Spaghetti Aglio e Olio Recipe

Spaghetti Aglio e olio is a popular Italian pasta dish made using good quality olive oil, garlic, red chilli flakes and parsley. This simple and classic Italian recipe uses the best ingredients to create most satisfying pasta dish made under 15 minutes. This has no heavy sauces and clearly focus on pasta and flavour comes from olive oil, garlic, coriander and chillies.

Spaghetti Aglio e olio

I was quite surprised when I came across this recipe about 10 years ago, because at that time I always thought that pasta taste good when it is had with some strong sauces like tomato sauce or cheese sauce. But this recipe calls for only garlic, chilli and olive oil and it taste absolutely delicious.

Jump to:

• About Spaghetti Aglio e Olio Recipe
• Ingredients
• Step by Step Pictures
• Expert Tips
• Serving
• 📖 Get Recipe

Yesterday I was craving this dish, so decided to try this because it takes only minutes to make. Frankly speaking the minute when the pasta is cooked, the flavourful oil is done. Then you have to just toss the pasta in this and dig in straight away.

About Spaghetti Aglio e Olio Recipe

Spaghetti aglio e olio is a traditional Italian pasta dish from Naples. It is a typical dish of Neapolitan cuisine and is widely popular. Its popular because it is inexpensive, and uses readily available ingredients that have long shelf lives in a pantry. If you enjoy this dish, you will love my chicken piccata recipe.

Aglio e olio means garlic and oil. The ingredients used in this dish is olive oil, garlic, chillies, coriander or parsley. Since these are the main flavouring, try to source the best quality in everything.

Even though this pasta dish is easy to make, there is a simple technique used to create creamy sauce. It is the emulsification of pasta water and olive oil. Both of them is mixed till it gets so creamy which coats the pasta better.

This aglio e olio is very mild in taste, so you can enjoy it with spicy grilled chicken or chicken francaise. Kids love it with garlic bread.

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If you love this dish, you can add different ingredient into this pasta dish. Some of the popular variation include broccoli and prawn version.

Add blanched broccoli into the dish. The broccoli and broccoli stems adds a nice crunch in between. You can use prawns instead of broccoli in this recipe too.

Some recipe adds freshly grated parmesan cheese for even more creamy and cheesy twist to this dish. Make sure to enjoy this immediately to enjoy the creamy oily taste of the pasta aglio e olio. If you prefer something more high protein, check my paneer pasta and garlic butter pasta.

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Ingredients

• Pasta - this dish is made with spaghetti since it is long and thin it coats well with the delicate oil sauce. Another popular pasta used is angel hair noodles.
• Olive Oil - since the main flavour depends on the oil. Use high quality olive oil for this dish.
• Garlic - use freshly chopped garlic and use lots of it.
• Chillies - you can use fresh red chillies if you can find it. Or use red chilli flakes.
• Coriander leaves and Stem - coriander or parsley stem is used in the beginning of the cooking and leaves is added in the end.

Step by Step Pictures

1)Start by cooking the pasta. Because as you cook the pasta, you can start making the sauce side by side.

Bring lots of water in a sauce pan to a full boil. Once water starts to boil, drop the spaghetti in and immerse it into the boiling water. Cook for 6 to 7 minutes. You have to cook the pasta 2 minutes less than the package instructions. Because remaining 2 minutes the pasta will cook in the sauce.

2)Now take a saute pan. Don't place on heat yet, add in garlic, red chillies, coriander stem into the oil.

3)Place the pan on low medium heat and fry the garlic and chillies until light golden in colour.

4)Now remove the coriander stem from the oil and discard it.

5)Take a ladleful (½ cup) of the starchy pasta water and pour it into the garlic chilli mixture.

6)Use a spatula to mix the pasta water into the olive oil to emulsify the mix.

7)The oil and the pasta water will emulsify to create this sauce.

8)Now take the cooked pasta from the boiling water and drop it into the saute pan. Stir well using a tongs or spatula to coat the pasta in the emulsified sauce.

9)Now add in coriander leaves and mix really well to create a creamy sauce.

10)You can add more pasta water if needed to create a sauce.

11)Look how creamy the sauce looks.

12)Serve Immediately.

Expert Tips

• Make sure to cook the pasta 2 minutes under so the pasta doesn't over cook when mixing.
• Make sure to use generous amount of olive oil and garlic which are the main flavouring.
• You can use grated parmesan in the end for more umami and taste.
• Instead of spaghetti, you can use angel hair pasta as well.

Serving

Spaghetti aglio e olio taste best when served hot. You can enjoy with garlic bread or grilled chicken, chicken francaise

📖 Get Recipe

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