Strawberry Sour Cream Pasta (Printer View)

Summer pasta with a creamy, sweet-tangy strawberry and sour cream sauce garnished with basil and pine nuts.

# Components:

→ Pasta

01 - 12 oz farfalle or penne pasta
02 - 1 tbsp salt (for boiling water)

→ Strawberry Sauce

03 - 2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
04 - 2 tbsp granulated sugar
05 - 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
06 - 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
07 - 1/4 tsp salt
08 - 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

→ Creamy Component

09 - 3/4 cup full-fat sour cream

→ Garnish

10 - 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
11 - Optional: 2 tbsp toasted pine nuts
12 - Optional: Extra sliced strawberries

# Method:

01 - Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package instructions until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water, then drain pasta and set aside.
02 - Combine strawberries, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, and pepper in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 7 minutes until strawberries soften but retain some texture.
03 - Remove the saucepan from heat and let cool for 2 to 3 minutes. Gently fold in sour cream until mixture is smooth and pink. Adjust seasoning if necessary.
04 - Add drained pasta to the saucepan with strawberry-sour cream sauce. Toss gently to coat, adding reserved pasta water one tablespoon at a time if sauce needs thinning.
05 - Divide pasta among plates. Garnish with fresh basil, optional pine nuts, and additional sliced strawberries if desired. Serve immediately.

# Expert Advice:

01 -
  • It tastes like summer in a bowl without requiring you to spend an hour in a hot kitchen.
  • The sweet-tangy strawberry sauce against creamy sour cream is the kind of unexpected flavor combination that makes people ask for the recipe twice.
  • You can have it on the table in 25 minutes, which means it's somehow both impressive and genuinely weeknight-friendly.
02 -
  • Don't skip cooling the strawberry mixture slightly before folding in the sour cream, or the heat will make the sour cream separate and look grainy instead of silky.
  • Reserve that pasta water before you drain—a tablespoon or two mixed in saves you if the sauce seems too thick and makes the whole thing come together more smoothly.
03 -
  • The quality of your strawberries matters more than anything else; if they're not ripe and fragrant, the whole dish suffers, so taste one before you commit.
  • Toasting your own pine nuts in a dry skillet for a few minutes before using them brings out a deeper, buttery flavor that makes people ask what that secret ingredient is.
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