Gently sautéed garlic flavors the warm olive oil and butter, creating a rich, aromatic coating for the pasta.Fresh parsley adds a clean, herbal finish that balances the sauce’s richness.With just a handful of ingredients and 15 minutes of cooking time, this dish proves simple techniques can deliver standout flavor.
We love a weeknight-friendly dish that easily conforms to the ingredients we have on hand to create a satisfying meal. Some nights, a bowl of pasta like this one — simple but packed with flavor — is just what we need. The recipe is similar to Pasta Aglio e Olio, another pantry-friendly dish that comes together in only a few minutes. Feel free to add leftover roast chicken or meat or a handful of chopped kale or other greens to make it heartier. You can also sauté shrimp with the garlic and olive oil for a dish that resembles scampi. Other fresh herbs, like basil and oregano, work nicely in place of the parsley in this utterly flexible recipe.
Why salt pasta water
Most pasta dough does not contain salt, so adding salt to the cooking water is a prime opportunity to season the noodles from within. The salt also slows the swelling of the starch as it hits the hot water, resulting in a less sticky pasta. To cook the pound of dry rigatoni here, you’ll need about five quarts of water plus one and a half tablespoons of kosher or sea salt.
Use both olive oil and butter
Using both butter and olive oil means you get the creamy, rich flavor of butter, but with the higher smoke point that comes from the olive oil. This makes it easier to cook the garlic without risking that the milk solids in the butter will start to burn.
Note from the Food & Wine Test Kitchen
Be sure to watch the garlic as you cook it; you can’t save burnt garlic. If it starts to brown, pull the pan from the heat so it doesn’t turn dark and bitter.
Dining and Cooking