The Best Cream Cheese Pasta

This ultimate comfort food is the best cream cheese pasta you'll ever taste.

Servings: 2 people

Author:

Prep Time
1 minute

Cook Time
10 minutes

Total Time
11 minutes

Main Course Main Dish

American Italian Fusion

Pasta Cream Cheese Pasta

🧂 Ingredients

250 grams Pasta

I used Lumache, but you can use any short pasta (like elbows)
125 grams Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1 Shallot

chopped
5 cloves Garlic

chopped
1 tsp Red Chili Flakes
3 tbsp Olive Oil
Salt

to taste. (Remember, the pasta water is heavily salted, and we are adding 1/3 cup of it into the sauce so you may not need to add salt at all).
1 tsp Smoked Paprika

optional, garnish at the end.

1 This whole recipe takes less than 15 minutes, so once you prepare your garlic
and shallot, you can get going. Finely chop your shallot and garlic and separate
them.
2 Begin boiling a pot of quite salted water. When it is at a rolling boil you can
add the pasta. My lumache take 9-10 minutes for al dente, but check your own
brand for timing instructions.
3 In a saucepan on medium high add all the olive oil. When hot sprinkle in the red
chili flakes and the shallot. Cook for a couple minutes, until the shallot is
translucent then add the garlic and turn the heat down to medium low.
4 After about 30 seconds after adding the garlic, add in all of the cream cheese.
It will not mix well at all, so just use a whisk and try your best to get
everything somewhat combined. At this point the heat should be on low.
5 Take 1/3 cup of the pasta water from the pasta (it is okay if the pasta still
needs a few minutes more) and add it to the sauce pan. Use the whisk to mix
everything together quickly and you will notice it emulsifying.
6 Once the pasta is done, drain and shake it, then add it to the saucepan. Give
everything a good stir and plate. Garnish with some fresh herbs, or in my case,
a healthy amount of smoked paprika.