Need a great 10 minute dinner idea? This easy cream cheese pasta recipe is perfect for making white spaghetti.
Wondering what to add to plain noodles? Cream cheese sauce might be your new favorite thing to make!
This cream cheese pasta is an easy and delicious recipe that can be served by itself, or with your favorite protein and veggie of choice.
It’s so easy and the method is the same one I used to make and easy sauce for this spinach artichoke pasta bake.
This would be amazing with a side of roasted frozen vegetables and your favorite protein for a quick dinner!
Cream Cheese Sauce Ingredients
- Cream Cheese: any full fat cream cheese for this recipe.
- Butter: unsalted is what we used, but either will work, you will just salt to taste at the end.
- Parmesan Cheese: Freshly grated is a must for this sauce! Fresh grated cheese is always so much better.
- Fresh minced garlic: a must have for any cheese sauce in my opinion! If you are making this for kids you can reduce the amount of garlic you use.
how to make cream cheese pasta
Step 1: Cook 8 oz of spaghetti noodles to al dente, according to package instructions.
- Note: While I used spaghetti for this recipe, any type of noodle will work. This would be great with penne, ziti, macaroni, bowtie, linguini etc!
Step 2: while the noodles are cooking, make the cream cheese pasta sauce.
How do I make cream cheese sauce?
Step 3: melt the butter in a pan, then add the minced garlic. Cook for one minute, stirring often, until the garlic is fragrant. Be careful not to burn.
Step 4: Add in the cream cheese, pasta water from the pot of cooking noodles, and fresh grated parmesan cheese. Whisk the sauce until everything is melted and smooth.
How much garlic do I use in the sauce?
For this recipe, I used 6 cloves of fresh minced garlic, which gives the noodles a lovely garlicky flavor.
If you are not a fan of garlic, or are cooking for kids, you can take this amount down to one or two cloves of garlic.
Step 5: Once the spaghetti noodles are done cooking, drain them and return to the pot. Add the cream cheese sauce and toss to combine. Salt and pepper the cream cheese pasta to taste, then serve immediately.
Like most cheese based pasta recipes, the sauce will dry out once cooled and will absorb into the pasta. This is most creamy when served fresh!
But I also had leftovers the next day and while they were not as creamy, the noodles were still delicious.
How to serve
Oh the ways you can customize this dish are endless! You could add roasted vegetables such as:
- mushrooms
- tomatoes
- peppers
- onions
- peas
- cauliflower
You can also serve your favorite simple protein along with it if you like!
Really, you just can’t go wrong here. Such a simple but really flavorful dish you can eat however you want!
We love making sauce with cream cheese for a “white spaghetti” as my kids call it.
More pasta recipes you’ll love
- Creamy Mushroom Pasta
- Garlic Butter Noodles
- Ranch Pasta Salad
- Bow Tie Pasta
- Parmesan Cream Sauce Pasta
- Vegetarian Baked Ziti
- Roasted Vegetable Pasta
- One Pot Sweet Potato Pasta
- Veggie Lover’s Baked Rigatoni
- Three Cheese Baked Ziti
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This pasta is luxuriously rich, flavorful, and a great easy sauce when you need something fast!
Easy Cream Cheese Pasta
Easy cream cheese sauce that is ready in 10 minutes. Try this simple and delicious white spaghetti made with cream cheese.
Ingredients
- 8 oz spaghetti noodles
- 4 oz cream cheese
- ¾ cup reserved pasta water
- ½ cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
- 6 cloves garlic, minced (see notes)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Cook pasta al dente according to instructions
- In a skillet, melt the butter over medium heat
- Add minced garlic and cook for 1 minute, stirring often, until fragrant, but not burnt
- Add in the cream cheese, pasta water from the cooking pot, and fresh grated parmesan cheese
- Whisk until the sauce is creamy and combined
- For a thinner sauce, you can add more water, if desired
- Once the spaghetti is done cooking, return it to the pan and toss with the cream cheese sauce
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Serve immediately
Notes
This pasta is garlicky and flavorful! if you do not love garlic, or are cooking for kids, you can take the amount down to just one or two cloves.
This pasta is more saucy when served fresh, and will dry out like most cheese based pastas do when reheated.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 305Total Fat: 17gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 47mgSodium: 417mgCarbohydrates: 29gFiber: 1gSugar: 2gProtein: 10g
Fran
Thursday 10th of February 2022
Can I make this in a slow cooker? Using a 16 oz box of noodles & 8 oz cream cheese? Could I add some water to help the noodles cook or a jarred white sauce maybe? High or low? Thanks for your help!
Joy Shull
Tuesday 1st of March 2022
I have not tested this recipe in the slow cooker. Let me know if you try it!