Creamy Garlic Parmesan Shells Pasta

This Creamy Garlic Pasta is a one dish meal that comes together in 30 minutes! Perfect for lunch or dinner, and easily adaptable to add chicken or veggies! A kid favorite meal in our house!

This creamy shrimp pasta is a quick, elegant dish made with pantry staples and tender shrimp in a rich garlic-parmesan cream sauce. Ready in just 25 minutes, it’s perfect for busy weeknights and feels like dining out—without the hassle.

When chicken Parmesan meets stuffed shells, it's love at first bite. The texture of the chicken holds up in the deliciously creamy and cheesy mixture. —Cynthia Gerken, Naples, Florida

For the best garlic butter sauce for pasta, use way more garlic than you’d think. This recipe serves two people and calls for a whole head—and nope, that’s not a mistake. When sizzled in melted butter until golden and toasty, this ingredient goes from sharp and bracing to warm and cozy, the sort of savory flavor that’s hard to overdo. Make sure that once it’s done cooking, you don’t drain the pasta into a colander. We want that salty, starchy water on call to bump up the seasoning and loosen the sauce as needed. It’ll thicken as it sits at the table, so err on the side of saucier than not. The optional bonuses are just that: totally optional. As in all Big Little Recipes, less is more here. Think: roughly chopped parsley (or basil or thyme), red pepper flakes or freshly ground black pepper, or grated Parm or pecorino. Opt for three picks, tops, so the butter and garlic can shine—they’re the stars of this show. Some additional tips for garlic butter sauce success: Any butter will do the trick here. But if you’re like me, and there’s a so-called “special butter” that you reserve for morning toast and baked potatoes (I love higher-fat, sunny-hued Kerrygold), this is a great time to use it. After all, the butter is half of the sauce. And if you only have salted butter on hand, that’s okay; just tone down the salt in the rest of the recipe, then increase to taste at the very end. On that note, when I say to “generously” season the pasta water with salt, I aim for about 1 tablespoon of Diamond Crystal kosher salt per 1 quart of water. But! You can tone that down to 2 teaspoons, 1 teaspoon, or even 1/2 teaspoon of salt per quart of water. It all depends on your personal preference. And no need to measure the salt or the water; just eyeball both. This makes sure the pasta is taken care of. Any pasta shape will excel (thrive! soar!) in this context. I prefer a chunky variety with lots of nooks and crannies (say fusilli, rigatoni, or cavatappi), where the garlic bits can take refuge. But something long and twirly like spaghetti, linguine, or bucatini would be excellent, too. And if nutty whole-wheat pasta is your thing? Go for it. Helpful tools for this recipe: Five Two Stainless Steel Skillet Benedetto Cavalieri Italian Dried Pasta (Set of 2) Banner Grass-Fed Butter —Emma Laperruque

If you love steak and pasta, get ready for a dish that will steal the spotlight at your dinner table! These garlic butter ... Read more

Buckle up, Buttercup!  This isn’t just pasta—it’s a little something I like to call Love Potion Number Nine. Juicy, golden-seared chicken, a luscious sun-dried tomato cream sauce, and tender pasta all tossed together for the kind of dish that will make anyone fall head over heels. If you’ve already popped the question, this is the kind of meal that’ll keep the romance (and appetites) alive. If you want more recipes that have a lot of love in them, click the button below for more.

Parmesan Garlic Chicken Pasta is such a rich, creamy, and filling recipe! Make it with Buffalo Wild Wings sauce for an easy chicken dinner. It's almost like an easy Chicken Alfredo recipe with just a little extra touch of that B-Dubs heat!

Creamy garlic chicken pasta made with seasoned chicken, penne pasta, and a garlicky Parmesan cream sauce. Easy, flavorful, and ready in about 30 minutes.