Recreate the magic of the iconic Spaghetti Warehouse at home with this easy copycat Spaghetti with Garlic Butter recipe! This comforting dish features spaghetti enveloped in a luscious garlic butter sauce, richly flavored with Romano cheese and parsley. The cheese and parsley not only infuse the sauce with flavor but also serve as a delightful garnish. This Italian garlic butter pasta dish brings the restaurant experience right to your table.
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What Makes the Spaghetti Warehouse Spaghetti With Garlic Butter So Good?
Cooking a quick pasta dinner doesn’t always mean opening up a jar of tomato sauce. This Spaghetti With Garlic Butter recipe from Spaghetti Warehouse is fresh Italian cooking that takes less than 30 minutes to prepare with a handful of ingredients!
It’s similar to the classic Italian dish, Pasta Aglio e Olio, except this version replaces the olive oil with butter for a richer taste and more luxurious mouthfeel. Combine the butter with freshly grated Romano cheese and chopped flat-leaf parsley, and you end up with a plate of garlic butter noodles you can proudly serve.
Why You Should Try This Recipe
With only five ingredients most people keep on hand, this recipe will save your evening when you want an elegant meal but forget to go shopping.
If you like to plan your meals for the week, pre-making the butter and garlic sauce will allow you to get this restaurant-quality meal on the table in the time it takes to boil spaghetti!
And with so many simple options to customize the base garlic butter pasta recipe, you’ll never get bored.
Spaghetti With Garlic Butter Ingredients
For this recipe, you’ll need these simple ingredients:
Unsalted butter
Garlic
Flat-leaf parsley
Romano
Spaghetti Noodles
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
You can substitute Parmesan cheese for Romano, but whichever you choose, freshly grating the cheese will improve the dish’s flavor.
Don’t be tempted to leave the fresh parsley out. It’s more than a decoration in this dish, and the freshness it brings to the sauce is essential for the proper balance of flavors.
Although this recipe calls for spaghetti, you can use another type of pasta such as linguine, bucatini, fusilli lunghi, penne, egg noodles, or angel hair pasta.
How to Make Garlic Butter Sauce and Spaghetti
To prepare Spaghetti With Butter and Garlic:
Fill a stockpot or large pot two-thirds of the way with water and add salt to taste. Place the stockpot over high heat and cover.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan or skillet over very low heat.
While the butter is melting, finely chop the garlic and flat-leaf parsley. Reserve both.
When the butter is completely melted, add the chopped garlic and stir to coat. Cook the garlic on as low a flame as possible to reduce bitterness and infuse the flavor into the butter.
While keeping an eye on the butter and stirring it occasionally, boil the pasta in the salted water to al-dente according to the directions on the packages. When the pasta is ready, reserve a cup of cooking water and drain. Transfer the drained and cooked pasta to a large mixing bowl.
When the butter is very fragrant and the garlic is golden brown, stir in a tablespoon of the finely chopped flat-leaf parsley. Cook for a minute or two longer.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in a quarter cup of the Romano cheese.
Pour the garlic butter sauce over the top of the pasta and toss. If the pasta is dry, add a little of the cooking water.
Plate the pasta and garnish with some of the remaining Romano cheese and chopped parsley.
Recipe Variations
Ask two Italian grandmothers how to cook the same dish, and you will wind up with five different recipes! There are dozens of ways to modify this recipe, and here are a few. Feel free to share your favorite tweaks in the comment section:
Spice it up. A pinch (or more) of red pepper flakes with the garlic will heat things up quite a bit.
Use a mixture of olive oil and butter. You’ll get the richness of the butter and the healthy benefits and flavor of the olive oil.
Let things get a little fishy. One or two fillets of anchovy will give the pasta a unique taste.
What to Serve With Spaghetti With Butter and Garlic
Although most Americans eat pasta as a main course, you can turn this Spaghetti With Garlic Butter recipe into a side dish. Try pairing it with these main courses:
Eggplant Parmesan. Try this authentic Italian-style version or prepare this Italian-American alternative.
Chicken Cacciatore. This traditional Italian chicken stew is super flavorful and easy to make.
Steak Marsala. This uniquely tasty Steak Marsala recipe is a mash-up of Chicken Marsala and Steak Diane.
How to Store Leftovers
Sauced spaghetti will dry out within a few hours, but you can prepare the garlic butter sauce in advance and store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Just pour the sauce into a microwavable bowl and allow it to cool to room temperature and solidify. Cover the bowl and put it in the fridge for up to three days.
If you don’t wind up using all the sauce for pasta, try spreading it on slices of bread and toasting them for tasty garlic bread!
What Is the Best Way to Reheat Spaghetti With Butter and Garlic?
The easiest way to reheat the sauce is in the microwave:
Put the sauce in a microwavable container and cover with a paper towel.
Heat for 30 seconds at 50 percent power. Stir.
Repeat until the sauce is hot.
Favorite Pasta Recipes
Biltmore Chicken Gorgonzola Pasta
Queensland Chicken and Shrimp Pasta
Popular Spaghetti Recipes
Check out more of my easy pasta recipes and the best copycat restaurant recipes on CopyKat!
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