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This creamy lemon pasta recipe is simple and fast to make with everyday ingredients! The zesty lemon brightens the decadent parmesan sauce.
You may also enjoy this White Wine Cream Sauce for Ravioli or Best Penne alla Vodka Recipe.
Why you’ll love it
I’m so excited about this creamy lemon pasta sauce! I just love how easy and quick it is, and it’s great that you don’t need a ton of ingredients or time to make something so comforting. Butter, cream, a touch of garlic, parmesan, and lemon juice are always in my kitchen.
The lemon cream sauce nicely coats those tasty little tubes of pasta. You could say it’s inspired by pasta al limone, which you’ll find on restaurant menus, but it’s super simple to make at home. It makes a bright and impressive side dish or main course!
What you’ll need
- Pasta – rigatoni is the perfect complement for the sauce
- Butter and flour – to make a simple roux and give the sauce a thicker consistency
- Garlic – for a pop of savory flavor
- Chicken broth – or for a fancy touch, use a dry white wine like sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio
- Lemon – we’re using both fresh lemon juice and zest
- Heavy cream – for that silky, luscious texture
- Parmesan cheese – always grate your own!
Tools for this recipe
Check out Natasha’s favorite kitchen essentials, gadgets, and cookware!
- To zest the lemon, I use my handy Microplane zester/grater.
- I highly recommend grating your own parm. It tastes and melts better! I always keep a wedge in my fridge, and I use my Zyliss grater here.
- The is the cast iron skillet I use to make the sauce, and here is whisk pictured.
How to make creamy lemon pasta
This is an overview with step-by-step photos. Full ingredients & instructions are in the recipe card below.
Cook the pasta. Meanwhile, in a skillet, melt the butter and stir in the flour to make a roux. Add in the garlic, broth, lemon juice, and zest, and bubble for a minute or so. Whisk in the cream. Simmer until thickened up as desired.
Stir in the parmesan, and remove from the heat. Season generously with salt and pepper. Toss with the drained pasta, and garnish with extra parm and chopped fresh parsley if you like.
Pro tip
If the sauce gets too thick, simply add a little bit of the pasta water to thin it out.
Substitutions and variations
- I used rigatoni, but feel free to sub with whatever pasta you’ve got on hand. Penne would work great as well.
- I don’t recommend subbing anything else for the cream in this recipe. The citrus is very likely to curdle the sauce, and heavy (or whipping) cream can withstand it due to the higher fat content.
- You could add some shrimp or cooked chicken (like rotisserie chicken) if you wanted to add a protein to this dish.
What to serve with creamy lemon pasta
- This pasta is delicious as a side dish. Try serving it with my Parmesan Crusted Chicken, Easy Pan Seared Pork Chops, or Easy Pan Seared Salmon.
- If it’s your main event, I recommend serving it alongside a light salad like my Super Simple Parmesan Arugula Salad.
- Or you could make breadsticks, garlic knots, or my Cheesy Garlic Bread.
Leftovers and storage
- This pasta recipe is one I highly recommend eating fresh, but if you do have leftovers, store for 3-4 days in the fridge and reheat over a low heat.
- I don’t recommend freezing leftovers.
Will you give this pasta with a lemon cream sauce a try? Questions? Let me know in the comments below! I’d love if you left a star rating and review, or tag me on Instagram.
Creamy Lemon Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 ounces uncooked pasta rigatoni or penne recommended
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 tablespoon flour
- 1 small clove garlic minced
- 1/4 cup chicken broth/veg broth or dry white wine
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice + zest of 1/2 lemon
- 1 cup heavy/whipping cream
- 1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Garnish: fresh parsley & extra parm optional
Instructions
- Boil a salted pot of water for the pasta and cook it al dente according to package directions.
- When the pasta is about 10 minutes away from being done, add the butter to a skillet over medium-high heat. Once it melts, sprinkle the flour in and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring fairly often.
- Add in the garlic, followed by the broth (or wine) and lemon juice + zest. Let it bubble for 1 minute.
- Whisk in the cream and cook it for a few minutes until the sauce has thickened up to your liking.
- Stir in the parmesan cheese and take the skillet off the heat. Season with salt & pepper as needed (I am generous with both).
- Add the drained pasta to the skillet and toss until coated (I like to add a tablespoon or so of the pasta water to the sauce prior to draining it, especially if it's become a tad too thick). Garnish with more parmesan and a bit of chopped parsley if desired. Serve immediately.
Notes
- This pasta makes 4 reasonably-sized portions with plenty of sauce, but if you’ve got really hungry people and you’re not serving it with anything else, I would double the recipe. Serves 2-4 depending on how much people eat.
