Spaghetti al Limone Recipe (2024)

The "zest" of the lemon is the yellow outer part with none of the bitter white rind. To cut zest into matchsticks, use a vegetable peeler or peeling knife, peeling the lemon to include as little of the white as possible. You will now have strips of lemon peel. To remove the bitter rind, use a teaspoon and scrape off the white part using the tip of the spoon. Once that's done, use a sharp knife to slice very thin lengths along each of the strips of lemon zest.

Very nice sauce. I didn't have cream, but reduced half and half a bit longer to produce a lighter sauce, then poured the strained sauce over sautéed scallops (leaving out the extra butter, since the scallops were cooked in it). Easy and flavorful dish.

This is an amazing recipe. Hate to say it, we prepared it for the first time on 9/11, THAT 9/11 as we all needed comfort food. Over the years, we've dropped the cream - it's very good, and it's totally unnecessary. Lemon zest is the secret, and be generous with the juice. It needs black pepper, and parmigiano, not the boxed stuff from Wisconsin. It's fast, easy, and one of the top recipes in the H house.

This was very tasty. I only used 3/4 cup cream and it was sufficient to be delicious. I am not quite sure what it means to cut the zest into matchsticks because my zester grated the lemon zest into very fine pieces. So I just added to the wine without any additional cutting. Ate pasta limone at Lil Frankie's and had to try to make it homemade. This was a great DIY version!

I make wide lemon strips to flavor the wine, along with a bay leaf. (A light chicken stock adds body and could replace wine.) Cook pasta just shy of al dente. Remove lemon peels and bay leaf. Finish pasta in a wide pan with the wine, careful additions of cream and pasta water and a dash or two of lemon juice, letting flavors combine at a high simmer for 2 minutes. Off heat, toss with knob of butter, and a gremolata of black pepper, fine lemon zest, garlic and parsley, and plenty of parmesan.

Instead of zesting, I microplane. Much easier with the same taste results. Maybe even a little more lemon flavor.

Wisconsin makes wonderful parmigiano and FYI Kraft parmesan is not made in WI

Buy a 'zester' tool...it does the job for your in stripping matchsticks without the pith...

For more lemon taste: Add the juice of one lemon to the boiling water before cooking the pasta. Then cook as usual.

This is a delightful lemony sauce and a big hit for dinner tonight. I did add to the wine a minced garlic clove with the lemon zest. And a few minutes before about a half pound of pasta was al dente (sea shells, not spaghetti), I cooked fresh shrimp in the sauce. A final sprinkling of fresh parsley over all made it more like a delicious shrimp scampi than just spaghetti. Since my Myer's Lemon tree is bursting with ripe fruit early this year, I will definitely make this recipe often.

Chicken stock should work, but will change the flavor. Keep in mind that white wine is acidic and chicken stock is not. So, to compensate, I would boost the lemon juice by at least 50%. Alternatively, you could spike your chicken stock with a bit of white wine vinegar. (Maybe a tablespoon or a bit more?)

This was fantastic! I loved the lemon flavor and it was very smooth. I only used the 3/4 cup of cream. We served with grilled chicken tenderloins. We will definitely make this dish again!

I make this with olive oil and no cream. Maybe a touch of pasta water. Jut as delicious without all the fat.

This is a close recipe to the lemon spaghetti I ate several times last fall in Rome at Cafe Peru Via di Monserrato 46. Recommended by a local, who would guess this combo would be sooo good. I reduce the cream by half and add pasta water to make up the difference. Meyer lemons. (2) lots more rind (I like lemon) More grated Parmesan-Reggiano over the finished dish and around the plate edges too, and I am almost back in Rome.

The lemon zest added a bitter taste to the pasta. There wasn't any pith on the lemon rind, but I think it would have been helpful to have specific measurements for the lemonjuice and zest. Disappointing.

Wow! I single serving and with 1/4 pound of pasta and 6 frozen shrimp. Not sure what all the chatter about cream was (earlier version?) but can’t imagine this pasta needing it. So rich and silky. Stirring pasta and risotto at the end is what releases all that starchy goodness. Simple technique. Fabulous results!

I would give it a solid 3/5. The wine flavor came through too strongly, but maybe because the lemons I had weren't as ripe and juicy as they could've been. The timing of things was also difficult to line up. I'll do it again with less wine and brighter lemons.

This dish brought me right back to Rome. I didn't have cream, so I just used the butter in the cream's place. it worked out perfectly fine and was a bit lighter as a result. When mixing together in the pasta pot, I put the heat back on medium-low to help everything smooth out. That and a few minutes of stirring coated everything really nicely. I also added pecorino Romano as a garnish instead of more parmesean. Excellent dish.

On a quest to re-create spaghetti limone a’la Lil’ Frankie’s in NYC’s east village. A far trek from my home in Seattle. This recipe delivered.

Two for dinner: 300 g fresh tagliatelle, halved recipe with a bit of grated garlic, some chopped fresh dill. Delicious!

If you buy shell-on shrimp (or EZ-peel) use the shells to make a simple shrimp stock. This stock can replace some, about half, the white wine. More wine for the cook less lost to evaporation! The shrimp can be poached in the reduced cream sauce for 2-3 minutes or sautéed separately in butter. I do like topping with the parm and a sprinkle of finely chopped parsley. Overall, a very good lemony dish.

Made this with lime instead of lemon - absolutely delicious!

Made this with lime by mistake - came out perfectly,

Made sauce to zhuzh up some spinach and cheese ravioli from Costco and it was delish. Used dry vermouth for the wine. Added chopped up smoked salmon which gave the sauce a subtle smokey flavor and made for a more complete meal. Didn't have lemon zest, only juice, and the sauce was fine without it.

I made this with half and half, which was the only cream I had, but used the zest and juice of two lemons, which really heightened the bright flavor, and I added seared scallops--delicious.

I didn’t have white wine so used packaged veggie stock instead. I’m sure it’s much better with wine, but this worked in a pinch

This was very good but still not the magical lemon pasta I had in Rome. I’m still searching for that…

Ah.Ma.Zing. Years ago as a grad student in Iowa City we would go to this Italian restaurant and I would always have Pollo a Limone. This brought me back to those days. It's delicious. Beyond delicious.

Excellent! I added blanched fresh asparagus and English peas.

"I make this often with generous portions of mint and Pecorino cheese instead of cream. From a ristorante in the Trastevere.""This is great! I made a half-order of sauce with 6oz of pasta for the two of us and served with crusty French bread. Added cream in 2T increments, for a total of 1/2 cup. Will be added to our regular rotation."add some peas ... great w Ceasar salad