Creamy Lemon Pasta Recipe [easy, no cream, no butter] (2024)

FAQs

How can I thicken pasta without cream? ›

Cornstarch: Make a slurry of half water, half cornstarch and whisk until smooth. Cornstarch is a powerful thickener, so start by whisking in no more than 1 tablespoon of the mixture per 2 cups of simmering sauce; stir and simmer for 2 minutes, check the thickness, and repeat with more slurry as needed.

Cheese is an excellent way to add flavor to your pasta without having to rely on sauce. Try mixing your angel hair pasta with goat cheese, and toss in sun-dried tomatoes to make an amazing meal with just a few ingredients. Garlic butter is a terrific way to season all types of noodles.

Lemon juice can curdle cream, I have never had that happen to me as I add it right at the end with the pasta. Also it shouldn't happen if your cream is neither too hot or too cold. That is why a gentle simmer on a low heat is key!

Try cooking the lemon juice a little longer before adding the cream. This works for me, and I think it reduces the acidity and makes it less likely to curdle the cream. This is what I do when I make my favorite lemon cream sauce and it has definitely improved it.

Whole milk is an excellent substitute for heavy cream. It adds richness to your pasta sauce without the excess fat. Simply simmer your favourite pasta sauce with whole milk until it thickens to your desired consistency. The result is a velvety and indulgent sauce that pairs beautifully with pasta.

Combine 2 tablespoons flour with every 1/4 cup cold water and whisk until smooth. Add the mixture to your sauce over medium heat, and continue to stir and cook until you've reached your desired consistency. Test with a spoon.

First, mix one tablespoon of cornstarch with one tablespoon of water to make a cornstarch slurry. Add the slurry directly to the spaghetti sauce as it's cooking on low heat. Stir continuously until the sauce reaches the desired consistency, and you'll be good to go.

Lemon Juice is the Trick to a Creamier Cream Sauce | Christopher Kimball's Milk Street. Parmesan does the heavy-lifting in this 25 minute pasta dish.

Normally, the proteins are suspended in spherical formations that repel one another so as to stay evenly distributed throughout the liquid milk. The introduction of acid — or excessive heat — compromises those formations, causing them to cling to each other and coagulate into curds while leaving the liquid whey behind.

Can I mix lemon juice and heavy cream? ›

Adding lemon juice to heavy cream is a common method for making lemon whipped cream and other lemon-flavored desserts.

Have you ever seen what happens when you mix lemon juice with fresh milk or half and half? It curdles quite quickly. Both coffee and milk are acidic, milk becoming more acidic as it ages because the existing lactic acid increases.

A small amount of fat—extra-virgin olive oil or butter—is essential to good pasta sauce texture. Without fat, you have at best watery sauce (nobody has ever said, "Waiter, my pasta is not quite wet enough"), and at worst sauce that over-thickens with starch alone and takes on a pasty texture.

“Clabbered” milk is widely recommended as a substitute for buttermilk in baked goods. The usual approach is to stir lemon juice into milk (1 tablespoon per cup) and let the mixture sit for 10 minutes to “clabber” (or thicken) before proceeding with the recipe.

Yes, you can use milk instead of heavy cream in some recipes. Combine 3/4 cup milk and 1/4 cup melted butter as a substitute in sauces, baked goods, pasta, and frosting. Milk won't whip like cream. It works in mashed potatoes or for thinning small amounts of frosting.

White Flour

Flours can be used to make a bit of a slurry and add to the sauce to make it thicker. 1 part flour to 2 parts liquid and then adding it to your sauce should thicken it nicely. Just make sure that when you make the slurry, there are no lumps in your mixture.

Whole Milk or Heavy Cream: Add a splash and let the sauce simmer for a few minutes to thicken. Hard Cheeses: A half cup of grated parmesan, pecorino, or other hard cheese adds a deep savory note to the sauce.