LC Add a Little Oomph Note
We’re all for simplicity. But to lend a little more oomph to this pasta for not-so-picky palates, consider author Aviva Goldfarb’s suggestions to serve it with a pinch of black pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, toasted pine nuts, canned clams, or crumbled bacon. Um, one at a time, please.
Simply Irresistible Spaghetti
Ingredients
Email Grocery ListDirections
Cook the spaghetti according to the package directions.
After the spaghetti has been cooking for about 5 minutes, heat the butter and olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. After the butter has melted, stir in the garlic and cook just until fragrant, 30 to 60 seconds. Reduce the heat to low and keep warm.
Drain the spaghetti, return it to the pot, and stir in the garlic butter and the salt. Toss with the parsley, and serve with the Parmesan on the side.
Recipe Testers Reviews
This is a good weeknight staple. Easy, quick, and made from pretty much what one has on hand in the pantry. It’s quite garlicky for my liking, so the next time I make it I’ll cut the garlic back by half. I added cracked black pepper to this instead of pepperoncino and a bit of the pasta cooking water to make it a bit saucier. I also added the cheese to the pasta prior to tossing and served extra alongside, as I’m a cheese fiend. I served some grilled garlic shrimp and rapini along with this and it made for a satisfying and quick meal.
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This is my all time favorite way to have spaghetti. I also use many different homemade (is there any other way) sauces, and they have all been adjusted and readjusted over the years to be the best they can be… all yummy, one and all. But… how can you beat just plain ol’ salty spaghetti and butter, which is all this recipe basically is, allowing that we’ll all use more or less garlic, butter, or pepper (which is absent from this recipe, along with an optional squeeze of lemon and a grate or two of fresh Parmesan) to make it our own. There is nothing wrong with keeping it simple.
Well said, Dal!
Delicious, it truly is simply irresistible.
Thanks, Ella!
Such a success. Everyone loved it.
Wonderful! Thanks, Kimmy.
I love this recipe. my dad added a few tweaks like eggs because it made it like Italian spaghetti. it was yum.
Wonderful, Alysa! And an excellent idea to add eggs.
I used 5 T butter and added a handful of pine nuts, a little chopped green onions and finely chopped broccoli florets to the butter sauce. Then mixed with spaghetti noodles and topped with grated mozzarella cheese. Put in warm oven until cheese melted. Garnished with fresh chopped cilantro. Served with garlic bread. YUM.
Oh my, Sharon, that is a major YUM! Thank you for sharing.
I loved this pasta recipe. I tweaked it a little by adding Italian spices and some pepper powder. Kids loved it.
Sarala, love to hear that your kids love this recipe! Thanks so much for taking the time to let us know, we SO appreciate it. Out of curiosity, what would you do differently to make the recipe a 5 instead of a 4?
This tastes great. I made it to compliment Parmesan chicken. I think it taste good if it’s accompanied by something else.
Analuisa, so glad you like this! And yes, definitely it’s a lovely complement to something else, although we know lots of kids who like it straight up, natch.
Thanks for this, my kid loves it. Didn’t realize I had run out of spaghetti sauce so this quick easy recipe was a life saver. Thanks a million.
Megan, I’m delighted your kid likes this. It’s wicked easy and dee-licious!
I did everything this recipe said and I don’t know I guess i just didn’t like it. After reading the first comment I put less garlic but it was still EXTREMELY garlicky. The pasta had NO flavor it was just like eating pasta with oil and Parmesan cheese so i did add cheese and that made it better. This is a good recipe but I think a lot more needs to be done to add flavor.
Danielle, sorry to hear this wasn’t to your liking. Some recipes are intentionally quite simple in flavor so as to let the ingredients come through. Especially a recipe like this that was designed for a young, finicky palate. Hope you try some of our other pasta recipes, I think you’ll find several things more to your liking…