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20-minute noodles · 20 minutes

Brown-Butter Miso Pasta with Lemon

White miso whisked into nutty brown butter gives plain spaghetti a deep, savory sauce in the time it takes the pasta to boil, and lemon zest keeps it bright.

Prep
5 min
Cook
15 min
Total
20 min
Serves
2
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VegetarianEgg-freeStovetop

Miso and brown butter taste like they were made for each other: both are toasty, savory and a little sweet. Whisked together with starchy pasta water, they make a silky sauce that tastes like it took much longer than the nine minutes the spaghetti needs to cook. It’s the pantry pasta for nights when even a jar of sauce feels like effort.

The miso goes in off the heat. It scorches easily and loses its flavor if it boils, so you brown the butter first, pull the pan, then whisk. Lemon zest at the end cuts through all that richness. This is basically buttered noodles that went to grad school.

The recipe

Brown-Butter Miso Pasta with Lemon

Prep 5 min · Cook 15 min · Total 20 min · Serves 2

Ingredients

Tap to tick off as you go.

Method

  1. Step 1: Boil the pasta

    Cook the spaghetti in a pot of boiling water salted lightly (miso is salty) until 1 minute short of al dente. Scoop out 1 cup of pasta water before draining.

  2. Step 2: Brown the butter

    While the pasta cooks, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Swirl for 3–4 minutes, until it foams, the foam settles and the solids at the bottom turn hazelnut-brown. Add the garlic for the last 30 seconds.

  3. Step 3: Whisk in the miso

    Take the pan off the heat. Whisk the miso with ½ cup pasta water in a cup until smooth, then pour into the butter and whisk to combine.

  4. Step 4: Toss the pasta

    Add the drained spaghetti to the skillet over low heat and toss for 1–2 minutes, adding more pasta water a splash at a time, until the sauce turns creamy and coats each strand.

  5. Step 5: Finish and serve

    Off the heat, toss in the lemon zest and juice and half the parmesan. Serve topped with the rest of the parmesan, chives and plenty of pepper.

Good to know

  • Brown butter goes from perfect to burnt in about 20 seconds. Use a light-colored pan so you can see the solids, and pull it the moment it smells nutty.
  • Loosen the miso in pasta water before it hits the butter, or you’ll be chasing lumps around the pan.
  • Salt the pasta water half as much as usual. Between the miso and the parmesan, there’s plenty.

Swaps

Butter and parmesan
Make it vegan: olive oil (skip the browning step and gently fry the garlic) and 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
Spaghetti
Gluten-free spaghetti; check that your miso is gluten-free too, since some contain barley
White miso
Yellow miso, using a little less since it’s saltier

Questions people ask

Is miso vegetarian?

Plain miso is made from soybeans, salt and koji, so it’s vegan. Some brands sell miso with dashi already mixed in, which usually contains fish, so check the label.

Can you cook miso?

You can, but boiling dulls its flavor and kills its live cultures. Stir it in off the heat or at a low simmer at the end.

How do you know when brown butter is done?

The foam subsides, the milk solids turn golden brown and it smells like toasted nuts. That takes 3–5 minutes over medium heat.

Get the lemon, garlic and chives from a farmer.

This recipe is only as good as what goes in it. Find a farmers market or CSA farm near you, or get a produce box delivered when there’s no market this week.

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