These Garlic Parmesan Noodles are creamy, buttery and packed with fresh garlic and Parmesan cheese. The angel hair pasta cooks right in the chicken broth, then gets finished with Parmesan and half-and-half for an easy one-pot side dish that's ready in about 15 minutes.
Serve these creamy garlic Parmesan noodles with chicken, pork, shrimp or vegetables, or add your favorite protein and turn them into a quick dinner.
How to Make Garlic Parmesan Noodles
These garlic Parmesan noodles come together in one pot, and the pasta cooks directly in the chicken broth so there's no separate pot to drain.
- Heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute.
- Add the chicken broth and bring it to a boil.
- Add the uncooked angel hair pasta directly to the broth and cook until al dente.
- Remove the pan from the heat and gradually stir in the Parmesan cheese until melted.
- Stir in the half-and-half and parsley.
- Let the noodles stand for about 5 minutes so the sauce can thicken.
Tips for the Best Garlic Parmesan Noodles
Use freshly grated Parmesan.
Freshly grated cheese melts more smoothly than packaged pre-shredded Parmesan.
Remove the pan from the heat before adding the cheese.
Stir the Parmesan in gradually to help it melt smoothly and prevent clumping.
Don't drain the pasta.
The noodles cook directly in the broth and absorb the remaining liquid as they sit.
Let the noodles rest.
The sauce may look loose at first, but it thickens considerably after about 5 minutes.
Taste before adding salt.
Chicken broth and Parmesan already contain salt, so season at the end as needed.
What to Serve With Garlic Parmesan Noodles
These Parmesan Garlic Noodles, sometimes called Parmesan garlic noodles, pair perfectly with a variety of delicious dishes. Here are some mouthwatering options to serve alongside this flavorful pasta:
- Grilled Chicken
- Chicken Francese
- Pork Chops
- Roasted Vegetables
- Garlic Knots
- Green Salad
- Grilled Shrimp
Garlic Parmesan Noodles
- Total Time: 15 min
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
Creamy Garlic Parmesan Noodles made with angel hair pasta, fresh garlic, butter, chicken broth, Parmesan and half-and-half. An easy one-pot side dish ready in about 15 minutes.
Ingredients
- 3 teaspoons olive oil
- 5–6 cloves fresh garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth or chicken stock
- 8 ounces angel hair pasta, uncooked
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- ¾ cup half-and-half, or whole milk
- Salt, to taste
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1–2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute, stirring frequently.
- Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil over high heat.
- Add the uncooked angel hair pasta directly to the broth. Cook until al dente, stirring occasionally. Do not drain.
- Remove the pan from the heat and let it sit for about 1 minute.
- Gradually stir in the Parmesan cheese until melted and smooth.
- Stir in the half-and-half and parsley.
- Taste and season with salt and black pepper as needed.
- Let the noodles stand for about 5 minutes before serving. The sauce will continue to thicken as the pasta absorbs the liquid. Add a splash of milk if you prefer a thinner consistency.
- Prep Time: 5 min
- Cook Time: 10 min
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
GARLIC PARMESAN NOODLES
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This recipe made me look like a gourmet chef! Absolutely delicious! However, while I was at the store buying the ingredients and trying to decide between the FOURTEEN different types of chicken stock, I noticed the sodium (of course!) not bashing it, I love salt - but I just couldn't bring myself to get the regular with 570mgs of sodium. If you saw me, you would probably laugh - I frequent McDonalds, and consider chips & microwave popcorn to be power foods. BUT, I try to make the healthier choice when given the option "either/or", i.e., regular cheeseburger or double 😉
Anyhow, I chose the chicken stock with no salt (only 170mgs of sodium) and used salted butter. I added a little garlic salt to it to help compensate for the lost salt and it was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS. I've literally eaten it three times this week for dinner. This Pinterest Pin was NOT a Pinterest Fail! It was so easy and it tasted just as good as the picture looked! (How often does that ever happen?!) Thank you SO much for posting. Can't wait to check out your other recipes!
What a great comment Katie! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave us a comment and I hope you find other recipes that you enjoy just as much!
Hi, looks simple enough to cook, which I will try on Wednesday! But before I do that, pls, what is half and half? (Sorry, a noob in cooking!)
LOL !! It's a legitimate question. Half and half is half milk and half heavy cream. You can either buy the 2 ingredients separately and measure it yourself or buy it that way in the supermarket.