- I do NOT recommend subbing the heavy cream for anything with a lower fat content (e.g. half-and-half or milk) because the lemon in the sauce is very likely to curdle it, and you’ll have to add more flour to thicken the sauce.
- This pasta recipe also appears in the Salt & Lavender: Everyday Essentials cookbook.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I have lost count of how many times I have made this recipe since finding it a few months ago! Soooo yummy and I always have all the ingredients! It has saved me so many times. I always double the noodles and sauce and then I sautee and throw in whatever I have to bulk it up. Tonight it was shrimp. Sometimes its chicken or zucchini or tomatoes or bacon. Or a combo. Everything tastes amazing with this sauce! Thank you for making dinner time with 2 young babies so easy! 🙂
Aww thanks for your kind review, Rebecca – I appreciate it!! So glad this recipe is a favorite in your home.
HOLY STINKIN’ MOLY!! This recipe is absolutely delicious!! So easy to make- quick weeknight meal. This sauce will be my go to pasta sauce from now on!! Thank you for posting this recipe.
What a nice comment! Thrilled you enjoyed the recipe, Kelly!!
Really good recipe. I added Sundried tomatoes when adding in the garlic and also threw in some chaya (or spinach at the end). I also think artichoke hearts and sauteed mushrooms would be good too!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Love those additions!
Hi Natasha,
Thanks for the delicious recipe. My 14 yrs old followed the recipes and it turned out pretty good. One question though, when we added pasta and increased the heat to warm up the pasta, the sauce seemed to curdle. Still great taste though ! Any advice so that it doesn’t happen again.
Hi Monika! I’m glad you liked the taste. Hmmm… I would try to keep the heat fairly low but time the pasta to be ready at the same time as the sauce if possible. The heat from the piping hot freshly drained pasta should be plenty to heat the sauce up if it was ready a few minutes before and is still warm. Reheating creamy sauces over a high heat (especially with the added acidity of lemon) can definitely curdle it, unfortunately. Did you use heavy cream vs. something with a lower fat % like half and half?
This sauce is delicious, wow! However I found that rigatoni portion suggestion ridiculously small. I had to convert it to 1 cup = 8oz… so I used 16oz and still I should have used more than 2 cups for the dry pasta. Otherwise, I am so excited to make this again and super enjoyed it! Thank you so much
Hi! I’m glad you enjoyed it. Yes… you won’t fit much rigatoni into 1 cup if you measure it that way. In cases for pasta shapes like rigatoni (that are larger with more volume), you would go by weight… so that would be half of a 1 pound/16 oz. box of it. If I were listing a cup measurement, it would certainly be larger than 1 cup. If you used something like macaroni, 1 cup would make a decent amount of pasta. I hope that makes sense!
Tried your recipe tonight because I wanted something different, light and refreshing. We usually cook hot sausages and put them in a nice marinara. I’ve had proteins with red sauce and pasta with lemon sauce plated alongside, so I thought I would give it a try. Turned out awesome! The two really compliment each other so long as you have a high quality sauce. If you haven’t tried Silver Palate marinara you should do so. Only had half and half and that seemed to work with this recipe, though cream is probably better. Added a little chopped fresh basil at the end and let it cook for a minute and it was spectacular. Thanks for sharing
I’m so happy you enjoyed it! 🙂 You’re very welcome.
This was so delicious! We doubled the recipe and added peas and broccoli!
Awesome!! 🙂
I just made this and it’s delicious. It’s a classic recipe and so good.
I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Debbie! Thanks for taking the time to write me a review.
I followed the recipe to the letter and served over fettuccine. It was quick and easy and tasted phenomenal!
Wonderful!! So happy you enjoyed it, Chris! Appreciate you letting me know.
This recipe is now a part of my family’s favorites. My kids beg me to make it!
I’m so happy to hear that, Melissa! 😀
I had a pasta craving and wanted something that was quick, easy and different from my usual standby recipes. I saw some blogger mention their Lemon Pasta, but the recipe didn’t thrill me so I kept looking till I came across this post.
And am I ever glad I stopped, the pasta was amazingly delicious! I had it plain, but can easily see it as an accompaniment to chicken, shrimp or other seafood (did I hear someone say salmon?). It was easy to make with simple ingredients and looked so pretty with a sprinkle of fresh parsley (I’m going to try dill and maybe a few capers when I make it with salmon).
Yum, yum, yum I think I need to go lick the pan!
I’m so happy to hear that you liked it so much! 😀 Thanks for taking the time to write me a review. XO