Buttered Noodles

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You're never too old for a plate of buttered noodles.

Southern Living Buttered Noodles on a plate to serve
Photo:

Caitlin Bensel, Food Stylist: Torie Cox

Active Time:
5 mins
Total Time:
20 mins
Servings:
4

We love the nostalgia of buttered noodles. There's just something so comforting about how pasta, butter, cheese, salt, and pepper all come together to make something much more than you’d think from the ingredient list.

Learn how to make buttered noodles. While they’re perfect on their own, we’ve also included plenty ideas for mix-ins or main dishes that let them shine as a side.

Buttered Noodles Ingredients

While there are endless ways to dress these up, you only really need a few simple ingredients to make buttered noodles.

  • Kosher salt: For salting the pasta water.
  • Noodles: The main ingredient! You can use pretty much any kind of pasta, though wide egg noodles are the most common.
  • Butter: Using a good quality butter will make a big difference here (though any will work). A lot of the flavor in the dish comes from the butter.
  • Pepper: Gives a little extra kick to the dish. You can leave this out for anyone sensitive to spice.
  • Parmesan cheese: We love adding a little sprinkle of cheese to the dish for an extra savory flavor.
Southern Living Buttered Noodles Ingredients

Caitlin Bensel, Food Stylist: Torie Cox

How To Make Buttered Noodles

Grab a stockpot, and boil some water. This dish is ready in no time.

  • Step 1. Cook pasta: Follow directions for the pasta you use, and cook to al dente. Drain the pasta, and return it to the post. Do not rinse. You need the pasta to still be hot so you can melt the butter in the next step.
  • Step 2. Add butter and cheese: To the hot pasta, add the butter and cheese. Stir until the ingredients are melted.
  • Step 3. Season: Finish by adding salt and pepper, and stir.

What Kind of Pasta Should You Use for Buttered Noodles?

You can use your favorite type of pasta for buttered noodles. You'll just want to adjust the cooking time according to the package instructions.

While we call for egg noodles below, just about any kind of noodle can be made into buttered noodles. The amounts for butter and Parmesan below are based on the weight of the pasta, so as long as you know how much pasta you are using, the proportions of the other ingredients will work.

How To Scale Buttered Noodles Up or Down

 Sometimes you’ll be making buttered noodles for a crowd, and sometimes you won’t. Use the amounts below as a guideline, but feel free to adjust the amount of cheese to suit your personal taste.

 Servings  Pasta  Butter  Grated Parmesan
(plus more to serve)
 1  2 oz.  1 Tbsp.  1 Tbsp.
 2  4 oz.  2 Tbsp.  2 Tbsp.
 4  8 oz.  1/4 cup  1/4 cup
 8  16 oz.  1/2 cup  1/2 cup

What if I don't have a scale?

Weight is the easiest way to figure out how much pasta you have, but buttered noodles are very forgiving, and estimates are perfectly fine. A whole package of egg noodles is usually 16 ounces (eight servings), so half of that will serve four. A quarter of a package will serve two. Cup measurements of egg noodles can be tricky depending on if you’re using wide or extra-wide noodles, but a single serving (two ounces) is about 1 to 1 1/4 cups. 

Ways To Upgrade Your Buttered Noodles

While great on their own, buttered noodles are the perfect base for mix-ins. Here are a few of our favorites:

  • Frozen peas (either steam in the bag or add your desired amount to the pasta cooking water in the last two to three minutes of cooking time)
  • Finely chopped fresh parsley
  • Broccoli (Roasted Broccoli or frozen broccoli steamed in the bag)
  • Sautéed mushrooms
  • Try swapping out other hard cheeses, like pecorino Romano for the Parmesan.
  • Get out the fancy butter—because there are so few ingredients in this recipe, using a good-quality European-style butter will really shine.
  • Add a sprinkle of dried Italian seasoning along with the pepper.
  • Try out different flavored pastas in place of the standard egg noodles.

What To Serve With Buttered Noodles

We love buttered noodles on their own as a comforting main, but they are also a great side dish. Here are a few of our favorite mains to serve with buttered noodles:

Ingredients

  • 1 Tbsp. kosher salt

  • 8 oz. (1/2 pkg.) uncooked wide egg noodles

  • 4 Tbsp. salted butter, cut into pieces

  • 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper (optional)

  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more to serve

Directions

  1. Cook and drain pasta:

    Bring a large pot of water to boil over high and add salt. Add noodles and cook according to the time listed on the package or until pasta is al dente.

    Southern Living Buttered Noodles cooking the pasta

    Caitlin Bensel, Food Stylist: Torie Cox

    Drain pasta, and return to pot.

    Southern Living Buttered Noodles drained and returned to pan

    Caitlin Bensel, Food Stylist: Torie Cox

  2. Add butter and cheese:

    Add butter and pepper, and toss until melted.

    Southern Living Buttered Noodles adding the butter

    Caitlin Bensel, Food Stylist: Torie Cox

    Add cheese, tossing quickly until melted.

    Southern Living Buttered Noodles adding the cheese to the pan

    Caitlin Bensel, Food Stylist: Torie Cox

    Taste and add more salt or pepper, if desired.

    Southern Living Buttered Noodles tossing the pasta together

    Caitlin Bensel, Food Stylist: Torie Cox

  3. Serve:

    Transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle with additional cheese, if using.

    Southern Living Buttered Noodles in a serving bowl

    Caitlin Bensel, Food Stylist: Torie Cox

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