Pasta with White Clam Sauce
This super simple pantry pasta recipe is made with just a handful of shelf stable ingredients. Fast, kid friendly and delicious, this is a real weeknight dinner winner!
Ingredients
- 1 lb Pasta any long, skinny variety will work: capellini, spaghetti, linguini or bucatini
- 1 C Pasta Cooking Water reserve, may not need all of it.
- 1-2 glugs Olive Oil
- 1 Yellow Onion diced
- ½ C White Wine optional
- 2 cans Clams preferably chopped, with their juice
- 1 teaspoon Dried Parsley
- 1 teaspoon Dried Thyme
- ½-1 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes optional
- 1 C Half n Half or ½ cup each cream and milk
- Kosher Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Bring a stockpot of salted water to a rolling boil and cook your pasta according to package directions. Note: If there is a time range, cook it on the shorter end of the spectrum, as the pasta will continue to cook when the hot sauce is added. TIP: Be sure to reserve a cup of pasta cooking water when you drain your noodles. You may not need to use the whole thing, but pasta water is gold when you're making pasta sauce!
- Heat a few glugs of olive oil over medium heat in a sauté pan. Once it's shimmering, add the diced onions and a pinch of salt. Sauté for 3-4 minutes, until the onions are mostly translucent at the edges and are quite soft.
- Add the wine (if using) and reduce by half.
- Add the clams with their juices and your herbs/spices, then simmer for another 3-4 minutes.
- Pour the half and half into the mix, stir, then simmer for about 3 minutes.
- Once the sauce is ready, pour it into the stockpot where you cooked your pasta. Add the cooked pasta in with it, and stir. If you have the patience, allow it to rest for about 5 minutes with a lid on. Come back to stir, adding pasta water as necessary to make it silky and creamy.
- Season with salt and pepper as needed. Enjoy!
Notes
- For the best keto version of this pasta dish, I recommend using Palmini noodles. Since you won't have pasta water to help thicken the sauce, add a slurry of ¼-1/2 teaspoon cornstarch or arrowroot with 1 tablespoon water in final cooking step. Cook for an additional 1-2 minutes.
- Optional toppings include quick garlic breadcrumbs (1 tablespoon oil or butter +½ C panko + 1 teaspoon Johnny's Garlic Spread and Seasoning toasted in a pan until golden) or freshly grated parmesan cheese.
- TIP: Save yourself a little time (and tears) and use frozen, chopped onions to get dinner on the table pronto.
Nutrition
Calories: 270kcalCarbohydrates: 45gProtein: 9gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 11mgSodium: 21mgPotassium: 202mgFiber: 2gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 151IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 52mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!