Simple, delicious and ready to go in minutes? That’s how this simple onion pasta rolls!
This Simple Onion Pasta recipe is the perfect meal for after a long day of work, when the carbs and brain cells have been depleted from your body [basically every day for me]. One of the reasons I love this recipe is that it demonstrates how deliciously simple some of the best recipes can be. This recipe requires so few ingredients (just 6!!) and takes only 20 minutes to make, but ends up tasting like you’ve been cooking all day long.
The secret to this dish are the onions. Ok, I guess since this is “Onion Pasta,” it’s not really a secret. But, hear me out. I use two kinds of onions for this dish—both white and red—in order to maximize flavor. I guess the REAL star to this ingredient is patience. I know, what a boring ingredient, but it’s so true. This is one of those recipes that will taste so much better if you just let the onions sit in their own juices and get caramelized with their own sugars. The more you agitate them, the less likely you will achieve that glorious flavor.
Many people like to use a thickening agent to thicken their pasta sauces. But, not me. I like to use pasta water to do that job. You’ll find that pasta water can create light broths when poured over some toasted garlic, and do all the thickening you need without using ingredients like corn starch, cashews, or butter. Plus, it’s the way the Italians do it! Once you get used to adding pasta water to your favorite pasta dishes, you will never go back, trust me.
I’ve made this dish so often, only because it requires so little effort for the amount of deliciousness involved. So, the next time you have a couple of onions in your house and you don’t know what to do with them, give this Simple Onion Pasta a try. You will NOT be disappointed!
Six Ingredient Simple Onion Pasta (Gluten Free)
Ingredients
- 1/2 red onion julienned
- 1/2 white onion julienned
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 box Gluten free spaghetti
- parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Begin cooking pasta according to instructions on box.
- In a large pan over medium high heat, add extra virgin olive oil.
- When oil is hot, add onions. Allow them to cook with relatively little agitation for about 3 minutes. Then add garlic and salt.
- Continue cooking garlic and onions, not stirring minimally, until onions begin to brown (an additional 4-5 minutes). Add more salt.
- When onions are fairly brown, take 1 ladleful or ¼ cup of the water from your cooking pasta (“pasta water”) and add to cooking onions. Reduce heat. When the sauce has reduced completely, add an additional ¼ cup of pasta water.
- Add cooked pasta to the onions and incorporate into the onions. Add additional pasta water as necessary if pasta is too dry.
- Garnish with a little more olive oil and fresh parsley.