Can't wait to make this tonite to accompany my crunchy honey garlic pork chops. I have all the ingredients except for the parsely. Could I substitute cilantro?
I am personally not the biggest fan of cilantro Debbie. You can use dried parsley if you have it or leave it out all together. It will come out just as good. Let me know what you thought of it!
Hi, this pasta looks amazing! What size box noddles did you use, 1lb? Thanks
Hi Claudia - I used a regular size pasta box, but I think I only used half of it. It will be very liquidy at first, so don't be alarmed. It thickens up!
Hi Debi - it's a legitimate question. I don't live in the same country as you. Need more precision on what a half a box represents? Grams or ounces please!
A typical box of pasta in America contains 16 ounces of pasta by weight, half the box would be 8 ounces or 226.80 grams.
This is one my top 5 favorite pasta dishes of all time. Amazing. Also, you can substitute half of the noodles for zucchini noodles and it's fantastic. My husband loves this recipe.
Thanks so much for the compliment Jen! I have to admit my family loves these noodles too!
Zucchini noodles? Do you put the zucchini in one of those spiral cutters?
What size is the pasta box
I make a variation of this that may help if you don't have all of the ingredients.
Boil pasta of choice in water, but reserve the water and cook it until it still has a bit of a bite to it. Drain and set aside. In same pan melt butter/oil with garlic (or garlic salt), fresh cracked pepper and for us a pinch of red pepper flakes. Put pasta back in the pan and add pasta water a few tablespoons with the Parmesan. Let that bubble and thicken a minute or two, if needed add some more of the water until it is the consistency you prefer.
I always save some of my pasta water, the starch helps sauces thicken without milk or cream.
I just made this dish and followed the recipe exactly. Oh my!!!!! So delicious!! Came out perfect. Thanks for the recipe!
glad you liked it Jana!
Used all natural garlic butter in place of the butter, almond milk and threw in some sautéed mushrooms; it was amazing!
WoW Adri! That sounds delish!
Just made this and I could not believe how fast and yummy it is! I realized right before adding the milk that it had spoiled since literally this am, so I improvised with sour cream and it was still delicious! Thanks for this recipe its a keeper!!
Love the substitution Sam!
This recipe saved my neck! Have to leave for VBS in 45 minutes and am out of EVERYTHING except 1/2 + 1/2, pasta, and various herbs (parsley and garlic included of course). I was this ___ close to going out for a few frozen pizzas. I'll serve a few sliced tomatoes on the side and we'll be outta here on time!
I'm so glad you found the time to leave such a funny comment Georgia! 😉
I subsituted wheat linguine for Angel hair, and topped it off with mozarella right before serving. Delish!
i read many of the posts before making this. I took my time stirring in the cheese and it was perfect. Tasted way better than the box. I loved it and will make it again.
Hi I have a question when I made the pasta I didn't have Parmesan cheese so I used Mexican blend organic cheese instead. Is it ok?
How did it turn out for you Keerthi?
my kids liked this, but for me, not enough Parmesan. The cheese only clumps right at first, but keep stirring and it blends in. I found it to be bland.
perhaps more spices would do it for you Taz, more garlic perhaps?
I made these last night and they were fabulous. I didn't have some of the ingredients like chicken stock and half and hlalf/milk. I used a can of cream of chicken and grated parm cheese. I cooked it all in a sauce pan...although clumpy once I boiled the noodles and mixed it all together it was awesome. I added sundries tomatoes and mushrooms. We are on a budget so I used what we had. We had a nice meal. Thank you!
Can you use almond milk in place of whole milk or half and half? Can't wait to try!
I would love to know how that turns out Terry b/c I've been shying away from animal products and have fallen madly in love with almond milk! Please let me know how it turns out if you decide to try it.
Almond milk will be thinner and not so creamy, it doesn't coat the noodles as well.
Hello,
Can I use chicken broth instead of chicken stock?
yes Adrienne they are interchangeable 🙂
This recipe was delicious, however when I added the cheese and parsley it all clumped together and didn't distribute into the pasta. Any way to prevent this?
I have never had that problem Hannah. All that comes to my mind is maybe the cheese was (a) too cold or (b) pre shredded. If it was pre shredded sometimes it has a caking agent in it (to prevent clumping funny enough). My suggestion would be to add the cheese slowly and stir. Maybe add a little milk as you go too until the cheese is all incorporated.
Or try melting the cheese in millk in a separate sauce pan on low heat
This noodles recipe sounds delicious. Thanks for making so we can PRINT it. So much easier.