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