Lemon Pepper Spaghetti has the flavors of sunny lemon, sharp black pepper, and creamy cheese coating each piece of spaghetti. But, this bright and savory dish takes hardly any time to prepare and makes a big pot of deliciousness.

To make this dish, like so many other Italian dishes, we’re starting with the pasta. Classic spaghetti is great here, but if you don’t have that you can use angel hair, bucatini, or linguine. The shape can change a dish so for the best flavor stick with a long pasta for this thinner sauce.

You want to cook this only to al dente and then reserve some of the pasta water to help make the sauce.

While that’s cooking sauté your garlic and spinach in olive oil. I love how quickly the spinach cooks and it makes this both healthy and easy. But, if you wanted to use other types of veggies instead just make sure to give them a head start cooking in the pan before adding the garlic.

The spices in this dish come from some black pepper and also some red pepper flakes. The acid of the lemon juice really brings out the heat of the red pepper flakes, so add only enough to give a little kick and boost the flavor of the black pepper. You can also use some white pepper if you’re so inclined!

You’ll need the zest and juice of one large lemon. If you only have small lemons use two because the citrus really makes this dish.

Add some of the pasta water back to the pan to loosen the sauce and then add on your cheese. For this recipe we’re using Pecorino Romano, but you can use grated Manchego or Parmesan for this versatile dish as well.

I have had this with chicken and I can tell you it’s perfect pairing. Or load up on the cheese to give this dish a bit more protein.

The flavors of this Lemon Pepper Spaghetti go so well together- it’s hard to believe it’s done so quickly and with so little effort. I love using baby spinach in recipes because there’s often no chopping required – just the type of easy weeknight cooking I enjoy.