15-Minute Garlic Butter Spaghetti
No-Fail

15-Minute Garlic Butter Spaghetti

15 min total serves 2 5 steps

Buttery, garlicky pasta that tastes like a restaurant and takes less time than delivery.

Dummy-proof tip

Salt your pasta water until it tastes like mild soup. That is the whole secret.

The steps, in plain English

  1. 1

    Boil the water

    Fill a big pot with water, add a big pinch of salt, put it on high heat and wait for a rolling boil.

    timer 5:00
  2. 2

    Cook the spaghetti

    Drop the spaghetti in and stir once so it doesn't stick. Cook until it's soft with a tiny bite left.

    timer 9:00
  3. 3

    Melt the garlic butter

    In a pan on medium-low heat, melt the butter and add the thinly sliced garlic. Cook gently until it smells amazing and turns pale gold.

    timer 2:00
  4. 4

    Bring it together

    Drain the pasta, tip it into the garlic butter with a splash of pasta water and toss for a minute.

    timer 1:00
  5. 5

    Finish and serve

    Off the heat, stir in the parmesan, plus salt, pepper and parsley if you have it.

SimmerDown

The no-judgement kitchen. Every recipe assumes you've burnt toast before — and that's fine.

Beginner rule #1

Read the whole recipe before you turn the heat on. It takes 30 seconds and saves dinner.