Oven Baked Garlic Parmesan Noodles

This oven baked garlic parmesan noodle dish is the kind of simple comfort food that shows up at every family get-together in our little Midwestern town. It bakes up into a pan of tender noodles dripping with garlicky butter and topped with a golden, bubbly parmesan crust. If you’re looking for something cozy, kid-friendly, and ridiculously good with almost no effort, this is it.

Why You’ll Love This

Only 4 ingredients egg noodles, butter, garlic, and parmesan. That’s genuinely it.
Golden, bubbly parmesan crust the top bakes up crispy and cheesy while the noodles underneath stay tender and dripping with garlic butter.
Three steps, basically boil, toss, bake. You can make this on autopilot after a long day.
Kids actually eat it every single time, without negotiation.
Ready in under 30 minutes including oven time.

A Few Notes on the Ingredients

The egg noodles — don’t skip them in favor of regular pasta if you can help it. There’s something about the texture of egg noodles that holds up better here. They stay a little silky even after baking, where regular spaghetti can get a bit firm in spots. That said, I’ve used rotini in a pinch and it was fine. I’m not going to pretend it was the same, but it was fine.

The butter should be salted. I know there are people — serious cooking people — who will tell you to always cook with unsalted butter and then control your salt separately. And maybe they’re right about most things. But I use salted butter and I’m not changing it.

The garlic is where you have some options. Fresh minced is better, no question — it gets more fragrant, kind of sweet and toasty in the oven. But garlic powder works on the nights when you forgot to buy garlic or your garlic has gone soft in the back of the crisper drawer. I’m not judging you. I’ve been there.

Parmesan — buy a block and grate it yourself if you can stand the extra five minutes. The stuff in the green can will technically work but it doesn’t melt the same way and the crust won’t be as nice. My grocery store carries a generic block that’s about half the price of the name brand and honestly I can’t tell the difference.

Ingredients

– 12 oz wide or medium egg noodles
– 1 cup salted butter (2 sticks), melted
– 4 cloves garlic, minced — or about 1½ teaspoons garlic powder if that’s what you’ve got
– 1½ cups grated parmesan, divided (I sometimes eyeball this, so a little more never hurt anyone)

Let’s Make It

Start by preheating your oven to 350°F and greasing a 9×13 metal baking pan. I use butter for the greasing because why not, we’re already committed here. Metal bakes more evenly than glass for this — I tried it in a glass dish once and the center stayed a little soft while the edges got too brown. Stick with metal.

Get a big pot of salted water boiling and cook your egg noodles until just al dente — you want them a hair underdone because they’re going to keep cooking in the oven. This is the part I always have to remind myself not to rush. Pull them just before you think they’re ready.

While those cook, melt your butter and stir in the garlic. That’s it. That’s the sauce. I know. Just let it sit for a minute so the garlic softens a little in the warm butter — it takes the raw edge off.

Drain the noodles well and put them back in the pot while it’s still warm. Pour that garlic butter right over them and toss until everything’s coated and glossy. At this point you will want to eat it straight out of the pot. I cannot stop you. But stay with me.

Add one cup of the parmesan and toss again. Dump everything into your prepared pan and spread it out as evenly as you can. It doesn’t need to be perfect. Sprinkle the remaining half cup of parmesan over the top.

Bake on the middle rack for 18 to 22 minutes. You’re looking for the top to be melted and starting to go golden, with the edges of the noodles getting a little crispy. If after 22 minutes it’s not where you want it, move the pan under the broiler for a minute or two — but watch it. It goes from perfect to burned faster than you’d believe. Don’t be me. Watch the broiler.

Let it rest for about five minutes before you serve it. I know this is hard when it smells like that. But the butter settles and the cheese firms up just enough to hold together when you scoop it.

Variations

Mixing in a little mozzarella with the parmesan on top gets you this incredible pull when you scoop it. It’s not the original four ingredients anymore but I’m not the food police.

If you want to stretch it into more of a full dinner, stir in some shredded rotisserie Chicken before it goes in the oven. Diced ham works too — I don’t fully understand it but it’s good.

For a slightly lighter version, you can cut the butter back to three-quarters of a cup and add a splash of chicken broth to the noodles before baking. It keeps things a little less rich. Not my preference but it’s good.

Some people add fresh parsley on top after it comes out of the oven. I’ve done this when I wanted it to look prettier for company. It doesn’t really change the flavor but it looks nice in the pan and makes you feel like you tried a little harder than you did.

Leftovers

If there are any — and there usually aren’t, but sometimes — they reheat pretty well. Cover with Foil and put them back in a 325°F oven for about 10 minutes, or just microwave individual portions with a small splash of water to keep them from drying out. The crust doesn’t come back, but the noodles stay good.

I’ve made this ahead and refrigerated the unbaked pan overnight before. Bake it straight from the fridge, just add five or ten minutes to the time. It works fine. Better than fine, actually — the noodles seem to absorb the butter even more overnight.

Serve it with whatever you have — a salad, some broccoli, baked chicken. It goes with almost anything. We’ve had it alongside tomato Soup before and that combination is something I think about more than I probably should.

Make this on a night when you need something that just works.