Creamy Lemon Pepper Pasta
This easy pasta recipe with creamy lemon pepper sauce flavored with garlic, fresh lemon and cracked pepper is the 20 minute dinner your week needs.
How to make lemon pepper sauce
This sauce can be made under 10 minutes and is perfect for easy dinners. Melt butter in a frying pan or skillet then add crushed or minced fresh garlic. Allow to cook for a few seconds, stirring the garlic into the butter. Pour in the heavy or whipping cream, fresh lemon juice and freshly cracked pepper. Bring the sauce to a simmer and allow to cook for 5 minutes until the sauce easily coats the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat, stir in the finely grated Parmesan and chopped parsley. I like blitzing chunks of Parmesan in my food processor or high-powered blender to get it nice and fine. Stir the sauce, adjust seasoning if necessary then stir in cooked pasta.
How to thicken cream sauce
Reducing a cream sauce for a few minutes (while simmering), will thicken the sauce without anything added. However, if you want a much thicker sauce, using cornstarch (or cornflour) will do the trick. Mix 1 tbsp of cornstarch with 1 tbsp of water and pour into the simmering sauce, allow to cook for a few minutes until the sauce is thick and smooth.
Freezing and making ahead
Freezing instructions: I wouldn’t recommend freezing cream sauces as the consistency can change once thawed, however the taste will still be fine. A sauce stabilized with a starch will thaw better than one without.
Making ahead: This sauce can be made up to 2 days in advance and kept in an airtight container in the fridge. To reheat, pour the sauce into a saucepan set over low heat and heat gently to avoid the sauce from splitting.
Easy cream sauce recipes
- Easy creamy pepper sauce
- Creamy mushroom sauce
- Creamy garlic Parmesan sauce
- Basil cream sauce
- Tomato cream sauce
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp butter
- 2 garlic cloves crushed/minced
- 1 cup heavy / whipping cream
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
- 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese grated
- 2 tbsp finely chopped Parsley
- salt to taste
- 500 g (1lb) pasta cooked + 1 cup cooking water reserved
Instructions
- Melt butter in a large pan/skillet.
- Add garlic and allow to saute gently for 30 seconds until fragrant.
- Pour in the cream and lemon juice then add the pepper.
- Allow to come to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes until the sauce coats the back of a spoon.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the Parmesan and the parsley.
- Season to taste then add the cooked pasta.
- Toss with the reserved pasta water until the pasta is coated and creamy.
- Serve with Parmesan cheese and freshly cracked pepper.
Perfect light sauce that would be delicious on pasta, chicken or fish. We tried it on linguine and my picky eater ate their dinner. I didn’t have heavy cream so I increased the butter to 2 tablespoons and added 1 tablespoon of flour to the butter when sautéing the garlic. I substituted 2 percent milk (1 cup) for the heavy cream and it thicken nicely. If using this sauce for a chicken or fish dish I would substitute chicken broth for the pasta water. Thanks for the simple yet yummy recipe!
I was looking for a simple lemon pepper sauce that I could veganize for roasted tomatoes, zucchini, artichokes, and peppers, and this was a real winner! So easy, fast, and delicious! I used cashew cream and had to leave out the vegan parm/parsley since I didn’t have any (and was too lazy to make the parm), and it still turned out lovely. There was hardly any cooking time at all since the cashew cream thickens so quickly. Thanks so much for this! It’ll be my go-to lemon pepper sauce from now on.
In a word… INCREDIBLE! One of the best things I’ve ever made! So simple, so delicious, a must make! Definitely adding to my repertoire, thanks so much for sharing!
I am SO happy to hear that Alexa. 🙂