This One Pan Garlic Parmesan pasta is a light enough recipe to serve as a main dish, or a delicious side dish to accompany your favorite meats. Tender linguine pasta tossed in a creamy, cheesy garlicky sauce – it’s dinner-time perfection ready in 20 minutes!
*This post is updated from 2014.
From time to time I will update an older post, not because the recipe wasn’t good, but because three years ago my photos looked like the one below, and really didn’t do justice the dish! This is one of those, because the One Pan Garlic Parmesan Pasta is Ah-Mazing!
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This dish is lightened with the use of nonfat milk with or in place of whole milk or heavy cream. For the remake, I chose to use half nonfat milk and half heavy cream. The more cream you use, the more richer your pasta dish will be. I also chose linguine instead of fettuccine, but really any long, skinny pasta could be used. You’ll just may need to adjust the cooking time slightly.
First heat some olive oil in a 12 inch skillet. Add the garlic and stir as it cooks. It will become quite fragrant at this point and your family will come in wondering what that amazing smell is.
As the garlic is just beginning to brown, you’ll add the rest of the ingredients, except the cheese and parsley. It will be getting all nice and bubbly at this point.
Stir it up to coat the pasta and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook the pasta for about 10 minutes or until tender.
Once the pasta is cooked through (there should still be just a little liquid left in the pan), stir in the Parmesan cheese and parsley.
Pro Tip – Add the Parmesan in a thin layer evenly across the top of the pasta and then gently toss to melt and coat the pasta. Do this in two batches if necessary to ensure the cheese doesn’t clump as it melts.
One Pan Garlic Parmesan Pasta
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 3 -4 servings
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 8 oz. dry linguine noodles
- 2 cups low-sodium chicken stock
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup milk/cream (I use half nonfat milk and half heavy cream
- 1/2 cup fresh shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Instructions
- In a 12 inch skillet over medium-high, heat olive oil and add garlic. Stir and cook until garlic becomes fragrant and just starts to brown; about 1 minute. Add pasta, salt, pepper, butter, chicken stock and milk/cream. Stir and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until pasta is tender. *OR cook and stir constantly for about 10 minutes for a quicker finish time.
- Remove from heat, toss pasta, and stir in Parmesan Cheese (sprinkle cheese in a thin, even layer for best melting). *Pro-tip - I use a microplane and grate right over the pasta.
- Sprinkle parsley on top. Divide into bowls and serve hot.
For more great one pan pasta dishes, be sure to try these:
One Pan Tomato Basil Chicken Linguine
One Pan Lemon Chicken Piccata Pasta
For all one pan meals, go HERE, for all dinner recipes go HERE and for the Recipe Index go HERE.
Hi! I’m Kristin, the creative mind behind Yellow Bliss Road where you will be inspired by tons of easy to follow recipes, lots of free printables, and a little sprinkling of life thrown in for good measure.
Being able to make dinner in one pan is such a huge help! This recipe looks delicious!
Love this recipe but does anyone know how many people this feeds? Thanks!
It should make around 4-5 servings.
We had this for dinner tonight and my oh my was it easy, delicious, and quick ! My husband and daughter absoTOOTly loved it ! :] Thank you for sharing this yummy goodness!
What can I substitute for the chicken broth to make this a vegetarian dish?
I imagine vegetable broth would work well. Or you could simply use water; just be sure to add salt.
I used Better Than Bouillon Vegetable base which you mix with water to make a vegetable broth. it turned out great! I thought it was even better than when I made it with chicken broth.
Better than bouillon is the best! I use the chicken and beef all the time
Would you add raw chicken to this recipe? If so, when? Before the garlic? Or after? Want to make this tonight for my family. Can’t wait to try something different!
Definitely cook the chicken before adding it to the pasta. I haven’t tried it, but you could probably do it similar to the way other one pans on the site are cooked.
I made this tonight, but i tweaked it a little. i used half & half in place of milk, browned two cut up boneless skinless chicken breasts before the garlic and when it came to simmering i added a bag of frozen broccoli florets
I’m glad you left this comment! I was wondering a out adding chicken as well. Making this tonight for the first time.
I just made this tonight and it is delicious. It definitely does not need cream. I used 1% milk and it tasted like it was made with heavy cream. Yum. It was perfect comfort food for a cold, cold winter day.
in the first part of the instructions you say to cover while cooking but in the second part you don’t mention it. Do you cover it while cooking? Excited to try this! Thanks!
Both parts says to cover and simmer
I made this tonight. We added some shredded rotisserie chicken we had! Do you know what the calorie count is on this recipe? Thanks!!!
The first time I made this recipe I followed it exactly except I used linguine noodles instead of fettuccine. I was a little unsatisfied because the noodles were kind of mushy and all stuck together. This time, I reduced the broth to 1 1/2 cups and reduced the cooking time to 15 minutes. It was perfect! So, if you are using smaller noodles such as linguine or spaghetti you will want to reduce the liquid and the cooking time. The noodles were tender but still firm and the sauce clung to the noodles.
You can also mix up this recipe by adding whatever veggies you want to the pan when you simmer it. I added in minced onion with the garlic, and threw in some asparagus I had in my fridge when I added the noodles. It added a wonderful depth of flavor and variety of texture.
I LOVE this recipe! I’ve made it about a dozen times now, always turns out great! I’ll make it as is or with chicken or shrimp or mushrooms! It’s become a fast favorite!
I just made this for dinner at the last minute for the first time. It was amazingly good! I used campanelle shaped pasta since that’s what I owned and boiled it for 13 minutes and threw in a small amount of dried parsley. I also used lactose-free 2% milk. Wow, was it good! This is going to become a staple in my house. I’m so excited I found this recipe on Pinterest. My ultra picky 11 year old ate literally one noodle as a taste and even admitted to liking it which is a big deal. This is something I always have the ingredients for too. Thank you!
