Spaghetti Aglio e Olio, or Spaghetti with Garlic and Olive Oil, is a delectable Italian pasta recipe featuring noodles tossed in olive oil infused with garlic, then combined with parmesan cheese, parsley and red pepper flakes.
With a shortlist of ingredients, spaghetti aglio e olio comes together quickly and yet has big beautiful flavors. Making it a perfect meal for those busy weeknights!
Garlic Olive Oil Pasta
Spaghetti aglio e olio is a traditional Italian pasta dish that originates from Naples. “Aglio e olio” literally translates to “garlic and oil” in English, which is a nod to the two key components of the dish. That’s why it is also called Spaghetti with Garlic and Olive Oil!
The most basic version of pasta aglio e olio features spaghetti tossed in garlic infused olive oil, but it can also be seasoned with other ingredients such as parsley, parmesan cheese, and red pepper flakes.
While it seem like an unassuming pasta dish with a short list of ingredients, don’t be fooled. Spaghetti with garlic and olive oil is and explosion of robust flavors and an indispensable recipe to have in your hip pocket.
When we first had Spaghetti aglio e olio in Italy, we were blown away by how delicious a simple dish such as this can truly be.
The secret to perfecting this spaghetti with garlic and olive oil dish lies in good quality and fresh ingredients, and careful preparation (a few important steps to NOT skip!), which we will cover to make sure you can recreate this perfectly in your home.
Garlic olive oil spaghetti is inexpensive to make, and you can serve it as a main dish with a side of salad or grilled vegetables, or serve with other protein or sides such as garlic bread or grilled chicken, to make it a more complete meal.
Ingredients
Here are the short list of ingredients for making spaghetti with garlic and olive oil.
Note that each ingredient plays a crucial role in bringing spaghetti aglio e olio to life. There is a reason why I keep reinforcing the need to use “high quality” or “fresh” ingredients – it will really make or break the dish.
- Spaghetti – high quality spaghetti actually matters in this garlic olive oil spaghetti dish. High quality and more authentic pasta/spaghetti such as Rummo has a higher starch content, which is crucial to help thicken the sauce and enabling the olive oil and garlic mixture to perfectly coat each strands of spaghetti. Make sure spaghetti is cooked al dente, which is rolled-but-firm texture, to avoid mushy pasta.
- Olive oil – use good quality extra virgin olive oil for the best flavor, given it is one of the main ingredients that bring flavors to this dish
- Garlic – fresh garlic should always be used for the most bold flavors. DO NOT use garlic powder.
- Red pepper flakes – this is optional and is used to help open up the flavors in the dish. Because we are only using a small amount of it, it doesn’t really add any significant spicy flavors to the dish. You can opt to omit this ingredient if you prefer.
- Parsley – fresh parsley is highly preferred to fried parsley.
- Shredded parmesan – using good quality real parmesan or Parmigiano Reggiano is important to yield the best flavor. Avoid using the really hard powdery parmesan. You can omit this if you’d like, but you’ll want to add more salt to open up the flavors of the dish.
- Salt – as always when using salt as a seasoning, use a good quality salt. I like to use good sea salt.
How to Make It
Spaghetti aglio e olio is simple to prepare and it takes under 30 minutes from start to finish!
Boil pasta: Boil spaghetti according to package instructions. Bring water to boil and boil pasta till al dente. Don’t forget to reserve a cup of pasta water before draining! It will be needed when making the sauce later.
Drain the rest of the pasta water and set spaghetti aside.
Cook garlic in olive oil: Place garlic slices and olive oil in a large 12-inch skillet with high rim, then turn on heat to medium low. This will gradually heat up the oil and garlic, thus infusing oil with the flavors from the garlic.
Cook for about 1-2 minutes or until garlic is fragrant. Stir constantly and be careful not to burn the garlic.
Add salt and red pepper flakes, then stir to combine.
Once garlic is fragrant (and before it turns brown), add ready spaghetti into the large skillet.
Toss spaghetti in olive oil and garlic mixture, and then add the cup of reserved pasta water from earlier.
Reduce heat to low, the let spaghetti in garlic and olive boil in water for another few minutes, or until water is absorbed into the pasta. Toss to combine every now and then.
If you are using good quality pasta, the pasta will slowly absorb the excess water while the starch on the pasta helps create a thin layer of sticky sauce that very gently coats it.
Add parmesan cheese and parsley, then gently toss everything together until combined.
