I am clearly on a Boursin kick at the moment, and it’s because it takes any dish instantly to the next level. If you love cream sauce, and you love lemon, you really need to give this recipe a go! A few years ago my mom started incorporating Boursin into her pasta dishes and since then, I have done the same. It’s such an easy way to add flavour and creaminess to any sauce.
Creamy Lemon and Boursin Pasta
Equipment
- 1 pot
- 1 large pan
Ingredients
- 250 grams small pasta shells, or other smaller pasta similar in size
- 1/2 cup revered pasta water, for thinning the sauce
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 garlic cloves, large, minced
- 1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 1 lemon, sliced in half
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 1 150 gram Boursin
- 1/3 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated
- 1/3 cup heavy cream, 33%
- 1/3 cup dry white wine, chardonnay
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/8 tsp salt, or to taste
- fresh basil, optional, to garnish
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add your pasta and cook until al dente. Ensure you reserve at least 1/2 cup of pasta water. Set aside until ready to use.
- To a large pan set to medium heat, add your olive oil and butter.Once melted, add your garlic, onion and red pepper flakes.Then, take the lemon you've cut in half and place both halves into the pan, ensuring the cut side (face) is down.
- Allow the garlic, onion and lemon to cook for about 5 minutes until they have softened. While cooking, you can stir the onions around the lemon halves; this step is just going to help the onions become infused with the lemon flavor, but be careful not to burn them.
- Next, pour in the white wine and cook on medium heat until the liquid has reduced by half, which should take approximately 3 minutes.
- Add your boursin to the middle of the pan, and once it begins to melt, add your heavy cream. Bring to a simmer and taste to see if you want to add more salt or pepper to taste.
- Remove the lemon halves. Squeeze the juice from one lemon half into the sauce and stir until well combined. Taste, and then squeeze the juice from the second half if you want more lemon flavor.
- Reduce heat to low and add your pasta to the sauce, with the reserved pasta water and parmesan cheese. Gently toss to combine.
- Top with more fresh parmesan, basil and lemon zest if desired.
- Enjoy right away!
Nutrition
Calories: 894kcal | Carbohydrates: 105g | Protein: 25g | Fat: 39g | Saturated Fat: 21g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 13g | Trans Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 87mg | Sodium: 536mg | Potassium: 500mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 1157IU | Vitamin C: 36mg | Calcium: 290mg | Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Leave a comment below!
Made this tonight and replaced the wine with chicken broth. It was amazing! I made a side of salmon to go with it. It was the perfect pair!
Hi Kailee! Oh that is so awesome, sounds delicious. Thank you so much for sharing.
This is delicious and super easy to make! I’ve made it twice this week. I added zucchini and extra onions. I used lemon juice to flavor the second time I made it because the lemon was a little much the first time around. So easy to add to or edit to your liking. LOVE IT!
That is so awesome, thank you for sharing. I agree- it’s a great recipe to customize to your liking!
Delicious! I used campanelle pasta and Boursin garlic and herb cheese, and I was out of heavy cream so had to sub whole milk. I added shrimp and it was scrumptious. I just cooked the shrimp in the butter/oil then removed cook shrimp from the pan before cooking the onions and garlic. SOOOO good. Highly recommend.
OH I do that sometimes too- I agree, so good! Thank you for your review!
Went to make this tonight and my double cream had turned into cheese 🤢😂 subbed whole milk, and it was still absolutely delicious. I noticed in the video you add the lemon juice but not in the written recipe, I chose to add the juice of both halves, would probably only add one half next time. But i can see this easily becoming a regular on our table, it’s a fantastic meat-free dish and I’m so glad I stumbled across it!
Hi Kate thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review! Yeah for this particular recipe want to make sure that you’re using whipping cream, or at least 18% cream! But I’m glad it ended up working out for you 🙂
We made this tonight and used ziti. It was delicious! We will ablsoutley make this again. Thinking of asparagus, shrimp, or chicken to change it up for reheat options.
Thank you so much for leaving a review. I am so glad that you enjoyed it.
Made this tonight using a lemon pasta from Trader Joe’s and it was *chefs kiss* 🤌🏼
ohhhh YUM! Thank you so much for sharing. So glad you liked it!
I’ve made this twice now and my boyfriend and I are just floored at how good it is! I only squeezed half the lemon into the sauce once browned to cut down on the acidity. Otherwise this recipe is AMAZING.
Thank you for this review Abby! I am so glad you guys love it.
We made this tonight and it was FANTASTIC! Soooo so delicious. We’re plant based so we made a few substitutions – nondairy milk instead of heavy cream, vegan Boursin instead of regular, and vegan parm instead of regular. We also subbed veggie broth for the white wine. I hate when people change everything in a recipe and then leave a review, but I thought I would leave this comment in case any other vegan or lactose intolerant people want to give these substitutions a go! This recipe is going into our regular rotation, it was so flavourful and scrumptious. ❤️
Hey Shannon! I love that people make substitutions based on what they eat/don’t eat. Everyone is different and these tips will help another person for sure. All of those subs sound delicious and I am so glad you enjoyed this pasta. Have a great day!
I made it for dinner tonight and added shrimp to it. It came out perfect and my husband loved it. 🙂
Hi Jen! Yay! That’s so awesome, thanks so much for leaving me a review – I appreciate it so much! All the best.
Just wondering which flavor of Boursin and which size should be used? Thanks
I’m planning on making this tomorrow for dinner. I’ll let you know how it turns out for me.
This was good but was a little thin on sauce. We added shrimp at the very end and it was good, but just a bit bland. I’d still make it again but with more salt and more lemon. Still a solid dish!
I have made this 3 times in the past month! Great recipe- thank you!!
Love this recipe! I cook it every week with shrimps or smoked salmon and it’s so delicious.
Loved this the first time I made it! Looking to make a bigger batch for a girls’ night. Has anyone tried making it for 8-10 people? The recipe says it’s two servings, but I thought I’d check before I just quadruple the recipe
This turned out great I added mushrooms. I used a high protein pasta and added some grilled chicken as well. First time adding a half lemon in the skillet like that I love that idea and used seedless lemons. I always enjoy making your recipes.
This was delicious! Made as instructed but added sundried tomatoes and broccoli. Used the oil from the tomatoes to saute the veges. Making again tonight with Trader Joe’s lemon pasta. Might try adding fresh spinach instead of broccoli this time.
Really good and easy to make. The only comment I have is that the recipe prep time takes significantly longer than stated. However that’s pretty common with the recipes on this website and in no way detract from how amazing everything tastes and how easy it is to make.
I will say I tried to add rosemary but it didn’t come through, but again. Not needed and I may try again in the future, but I found a chicken marinade that I want to make on chicken breasts that we have with this in the future. And my philosophy is only ever change one thing about a recipe at a time. Other than garlic. Garlic is something you measure with your heart and no one can convince me otherwise (I used three elephant cloves from a head I got from my local farmers market 😉)
Followed exactly but added fresh spinach and sundried tomatoes (packed in oil). I used the oil from the tomatoes to saute the veges. Served with grilled chicken. NOM!!!! (Trader Joe’s lemon pasta is great with this as well)
We’ve tried some other lemon cream pastas and this is by far our favorite. We added chicken and it’s a top fav.
Thank you for this comment! I so appreciate it! – Sammy
This recipe is one of my family’s favorites! It is very easy to make and you can go meatless or add meat that you like! I love lemon & pasta so this hits the spot!