This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Incredibly simple, fast and delicious Garlic Butter Pasta Sauce made with fresh herbs and tossed with your favourite long pasta. This sauce doesn’t get any easier and is ready by the time your pasta is cooked!
This herby garlic butter pasta sauce is another super simple recipe that’s ready by the time the pasta is cooked and you all know I’m all for super quick weeknight meals, I mean, aren’t we all?
Cooking with Fresh Herbs
You won’t believe how much flavour is packed into this punchy little sauce. It’s made with chives, parsley, basil, oregano, sage, mint, thyme and lemon thyme. Whaaaat? so many herbs!
Yup and they’re all fresh which is a super important rule for this sauce, no dried herbs please, the flavour is nowhere near as intense and you’ll want all of the freshness in this sauce!
It’s also tossed with garlic butter, I mean, is there anything better on earth than garlic butter? No, sir!
How to Make Herby Garlic Butter Pasta Sauce – Step by Step
Add all the herbs to a food processor with juice and zest of half a lemon, olive oil, pecorino and a small pinch of salt and pepper. Blitz until combined (photos 1 – 3).
Add butter and oil to medium sized skillet (frying pan) and heat until butter has melted. Add the garlic and fry for 1-2 minutes until soft but not browned (photos 4-5).
Add the herb mixture and stir to combine, cook for 1 minute then add reserved pasta water, cook for another minute (photos 6-7).
Add cooked pasta, toss until evenly coated in the sauce and serve with more freshly grated pecorino (photo 8).
Can I Make it Creamy?
Yes, if you’d rather make a creamy garlic butter pasta sauce then I recommend cutting the butter by half and adding around 3/4 cup (180mls) of heavy cream. Bring it to a boil for 30-40 seconds until it starts to thicken then turn off the heat.
Toss with pasta for a rich and decadent version of this.
Looking for no herbs and more garlic? omit all the herbs and double the garlic for a delicious garlic kick!
Can I use Garlic Powder?
Noooo, garlic powder has a totally different taste to it and it just won’t give you results anywhere near what you’ll get with fresh garlic. That doesn’t mean you can’t use it but just know that you’ll be breaking my heart, kay?
Other Ways to Use this Garlic Butter Sauce
The best thing about this sauce is that it can be used in so many other ways be it with pasta or not, here are some ideas on how to adapt this recipe and make it your own:
- Add seafood: you can either toss in some shrimp (prawns), mussels, clams or even some calamari or squid and toss it with a long pasta such as spaghetti, linguine or tagliatelle for an impressive seafood meal.
- Add chicken: as a rule, I never eat chicken with pasta. After living in Italy it just feels wrong to me but I know that it’s much loved by many so if you fancy adding chicken to your pasta, go ahead it will taste delicious with this sauce. Alternatively, you could just serve the sauce over chicken and serve it with roast potatoes or grilled veggies instead of pasta. Now that’s something I’m all for!
- Toss with potatoes: one of my favourite ways to serve potatoes is boiled and crushed into a rough mash and mixed with lots of olive oil and fresh lemon juice, so delicious. You could use this sauce in the same way and they would just taste insane, really.
- Gratin: why not slice potatoes super thin using a mandoline or food processor and pour over the garlic butter, bake in the oven until soft and cooked through, delish!
- Steak: there’s no doubt about it that this garlic butter pasta sauce would also be incredible poured over a juicy chargrilled steak (off to make this right now).
Extra Helpful Tips
- Make sure your pasta water is boiling before adding the pasta and well salted (unsalted pasta water is a big no-no for flavour).
- Make sure to not overcook your pasta of choice, follow the packet instructions until it’s al dente. For 400g or 14oz of spaghetti or linguine, I cook it for around 8-9 minutes.
- Don’t be tempted to use dried herbs, this isn’t a recipe that just requires a little sprinkle of herbs it uses a lot, they’re the main focus and they need to be fresh.
- Make sure not to burn the garlic or it’ll turn bitter. Cook it for 1-2 minutes until soft but not browned.
More Quick Pasta Recipes You Might Like:
- Penne with Creamy Gorgonzola Sauce
- Pasta With Puttanesca Sauce (Spaghetti Alla Puttanesca)
- Pasta Amatriciana – Bucatini, Tomato And Guanciale
- Pasta With Artichokes And Peas
- Smoked Salmon Pasta Carbonara
If you’ve tried this Herby Garlic Butter Pasta Sauce or any other recipe on the blog please let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW MEon FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST to see more delicious food and what I’m getting up to.
Step By Step Photos Above
Most of our recipes come with step by step photos, helpful tips and tricks to make it perfectly first time and even video!
Herby Garlic Butter Pasta Sauce
Ingredients
- 14 oz (400g) long pasta , such as spaghetti or linguine
- 2 cups (40g) fresh basil
- 2 tbsp fresh chives
- 1 cup fresh parsley
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon thyme
- 2 tbsp fresh mint
- 1 tbsp fresh oregano
- 1 tbsp fresh sage
- 2 tbsp (30g) Butter
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 4 tbsp Pecorino, freshly grated
- 3 tbsp Olive oil
- Zest and juice of half a lemon
- Salt and pepper
- 1/3 cup (80ml) reserved pasta water
Instructions
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta according to packet instructions until al dente,
- Meanwhile, add all the herbs to a food processor with juice and zest of half a lemon, olive oil, 3 tbsp pecorino and a small pinch of salt and pepper. Blitz until combined.
- Add butter and oil to medium sized skillet (frying pan) and heat until butter has melted. Add the garlic and fry for 1-2 minutes until soft but not browned.
- Add the herb mixture and stir to combine, cook for 1 minute then add 1/3 of pasta water, cook for another minute.
- Add cooked pasta, toss until evenly coated in the sauce and serve with more freshly grated pecorino.
Video
Notes
Extra Tips for Making This Sauce
- Make sure your pasta water is boiling before adding the pasta and well salted (unsalted pasta water is a big no no for flavour).
- Make sure to not overcook your pasta of choice, follow the packet instructions until it's al dente. For 400g or 14oz of spaghetti or linguine I cook it for around 8-9 minutes.
- Don't be tempted to use dried herbs, this isn't a recipe that just requires a little sprinkle of herbs it uses a lot, they're the main focus and they need to be fresh.
- Make sure not to burn the garlic or it'll turn bitter. Cook it for 1-2 minutes until soft but not browned.
Helpful Info for All Recipes
- I always use extra virgin olive oil in all of my recipes unless stated otherwise
- When I use canned or jarred tomatoes of any kind I always use Cirio or Mutti brands for the best results and flavour.
- All vegetables are medium sized unless stated otherwise
- All recipes are tested and developed using a fan (convection) oven
- Find out more about how nutrition is calculated.
- Check out our must have Italian Pantry Staples.
- You can also find all our Essential Kitchen Tools for Italian Cooking.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
What a yummy recipe, simple but packed with flavours, the best tip for me was not to be tempted to use the dried herbs. All to often when after a herb flavour the use of dried just doesn’t cut it. Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipes 😊
Hi Jamie, so happy you found the tips helpful. Thanks so much for stopping by!
Emily, this looks delicious and I LOVE the video! You’re rocking it!!
Aw thank you so much Monica, so nice of you!