White Wine Pasta (15 mins!)
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Only 15 minutes and a few minimal ingredients stand between you and a bowl full of luscious white wine pasta that is fresh, flavorful, and versatile.
A super simple weeknight pasta that goes well with your fav add-ins.
I’m not going to tell you that this is the most incredible pasta recipe in your life because it isn’t. It’s pretty basic, but you can’t go wrong with garlic, white wine, and parmesan in a sauce, right?
The method to whip up this last minute pasta dish is ridiculously simple and uses minimal ingredients. No heavy cream required.
To start, I cook butter, flour, garlic, white wine, parmesan and some pasta cooking water until I get a white wine sauce that is thick and juicy enough to coat the pasta.
And the whole recipe – including the pasta cooking time – takes less than 15 minutes.
Shocking, I know.
But the best part about this white wine pasta is that it tastes delicious on its own, but it’s also a great base for your fav add-ins and leftovers!
Toss in your wilted spinach, roasted tomatoes, or asparagus, zucchini, peppers, pan fried salmon or shrimp.
Get creative, the possibilities are endless.
This white wine pasta is nothing fancy, but it’s the kind of meal that works great for a busy weeknight, and you can take it to next level in a snap if you wish.
Hope you all enjoy it as much as we do – especially when accompanied by a nice glass of wine. : )
List of the ingredients
- Pasta
- Dry white wine
- Butter
- Garlic
- Flour
- Parmesan cheese
- Salt & pepper
How to make white wine pasta
(Note: this is simply a quick explanation, the full recipe is at the bottom of the page)
- Cook your pasta until al dente and meanwhile make the white wine sauce.
- Melt the butter in a skillet, stir the flour in and cook for 1 minute.
- Add in the garlic, followed by the wine, pasta water, lemon juice.
- Cook about 4 minutes or until the desired consistency.
- Reduce the heat and stir in the parmesan until melted.
- Turn the heat off, taste and adjust the seasoning.
- Drain the pasta and add it to the skillet.
- Toss pasta until well combined and coated.
- Add an extra touch of pasta water if needed.
- Toss in fresh parsley (optional) or your fav add-ins, and serve immediately.
- Enjoy!
Recipe notes
White wine pasta ingredients
Pasta: linguine or spaghetti are great for this recipe, but also shorter one like penne/rigatoni/fusilli work well.
Butter & flour: making a roux by cooking butter and flour is a simple method to thicken up white sauce.
Garlic: of course, for flavor.
Liquid: to make a silky white wine sauce, we add dry white wine, starchy pasta water (no heavy cream), and a touch of lemon juice for freshness. We keep it simple, economical, and easy to make with ingredients that you might have on hand.
Parmesan: don’t skip the parmesan cheese and its savory flavor, you need it here.
Salt & pepper: for flavor.
White wine sauce add-ins
This is a quick pasta recipe that tastes great on its own but it’s also easy to customize! Got roasted tomatoes or sun dried tomatoes left? Or maybe sautéed spinach. A handful of mushrooms? How about shredded chicken, sautéed shrimp or pan fried salmon? They can all go in this super quick white wine pasta!
What to serve with white wine pasta
- I think that a light side like my carrot salad or lettuce salad would be great.
- If you want to add more protein to the meal, a chickpea salad, white bean salad, or a quick frittata with arugula would be great options for a meatless meal.
Pasta leftovers
This white wine pasta is best eaten right away, but if you have leftovers you can keep in the fridge for 3 days and you can easily warm it up in a skillet. But I’m not a fan of frozen pasta, and I wouldn’t recommend freezing this one.
More quick pasta recipes for you!
This terrific collection of 13 Super Quick Pasta Recipes ready in less than 15 minutes is for you! But you might also want to check my vegan pastas and Italian pasta recipes, penne pasta recipes or meatless pastas for more cooking inspirations!
Below some of our favs:
- Pasta with artichokes
- Spinach pesto pasta
- Creamy tomato pasta
- Mushroom ricotta pasta
- Lemon caper pasta
- Penne arrabbiata
- Creamy spinach tomato pasta
Lastly, I hope you’ll love this luscious white wine pasta, and if you have any questions, let me know! Leave a comment, send me a message, or rate it. I would love to hear from you!
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White Wine Pasta
Ingredients
Pasta
- 8oz (220 grams) pasta (linguine, penne, etc…)
White Wine Pasta Sauce
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 2 garlic cloves
- ½ cup (120 ml) dry white wine
- ½ tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ cup (120 ml) pasta cooking water
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt, or more to taste
- ⅛ teaspoon ground pepper
- 1-2 tablespoon chopped parsley (optional)
Instructions
- Boil a salted pot of water for the pasta and cook it al dente according to package directions.
- When the pasta is 5 minutes away from being done, scoop out ½ cup of pasta water, set aside, then add the butter to a skillet over medium-high heat. Once the butter melts, sprinkle the flour in and cook for 1, stirring often.
- Add in the garlic, followed by wine, pasta water, lemon juice. It looks watery at the beginning, but let it cook, bubbling, for about 4 minutes or until the sauce has thickened up to your liking.
- Stir in the parmesan cheese (this is when you can add also your add-ins if you wish, see notes in the recipe card). Take the skillet off the heat, taste and season with salt & pepper as needed.
- Drain the pasta, add it to the skillet and toss until coated and moist. Toss in some chopped parsley if desired. Serve immediately.
