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Garlic Parmesan Pasta is light and creamy, perfect to serve as a side dish for your favorite protein or as a super simple main dish. This easy recipe is a one pot pasta with tender noodles, a cheesy, creamy garlic sauce and the best part is it’s ready in 20 minutes!
For a simple, easy meal, serve with Baked Boneless Chicken Thighs and Cheesy Garlic Bread.
Garlic Parmesan Pasta
This easy recipe is an absolute family favorite. I usually serve Garlic Parmesan Pasta with Crispy Baked Chicken Thighs or Oven Baked Chicken Breasts and some Frozen Vegetables or a quick tossed salad. I’ve also been known to just whip it up for lunch because it’s such a quick recipe.
The garlic pasta sauce is creamy and tastes like an Alfredo Sauce. To lighten it up, I used half skim milk and half heavy cream. You could use any ratio of milk and cream that you like, or even no cream at all. The more cream you use, the richer the sauce will be.
The best part you can have this dish on the table in 20 minutes, depending on how you cook it. I’ve included two methods below. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- Olive oil
- Garlic
- Butter
- Uncooked linguine or fettuccine noodles – this is the type of pasta I commonly use. You could really use any pasta you like but you may have to adjust the cooking time.
- Chicken broth (or stock) – if you don’t have broth handy, water can be used as a substitute. Just be sure to taste and add salt as needed.
- Salt and pepper – you can also add 1/4-½ teaspoon of Italian seasoning, dried oregano, or basil for additional seasoning.
- 1 cup milk/cream – use any ratio of milk to cream, or use half and half.
- Parmesan cheese – freshly grated off the block
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, for garnish
Step by Step Instructions
* Be sure to see the recipe card below for the
complete list of ingredients and full instructions *
- Saute garlic in a 12-inch skillet. Garlic cooks quickly, so you’ll only want to cook it for about a minute.
- Add the pasta, salt, pepper, butter, chicken stock, and milk/cream to the skillet. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. It’s hard to stir long, uncooked noodles, so using tongs works great to help toss them around in the sauce.
- Once the mixture is boiling, reduce the heat and cover the pan. Simmer for 15-20 minutes or until pasta is cooked to al dente. You can also cook the pasta with the lid off at a higher heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes for an even quicker dish.
- Turn off the heat and toss the cooked pasta in the sauce. Add Parmesan cheese evenly over the top of the pasta, tossing with tongs to get it well incorporated and melted. Garnish with parsley and serve.
Expert Tips and FAQs
- When the pasta is cooked there should still be just a little liquid left in the pan. As you stir in the Parmesan cheese this liquid will help to create the creamy sauce.
- Add the Parmesan gradually and in a thin layer evenly across the top of the pasta, then gently toss to melt and coat the pasta. Do this in batches if necessary to ensure the cheese doesn’t clump as it melts.
- I will sometimes grate the block of cheese right into the pasta, tossing as I go, to avoid clumping.
- Always use fresh, grated off-the-block Parmesan. The pre-grated and pre-shredded won’t melt and you’ll end up with a grainy sauce.
- If your pasta sauce is too thick, just add a few splashes of milk or cream at a time. Toss with each addition until your desired consistency is reached.
- For an extra creamy sauce, or if you need to thicken your sauce, add a couple ounces of softened cream cheese.
What to serve with Garlic Parmesan Pasta
- Spicy Garlic Shrimp
- Chicken Piccata
- Lemon Garlic Roasted Chicken Drumsticks
- Shrimp Scampi
- Garden Salad with Homemade Ranch Dressing
- Pan Roasted Lemon Garlic Chicken Thighs
- Oven Roasted Asparagus
Storage and Reheating
Storage: Once pasta is cooled and within 2 hours of cooking, store leftover garlic parmesan pasta in an airtight container. Refrigerate for up to 3-4 days.
To reheat: You can reheat your pasta in the microwave or on the stovetop in a skillet (recommended). Before heating, add a splash of milk to help the sauce bind together, and reheat gradually and at a low temperature for best results.
More One Pot Pasta Recipes You’ll Love
- One Pan Caprese Pasta
- One Pan Philly Cheesesteak
- One Pot Creamy Chicken and Noodles
- One Pot Chicken Alfredo
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One Pan Garlic Parmesan Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic about 3-4 cloves
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 8 ounces uncooked linguine noodles
- 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup warmed milk/cream (I use half nonfat milk and half heavy cream use any ratio of milk-cream and warm for 30 seconds in the microwave.
- 1/2 cup fresh shredded Parmesan cheese off the block
- 1 tablespoon fresh minced parsley, for garnish
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.
- Remove from heat, toss pasta, and gradually stir in Parmesan Cheese. *Pro-tip – I use a microplane and grate right over the pasta.
- Garnish with fresh minced parsley, if desired.
Hard to read. You need to proof read your blogging. It would help. Good recipe once I skipped straight to it. Good photos.
I caught one typo, thanks.
i love it!
Made this tonight with some garlic shrimp on top! Delicious!! Great pasta recipe!!!
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.
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!
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! 🙂
Made this tonight. Everyone loved it! It was so easy.
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!
This was delicious ! thanks for sharing both my picky eaters at home loved this
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.
I made this for dinner today. It was a big hit. Very easy to make and super delicious.
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!!
How do I adjust the servings for more?
My husband loved this and that is quite a compliment. I used Half & Half instead of the 1 cup milk/cream.
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!!
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!
Thanks for sharing…absolutely awesome as written!! Adding chicken, I can imagine, will make it even more spectacular!! 🙂
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!
I have a large family to double the recipe should I double all the ingredients?
Yes you could certainly do that!
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!