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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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Delicious! Easy to follow for a quick and delicious meal. Have enjoyed it twice now. Easy for a single meal, and works excellent for a crowd pleaser.
Wonderful! 😀 Thanks, De-De!
My husband is lactose intolerant and therefore misses out on many creamy restaurant dishes (Lacteeze doesn’t always work) so I like to experiment at home. While travelling in our motorhome, I made this recipe with the addition of shrimp and chives and he absolutely loved it. He’s asked me to make it again soon.
Fantastic recipe! Thank you.
So glad it worked out, Lisa! Thank you for letting us know!
Made this recipe a handful of times now. I never leave reviews but I had to come back to the website and say how awesome this dish is. I like mine a little more lemony so I add more lemon juice. This is my go to pasta dish now!
I appreciate it, Jada!
I made this per the recipe with rigatoni and it was delicious! My husband said it was better than any pasta he’s had in restaurants! I garnished with more of the grated parm and lemon zest. I will be making this again and again. Probably will add shrimp! So good, thank you for sharing this recipe!
That makes me so happy!! Thank you!!
Wow! This recipe was amazing. I made the pasta and sauce per the directions. Then I added asparagus and hot Italian turkey sausage. Will definitely be making this again and trying different add ins. Thank you for this recipe.
I’m thrilled you enjoyed it!
Made this tonight exactly like the recipe except I used 1 more teaspoon of lemon juice 😁. It came out deliscious!! Next time I’m gonna add some chicken or maybe use ravioli? Either it was easy, yummy and quick. Just like our family likes!!
So happy you liked it!! 😀
I haven’t tried it yet, but could you make the sauce ahead of time and keep in fridge until you’re ready to make the pasta? Or can you make it all, toss it together, put in the fridge and reheat in the oven? Just wondering because I have a large crowd I want to make this for and I want to cook ahead of time.
Hi! So, I wouldn’t recommend warming up cooked pasta with a cream sauce as it tends to change texture and the sauce can often separate. You could make a batch of the sauce ahead and then boil the pasta right before serving. I would be sure to reheat the sauce over a low heat so it doesn’t separate. Maybe give the reheating a test run prior to making the large batch so you know what to expect. Let me know how it goes! 🙂
I made this for the first time tonight. My family loved it. I’ll definitely make it again.
Wonderful!! Thank you, Susan!
This sauce is delicious. The lemon really cuts the heaviness that white sauces tend to have. So fresh tasting!
I’m so pleased you liked it, Wendy! Thanks for your review! 😀
Thoughts on combining this sauce with salmon ravioli?
I think it would go great with salmon ravioli! 🙂