Main dish

Brown Butter Spaghetti with Mizithra Cheese

Simple brown butter spaghetti tossed with fresh thyme and mizithra cheese. This is an awesome meal that can be on the table in less than 30 minutes!

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Brown Butter Spaghetti with Mizithra Cheese
Recipe insights & TIPS

Simple brown butter spaghetti tossed with fresh thyme and mizithra cheese. This is an awesome meal that can be on the table in less than 30 minutes!

Simple brown butter spaghetti tossed with fresh thyme and mizithra cheese. This is an awesome meal that can be on the table in less than 30 minutes!

Both my kids would eat pasta every single day of the year, no problem. I'm almost the same but dang, can we talk about the carb overload! I wonder how the Italian lifestyle really is because some of those Italian men are pretty fit looking, are they really knocking back the penne night after night? I would never have thought to toss pasta with brown butter. I've always stuck to the tomato, pesto or sometimes an alfredo style of sauce. But if you take the time to make brown butter, you'll wonder why you haven't done it before. It tastes and smells like hazelnuts with tons of flavor and if we hadn't all gone out for dinner to celebrate M's dad's birthday recently, I'd still be none the wiser for brown butter spaghetti. If you've ever been to The Old Spaghetti Factory then you'll know all about it because it's their thing. They serve it with Greek mizithra cheese and it tastes bonkers good!

Simple brown butter spaghetti tossed with fresh thyme and mizithra cheese. This is an awesome meal that can be on the table in less than 30 minutes!

So when I tasted it I knew that I had to try and make it at home, how hard could it be? I think I came pretty close to matching the original. Be careful when you're browning the butter, It takes a little time and constant watching but so worth it. You want to get rid of the  foam stuff that floats on the top of melted butter, you can skim that off with a spoon and get rid of it. You also don't want the burnt brown sediment that falls to the bottom of the pan as the butter starts to brown. Some people keep it but I prefer to be left with a pure golden butter that won't leave burnt flecks all over the food I add it to. I pinky-promise you that you'll love this recipe and nobody will get mad at you if you throw in some shrimp or grilled chicken.

Simple brown butter spaghetti tossed with fresh thyme and mizithra cheese. This is an awesome meal that can be on the table in less than 30 minutes!
Simple brown butter spaghetti tossed with fresh thyme and mizithra cheese. This is an awesome meal that can be on the table in less than 30 minutes!
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Recipe

Simple brown butter spaghetti tossed with fresh thyme and mizithra cheese. This is an awesome meal that can be on the table in less than 30 minutes!

Course:
Main dish
COOKing TIME:
20 minutes
Total TIME:
30 minutes
CUISINE:
Italian
PREP TIME:
10 minutes
SERVINGS:
2

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces dried uncooked spaghetti pasta
  • 8 ounces unsalted butter
  • 2 tbsp fresh chopped thyme
  • 1 tsp cracked black pepper
  • 2 1/2 cups grated mizithra cheese divided

Ingredient Swaps

Instructions

  1. Cook the spaghetti as per the instructions on the package and drain when ready.
  2. Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed pan over a medium heat
  3. Watch the butter carefully swirling it around, don't let it boil.
  4. Try and keep skimming off the foam that sits on top of the butter. Once the butter starts to turn golden keep swirling it around until it turns a dark shade of yellow.
  5. Let the brown sediment fall to the bottom of the pan.
  6. Using a ladle, carefully scoop up the golden butter avoiding foam or sediment and transfer to to a separate dish.
  7. Toss the pasta with the brown butter and add the fresh thyme, black pepper and 1 1/2 cups of the grated mizithra cheese.
  8. Serve in a large family style bowl and top with the remaining mizithra cheese.

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