This cozy Creamy Lemon Basil Pasta is bursting with fresh lemon, garlic and basil. The luxurious lemon basil sauce creates a hearty pasta meal you will crave all summer long.
The start of cold weather usually means hearty comforting food. We certainly have embraced this tradition in our home. I wanted to try something that was comforting and rich but also had light and fresh flavors. This Creamy Lemon Basil Pasta hits the spot perfectly. The sauce is so creamy and velvety and combined with the fresh flavors of lemon and basil it's out of this world.
Start by sautéing the garlic in olive oil for just a minute until it becomes fragrant. Then, add the chicken broth, cream, butter and lemon juice. The addition of the chicken broth incorporates a wonderful umami flavor which I find lacking from many other dishes. Since we added broth to our cream we need to give it some time to reduce down. We do not want the cream to separate so it is important that this process is done low and slow.
After twenty minutes if the sauce is still very thin, we can scoop out some of the sauce and mix it with some cornstarch, then slowly add that back to the sauce in the skillet and whisk while doing so, so that the corn start does not clump up. After the cornstarch is added, the sauce will continue to thicken the longer it simmers. Meanwhile we can cook our pasta. Once the sauce thickens up, the parmesan cheese is added for a wonderfully delicious salty bite.
If you find the sauce is too thick you can always reserve some pasta water to add to thin it out. Remember as the sauce cools it will thicken up quite a bit as well.
Ingredients
- Olive Oil - I love extra virgin olive oil. It has the least amount of processing and it has the most health benefits however regular olive oil can be used here.
- Garlic - If you love garlic like I do feel free to add more! In this dish I used a garlic press so my garlic was in a paste almost since I wanted the sauce to be extra creamy. I love this garlic press because it actually has a tool that helps get the garlic out of all the tiny holes for cleaning! If you do not have a garlic press you can finely mince them as well.
- Butter - I love the addition of the butter in this dish because it creates and extra rich and irresistible sauce. I used unsalted butter because I wanted to control the amount of salt.
- Heavy Cream - It is important to use heavy cream in this recipe as it has a high fat content and therefore is less like to break and curdle. I would not recommend trying it with milk or half and half.
- Chicken Broth - The addition of chicken broth in this recipe adds an incredible umami flavor that is difficult to get from other ingredients and I feel most other cream sauces are pretty bland. This ingredient definitely takes this sauce to another level.
- Parmesan Cheese - Please only use freshly grated parmesan. Pre-shredded parmesan is dry and several preservatives added to it. It will not emulsify and melt in to the sauce the same way and may make it grainy instead of smooth.
- Lemons - I used the juice and zest from the lemon to give it that extra bright lemon flavor. It also adds a wonderful pop of color as a garnish.
- Cornstarch - I originally added too much chicken broth to my sauce. The addition of the cornstarch was to thicken it quicker because I didn't have time to reduce it. The result actually created an even creamier sauce than I normally made and you can not taste the cornstarch. It is important to not add cornstarch directly to the sauce or it will clump up. You must create a slurry by mixing a small portion of the sauce with the cornstarch in a separate bowl. Then slowly pour the slurry back into the sauce whisking constantly while doing so. The longer it simmers the thicker it will get.
For other great pasta dishes, check out this Crispy Gnocchi with Lemon, Sage and Prosciutto or this Easy Creamy Sun-dried Tomato Pesto Pasta.
Creamy Lemon Basil Pasta
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic finely minced
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- 1 ¼ cups chicken broth
- 5 tablespoon lemon juice (juice from about 1 lemon)
- ⅓ cup freshly grated parmesan (plus more for garnish)
- ⅓ cup chopped fresh basil (plus more for garnish)
- zest of 2 lemons (divided)
- 1 lb dried pasta
Instructions
- In a medium skillet sauté garlic and olive oil over medium heat for 1 minute until fragrant
- Add chicken broth, lemon juice, heavy cream and butter and simmer over low to medium low heat for about 20-30 minutes until reduced. Stir frequently to ensure the cream does not get too hot in one place.
- After 20 minutes of simmering, if sauce still seems very thin, scoop out ¼ cup of the sauce and mix in a small bowl with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. Mix thoroughly and then slowly pour back into the skillet while whisking quickly. Then let sauce thicken for 10 more minutes on low.
- In the meantime cook pasta according to package instructions.
- Once sauce has started to coat the back of a spoon, add half of the lemon zest and parmesan cheese and whisk to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Once pasta is done, reserve ½ cup pasta water and drain and add to the skillet with the cream sauce along with fresh chopped basil and stir to combine. If sauce seems too thick add ¼ cup of pasta water to thin out sauce. Note that sauce will thicken more as it cools.
- Once combined garnish with more lemon zest, fresh basil and freshly grated parmesan.
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