Lazy Girl Three-Ingredient Pasta (Printable Version)

Simple pasta coated in creamy butter and Parmesan sauce for a quick and flavorful meal.

# What You'll Need:

→ Pasta

01 - 7 oz dried pasta (spaghetti, linguine, or fettuccine)

→ Sauce

02 - 3.5 tbsp unsalted butter
03 - 2.1 oz freshly grated Parmesan cheese

→ For Finishing

04 - Salt, to taste
05 - Freshly ground black pepper, to taste (optional)

# Directions:

01 - Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to package instructions until al dente.
02 - Reserve about 2/3 cup of pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta.
03 - Return hot pasta to the pot off the heat. Add butter and toss until melted and pasta is evenly coated.
04 - Sprinkle Parmesan over pasta. Add 1/4 to 1/3 cup of reserved pasta water and toss vigorously until a creamy sauce forms, adding more water to achieve desired consistency.
05 - Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately, optionally topped with extra Parmesan.

# Expert Tips:

01 -
  • It's ready in 17 minutes, which means you can go from hungry to eating faster than most takeout arrives.
  • The sauce is genuinely creamy without a drop of cream, and that's the kind of kitchen secret that makes you feel clever.
  • When you nail the pasta water ratio, the pasta itself becomes part of the sauce instead of just sitting in it.
02 -
  • The sauce will seem watery while you're tossing it, but it thickens as it cools slightly, so resist the urge to keep adding cheese—you can always sprinkle more on top at the table.
  • Timing matters here: the pasta must be genuinely hot when you add the butter, and you must work quickly before everything cools down and the sauce seizes up into a grainy mess.
03 -
  • Keep your butter and Parmesan at room temperature so they distribute evenly without any cold spots that refuse to melt into the sauce.
  • The moment your pasta water hits the pot is the moment you should be ready to serve—this is the kind of dish that actually waits for nobody, so have your bowls warming and your table set before you drain the pasta.
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