Garlic Butter Noodles
The San Francisco secret: butter, an obscene amount of garlic, and a parmesan finish.
Ingredients
- 200 g Noodles
- 50 g Butter
- 6 cloves Garlic
- 1 tbsp Soy sauce
- ½ tsp Sugar (optional)
- 30 g Hard cheese (optional)
- 1 Scallions (optional)
Method
- Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil over high heat.
- Mince the garlic finely while the water heats.
- Boil the noodles until just tender, then drain them, saving a small cup of the cooking water.
- Melt the butter in a wide skillet over low heat and cook the minced garlic until fragrant and barely golden, about 2 minutes — do not let it brown.
- Stir the soy sauce and sugar into the garlic butter, then add the drained noodles and toss hard until every strand is glossy, loosening with a splash of the saved water if needed.
- Shower the noodles with the grated cheese and sliced scallions and serve immediately.
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About Garlic Butter Noodles
Garlic Butter Noodles are a San Francisco creation, famously tied to the city's Vietnamese-American restaurants and their crab houses, where a tangle of buttery, garlic-loaded noodles became the thing people ordered alongside the seafood. The dish sits at a crossroads of Italian aglio e olio logic and East Asian seasoning: a generous amount of butter and finely minced garlic form the base, with soy sauce and a little sugar adding savory depth and a caramel edge, and grated hard cheese pulling it toward something almost Alfredo-adjacent.
The texture is the draw — every strand comes out glossy and coated, deeply savory from the soy, sweet-nutty from the browned-but-not-burnt garlic, and finished with the sharp bite of scallions and cheese. Keeping the garlic butter over low heat so the garlic goes barely golden rather than bitter is the whole technique, and a splash of reserved pasta water loosens the sauce so it clings instead of clumping. It comes together in about fifteen minutes and works as a quick lunch, a late-night bowl, or a side to grilled shrimp, roast chicken, or, in its spiritual home, crab.
Garlic Butter Noodles: frequently asked questions
How many calories are in Garlic Butter Noodles?
A serving has about 632 calories — 20g protein, 79.6g carbs, 25.6g fat, 3.3g fiber. Figures are estimated from the ingredient amounts and will shift with your portions and brands.
Is Garlic Butter Noodles gluten-free?
As written, no — it contains Noodles, Soy sauce. You'd need a certified gluten-free swap for those ingredients to make it gluten-free.
Is Garlic Butter Noodles dairy-free?
Not as written — it uses Butter. Swapping it for a plant-based alternative makes it dairy-free.
Do I need every ingredient to make Garlic Butter Noodles?
The core ingredients are essential, but you can leave out sugar, hard cheese, scallions — they're optional and mainly there for extra flavor or finish.
How many servings does Garlic Butter Noodles make?
This recipe makes 2 servings. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.