quick
15-Minute Caviar Pasta
A glossy, buttery weeknight pasta finished with a cold spoon of caviar off the heat — ready in fifteen minutes, no fuss.
Caviar pasta sounds fancy and cooks like a Tuesday. The sauce is just butter, a little starchy pasta water, and lemon emulsified into something silky; the caviar goes on cold at the end, so every bite has a warm, buttery base and a cool, briny pop on top.
The one rule
Treat the caviar like a garnish, not an ingredient. It meets the pasta only on the plate — spoon it over at the end, off the heat, so the pearls stay whole and the brine stays bright.
Ingredients
- 200g spaghetti or linguine
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 lemon, zested
- 2 tbsp crème fraîche
- 2 tbsp chives, snipped
- 30g caviar
Method
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Cook the pasta in well-salted water until just al dente. Before draining, save a small cup of the pasta water.
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Off the heat, toss the drained pasta with the butter, lemon zest, crème fraîche, and a splash of pasta water until glossy and silky.
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Twirl into warm bowls and scatter with chives.
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Top each bowl with a cold spoon of caviar at the very end. Do not stir it in or cook it — the heat would ruin the texture.
Caviar for Tuesday
Caviar for this recipe
Pairs with: Lemon · Dry white wine
Frequently asked
Do you cook caviar in pasta?
No. Always add caviar cold, right at the end, spooned over the top. Heat dulls the flavour and bursts the pearls, so it goes on after the pasta leaves the stove.
What caviar is best for pasta?
A buttery caviar like Ossetra or Kaluga works beautifully against the lemon and butter. You want something rich enough to read through the pasta, not get lost in it.