I Tried Jennifer Garner’s Favorite 5-Ingredient Pasta

If you haven’t already noticed, we love Jennifer Garner’s Pretend Cooking Show. Over the years we’ve tried a lot of recipes from her Instagram series. Don’t believe us? We’ve made her chocolate sheet cake, blueberry buckle, whipped cream cake, fluffy pancakes, and the list goes on.

With fall in full swing, I knew I had to make Garner’s famed brown butter and sage pasta. For this recipe, she drew inspiration from her Apple TV+ show The Last Thing He Told Me. In the show, her character, Hannah, attempts a dish from her step-daughter’s favorite restaurant, Poggio Trattoria. Garner’s version looked absolutely delicious; the noodles were glossy and covered with tiny specks of brown butter.

Given that Garner’s recipe only has five ingredients (linguine, butter, Parmesan, sage, and lemon) and comes together in under 15 minutes, I knew I had to give it a try. Read on for my honest opinion.

Get the recipe: Jennifer Garner’s Favorite Brown Butter and Sage Pasta

How to Make Jennifer Garner’s Brown Butter and Sage Pasta

To start, cook half a pound of pasta, according to the package’s direction. Before straining, reserve about 1/2 cup of the starchy pasta water. The original recipe calls for linguine, but you can substitute with a similar pasta shape, like spaghetti (this is what I used), bucatini, or fettuccine.

While the pasta is boiling, add the butter to a medium-sized skillet over medium heat. Once melted, add the plucked sage leaves and cook until the butter is browned and the sage is crispy. After about seven minutes or so, add the lemon juice and cooked pasta.

Once the noodles are evenly coated, stir in the reserved pasta water and continue to cook over medium heat until a sauce starts to emulsify. Add in the Parmesan and season with salt and pepper. Toss until the Parmesan is melted and you have a thick sauce.

My Honest Review of Jennifer Garner’s Pasta Recipe

I was absolutely blown away by how delicious Garner’s pasta was. The brown butter was so flavorful and the infusion of sage added so much depth. The sauce was creamy and luscious yet somehow also light and zesty. It’s recipes like this that I get really excited about because you get so much reward for so little effort. I’m not exaggerating when I say that it really only takes 15 minutes to pull this dish together. The prep is minimal — just plucking sage leaves, juicing a lemon, and grating Parmesan.

This will undoubtedly become a fall staple in our household. It’s perfect for those chaotic days where we want something homemade but fuss-free. But I could also see myself making it as a side to a lean protein for an at-home date night with a glass of wine. Bottom line: Garner nailed this brown butter pasta, and you should absolutely make it too.

5 Tips for Making the Brown Butter Sage Pasta

• Salt the pasta water. Salting the pasta water is a critical step to achieving perfectly seasoned and flavorful pasta. While it wasn’t written in the recipe, Garner actually did salt her water in the video. As a general rule of thumb, you can add around a tablespoon of salt for every pound of pasta.

• Use fresh Parmesan. Because it tends to have additives, store-bought pre-grated Parmesan doesn’t melt as smoothly. There are only five ingredients in this recipe, so you really should use a good Parmesan here. Trust us!

• Keep a close eye on the butter. When you notice the butter starts to bubble or foam, it’s almost ready. Butter can go from brown to burnt in an instant, so stay near the burner.

• Oil the pasta if it’s done early. If your pasta is ready before your sauce, make sure to coat it with oil or a knob of butter to prevent it from sticking.

• Remove the sage once crispy. When you add the lemon and pasta to the infused butter, the sage soaks up the liquid and loses its crispiness. Next time I would remove the sage after it’s done cooking to preserve its crunchy texture.

Get the recipe: Jennifer Garner’s Favorite Brown Butter and Sage Pasta

Further Reading

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