Buttered Noodles

A ceramic dutch oven filled with butter coated spaghetti

Buttered noodles are the ultimate comfort food, simple to make they can be served as both a main dish or a comforting side dish that kids just adore

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Course: Family Dinner Ideas

Cuisine: New Zealand

Keyword: buttered noodles, buttered noodles recipe, garlic buttered noodles

Servings: servings

Calories: 307kcal

RATE THIS RECIPE

5 from 1 vote

Ingredients

250 grams dried pasta
salt
60 grams butter 4 Tablespoons
2 garlic cloves crushed
65 grams parmesan ½ cup
1 Tablespoon parsley

Instructions

Cook your pasta in salted water to al dente as per the packet instructions, drain the pasta reserving 1 cup of the pasta cooking water to be used later in the recipe.
Heat a pan large enough to hold the pasta over a low heat.
Add the butter and crushed garlic and sauté until the butter is flavoured with the garlic but has not browned.
Add the cooked pasta to the butter, tossing the pasta so it is all covered in the buttery goodness, add the reserved pasta water ¼ of a cup at a time until the pasta is coated and glossy (you may not need to use the full cup of pasta water that you reserved.
Stir through the parmesen cheese, and parsley
Season to taste with salt and pepper
Enjoy!
Serve with extra parsley and parmesan if desired

Notes

Don't forget to add the reserved pasta water to the sauce. This water is like liquid gold, it is full of starch which helps sauces thicken and coat the pasta.
Buttered Noodles are such simple and familiar flavors. I like to serve my meals family style, sometimes I serve foods that my kids might not have tried before or foods they are still learning to like. Having a bowl of buttery pasta on the table means that even if they are not eating huge helpings of the new food there is still something familiar on the table that we can all enjoy together. and maybe next time will be the time they love the new food I've prepared.
Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to four days.
I love adding a little lemon zest to this recipe especially if I am serving the noodles alongside fish, seafood or chicken
Chilli flakes are lovely with the buttered noodles as well
To make this simple dish more nutritious you can use a protein pasta made with lentils
Pasta: For this buttered noodles recipe I typically use long egg noodles such as spaghetti or fettuccine but you can of course use a short pasta shape such as penne, macaroni or farfelle if you prefer. This buttered noodles recipe works just as well with good quality gluten-free pasta.
Butter: In New Zealand we are so lucky to have delicious grass-fed butter.
Garlic: I like to use whole garlic cloves that I then crush, but you can certainly use jarred crushed garlic, or you could even add garlic powder.
Parmesan: I love the flavour grated parmesan cheese adds to pasta
Parsley: Fresh parsley or dried parsley are both fine. You can also use any fresh herbs you have in the garden, sage and basil are lovely.

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