Are you looking for the perfect meal, or perhaps a new favorite comfort food?
If you love creamy pasta sauce, you might find garlic pasta sauce recipes a tasty option to try. With the right ingredients, you can transform your love of garlic into a variety of unique dishes.
Even better, garlic is an incredible, versatile food. So, garlic pasta sauces are great if you have picky eaters at the table!
Below, we'll go into 7 creamy garlic pasta recipe ideas for you to try. Keep reading to add these delicious recipes to your cooking repertoire!
- The Basics: Garlic Creamy Pasta Sauce Recipe
- Shrimp Garlic Creamy Pasta
- Tomatoes and Cream Pasta
- Mushrooms and Creamy Pasta
- Gluten-Free Creamy Pasta
- Vegan Garlic Pasta
- Ham and Peas
- Get the Right Pasta for your Creamy Pasta Sauce
The Basics: Garlic Creamy Pasta Sauce Recipe
Before you get into the recipes, we want to teach you to make the star of the show: garlic pasta sauce.
You'll want to make your sauce from scratch, instead of buying it in the store. Store-bought versions of pasta sauce often skimp on health and nutrients. After all, they're more focused on filling their jars with unhealthy but tasty ingredients so they can sell more.
When you make your own creamy pasta sauce, you have more control over what goes into it.
Here is our suggestion for creamy garlic pasta:
Mix in butter and flour. If you need a gluten-free option, swap wheat flour for 1-to-1 gluten-free flour. Add chicken broth and garlic. Then, pour in the cream. The sauce should thicken at this point.
If you want any other ingredients, add them in. Then, the sauce will be ready to serve with any of these other dishes!
Shrimp Garlic Creamy Pasta
If people in your family love seafood, this pasta is one of your best options.
Cook the pasta of your choice. As it's cooking, heat a Dutch oven or cast-iron skillet until they are very hot. Get some scallops and shrimp, then pat them dry. Once you've wiped them off, lay them in a single layer on the Dutch oven or skillet. Before you add them, you'll need to salt them.
Make sure you don't salt them too soon! If you do, they'll lose some of their moisture. You should also purchase "dry" scallops.
Soon after they're added to the skillet or oven, you'll start to see them sear. They should look gold and have a nice crust.
For optimal cheesiness, fold some cheese into the sauce as it simmers. The sauce should get silky-smooth and thick.
Tomatoes and Cream Pasta
Pasta is the perfect dish to experiment with a range of flavors. If you prefer the bright taste of tomatoes combined with chicken, this is the perfect pasta for you.
To make this dish, you'll need to start with the chicken. Place chicken breasts onto an oiled skillet and sear on one side for about 4 minutes. Then, flip the chicken over and cook it for several more minutes. Keep flipping and cooking until the middle is cooked through. There should be no pink in the center.
Take the chicken out of the pan and set it aside. Then, you can either make the garlic cream listed above or make the one in this recipe.
To make a specialized garlic sauce for this pasta, put heavy cream in the pan. Wait until it boils. Then, place red pepper, tomatoes, spinach, and garlic in the sauce. Slice the chicken into strips and add it in.
Once you've cooked the pasta, pour the sauce over it. Then, serve it with bacon and parmesan.
Mushrooms and Creamy Pasta
Mushrooms are full of nutrients and add both flavor and texture to your dinner ideas.
When it comes to mushrooms and creamy pasta, you can go as elaborate or simple as you want. You can add mushrooms to any of the recipes listed above. You can also cook mushrooms and add them to the pasta sauce in the first recipe.
For the best results, you should get a mixed mushroom packet. Some great pasta mushrooms include shiitake, crimini, oyster, and maitake. Tear them into small pieces. Then, add them to a skillet and cook them until they're brown. Add olive oil and salt them.
Gluten-Free Creamy Pasta
This pasta recipe eliminates wheat and other cereal grains. In the past, people associated gluten-free ingredients with a less-than-scrumptious taste.
Yet, gluten-free ingredients have improved over the past few years. Many people report not being able to distinguish the difference between gluten-free and glutinous noodles!
To make a gluten-free creamy pasta, buy the gluten-free noodles of your choice. Pay attention to the suggested cooking instructions on the box. If you gluten-free noodles for too long, they'll start to fall apart.
Then, add the noodles to any of the sauces listed above.
Vegan Garlic Pasta
You don't have to give up your vegan diet to eat creamy garlic pasta sauces!
For a vegan creamy garlic sauce, blend cashews, water, salt, and garlic. Once it's creamy, cook the pasta and then pour the sauce over it.
Ham and Peas
For carbonara lovers, this is an excellent pasta alternative.
Cut up the ham of your choice. If it's not already cooked, sear the pieces in a skillet. Then, add peas to the garlic sauce we mentioned above. Once your pasta has cooked, toss everything together until it's fully coated.
For more flavor, add in parmesan.
Get the Right Pasta for Your Creamy Pasta Sauce
Now that you know how to make a great creamy pasta sauce, you should learn which noodles will work best for your dishes.
The shape of the pasta determines how well it holds the sauce. Curves or grooves result in more of the sauce getting caught in the noodles, giving you a stronger flavor. If you don't want as much sauce to stay on your noodles, get a straighter noodle.
Our noodles pair perfectly with these recipes. Check them out today!