Yogurt Is a Pasta Sauce
When I think about pasta sauce, my mind drifts to the tomato variety, with blended vegetables, and—why not?—a splash of heavy cream. Yogurt, however, never comes to mind. At least, that used to be the case. After making our Pasta with Browned Butter, Yogurt and Herbs recipe, I’ve realized that I’ve been missing out. It turns out that yogurt is one of the easiest and creamiest ways to sauce your pasta, and is more than deserving of a place in your weekly rotation.
A sauce best served warm
In the past, I thought of yogurt as more of a cold snack or condiment to cool down spicy dishes—something best served cold, because it doesn’t always fare well over high temperatures. You’ve probably seen this yourself if you’ve ever tried cooking yogurt over direct heat in a skillet; it tends to split and curdle. So when I came across this recipe—a hot dish with a yogurt sauce—I wondered if I’d encounter the same problem. The reality was far different than I expected. Unlike tomato sauce and pureed vegetable or bean-based sauces, you don’t cook the sauce to soften or break down the ingredients—there’s nothing to break down. Instead, it’s used more like a warm dressing, tossed with the hot pasta after all the cooking is finished.
You may think this sounds like a claggy and indecent pasta salad dressing, but we assure you it’s not. We brown a whole stick of salted butter for this recipe, which may seem like overkill, but don’t skimp on it. First of all, the recipe yields four servings, which makes this a pretty reasonable amount of butter. But, more importantly, the richness and nutty flavor from the browned butter transforms the yogurt from an acidic, thick condiment to a satiny glaze with a balanced flavor.
Aside from finding a new use for my breakfast yogurt, what I enjoyed most about this pasta dish was its playful combination of fresh flavors. The yogurt makes for a tangy first impression, but the aromatic lemon zest and complementary citrus notes from the sumac follow closely behind. Chopped fresh mint and parsley are tossed in at the very end for an earthy and herbal element. Don’t sleep on mint in savory dishes. It can easily pull you out of a flavor rut when cooking dinner for the umpteenth time in a row. For other pasta and yogurt combinations, try our Pasta with Spiced Beef, Caramelized Onions and Herbed Yogurt or Whole-Wheat Pasta with Yogurt and Tahini.
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest.
And if you're looking for more Milk Street, check out our livestream cooking classes with our favorite chefs, home cooks and friends for global recipes, cooking methods and more.
Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
Allie Chantorn Reinmann is a Digital Staff Writer for Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street. She’s a Thai-American chef who earned her diploma for Pastry and Baking Arts at The Institute of Culinary Education and worked professionally for over a decade honing her craft in New York City at places like Balthazar, Bien Cuit, The Chocolate Room, Billy’s Bakery and Whole Foods. Allie took her know-how from the kitchen to the internet, writing about food full-time at Lifehacker for three years and starting her own YouTube channel, ThaiNYbites. You can find her whipping up baked goods for cafés around Brooklyn, building wedding cakes and trying her hand (feet?) at marathon running. She’s working on her debut cookbook and lives in Brooklyn, NY.
