Soy sauce and butter is a delicious combo. Add garlic to the mixture and wow! This simple and flavorful Butter Soy Sauce Pasta is a classic. Super easy to make. Serve plain or top with any protein for a complete meal.

We love butter. We love soy sauce (aka shoyu). Individually, they're great. Together, it's like wowowow.
Pasta with butter is easy to understand. But many people don't realize that pasta with soy sauce can also be super delicious.
This pasta pairs the two ingredients and adds a bunch of garlic. Everything is better with garlic. Toss the sauce with angel hair pasta or spaghetti, and you have a simple pasta that is just wonderful.
We love hearty red sauce pastas, but there is also a whole world of beautiful light pastas that deserve as much love like Mentaiko Pasta and Midnight Pasta. We could eat pasta every day!
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Ingredients
Here's what you'll need:
- Angel hair pasta or spaghetti
- Olive oil
- Garlic
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- Unsalted butter
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Let's get cooking!
Cook garlic in butter.
Add half the butter (1 tablespoon) and minced garlic to a pan.
Cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes till the garlic is fragrant but not browned. Turn off the heat and set aside.
Cook the pasta.
Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package.
Add pasta to the garlic and butter.
Use tongs to add the cooked pasta directly to the pan with the garlic and butter. Turn the heat back onto medium. Then pour in ¼ cup of the pasta cooking water.
Add soy sauce and more butter.
Add the other half of the butter (1 tablespoon) and soy sauce to the pan.
Toss, toss, toss.
Use tongs to gently toss the pasta with the garlic, butter, and soy sauce. Make sure everything is evenly mixed.
Serve and enjoy!
Divide the pasta between two bowls. Top with chopped parsley (optional). Eat and enjoy ^_^
Substitutions and Variations
Here are some popular ideas:
- Top with protein - I often use butter soy sauce pasta as a "base" pasta, and top it with a protein to make it a complete meal. In the photo above, we had leftover pork kimchi (recipe for that coming soon ;), so I warmed it in the microwave and put it on top of the pasta. I always try to make the protein part something simple - either leftovers from the fridge or something I can quickly cook in the toaster oven like salmon.
- Add mushrooms - this pasta is often served with mushrooms. It's delicious and a great flavor pairing. Feel free to use one type of mushrooms or a fun mix of mushrooms! Cook the mushrooms in the same step where you saute the garlic and butter.
- Olive oil - to make the pasta lighter, replace half the butter with olive oil. Replace the butter in Step 1 of the recipe when you saute the garlic. Saute with olive oil instead of butter.
Hope you enjoy putting your spin on the recipe ^_^
Equipment
All you need is one pot to cook the pasta, and one pan to make the sauce.
Storage
Leftovers keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Store the pasta in a sealed container.
To reheat, add a splash of water to the pasta and reheat in the microwave (use 30 second increments). Adding just a little water will keep the pasta from drying out in the microwave.
Top tip
Most recipes have you cook the pasta at the same time you're making the sauce. Two pots/pans and two burners. I don't love multitasking and I really don't love having two burners on at once.
My solution? Prepare the pasta sauce first on your "main" burner. Once done, remove the sauce pan from the burner (set the pan aside on another burner that is not on/hot).
Place the pot for cooking the pasta on that main burner and cook the pasta. Once the pasta is cooked, slide that pasta pot to a side burner and then put the sauce pan back on the main burner.
Use tongs to remove the pasta directly from the pasta pot into the sauce pan. Then add the pasta water (the starch from the pasta water will help the pasta bind to the sauce) and use the tongs to mix the pasta with the sauce.
It takes more time since you're not cooking two things at once. But I find the tradeoff worthwhile and the overall cooking experience less stressful this way.
FAQ
Yes! We like it best with angel hair pasta but spaghetti is actually the most popular shape for this recipe. Any type of long and thin pasta works.
I usually find leftovers in the fridge. Anything from Oyster Sauce Chicken to Beef Tomato, or Sardine Pupu would go great on top of the pasta.
If there are no leftovers, then I make something super simple like cooking salmon in the toaster oven. Or just open can of high quality sardines or tuna (make sure that it's packed in oil and not water). So easy, so good.
Butter Soy Sauce Pasta Recipe
Butter Soy Sauce Pasta
Ingredients
- ⅓ pound angel hair pasta or spaghetti
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Instructions
- Add half the butter (1 tablespoon) and minced garlic to a pan. Cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes till the garlic is fragrant but not browned. Turn off the heat and set aside.
- Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package.
- Use tongs to add the cooked pasta directly to the pan with the garlic and butter. Turn the heat back onto medium. Then pour in ¼ cup of the pasta cooking water.
- Add the other half of the butter (1 tablespoon) and soy sauce to the pan.
- Use tongs to gently toss the pasta with the garlic, butter, and soy sauce. Make sure everything is evenly mixed.
- Divide the pasta between two bowls. Top with chopped parsley (optional). Eat and enjoy ^_^
Nutrition
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Mahalo for Reading!