Brown Butter Pasta is an Elevated Take on Classic Butter Noodles

You can easily add a protein to this brown butter pasta.

If there’s one thing we can get behind, it’s butter. If it’s brown butter, even better! Brown butter is the star of this pasta. It’s bold, rich, and perfect for a family patio picnic.

Leigh Anne Wilkes shared her recipe for brown butter pasta. This is a great meatless dish, or you can add any sort of protein. This pasta pairs well with salmon, shrimp, or throw in some of your leftover or rotisserie chicken.

This dish is one of Leigh Anne’s favorite make-ahead meals. “It’s perfect for one of those busy weeknights,” she added, “You can assemble the parts in the morning, and put it all together right before dinner time.”

Leigh Anne recreated this dish from one of her favorite restaurants in Portland. “It was a favorite menu item from a local restaurant when I lived there, and when they took it off the menu, I figured out how to make it at home!”

When browning butter, you’ll want to make sure you watch it closely. It will foam up first, and then start to turn golden brown. Leigh Anne says it’s important to use a light-colored pan, so you can see the color.

Find all of Leigh Anne’s notes for this recipe, here.

Brown Butter Pasta Recipea

“The combination of garlic, spinach, tomato, hazelnuts and brown butter sauce is unforgettable. The perfect meatless dinner option.”

-Leigh Anne Wilkes

Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Total: 25 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 handfuls of baby spinach
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 cup chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated
• 1/2 cup hazelnuts toasted and chopped
• 8 oz. pasta cooked
• 1 tsp olive oil
• salt and pepper

METHOD

1. Add pasta to boiling water and cook until al dente, drain and rinse and set aside.
2. Brown the butter in a pan, watch closely so it doesn’t burn. Should be golden and smell wonderful. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Add olive oil to pan and saute garlic.
4. Add spinach. Cook just until it starts to wilt.
5. Add in tomatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes.
6. Add cooked pasta and and browned butter to pan. Toss to distribute evenly.
7. Sprinkle with hazelnuts and cheese.
8. Salt and pepper to taste

Notes

Precook the pasta the night before or morning of so it is ready to go.  Just cook it al dente (still a little firm) and then put it in a strainer and run water over it to remove the starch. Put it into a zip loc bag and refrigerate it.  When you are ready to use it, put it back in the strainer and run some warm water over it and it’s ready to eat!  Just add it into your browned butter sauce.

It is also delicious served with some sliced chicken, shrimp or sliced steak.

Find more recipes from Leigh Anne on Instagram, @yourhomebasedmom, or on her website, yourhomebasedmom.com.