Pasta With Miso, Parmesan and Pickled Peppers
Updated Oct. 14, 2025

- Total Time
- 20 minutes
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- 15 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- Salt, as needed
- 8ounces spaghetti, bucatini, linguine or other long pasta shape
- 4tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2garlic cloves, finely grated
- ½teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
- 1½tablespoons white miso paste
- 2teaspoons soy sauce
- ½cup finely grated Parmesan
- 2 to 3tablespoons chopped pickled peppers, such as pepperoncini, jalapeños or cherry pepper
Preparation
- Step 1
Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat, then season it liberally with salt; it should taste as salty as the sea. Add pasta to the pot and cook until just shy of al dente (check package directions and subtract a minute or so). Using a mug or measuring cup, scoop out about ½ cup of the pasta water, then drain pasta well.
- Step 2
While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the garlic and black pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the miso, soy sauce and ½ cup pasta water, and whisk until the miso melts and the mixture is smooth.
- Step 3
Toss in the pasta, Parmesan and pickled peppers. Using tongs, keep tossing until everything is well combined and the pasta is al dente, 1 to 2 minutes, adding more pasta water as needed to make things saucy. Season with more salt, if needed, and serve immediately.
Private Notes
Comments
Adding salt to a dish on the plate is not the same as properly salting pasta as it cooks. That said, whenever I am planning to add pasta water to a sauce that is already salty, I go easier on the salt in the water. But never without.
This screams for a can of tuna, or sprats, or sardines…
Pasta cooked in heavily salted water overpowers any sauce that dresses it. All of the ingredients for this sauce are salt bombs in themselves, so I would want the pasta only lightly seasoned before I combine it with the sauce. You can always add more of something to lift the sodium level, but you can't reduce it.
This was fantastic. We didn't have a spicy pickle that made sense so I added chili crisp and a splash of lemon and it was wonderful.
Loved this dish though I did start with sautéed mushrooms and leeks because I happened to have them. Did everything else as written. Delicious and will become a regular in my house
Mushrooms and/or chopped canned artichokes make a wonderful additional to this already fabulous recipe.
