Easy Weeknight Lemon Artichoke Pasta

This Easy Weeknight Lemon Artichoke Pasta with Breadcrumbs is a dream come true. It only needs a handful of pretty common ingredients and about 30 minutes of your time, and you’ve got a great, healthy, filling meal on the table!

I originally tried this recipe with a creamy sauce – something like my Creamy Lemon Broccoli Pasta, but honestly it was too much. Artichokes are delicate and don’t need much else to help them shine. Some garlic, some parmesan and fresh lemon is really all you need to create a dish that feels so much fancier than it actually is. This is the kind of dish I love. Something that can wow a guest or a date, but that you don’t have to spend all day slaving over in the kitchen. Win win!

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Shopping List for Lemon Artichoke Pasta

Short pasta of your choice

Artichoke hearts

Lemons

Olive oil

Garlic

Parmesan Cheese

Crushed Red Pepper

Parsley

Butter (optional)

Salt and pepper

Breadcrumbs (panko preferred) (optional)

Parsley

Let’s Talk about Lemon Artichoke Pasta

Flavor: if you love artichokes, this is the meal for you. The artichoke flavor really stands out, but if you’d like it to be even more intense, you could easily double the amount of artichokes in the dish. There is quite a lemon flavor as it stands, so if you’re sensitive to lemon, I’d halve the amount called for at first, and then add more in as you go.

Texture: the sauce is smooth and creamy with a great lemon flavor. The key to a smooth sauce is to use the starchy pasta water to thin it out

Ease: This is a crazy easy dish to make. It does require a little bit of juggling, but nothing out of line. You’ll be cooking the pasta, the breadcrumbs, and the artichokes all at the same time.

The pasta is easy and only requires minimal stirring. You want to cook the pasta for the full allotted time – no al dente here.

The breadcrumbs cook over low heat and as long as you stir them periodically, they should be fine.

The artichokes cook over medium heat, and again if you stir them regularly, they’ll be fine. You want a fair amount of browning on them, so it’s okay to let them sit a bit. Just use a non-stick pan for them. Then you toss it together with the sauce, and chow down.

Recipe ease: 5/10.

Recipe Highlights:

Vegetarian recipe

Easy recipe

Lemon

Artichokes

Healthy recipe

Easy weeknight meal

FAQ’s

Can I replace the lemon juice with something else? Honestly, not really. You could omit it entirely, or you could greatly reduce the amount of lemon juice, but there’s nothing else I can think of that works quite the same way. You could use white wine, and that would be delicious, but also it would be a completely different dish.

What kind of parmesan should I use? Use the good stuff here – Parmesano Reggiano. You’re only using a handful of ingredients, so you want them to be high quality.

Do I have to use the breadcrumbs? Nope! In fact, if you’re looking to up the ease factor, that would be the thing I would cut. That being said, the breadcrumbs add a lot to the dish, and I wouldn’t cut them if I could help it.

How do I store the leftovers? Store any leftovers in an air tight container in the fridge for a day or two. You can also store unused breadcrumbs the same way.

How do I reheat this? Reheat in the microwave in 30 second increments until warmed through.

Tips and Tricks:

If you’re like me, and you forget to save the pasta water (happens to me at least half the time) you CAN substitute hot water in it’s place. It wont have quite the same magic properties that pasta water has, but it will do the trick.

You’re not going to be finishing the pasta in a sauce on the stove, so make sure you fully cook the pasta.

If you’re not vegetarian and you’re looking for something more substantial, you could add chicken or shrimp to this and it would be fantastic!

Start with half the lemon the recipe calls for, taste and adjust as you go. You can always add more lemon, but you cant take it away once it’s in there.