Easy, quick and inexpensive, this creamy penne pasta recipe makes a truly delicious family meal that uses 6 ingredients and it's ready in less than 15 minutes. Recipe yields 4 servings.
Prep Time5 minutesmins
Cook Time10 minutesmins
Total Time15 minutesmins
Course: pasta
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: creamy penne pasta recipe
Servings: 4
Calories: 393kcal
Author: Katia
Ingredients
Penne pasta
8 oz(225 grams)penne pasta
Creamy pasta sauce
1tablespoonbutter or olive oil
4garlic cloves, minced
5 oz(140 grams)full-fat cream cheese (I used Philadelphia)
¼ cup(60 ml)cloudy starchy pasta water
¼ cup(30 grams)parmesan cheese, grated
1small lemon, zest
½teaspoonfine salt, or to taste
⅛teaspoonblack pepper, or to taste
1tablespoonlemon juice
Instructions
Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted until al dente (follow the package directions). Just a couple of minutes before draining, scoop out some cloudy starchy pasta cooking water (approx ½ cup is fine).
While the pasta is cooking, melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook gently for about 2 minutes until it smells good and fragrant.
Stir in the cream cheese, ¼ cup of the reserved pasta water, the parmesan cheese, and the lemon zest. Stir until well combined and emulsified, it takes seconds. Reduce the heat, stir in the lemon juice, and adjust the seasoning to your liking (I add ¼ tsp of salt and about ⅛ tsp freshly ground black pepper).
Drain the pasta, add it to the skillet, toss to coat (it takes about 8-10 seconds).
Turn the heat off and serve immediately with freshly grated parmesan cheese and extra lemon zest or freshly ground pepper if you wish. Enjoy!
Notes
Storage: you can store the creamy penne pasta leftovers in airtight container in the fridge for up 3 days. Reheat it before adding to cooked pasta, and toss well until combined. Nutrition facts: the nutrition values are for one serving and they are based on an online nutrition calculator. It’s an estimate only and it should not be considered as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice (extra parmesan cheese to serve is not included). Please see my disclosure policies.