Our lemon pasta recipe for pasta al limone from Southern Italy makes a quick and easy one-pot pasta where the linguine and sauce come together in a single pot. The result is a sauce that’s aromatic, citrusy and rich thanks to the combination of lemon zest, lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, starchy cooking water, and butter. A shower of flat-leaf parsley adds freshness.
This lemon pasta recipe for pasta al limone is one of my favourite pasta recipes. Lemons just make everything taste better. There are few ingredients that enliven a dish like a lemon. First, there’s the sunny yellow colour that sparks joy; then, the intoxicating perfume of the fragrant fruit; and lastly, the citrusy flavour that brightens any dish. After, your taste buds awoken, everything tastes more delicious. Nobody knows this more than a Southern Italian.
Italians have long called Southern Italy ‘the Mezzogiorno’, which means ‘midday’, when the sun is at its most intense. ‘The land of the midday sun’, the Southern Italian provinces, from Campania to Calabria get the most sunshine in Italy – Sicily, for instance, boasts an average of 350 sunny days a year – which is perfect for growing lemons, and for Italians, Southern Italy’s lemons are the world’s best.
For me, Southern Italy is also the land of limoncello, that gloriously sweet and sour syrupy lemon digestif, served chilled to be sipped after dinner as a health-giving gesture of hospitality. It’s an Italian summer evening in a glass. The quintessential liqueur of Southern Italy, the best limoncello is made with lemons from the Amalfi Coast, which is where you’ll find pasta al limone and other citrusy lemon pasta dishes.
If you’re a fan of citrus and a Mediterranean food lover you’ll love this lemon pasta. For more quick and easy pasta recipes, see our recipes for a creamy tomato pasta sauce with gnocchi, penne Bolognese recipe for a ‘cheat’s Bol’, this asparagus, mushrooms and bacon gnocchi, our spaghetti pangrattato, this cherry tomato feta pasta, my bacon and mushroom pasta, this canned tuna pasta with scallions, capers and fresh herbs, and my fusilli with creamy pumpkin pasta sauce.
I’ll tell you more about this lemon pasta recipe below. If you want to bookmark it, just click on the heart on the right side of the page to save it to your private account. If you’re looking for more cooking inspiration, we have many hundreds of recipes here.
Lemon Pasta Recipe for Pasta al Limone from Southern Italy
I’ve long loved lemons – and limes, but lemons have a special place in my memory. Growing up in Australia, there were lemon trees in the backyard gardens of both sets of grandparents’ homes. My Russian grandparents and mum drank black tea with lemon slices every day, and lemons were served with buttery pancakes, soups, and fish.
On the Australian side of the family, my nanna made homemade lemonade and baked all sorts of lemony cakes and desserts – lemon puddings, lemon custard, lemon tarts, and lemon meringue pies. Mum garnished prawn cocktails and oyster platters with lemon slices and we squeezed lemon wedges over fish and chips.
While staying with mum this year, I’ve had a constant supply of lemons from a nearby school garden – maintained not by its students but by a husband-wife gardener team. Karen refugees from the Myanmar-Thai border who settled here two decades ago, we bonded over our love of Myanmar and its food.
Whenever I stroll by, the lovely couple come to the fence for a chat and thrust a bunch of coriander or basil or an apron full of pomegranates or lemons into my hands. As my mother love pasta – as regular readers know from my series of quick and easy pasta recipes – I’ve been making lemon pasta at least once a week.
If you’ll travelled in Southern Italy, you couldn’t help but notice the lemon groves, especially on the terraces on the coasts of Campania – from Sorrento, the ‘City of Lemons’, down to the Amalfi and on Capri – and throughout Puglia, Calabria and Sicily. When we settled into a traditional trullo near Alberobello way back in 2010 when we launched Grantourismo, our country retreat was surrounded by olive groves and lemon groves.
And let’s not forget the ubiquity of lemons in Southern Italian cuisine. Lemon slices and wedges accompany every seafood and fish dish, but it’s in the pastas, vegetable sides, and desserts that lemons really shine – from the lemon sauce spooned over asparagus and lemon sorbets that serve as palate cleansers to the famous ‘delizia al limone’ a rich lemon sponge cake with lemon custard from the Amalfi Coast.
Every restaurant menu from Sorrento to the Amalfi has at least one lemon risotto and lemon pasta, made with long pastas such as tagliolini, spaghetti and linguine, and most typically featuring the combination of ingredients I’ve used here – lemon zest and juice, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, butter, Pecorino Romano, salt and pepper, and parsley.
It was in Sorrento that I first tasted pasta al limone and I ate it regularly during a week in Positano, which is why every time I make it I’m transported back to the Amalfi Coast and Southern Italy. Let me share a few tips to making this lemon pasta recipe for pasta al limone.
