A simple creamy pasta sauce packed with flavour. A combination of sweet roast garlic, zingy lemon, pepper and parmesan makes this a truly delicious and luscious sauce. A simple and quick pasta sauce to bring together once you have roasted the garlic.
Hi! This creamy pasta sauce pretty much contains all my favourite flavors in one sauce! Roast garlic is added to foamy butter with lots of pepper, lemon and lemon zest then rounded off with cream and parmesan cheese. I have used a homemade orecchiette but it will work with absolutely any pasta shape!
A sauce like this is just pure comfort and it is worth the time to roast the garlic, I promise!
For some equally delicious recipes, try:
- Delicious Garlic Butter Pasta
- Easy Creamy Saffron Pasta Sauce
- Creamy Lemon Pasta Sauce
- 10 Minute Brown Butter Sauce for Pasta
Main Ingredients
Roast garlic - there are instructions below for roasting the garlic bulbs, it's so easy! It turns them into sweet liquid gold.
Cream - I like to use a light or single cream for pasta sauces. I find the heat and parmesan thickens it up nicely. Feel free to use a heavy cream you might justneed to add a touch more pasta water.
Lemon - I use the juice and lemon zest in this recipe. It cuts through the richness of the dish so well.
Parmesan Cheese - Finely grated with a microplane or the star side of your box grater.
Expert tips
- Brown the butter a touch - If I ever use butter as the base for a sauce I let it gently brown before adding anything else. It is a way to get a good flavour base going. Just don't let it burn or get to hot.
- Use fresh lemon! Please don't use bottled lemon juice, fresh is best every time and nothing else will do!
- Roasting the garlic - You want to roast the garlic so it is just starting to brown and caramelise. Keep checking it every 5 or 10 mins if it isn't done by the 45 min mark. Make sure you let them cool before squeezing the cloves out!
- If using dried pasta - undercook it slightly. I really do love letting the pasta bubble away in the sauce for a minute or two so undercook your pasta by a minute or so. If using an orecchiette or gnocchi sardi then you don't need to worry as it's pretty hard to overcook fresh shapes like that.
- Grating the parmesan - I usually say to grate your parmesan with a microplane (or the star side of a box grater). It creates much finer strands that melt into sauces much easier.
- Save some pasta water - I always transfer my pasta straight into the sauce from the pot with a spider strainer so the pasta water is left behind for me to use as I wish. You can cut out the step of using a colander and washing all that liquid gold down the sink. You never know how much you will need!
How to make this recipe
The full ingredient list, method and video tutorial is in the recipe card below.
Roasting the garlic
ONE: Preheat your oven to 200c (390f). Slice the top off, just enough to expose the tops of the cloves and drizzle with olive oil.
TWO: Wrap up in aluminium foil and roast in the oven on a tray for 40 - 50 mins.
THREE: You want the top to look brown and caramelized.
FOUR: Once it's cooked, let it cool enough to touch. Squeeze all of that delicious garlicky goodness out.
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Making the sauce
ONE: Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat until just starting to brown. Add the black pepper.
TWO: Add the roasted garlic.
THREE: Mix into the butter as best you can, I like to use a flat whisk.
FOUR: Add the cream and mix really well so the garlic is well incorporated. It might look a touch dodgy at first but it will come together.
FIVE: Add the lemon juice and lemon zest and mix in quickly. Add the parmesan in a couple of lots, letting it melt in-between each addition. The heat should be lower, just at a very gentle simmer.
SIX: Add the cooked pasta straight in, toss and let it gently bubble away for a minute. Add a splash of pasta water if you need to loosen. Season to taste.
Why pasta water is your best friend!
You'll hear me harp on about the magic that is pasta water in 99% of my recipes. It really is a key ingredient in every sauce I make. The starch left behind in the water acts as a thickening agent and helps sauces cling to the pasta. I couldn't make a sauce without it.
I never EVER drain my pasta in a colander, I always transfer it directly to the sauce using a spider strainer. That way the pasta pot full of water is left there for you to ladle in as you need. if you have seen my reels on instagram you'll notice my sauces are SAUCY.
Pasta soaks up liquid so quickly so I add enough pasta water to make it quite liquidy. By the time I serve into bowls and take to the table it hasn't dried up. You'll get to know what the right consistency is with some practice, you can't go wrong though I promise!
What pasta shape is best for this sauce?
It will work with absolutely any shape, dried or fresh! I have used my homemade orecchiette because if you know me at all you'll know it is my favourite! If you want to make a slightly easier shape give my hand rolled gnocchi sardi a try. Both shapes are made with my easy semolina pasta dough.
If you feel like making some fresh egg pasta make sure you use my easy homemade pasta dough, it is completely fool proof.
Recipe FAQs
If you want the full flavour experience then yes! Roasting garlic makes it so much sweeter and delicious, the extra effort is worth it I promise. If you are really short on time then just use 3 - 4 cloves of garlic finely chopped and add it to the butter with the pepper.
Creams are all called slightly different things in different countries. Here in New Zealand, for cooking I use single cream. In America that is light cream, 18% - 30% fat. Anything heavier will be too thick. You can obviously thin down the consistency with pasta water though.
I get these ones but it's really no drama if you leave them off. A little sprinkle of regular chilli flakes will be just as good, they are spicy though so be sparing if you don't like heat.
Need some other sauces to try?
If you loved this creamy roast garlic and lemon pasta sauce then check out my other recipes for more delicious options! Some suggestions? You really should make my creamy leek pasta, it's seriously epic. Another creamy option is my creamy tomato and sausage pasta. For something completely different my red pepper pesto pasta is one of my new faves.
Made this recipe and loved it?
