This Baked Lemon Spaghetti is a delicious twist on traditional spaghetti. The lemon flavor gives it zing, and plenty of Parmesan cheese finishes it off nicely.
Looking for an easy dinner idea? Grab a rotisserie chicken, throw together a green salad, and bake up this simple and delicious pasta dish for dinner tonight. This one is family-friendly, and it doesn’t have any funky ingredients in it either.
How to make Lemon Spaghetti:
Melt butter in a medium skillet.
Add minced garlic and let it sizzle away in the bubbling butter.
Remove the pan from heat and stir in 2 cups of sour cream (I used light and all turned out just fine).
Add the zest of a lemon- about a Tablespoon.
Pour in juice from 1 1/2 lemons- about 1/3 cup.
Place cooked spaghetti in a large bowl- I like to use Barilla Plus Multigrain. My family doesn’t notice the difference, and it’s (hopefully) a bit healthier than plain white pasta.
Pour in your lemony sour cream sauce.
Stir it up.
Add a handful of finely chopped Italian parsley….
…and 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan Cheese.
Stir it up again.
Pour the lemony spaghetti mixture into a greased casserole dish.
At this point you’re going to cover the dish with foil and bake it at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.
After baking- take it out of the oven, take off the foil and sprinkle another 1/2 cup or so of Parmesan cheese on top.
Squeeze the juice from half a lemon all over the top of the pasta.
Sprinkle on some freshly ground black pepper…
…and add a good dose of kosher salt too.
Place the dish back into the oven for 7 or 8 more minutes, just until the cheese gets melty and toasted on top.
Serve this baked lemon spaghetti it up on its own with a crisp little side salad, or grab a rotisserie chicken and add that to your dinner table too. My market sells a “lemon-garlic” roasted chicken, so that one is just perfect to go with the spaghetti. The pasta comes out of the oven with a light Parmesan crust baked on top. The lemony flavor in this spaghetti is wonderful on its own, but lemon-lovers may wish to squeeze an extra wedge or two on individual servings, as desired. The sauce is not overwhelmingly creamy- just a light coating to give the pasta a bit of flavor and zest. I envision adding mushrooms or BACON too. Enjoy 🙂
Baked Lemon Spaghetti
Ingredients
LEMON SPAGHETTI:
- One 14.5-ounce package spaghetti
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter
- 2 medium garlic cloves, minced
- One 16-ounce carton sour cream (light is fine)
- 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest (1 lemon, zested)
- ⅓ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice,
- ⅓ cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
TOPPINGS:
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400℉.
- Cook the spaghetti + olive oil according to package directions (minus a couple of minutes). You want it to be al dente. Drain spaghetti and place in a large bowl.
- Melt the butter in a medium skillet. Add garlic and cook until sizzling and lightly browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream, lemon zest and ⅓ cup lemon juice. Pour lemon sauce over the spaghetti and stir. Add Italian parsley and ½ cup Parmesan and stir some more. Pour lemony spaghetti in a greased 1.5 quart casserole dish.
- Cover dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Take dish out of the oven and remove foil. Sprinkle ½ cup Parmesan on top. Drizzle juice from ½ lemon over the top of the pasta. Sprinkle pepper and salt on top. Place dish back into the oven for 7 or 8 minutes, just until cheese is melted and noodles have begun to turn golden in a few places. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Serve pasta with lemon wedges, for those who like some extra tang in their pasta.
- Try adding sliced mushrooms into the dish…sauté them with the butter and garlic.
- Try adding cooked bacon. Everything is better with bacon!
- This spaghetti is also great when served as a side dish to roasted chicken.
- If you’d like the finished dish to turn out a little bit creamier just use less pasta.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Patrick beat me to it but for this recipe, add capers and chicken to the original mix and eliminate the salt at the end. Now, it’s basically a Chicken Piccata Pasta.
Sounds wonderful. Have been looking for chicken spaghetti but this will do. I am going to put cooked chicken and serve it with a simple salad with lemon balsamic vinaigrette. Thanks. Yvette
Try this,it is faster, easier and lower cal. than this recipe
1/3 cup Olive Oil heated
4-5 pieces of chopped Garlic,saute
add Juice of 1/2 Lemon and some zest
add a good squirt of Anchovy Paste and cook all ingredients
cook a box of Angel Hair Pasta
when Pasta is done, add Pasta , add a squeeze of Lemon Juice to the Pasta., and a scoop of pasta water to the pan, toss the Pasta add a little Olive Oil
and Capers. & Cheese & Parsley. You should be done in 20 mins from the start to finish, and you will impress and not plug any arteries in the process.