Tips to Making this Lemon Pasta Recipe for Pasta al Limone
I only have a few tips to making this lemon pasta recipe for pasta al limone, as it’s really very easy and quick to come together (and I know I say that a lot). But it’s important to follow the recipe closely and watch your measures and times. While this one-pot pasta doesn’t take long to make, this is a pasta you have to babysit a little bit.
Firstly, while I love linguini for pasta al limone, in Southern Italy they mostly use tagliolini, but also spaghetti and linguini. Any long pastas will work, such as bucatini and fettuccini.
You’ll need either a lidded pasta pot or a very deep pan with lid, to which you’ll add the linguine, teaspoon of salt, zest of two lemons, pounded garlic cloves, half a litre of boiling water, and extra virgin olive oil. It’s important to give it a stir to ensure the pasta is separated then pop the lid on, and bring the water to a boil over high heat.
Once the water is boiling, remove the lid and reduce the heat to medium, and stir the pasta to ensure it’s separated. Let it simmer with the lid off for another 5 minutes or so, making sure to stir it occasionally, until the pasta is a few minutes from al dente. Don’t let it cook any longer than that.
Turn the heat down to low, squeeze in the juice of the two lemons, stir the juice in to incorporate, then let it simmer again until the pasta is a little closer to al dente and the liquid has reduced to a sauce, which should take another 2-3 minutes.
When the pasta is ready and you have a thick sauce, turn the heat off, add the butter, grated Pecorino Romano, sea salt and pepper, and stir to combine everything. Pecorino Romano is best as it’s creamier than Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper to suit your palate.
Note that you should have al dente pasta in a creamy sauce. But if the pasta isn’t cooked enough to your taste (my mum, for instance, prefers her pasta over-cooked), you could return it to the heat for a minute, but do watch it closely so it doesn’t go gluggy.
Divide the pasta between bowls, shower it with chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, drizzle on a little extra virgin olive oil, grind on some cracked black pepper, and serve with more chopped parsley, salt and pepper, extra virgin olive oil, and grated Pecorino Romano.
Sometimes I’ll also sprinkle on pangrattato for crunch or gremolata for even more fragrance and zing. Serve the pasta with a simple tossed salad and crusty sourdough bread, and more salt and pepper, chopped parsley, extra virgin olive oil, and grated cheese on the table. Enjoy!
Lemon Pasta Recipe for Pasta al Limone
Equipment
Ingredients
- 200 g linguine
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 lemons - zest and juice
- 2 garlic cloves - peeled and pounded
- 500 ml boiling water
- 50 ml extra virgin olive oil - divided
- 20 g butter
- 20 g Pecorino Romano - grated
- ¼ tsp coarse salt - or to taste
- ¼ tsp cracked black pepper - or to taste
- 2 tbsp fresh flat leaf parsley - finely chopped
Instructions
- To a lidded pasta pot or big, deep pan with lid, add the linguine, teaspoon of salt, zest of two lemons, pounded garlic cloves, 500 ml boiling water, and extra virgin olive oil; give it a stir to separate the pasta, pop the lid on, and bring to a boil over high heat.
- Remove the lid, reduce the heat to medium, stir the pasta to ensure it’s separated, simmer for another 5 minutes or so, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is a few minutes from to al dente.
- Reduce the heat to low, squeeze in the juice of the two lemons, stir to incorporate, and simmer until the pasta is close to al dente and the liquid has reduced to a sauce, around 2-3 more minutes.
- Turn the heat off, add the butter, grated Pecorino Romano, sea salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Taste and adjust the seasoning to suit your palate.
- You should have al dente pasta in a creamy sauce. If the pasta isn’t cooked enough to your taste, you could return it to the heat for a minute, but watch it closely so it doesn’t over-cook.
- Distribute the pasta between bowls, shower with chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, drizzle on a little extra virgin olive oil, grind on some cracked black pepper, and serve with more chopped parsley, salt and pepper, extra virgin olive oil, and grated Pecorino Romano.
Notes
Nutrition
Please do let us know in the Comments section below if you make this lemon pasta recipe for pasta al limone as we love to hear how our recipes turn out for readers.
Lara, I’ve been making this since you published it and it’s one of my family’s favourite dishes. We love your recipes. We’ve made a LOT! Can’t wait for one of your cookbooks. Thank you!
Hi Anna, love to hear this! Thank you so much taking the time to drop by and let us know. Appreciated :)
We love this so much Lara! So easy! It took us right back to Sorrento. Grazie for the recipe as much as the memories. We love your site!
Hi Judy, so pleased to hear this! And thank you so much for taking the time to drop by and let us know :)