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Spaghetti with Lemon Pesto
This pasta dish is modeled on the spaghetti al pesto di limone that Giovanna Aceto made for us on her family’s farm in Amalfi, Italy. The lemons commonly available in the U.S. are more acidic than Amalfi’s lemons, so to make a lemon pesto that approximates the original, we use a little sugar to temper the flavor. For extra citrus complexity, we add lemon zest to the pasta cooking water; the oils from the zest lightly perfume the spaghetti, reinforcing the lemony notes of the pesto.
4
Servings
Tip
Don’t forget to remove the lemon zest from the boiling water before dropping in the pasta. If left in as the spaghetti cooks, the zest may turn the water bitter, and the strips are a nuisance to remove from the strands of cooked noodles.
25 minutes
Ingredients
-
4
lemons
-
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
Directions
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01Using a vegetable peeler (preferably a Y-style peeler), remove the zest from the lemons in long, wide strips; try to remove only the colored portion of the peel, not the bitter white pith just underneath. You should have about ⅔ cup zest strips.
Reviews
June 9, 2026
Nice and Creamy
I modified the ingredients to serve two, and used a mortar and pestle instead of a food processor for the pesto. The texture turned out creamy with bits of almonds that adhered to the pasta nicely. Will definitely make it again this way. Can’t wait to try it with some beans or veggies next time.
July 26, 2025
Refreshing!
I have to admit that I’ve never made this recipe exactly as it’s written. The first time I tried it, a neighbor gave me some Meyer lemons that I needed to use up before they spoiled. I didn’t have any almonds on hand, so I used roasted, salted pistachios. The dish was phenomenal. The combination of citrus and sugar somehow made a pound of pasta taste “refreshing. ” I have since experimented with a little bit of honey in the pesto instead of just sugar, linguine instead of spaghetti, parsley instead of chives, and Lisbon lemons gifted by another generous neighbor. The dish is always a success. I feel bad reviewing this when I haven’t even tried with almonds, but I am so smitten with using pistachios! It’s a very forgiving recipe that allows for a lot of personal preference and experimentation.
June 29, 2025
Lighter take on pesto
Loved the mellowness of the lemon flavor. More floral and fruity than sour. I didn’t have any almonds so I subbed out for walnuts and it worked out perfectly.
June 9, 2025
Lovely Lemon
We just loved this! It’s just two of us so I only made half of the pasta but decided to make all of the lemon pesto. I used only half of the pesto and intend to try the incorporate it with more pasta next night. I sautéed shrimp with just salt &pepper to lay on top. Air fried zucchini to be a needed vegetable. I didn’t have Parmesan so I had to substitute percorino/ Romano. Next time I hope to be able make the recipe with Parmesan to see what if any difference there is. There will be a next time because it was so very good!
March 31, 2025
Great Recipe
I really loved this recipe. I used Meyer lemons and used half of the parmesan and added manchego for the other half. Mixing the pasta and the reserved cooking water and letting the pasta absorb the liquid is very important. I really enjoyed the light flavor. Wonderful!
Tried this last night. Relatively subtle but good sprinkled with a bit of extra Maldon salt. Might use a touch of red pepper in the pesto next time.
However, "remove the zest in long, wide strips" and "remove and discard the zest" are much easier said than done. Some suggested technique here would have been a big help.
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I do not see any nutrishinal info or calorie info