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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
If you’ve made this recipe, please come back and leave us a star rating or a comment below. Or, tag us on social media @yellowblissroad or #yellowblissroad for a chance to be featured.
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.
What would be the best way for there to be more sauce say to go over a crispy Parmesan chicken?
Probably would be easier to go with an Alfredo Sauce and cook the pasta separately.
What is the best way to add chicken to this recipe
If you’re wanting to cook it with the pasta, you could do that by dicing a large chicken breast into chunks and cooking it in a little olive oil most of the way through before adding the other ingredients. Or, you could cook the chicken separately using either my Baked Chicken Breasts or Stove Top Chicken Breast
This is an amazing dish! Whole family loves it! Great with added veggies and chicken.
Thank you so much Cory, for sharing your positive feedback.
Do you think plain yogurt could be substituted for the milk/cream?
Yogurt is a good substitute for sour cream but not for milk, so no, that wouldn’t work in this recipe.
This is a delicious recipe but I have a big family, how can I double the servings? Just double the ingredients? Thanks!
You could double the ingredients if you have a large enough pan.
This sounds delicious, but I have a question. I use roasted minced garlic for all of my recipes that call for garlic. Would it hurt to use minced roasted garlic, or is it best to use regular minced? I’ve never made my own parmasan noodles, so I have no idea how it would affect it. I use roasted minced garlic for all of my recipes that call for garlic.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to use that same sentence twice. I thought I deleted the last one. 🙂
Yes you can make that swap. I love roasted garlic too and think it would be absolutely delicious!
I had my picky/healthy eater go through my dinner pinterest board to choose some new meals to try that he would eat. Just made this, and he loved it! His friend was over and said he doesn’t normally like pasta, but he wanted his mom to make it. Whew, two wins in one! Plus, one pan! I’m in heaven.
That’s so awesome Kathy! thank you so much for stopping by!
Absolutely delicious.. I use this as a base for other pastas.. I’m recreating Cheesecake Factory’s fajita pasta using this as a base but instead I add cheddar cheese and add Mexican spices along with chicken and peppers and a touch of honey.. amazing!!!
Thank you Michele!
One of our favorites now. So good and quick!
So i have a question i don’t boil the noodles seperatkey correct?
No, they cook in the sauce.
My family and I love this recipe. My girls ask for pasta at least once a week. We add chicken or broccoli or both. So delicious thank you for sharing.
Delicious! I added a little extra Cream,Broth, and Parm. To make up for adding shredded chicken. It came out wonderful!!!!
I love adding chicken to this recipe!
Looks great, easy to make, I’ll try your recipe and see how it works:)). Love all the photos your posted. Thanks so much for sharing Kristen!
Thank you Monica!
Sounds good
How would this recipe be converted into millilitres and grams
There are lots of online calculators. I would just google the conversions.
How would you do this with fresh pasta that doesn’t need ten minutes to cook?
I would use an alfredo sauce and just add a little more garlic than it calla for, then toss it with cooked pasta. Try this recipe: https://www.yellowblissroad.com/homemade-alfredo-sauce/
I made this tonight and it was very good! It took about 30 minutes start to finish, which is great during the week. I was feeling indulgent so I used 3/4 cup half and half and 1/4 cup 1% milk. I used a little more linguine than it calls for because we like to eat (I made it for three). I added steamed broccoli with the Parmesan at the end. The only thing I’ll do differently next time is cut the salt in half because there was a little too much. Otherwise this one is a keeper!
Thank you Judy! Thanks for sharing your experience!
Is it one cup of heavy cream and one cup of milk or half of heavy cream and half cup of milk.
You need 1 cup total – could be 1 cup all cream or 1 cup all milk, or any combination of the two.
Would love to make this but what is the sodium content?
OMG!!! This is a keeper, I added a small amount of steamed broccoli and the breath of a rotisserie chicken when I tossed in the Parm! If it is too think I added some whole milk and stirred until my desired consistency! Thank you, thank you! Great recipe!
That’s a great tip, thanks for sharing!