Baked Lemon Spaghetti

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.

Here’s the how-to:

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 🙂

5 from 1 vote

Baked Lemon Spaghetti

By RecipeGirl.com

Great to serve with roasted chicken and a vegetable for an easy and delicious dinner idea.

Prep: 25 minutes mins

Cook: 45 minutes mins

Total: 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Servings: 8 servings

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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 lemon juice, freshly squeezed (about 1½ medium lemons)
• ▢ ⅓ cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
• ▢ ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

TOPPINGS:

• ▢ ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• ▢ juice from ½ lemon
• ▢ freshly ground black pepper and kosher salt, to taste

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

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 431kcal, Carbohydrates: 44g, Protein: 11g, Fat: 24g, Saturated Fat: 12g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 7g, Trans Fat: 0.3g, Cholesterol: 62mg, Sodium: 333mg, Potassium: 236mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 4g, Vitamin A: 883IU, Vitamin C: 10mg, Calcium: 160mg, Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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