Aglio e Olio – Garlic Oil Spaghetti – is the classic Italian pantry pasta made with just 3 basic ingredients: pasta, garlic and olive oil. Use a good olive oil, sauté the garlic gently and get the salt amount right, and you’ll be blown away by how delicious something so simple can be!
“Aglio e Olio is not bland!”
A friend once casually mentioned in passing that they tried Aglio e Olio and they couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about — it was pretty meh and bland. To which I gasped loudly in sheer shock (nobody ever accused me of over-reacting 😆) and launched into a passionate defence of this classic Italian pasta. So simple – just garlic and olive oil – but it’s sooooo delicious!
After some grilling, it became clear where the problem was, and I’m here to preach the same to you:
- Don’t skimp on the oil.
- You’ve gotta salt it properly.
Get those right, and I promise it’s can’t-stop-eating-it delicious!
PS Aglio e Olio is pronounced “alio olio”. Silent “e” and silent “g”. The literal translation is “garlic and oil” which is exactly what this pasta is!
Ingredients in Aglio e Olio
Here’s all you need to make this classic Italian pasta.
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Spaghetti – I use a whole 500g / 1 lb packet to serve 4 to 5. Allow 100–125g / 3.5–4.4 oz per person for a pasta like this without a meaty sauce. Spaghetti no. 5 is the standard thickness, but any long strand pasta – or even short pasta – will work.
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Garlic – It’s gotta be fresh! Six big cloves.
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Extra virgin olive oil – Pull out your good stuff, because it’s a key flavour in the sauce. We only cook over medium-low heat so the garlic doesn’t burn and the lovely olive oil flavour is preserved. The recipe uses 1/2 cup, which may sound like a lot, but for 5 servings it’s only 1.6 tablespoons per person, and there’s no other fat in the sauce. You can use less, but remember – the oil is the sauce, so less means less flavour and coating.
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Parsley – A good amount of parsley adds freshness and colour. If you don’t have any, feel free to use chives or dried parsley instead.
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Dried chilli flakes (red pepper flakes) – Adds a little heat and some nice red specks in the pasta. Feel free to leave it out and add a good grind of black pepper instead.
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Salt – Some for the pasta cooking water, and some added into the sauce. If you don’t use enough, it will taste bland, so please use the amount specified in the recipe card.
Quick ways to add veg into this
The easiest way is to add vegetables that can cook in the pasta water along with the spaghetti. Asparagus, broccolini and green beans are great choices – just add them towards the end of the pasta cooking time so everything is ready to drain together. Broccoli is best avoided here, as the florets get waterlogged and there isn’t a large amount of sauce to compensate.
Alternatively, toss a few handfuls of baby spinach into the pan when you add the pasta. It wilts in seconds – zero extra pans, virtually zero extra effort.
How to make Aglio e Olio
The key is to sauté the garlic slowly enough so it has time to infuse the oil with plenty of flavour, but with enough heat so it turns pale golden rather than just sitting there in warm oil. Whatever you do, don’t be impatient and turn up the heat too high – garlic turns bitter when burnt, and we use a lot of it in this pasta.
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Finely slice the garlic, making the slices equal thickness as best you can so they cook at the same rate.
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Pasta first – Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil, then add the pasta and cook per the packet directions minus 1 minute so it’s al dente (just cooked, firm to bite, not soft and mushy). For spaghetti no. 5, the packet usually says 12 minutes, so cook for 11.
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Reserve water – Just before draining, scoop out one cup of the pasta cooking water and set aside. Then drain the pasta in a colander – or, if you time it right, transfer the pasta with tongs straight into the garlic oil.
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Sauté garlic – While the pasta is boiling, heat the oil in a large deep pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté for 2–3 minutes until light golden. Add the red chilli flakes and cook for 20 to 30 seconds, or until the garlic is golden. Do not let the garlic become dark golden or brown – it will turn bitter and that bitterness will run through the entire dish.
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Pasta and reserved water – Add the pasta, 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta cooking water, and the salt.
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Toss, toss, toss! Using two wooden spatulas, toss the pasta on the stove over medium-high heat for 1 to 1½ minutes until the water pooled in the pan disappears and the strands are shiny and coated in garlic oil. The starch in the pasta water and on the pasta itself emulsifies with the oil to create a sauce that clings to every strand rather than pooling in the pan. This is the proper Italian way to finish pasta – tossed with the sauce and a splash of cooking water – and it makes all the difference.
