Buttery Lemon Garlic Fusilli Pasta

It’s zesty, it’s buttery, it’s light! This Buttery Lemon Garlic Fusilli Pasta is the perfect balance of butter, lemon and garlic. This Buttery Lemon Garlic Fusilli Pasta takes only about 10 minutes to whip up. If you are in search of a refreshing dinner and just love pasta, then look no further. This is a recipe that you must try. It can work as a main course or a side along with your favorite staples. 

I am grateful that this pasta recipe turned out exactly how I imagined it would. If I’m being transparent, this was my first time making it, so I was bracing myself for it to not turn out exactly how I imagined. I used a total of two cups of fusilli pasta and it was enough for two people or a lot for one person who is extremely hungry. 

Buttery Lemon Garlic Fusilli Pasta

3.6 from 28 votes

Recipe by Madison

Course: Main, SidesCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Easy

Servings

2

servings

Prep time

5

minutes

Cooking time

10

minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups fusilli pasta

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 tablespoon minced garlic

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

• 2 tablespoons butter, already melted or softened

• salt and pepper, to taste

• For Garnish:

• 1 teaspoon lemon zest

• 1 teaspoon fresh parsley

Directions

• Boil the pasta according to package instructions.
• Meanwhile, in a medium-sized saucepan, heat olive oil and minced garlic together on medium heat for 30 seconds, being sure to frequently stir. Turn off the heat.
• Next, add lemon juice, butter, salt and pepper and stir until everything is well combined.
• Finally, add the cooked pasta to the saucepan and toss around in the sauce.
• Serve garnished with parsley and lemon zest and enjoy!

Notes

• The lemon zest is strong so, feel free to adjust the lemon zest amount to your tastebuds.
• Cooking the garlic over medium heat for only 30 seconds ensures it will become fragrant and will not burn.

Be sure to season the boiling pasta water with salt so that as the pasta boils, it gets some flavor. This is your only time to truly season your pasta. The sauce will be seasoned, but remember that the sauce is simply a coating in which you’ll be tossing the pasta around. The pasta is boiled for about 7-9 minutes, or until it is al dente which means it will be firm in texture. You do not want soggy pasta with this dish.

So, how is this considered a 10-minute meal you might ask? Well, while the pasta boils, I make the buttery lemon garlic sauce. I start by adding 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of minced garlic to a medium-sized saucepan. Then, I turn the heat to medium. The trick to cooking fresh garlic is to heat it at the same temperature that the olive oil heats. I learned that it is best to not add fresh garlic to hot oil because it can cook too quickly and heating the oil and garlic together causes the garlic to become more fragrant. I only cook the minced garlic for 30 seconds, while being sure to stir frequently during those 30 seconds. Then, I turn off the heat. 

By this point, the saucepan is already hot enough, and nothing else really needs to be cooked. Next, I add in the rest of my ingredients in this order: lemon juice, melted or softened butter and salt and pepper (to taste of course). DISCLAIMER: I had some leftover melted butter from a meal I cooked a few minutes before this one so that is why is did not need to melt it in the saucepan, however make sure if you are using softened butter or cold butter that you melt it in the saucepan. This may require you to simmer everything on a low heat. 

Finally, I tossed the cooked fusilli pasta in the lemony garlic butter sauce and then served it by garnishing it with some lemon zest and fresh parsley. I decided to add the zest on top at the end instead of incorporating it in the sauce. I also think for this meal, fresh parsley is best because it adds to the refreshing flavor of the zest. So use fresh parsley if you can. You can get it at your local grocery store for only a couple dollars at the most. 

So, I hope you can see just how easy this dish is to whip up in your very own kitchen. Enjoy this quick and easy lemon squeezy Buttery Lemon Garlic Fusilli Pasta! Happy Cooking!