# Black Garlic Pasta

Black garlic pasta builds a sauce from pantry basics: warm olive oil with chili flakes and sliced fresh garlic, add a splash of starchy pasta water and let it bubble two minutes until the oil turns into a sauce, then toss the spaghetti and stir a good handful of chopped black garlic through at the very end. Sweet up front, deep umami underneath — and it clings to every strand. Serves 2.

- **Prep:** 5 min · **Cook:** 15 min · **Total:** 20 min
- **Servings:** 2
- **Difficulty:** Easy
- **Cuisine:** Fusion
- **Category:** Main Course
- **Video:** [Garlic Season: Confit, Black Garlic & the Ultimate Dip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edebLghSQfI&t=284s) (recipe starts at 4:44)
- **Recipe page:** https://webspoon.world/recipes/black-garlic-pasta/

## Ingredients

- 200 g spaghetti
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp chili flakes
- 2 cloves garlic (fresh, sliced)
- pasta water (a splash — the starch makes the sauce)
- 1 head black garlic (a good handful of cloves, chopped — see the Homemade Black Garlic recipe)

## Instructions

1. Cook the spaghetti in well-salted water; save a cup of the pasta water.
2. Warm the olive oil with the chili flakes and sliced fresh garlic in a wide pan.
3. Add a splash of pasta water and let it bubble — the starch turns the oil into a sauce. _(timer: 2 min)_
4. Toss the drained spaghetti through the sauce.
5. Stir the chopped black garlic through right at the end, off the heat, and serve.

## Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

- Calories: 560
- Protein: 13g
- Fat: 23g
- Carbs: 74g
- Fiber: 4g
- Sugar: 4g
- Sodium: 350mg

## FAQ

### Why add the black garlic at the very end?

Black garlic is already fully cooked — a month of low heat did that. Frying it would dull its dried-fruit sweetness and aroma, so it goes in off the heat, just warmed through by the pasta, where it stays soft, sticky and intensely flavored.

### What does the pasta water actually do?

The starch dissolved in it is the emulsifier: a splash bubbled into the garlic-chili oil binds fat and water into a glossy sauce that coats the strands instead of pooling at the bottom of the bowl. Plain water will not do the same job.

### Can I make this with regular garlic only?

Then it becomes a classic aglio e olio — good, but a different dish. The black garlic layers sweet, balsamic-fig umami over the fresh garlic sharpness; that two-garlic contrast is the whole point here.

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Source: [Black Garlic Pasta — Webspoon World](https://webspoon.world/recipes/black-garlic-pasta/)