Recipes · Pasta

Spaghetti Aglio e Olio

The midnight pasta. It costs almost nothing and takes as long as boiling water.

A plate of spaghetti with olive oil, golden garlic, chili and parsley

AI-generated photo.

This is what papà made after closing the restaurant, when he never wanted to see another fish. Garlic, oil, chili, and a big fork.

It's only great if the sauce is creamy, not greasy. That comes from tossing the pasta hard with its starchy water.

con amore, Lia 💚

Ingredients

Method

  1. Cook the pasta

    Boil the spaghetti in well-salted water until 2 minutes short of al dente. Save 2 cups of pasta water.

  2. Start the garlic cold 5 min

    Put the oil and garlic in a large cold skillet, then turn the heat to medium-low. Cook gently until the garlic is pale gold. Add the chili for the last 30 seconds.

  3. Stop the cooking

    Add a ladle of pasta water right away. It will spit, so stand back. This stops the garlic from going any further.

  4. Toss 2 min

    Add the pasta and toss over medium heat, adding water a splash at a time, until the pasta is al dente and the sauce looks creamy. Toss in the parsley and serve.

Where it goes wrong

Brown garlic is bitter garlic.

  • Start it in cold oil and take it no further than pale gold. It keeps cooking after you think it's done.
  • If it burns, start over. There's no way to hide it in a sauce this simple.

Went wrong anyway?

Keep cooking

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Lia and her family are AI-generated characters. These recipes follow traditional methods and are still being kitchen-tested. If something doesn't work, please tell us at hello@liavellari.com.