This has become my go-to for chicken fettuccini….yes, I add chicken every time. We love it….thank you so much for sharing!
I made this dish, as we are in a 5th wheel for a month, and anything easy sounds wonderful. The thought of making pasta without boiling, straining, and into yet another dish, etc, was something i could not pass up. i did it as it was written, plus threw in a few fresh green beans before i put in the pasta, and then chopped up some left over meat balls, cuz i had them, and was looking for a one meal dish. Wonderful as written, plus i can see the option for lots of variations. Thanks for a recipe i will use over and over…best, Danie
My son and I love this dish!! Any ideas on how to adjust the recipe to use homemade noodles? I know they use much less cook time, and I wouldn’t want the dish to be have too much liquid. Thanks!
Sorry I haven’t tried it with homemade pasta. But let me know how it works out if you do!
Question – for the Parmesan cheese- do you grate from a block or just the sprinkle kind ?
You could use either, and I have. However grating from the block is so much better!
This was so easy and delicious! I followed exact except I fried up some Pancetta and crumbled over the top.
This recipe is delicious. I cooked boneless skinless chicken breast in the pot first then added fresh broccoli florets after the noodles came to a boil.
Thank you for the great recipe!!
Loved this! Tasted greats so flexible with add-ins! (Chicken (woot woot!), broccoli, etc)
can I cook this a day in advance and serve it cold or at room temperature? I want to serve it to a very large crowd?
I don’t think it would be that great cold.
Love love love this recipe. Thanks so much for sharing. I make this all the time and my daughter loves it. So easy and quick. I use almond milk. Going to try adding chicken and broccoli next time.
I am going to add shrimp to it 🙂
That’s a great idea!
Thank you so much for sharing your recipe. I added leftover grilled chicken that I had slightly warmed in the microwave. Really good and easy. My family all loved it also.
Sounds delicious!
I have a large family to double the recipe should I double all the ingredients?
Yes you could certainly do that!
I made this last night and will definitely be making it again and again! I used 5 gloves of fresh garlic. I didn’t have low sodium broth, so I omitted the added salt. I increased the pepper to 1/2 tsp. I used half&half. At the end I added one grilled/blackened chicken breast chopped up and a pound of steamed broccoli. Incredibly easy and deicious!
Thanks for sharing…absolutely awesome as written!! Adding chicken, I can imagine, will make it even more spectacular!! 🙂
I’ve been making this since you first wrote about it several years ago. It’s my go to for a quick but filling supper. My daughter loves it so much, she requests it often and we now refer to it in our home as “The Good Pasta.” However, we are working on changing our diets and Id really like to make just the sauce of this and pour over Zoodles. Any idea how to make just the sauce itself? Thanks in advance!
I haven’t tried this recipe, but it looks pretty similar to Alfredo sauce. It’s like a basic white sauce (or béchamel if you’re feeling fancy) with garlic & parmesan cheese. It just has some extra liquid added for the pasta. So if you’re still looking for a way to alter this recipe, I’d say try one of these options:
1. look for a white sauce / béchamel sauce recipe & add garlic (if necessary) & parmesan
2. look for an Alfredo sauce recipe
3. try making this, but omit the pasta and chicken broth. After it comes to a boil, if it’s too thin, cook it a little longer & if it’s too thick, add some milk or chicken broth.
I hope one of those ideas works for you (if you haven’t found a solution already), and you can enjoy “The Good Zoodles”.
I just took another look at the ingredients, and if the idea above comes out too thin, you could try adding a little flour with the butter at the beginning. I’m thinking the starch from the pasta probably helps thicken the sauce.
If you’ve already made the sauce and it’s really runny, don’t use flour, because it will be hard to cook out the floury taste. I’d try either adding more cheese, or mix a little corn starch in a bowl with some milk, water, or chicken broth, and once it’s dissolved, add it to the sauce, and let it come to a boil to thicken it. (Don’t add corn starch to a hot liquid, because it won’t dissolve as well.)
Good luck!
Thank you so much for this amazing recipe! This is truly a one pot recipe. My whole family loves this dish!! It is so tasty. I have never cooked pasta that way and I absolutely loved it- cooking it in chicken broth and other ingredients is genius. Thank you!!
My husband loved this and that is quite a compliment. I used Half & Half instead of the 1 cup milk/cream.
How do I adjust the servings for more?
I’m making this tonight!! I bought a roast chicken and will chop it up and add at the end. Easy, thank you for one-pot ideas!!
I made this for dinner today. It was a big hit. Very easy to make and super delicious.
I have made this twice. The first time according to the directions, and it tasted too starchy. The second time I boiled the noodles separately then added them, and it tasted much better.
This was delicious ! thanks for sharing both my picky eaters at home loved this
Made this tonight with a twist. I used shrimp stock instead of chicken and added cooked shrimp. It was great and my picky husband loved it!
Oh that sounds amazing!
Made this tonight. Everyone loved it! It was so easy.
Would it be ok to double the size we have a huge family and I really want this tonight!!
Yes I think that would be pretty simple to do! 🙂
I have made this a few times. I adjusted the sauce slightly, as I like a saucier pasta. It is very good and very simple to make.
Yay!
So I’m pretty new to cooking and I was wondering if it was one cup milk and one cup of cream or half a cup milk, half a cup cream?
Thank you.
It’s one cup total – so half a cup of each.
Thank you.
Made this tonight with some garlic shrimp on top! Delicious!! Great pasta recipe!!!