Creamy Lemon Baked Pasta is rich, and cozy dish with a fresh citrus twist. Perfect for an easy, comforting meal everyone will love. Try now!
Turn your basic pantry staples into fresh, delicious Pasta! Try making my Lemon Ricotta Pasta for a delicious family meal or my Linguine with Lemon Butter Sauce!
Sabrina’s Creamy Lemon Baked Pasta Recipe
This Creamy Lemon Baked Pasta is one of those cozy meals I keep coming back to because it’s so comforting and creamy, yet still feels fresh and light thanks to the bright lemon flavor!
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 pound spaghetti , dried
- 8 ounces cream cheese , softened
- 2 lemons (zested, one cut into wedges and one juiced)
- 6 ounces Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- parsley for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Cook the pasta a minute less than what is labeled on the box in salted water.
- Drain but do not rinse and save a ⅓ a cup of the pasta water.
- In a hot large pot or pan add the garlic and olive oil.
- Cook on medium high until just fragrant, 10-15 seconds.
- Add in the cream cheese and Parmesan Cheese.
- Stir to combine and add in two tablespoons of lemon juice, 2 teaspoons of lemon zest and ⅓ of a cup of the pasta water.
- Add salt and pepper to taste (I add ½ teaspoon kosher salt and ½ teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper).
- Mix well and add the pasta into the pot to combine.
- Pour the pasta into a 9×13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
- Serve with lemon wedges and sprinkle lemon zest on top and parsley if you’re using it.
Nutrition
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Sabrina’s Tips
You can certainly use any pasta you’d like in your recipes, but some are better suited to baking than others. Avoid pastas that are very small or very thin, like angel hair pasta. The pasta will overcook and break easily during serving. I stick to classic spaghetti in baked recipes to allow for longer baking times. Short pasta shapes work great in baking. The most popular shapes for this are ziti, penne, and rigatoni. But be careful when using farfalle pasta when baking; the edges tend to stick to other pieces and tear during serving.
Table of contents
About this Recipe
This Creamy Parmesan Lemon Baked Pasta is easy to make, kid friendly and makes for awesome leftovers. The pasta bakes up perfectly cheesy and golden, making it an easy dish that feels a little special without taking much effort.
How to Store
- Store: Don’t leave out for more than 2 hours at room temperature. Store the pasta and sauce together in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Reheat: Reheat slowly on the stove top, stirring occasionally, to keep it from drying out. Add an extra splash of cream, broth, or water if it is really thick or dry.
- Freeze: You can freeze this recipe but I would not recommend it. The sauce will not have the same texture or consistency after it has been reheated.
Ideas to Serve
Try making this as a pasta salad. I make it with short pasta too, especially rigatoni….because it is AMAZING served cold! If you are going to serve it cold, I recommend cooking it for only 10-15 minutes and when it comes out of the oven, stir is until the pieces are separated.
Frequent Questions
I don’t suggest freezing the recipe, as it won’t have the same texture or moisture in reheating.
Please don’t. Aside from using zest in the recipe as well, there is a distinct flavor in bottled lemon juice that is just off-putting. It certainly doesn’t have the fresh flavors we are looking for, and with only five ingredients, using the best ingredients really matters.
No, cook the meat before adding it to the pasta and baking.
No, you can certainly eat it without baking. I would just suggest cooking the sauce until it is thickened and tossing it with the pasta. Add the lemon towards the end of your simmering.
Variations
- Vegetables: You can also add veggie to your pasta. Try it with frozen peas. Add them in just before putting it in the oven.
- Meat: You can make this a full meal by adding chunks of chicken. I have also tried this with turkey as well as shrimp.
- Milk: For a creamier pasta, replace the pasta water with milk.
- Crackers: You can top the pasta with buttery toasted crackers. This adds some delicious crunch and texture.
Related Recipes
More Delicious Creamy Pastas!
These photos were used in a previous version of this post
Yum. As another reviewer stated…….you had me at cream cheese. I love cream cheese combined with pasta and the lemon really added to the flavor. Thanks for sharing this nice keeper.
I prepared this for our family’s Lemon Cookoff. I did increase the lemon juice and zest. I took first place out of 12 entries. Thank you
That’s awesome!! Thanks for coming back to let me know.
This was great! I added some grilled chicken that I marinated in Caesar salad dressing- I brought some over to my neighbor and he called a few minutes later complaining that I didn’t give him enough!! Thank you Sabrina!!!
Haha, love it! Thanks for the 5 stars!
I used a 1/2 cup of chevre cheese instead of parmesan and upped the salt a little, omg what a hit!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the 5 star rating!
Awesome and useful
do you bake it on the bottom rack or the middle rack.
Middle rack 🙂
Would you buy cooked shrimp for this?
Also, I don’t know if it’s just on my computer or what but as I’m looking at the recipe I keep getting a pop up to sign up for email (which I have already done) and I can find no way to get rid of it and get back to the recipe. I have to shut the site down and go back to my email to get the link to go back to the recipe.
Yes, you could use cooked shrimp. 🙂
Hopefully that was just a glitch and has resolved itself. So sorry about that!
Made this for dindin last night and it was Amazing!!! I added in a pound of cut up chicken tenders that I had previously cooked, so I had to up the parm content too. 🙂 Served with a side of peas and it was pretty, smelled luscious and tasted even better. Took left overs for lunch to work today and got more raves from my co-workers!
Oh, I almost forgot … I used egg noodles instead of spaghetti noodles.
I’m so glad to hear it! Thank you so much for coming back and letting me know you enjoyed it!
I always look for pasta recipe for difer my family menu…thx for sharing the recipe..looks scrumptious !
You had me at cream cheese. I have to try this.
I am always looking for new recipes to try. I will have to get the ingredients i need to make this on the weekend.
Oh my gosh what a delicious plate of pasta, I love how creamy it looks! Perfect for an easy weeknight meal, pinning!
I love the idea of adding shrimp to this- and I happen to have all of the ingredients on hand, yay! Thanks for sharing such a light and simple recipe!
I love pasta with lemony flavors – Yum! Pinned!!
We love pasta at our house. This recipe looks divine!!! I bet the lemon taste paired with the pasta is quite yummy.
Yummo! I love lemon with pasta. I’ve got some chicken in the fridge, and I’m thinking it would go perfectly with this recipe.
Yum! i bet my kids will love this. It sounds awesome.
Looks deliiiicious! 🙂
Thanks Hillary!