Taste the parmesan pasta aglio e olio and add more salt to open up the flavors if needed.
When the aglio e olio pasta is done, serve immediately by bringing onto plates, and then topping it with more parmesan cheese as garnish. Because there’s no such thing as too much parmesan cheese!
Variations
Traditional spaghetti aglio e olio features ingredients such as garlic, olive oil, parsley, and sometimes red pepper flakes, but there are so many additional ingredients you can add to make this recipe your own, such as:
- Other fresh herbs: Instead of or in addition to parsley, fresh basil, thyme or oregano are great as well.
- Other cheeses: Asiago, Pecorino Romano, or Grana Padano are good alternatives to parmesan
- Lemon: Add a squeeze of lemon juice to add a punch of acidity. You can even garnish with lemon slices for a nice touch.
- Protein: adding grilled chicken, grilled shrimp, sausage, or even bacon is a great way to turn your spaghetti aglio e olio into a more hearty dinner.
- Mushrooms: a great way to make this a vegetarian dish but with additional textures! Gentle sear mushrooms with salt before adding to pasta.
Tips and Tricks
A few other notes to keep in mind when making pasta aglio e olio to ensure your success:
- Use a large skillet: you’ll need a large 12-inch skillet with high rim that can fit a whole pound of cooked pasta. We will eventually be bringing everything into that skillet.
- Use fresh ingredients: avoid using garlic powder and dried parsley if possible. Fresh ingredients make a big difference in this garlic olive oil spaghetti recipe!
- Use good quality olive oil for the best flavor: use extra virgin olive oil for best flavor!
- Do NOT rinse cooked pasta with water: doing this will rinse away the starch on the pasta making it much harder for the sauce to coat the spaghetti. To prevent spaghetti from sticking together, toss in olive oil instead.
- Reserve pasta water: don’t forget to put away a cup of pasta water before draining out the water from cooked pasta! This will be used to help thicken the sauce for the pasta later, and it makes a difference!
- Don’t overcook garlic: sear garlic under medium low heat and watch the garlic carefully when cooking to make sure it doesn’t brown or burned. We are simply searing the garlic to infuse the olive oil with garlic flavors.
Frequently Asked Questions
While spaghetti is traditionally used for this recipe, you can use other types of long and thin(ish) pasta, such as angel hair, linguine, fettuccine, etc.
Cooking pasta until al dente is key to achieving the perfect texture. To do this, follow package instructions and taste the pasta 2-3 minute before the recommended skillet cooking time to prevent overcooking it. When pasta is al dente, it should be fully cooked yet still firm to the bite. Drain the pasta immediately once it reaches your desired texture. If you’re not adding pasta to the olive oil garlic mixture immediately, toss in some olive oil to prevent sticking to each other.
Yes! You can definitely omit it if you’d like. Note that with the small amount of red pepper flakes this dish calls for, it really is not spicy. The red pepper flakes is there more to bring in some flavor and help open up the flavors.
No! You can try using other hard, flavorful cheeses such as Parmigiano-Reggiano, asiago, pecorino romano, or gran padano.
While I recommend consuming immediately to get the best texture, you can make this in advance and storage in refrigerator. Before reheating, drizzle a drop or two of water so that pasta doesn’t dry out when reheating.
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Spaghetti Aglio e Olio (Spaghetti with Garlic and Olive Oil)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb spaghetti pasta
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 8-10 cloves garlic sliced
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes optional
- 1 tbsp salt or to taste
- 1 cup reserved pasta water
- 1 cup shredded parmesan plus more as garnish if desired
- ¼ cup parsley chopped
Instructions
- Cook spaghetti according to package instructions. When spaghetti is done, set aside one cup of reserved pasta water before draining the rest of the water from spaghetti.
- In a deep sided skillet, add olive oil and garlic slices. Then turn on the heat to medium low. Allow garlic to cook for 1 minute or until it is fragrant, making sure it does not brown/burn. Then add salt and red pepper flakes.
- Add the spaghetti to the olive oil and garlic. Toss to coat.
- Add reserved pasta water.
- Cook for a few more minutes or until the pasta water is absorbed. Toss to combine every 30 seconds or so. Once most of the water is absorbed, spaghetti is coated in a very thin layer of sticky garlicky sauce. Remove skillet from heat.
- Add parmesan cheese and parsley. Toss to mix. Add more salt to taste if needed.
- Serve with more parmesan cheese if desired. Enjoy!
