This garlic butter bowtie pasta is a quick, creamy pasta side dish made with bowtie pasta, butter, milk, Parmesan cheese, and a simple homemade seasoning mix. It is ready in about 15 minutes and works with chicken, steak, shrimp, pork, or vegetables.
Garlic Butter Bowtie Pasta
This is the kind of simple pasta side dish that disappears fast. The bowties cook in a buttery milk mixture with garlic, herbs, and Parmesan, so they come out creamy without needing a heavy sauce.
It is easy enough for a weeknight but still feels like more than plain buttered noodles. Serve it with grilled chicken, shrimp, steak, pork chops, or roasted vegetables.
How to Make Garlic Butter Bowtie Pasta
Bring the water, milk, and butter to a boil in a medium saucepan. Stir in the dry bowtie pasta and the seasoning mix. Simmer until the pasta is tender, then stir in the Parmesan cheese. Let the pasta sit for a few minutes before serving so the sauce can thicken.
Easy Add-ins
You can keep this pasta simple or add extra ingredients to make it more filling:
- Spinach: Stir in chopped fresh spinach at the end.
- Fresh herbs: Add basil, parsley, or chives before serving.
- Vegetables: Broccoli, asparagus, peas, or mushrooms would work well.
- Protein: Add grilled chicken, shrimp, or leftover rotisserie chicken to make it more of a meal.
What to Serve with Garlic Butter Bowtie Pasta
This garlic butter bowtie pasta works well with simple proteins because the pasta is creamy, buttery, and mild. Serve it with grilled chicken, baked chicken, shrimp, pork chops, steak, salmon, or roasted vegetables.
More Easy Pasta Side Dishes
If you like quick pasta sides, try these Parmesan Garlic Noodles, Garlic Parmesan Orzo, or Creamy Cheddar Broccoli Orzo next.
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Garlic Butter Bowtie Pasta
- Total Time: 16-18 min
- Yield: 4 servings, as a side dish 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
A quick, creamy garlic butter bowtie pasta side dish made with Parmesan cheese and a homemade seasoning mix.
Ingredients
Seasoning Mix:
- Âľ teaspoon garlic powder
- Âľ teaspoon fine sea salt
- Âľ teaspoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ÂĽ teaspoon lemon pepper
- Pinch black pepper, optional
Pasta:
- 2 cups dry bowtie pasta
- 1 â…“ cups water
- Âľ cup whole milk
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Bring the water, milk, and butter to a boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce the heat to low, then stir in the dry pasta and seasoning mix.
- Simmer for about 11-13 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is tender. Stir in the Parmesan cheese, then let the pasta stand for 3–4 minutes before serving so the sauce can thicken.
Notes
- Salt: Fine sea salt was used when testing this recipe. If using coarse salt or a salted lemon pepper blend, start with less salt.
- Seasoning Mix: This recipe now makes just enough seasoning for one batch of pasta. If you previously made the larger seasoning mix, use 1 tablespoon of that mix for this recipe.
- Prep Time: 5 min
- Cook Time: 11-13 min
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
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If you x 3 the recipe do you use 3 tablespoons of seasoning?
yes
When you say 1 1/2 cups pasta for recipe does that mean dry?
yes
Whooaaa waaaayyy to salty and I like my food seasoned but that amount was not eatable . I will try it again but will half the amount
How much of the seasoning did you use? The recipe makes several, only ONE TABLESPOON of the seasoning mix is used.
Mine came out really salty and floury I’m disappointed and really wanted to like this recipe
Did you read the instructions where it says to only use one TBS of the mix? If you used the entire amount it would definitely be floury and salty.
Do you use course sea salt or fine? The measurement would make a difference when the crystal size is larger versus smaller. Wondering what you use in your seasoning mix.
Hi Jake – I use fine Sea salt in all my recipes
How many servings does this make?
I love finding recipes that replace boxed versions. Between this recipe and your parmesan noodles I am loving making these side dishes.
Wonderful side dish – so easy to make and my family ate it all. Definite keeper!
Loved this recipe. I added the noodles right away by accident and it still turned out! Great recipe!
We made this and paired it with sautéed shrimp. It was delicious. I didn’t want to make the entire seasoning to use later.
So I just cut the recipe down and added some herb de Provence at the end. We loved it.
So good! My 2 year old sat in his high chair and kept banging until I gave him a few more. Everyone loved it
This was very good. Easy to make, simple ingredients. I will make this again.
I’m so glad this mix makes more than one batch because I’ve made it several times now. My kids devour it and I can say goodbye to the boxed sh*t.
Can you cook more than 1 1/2 cups of pasta?
you can but it will become dry if you don’t increase the rest of the ingredients as well.
Just a heads up, 1 tablespoon of sea salt is like 7000mg of salt, which is almost 4 times what a person should have in a day. I’d eat lightly if making this with that much salt, or peel it back to something reasonable like a teaspoon for the entire dish.
1 tablespoon of salt is to make the seasoning mix. You then only use a tablespoon of the entire mix in the recipe. The recipe does not use the entire tablespoon of salt.
Looks Delicious. !!!!
I loved your presentation .
Great Work . Thanks for sharing .
Your post is amazing . Your have shared this amazing recipe quite nicely that it sounds so easy to make.
Thanks !!