I would love love LOVE if you could leave me a review down below and let me know what you thought! I love to hear any changes or adaptations you have made too. Also if you put a photo on instagram, please tag me so I can see, it makes my day!
Recipe
Creamy roast garlic and lemon pasta sauce
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Ingredients
- Pasta of your choice I do 150g fresh per person or 100g dried
- 2 whole heads garlic
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 30 g butter cubed
- ½ tsp pepper
- 1 cup cream I used single but use heavy if you want!
- 2 - 3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Zest of a lemon
- 50 g parmesan finely grated with a microplane or equivalent
- Extra zest to serve
- Dried paprika flakes to serve optional
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 200 c (400 f)
- Prepare your garlic bulbs. Take off the outer papery layers and cut the top off horizontally. You want to cut off just enough that you expose the tops of the cloves.
- Drizzle the top with olive oil then wrap up each one individually in foil and roast in the oven for about 45 mins or until the cloves are soft and starting to caramelise.
- When roasted to your liking let them cool and then squeeze all the garlic out. I like to use the back of a spoon on a chopping board to turn it into a smooth paste.
- Cook your pasta in a pot of well salted boiling water.
- Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat.
- Let it foam up then add the pepper and stir.
- Add the garlic paste and whisk (you don't need to add all of it, I love garlic so add it to taste!)
- Add the cream and whisk (lower the heat so it's not boiling, it should be a gentle simmer throughout the process).
- Add the lemon juice and zest and whisk again.
- Add the parmesan in a few lots, whisking and letting it melt in between each addition.
- Let it gently simmer for a couple of minutes until it thickens slightly.
- Add your cooked pasta straight into the sauce with a ¼ cup of pasta water and let it bubble away for a minute or so.
- My biggest tip is that you want it on the saucier side so add more pasta water if you need it to loosen. Pasta soaks up sauce quickly so by making it super saucy in the pan then by the time you serve it into bowls it will be perfect!
- I like to top the pasta with extra lemon zest and some paprika flakes
Video
Notes
- The amount of lemon and garlic is up to you! You might want to add half of both to start but if you like big flavour like me chuck it all in! You can add more lemon juice if you like!
- If you can't find the dried paprika flakes (I use this brand) then add a sprinkle of chilli flakes or a dusting of smoked paprika powder to the top, or neither is fine!
- This sauce is probably enough for three portions of pasta, I favour big portions oops! You can always add some extra pasta water to make it go a bit further.
Siena says
I don't see a way to edit my original comment to add a rating so I'm gonna comment again, because this was SO GOOD, it deserves every 5-star rating.
I was making it to feed 6 and ended up quadrupling the recipe since 3 of the guys coming over are big guys with big appetites. Except for the portion I set aside for our friend that wasn't able to make it, the entire thing was devoured. If you see my original comment I ended up making it with real half-and-half rather than a dairy-free option, so I haven't tried that yet. But what I did do to make it more substantial, since I know my husband and his friends like meat, was I added italian sausage (since I was doing the recipe x4 I added 2 16oz packs, 1 hot and 1 sweet). I cracked the pepper over it and browned that in the butter, though I only added like a third of the butter the recipe calls for to take into account the fat from the sausage, before adding the garlic. Then because I'm try to get my husband to eat more veggies I wilted a 10oz bag of spinach in the sauce as it simmered/thickened. It got rave reviews, one of the guys asked for the recipe, and my husband wants me to make it again already. If I could rate it more than 5 stars I would!
Siena says
Have you ever tried this, or similar pasta sauces, with non-dairy cream? My husband is lactose intolerant, I usually have decent luck with Silk's non-dairy half-and-half for replacing cream in recipes, I can't recall if I've ever tried it in a pasta sauce though. I usually go tomato based sauce precisely because of this, but this recipe sounds too delicious not to try! I'm actually planning on making this for some friends coming over so I'm worried about potentially gambling on the non-dairy creamer when I'm making dinner for 6. (I'm gonna triple the recipe since at least 2 are known big eaters, I'm gonna be roasting a lot of garlic lol) My husband is a dairy fiend anyway so if you don't think it'll work, worst case scenario I'll load him up on lactase, use real cream, and he'll be be in heaven for a few hours until his body turns on him and he starts to regret it lol
Emilie Pullar says
Hi Siena! My sister uses the Silk dairy free whipping cream in her pasta sauces and has success with it. I have never tried it though sorry! I think it could be slightly risky for 6 if you haven't tried it before but I'm sure it would work, you can always thin the sauce down with pasta water if you need.
Siena says
I thought about it more after commenting and I think I agree that it'd be risky to try for the first time for when those friends come over, but if I try it later with a smaller batch I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks so much for your response!
Laura says
Had friends over to make handmade orechiette and this sauce was *perfect* - so easy and everyone loved it. Will definitely be part of our dinner rotation!
Emilie Pullar says
So glad you enjoyed it Laura!! 🙂
Stevie says
Delicious, the lemon make it!
Dena says
This has become a staple in our house!!! Can’t get enough of this pasta
Emilie Pullar says
That makes me so happy Dena, thank you!
Mike says
This made a great sauce. I had to improvise on some ingredients, and cut the recipe in half for just my wife and I.
I roasted 4 large cloves, instead of two heads, and used half and half in place of the cream. It still turned out good. We will be making this again.
Emilie Pullar says
Thanks so much for making it Mike! 🙂
Cyndi says
Can I add some white wine to this?
Emilie Pullar says
Definitely! It's already got a good hit of acidity from the lemon so see how it goes? I would add 1/2 cup white wine before adding the cream, letting it reduce down for a few mins 🙂