A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my adventures in making garlic confit.
After slow-roasting all those beautiful garlic cloves, making them soft and deeply flavorful, we’ve been using them on everything we could think of, but if you’re interested in using a boatload of cloves in one recipe, I have the perfect one to share with you.
The original recipe also included instructions for making garlic confit, if you want to check it out, but I opted to follow the procedure I shared with you a few weeks ago. It’s on my website (spiceupkitchen.net), if you missed it.
I found this recipe on the blog “Dang That’s Sweet.” You can see the original post at https://dangthatssweet.com/garlic-confit-pasta/. I added meatballs, mushrooms and spinach, along with a bit of extra cheese, to my version to really make it a meal.
Garlic Confit Pasta
Ingredients
- 26 ounces frozen meatballs cooked according to package instructions
- 1 pound bow-tie or similarly shaped pasta cooked according to package instructions
- 1 tablespoon garlic-infused olive oil from making garlic confit
- 12 to 16 ounces fresh mushrooms sliced (I used baby bellas)
- 25 roasted cloves of garlic confit drain off the oil
- 8 tablespoons butter softened
- 3/4 cup heavy cream or milk
- 1/2 cup parmesan freshly grated (plus more for serving)
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup fresh baby spinach roughly chopped
Instructions
- Begin cooking your frozen meatballs according to package instructions.
- In the meantime, boil your pasta, and be sure to reserve about one cup of the pasta water when it’s finished.
- In a large, deep skillet, heat the garlic-infused oil over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and saute until they are softened to your liking.
- Meanwhile, add the cloves of roasted garlic and the butter to a bowl, and mash until everything is well combined.
- Add the cooked pasta, one-quarter cup pasta water, garlic butter, milk, parmesan, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to the mushrooms in the skillet, and stir to combine, letting the butter melt and the flavors marry.
- Turn the heat to low, and stir regularly to keep the dairy from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Let the sauce thicken to your desired consistency. If it’s too thick, add pasta water until it thins to how you want it.
- Stir in the fresh spinach until it wilts, and if you want to coat them in sauce, add the meatballs, or just serve them on top of the prepared pasta, topping with more grated parmesan.
This was absolutely delicious. The garlic was definitely the star, but adding in the extra ingredients helped to make it feel more balanced.
We ate our pasta with some crusty bread and fresh green beans (sauteed in garlic olive oil, of course), and it felt a bit fancy for how easy it was to make.
This would be a great meal to make for someone special, if you’re trying to impress them with your cooking skills.
Of course, make sure it’s someone you don’t mind having garlic breath around. Even a strong mint will be no match for this meal.
This piece appeared in print July 9, 2026.
Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.
