Most spaghetti-with-ham recipes I come across are built on a can of condensed soup and a fistful of cheddar: comfort food, but heavy comfort food.
This one goes the other way: five ingredients, no cream, no roux, nothing simmered for an hour. Just hot pasta, a quick pan of ham, fresh lemon, peppery arugula, and a few rinsed capers for brine.
It's on the table in fifteen minutes, and it's the pasta I reach for on the nights I want dinner done, not dinner started.
One reader put it simply after making it: "My family and I love pasta so much. This one is so delicious and easy to prepare!" which is really the whole point of this recipe: five ingredients, fifteen minutes, and nobody at the table asking what's for dinner tomorrow instead.
Testpanel: My youngest will try anything, but he'd never actually had ham in spaghetti before this one. He went back for seconds. Twice.
Italian Spaghetti with Ham
In the summer, you often have lovely warm days. Great to relax outside. And delicious to eat with friends and family at a long family table. But with that hot weather, you don't want to spend too long in the kitchen.
This recipe is then ideal. It is fresh, light, and on the table in 15 minutes.
This Summer spaghetti has delicious, light and easy ingredients. Delicious with fresh arugula and ham. A light dish, and I love that in the summer.
Why this isn't a creamy pasta
If you search around for spaghetti with ham, you'll mostly find cream-of-mushroom-soup bakes. Good in their own way, but a different kind of dinner.
This one has no cream sauce at all. The "sauce" is really just lemon juice, a little starchy pasta water, and the fat left in the pan from browning the ham. That starchy water is what makes the lemon juice cling to the noodles instead of pooling at the bottom of the bowl, the starch acts almost like a light emulsifier. No cream required.
What do you need for Lemon & Ham Spaghetti?
To prepare this Italian Spaghetti with Ham, you need the following ingredients. You can find the correct amounts in the recipe card at the bottom of the blog:
- Spaghetti: Use fresh or dried spaghetti and prepare according to package directions. You could also use tagliatelle or penne.
- Ham: Ham cubes can be bought ready-made in the supermarket. If you like to eat vegetarian, replace the ham cubes with (semi) sun-dried tomatoes that you half before you add them.
- Capers: Capers are kept in a salt vinegar solution. To keep the taste of the capers from overpowering, rinse them with cold water before adding them.
- Arugula: Deliciously peppery, and it provides a bite. Arugula is a type of lettuce, and the disadvantage is that it withers quickly. That's why you only add the vegetables at the last minute. This keeps it wonderfully crunchy.
- Lemon: For a touch of extra freshness, add juice and zest. Use fresh lemon juice; it's the best.
How to prepare Ham Pasta - No Cream
You can find a printable recipe with a step-by-step description at the bottom of this blog.
- Cook the spaghetti according to the instructions on the package. If you like al dente, cook it 1 to 2 minutes shorter.
- Fry the ham cubes briefly for a delicious taste and mix it with the lemon juice through the spaghetti.
- Also, add the lemon zest and arugula.
- Add the rinsed capers to the pan and mix well. Taste, season with salt, pepper, and extra lemon juice if necessary, and serve immediately.
Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I use a different green instead of arugula? Baby spinach works, though you lose the peppery bite arugula gives this dish. Add it the same way, off the heat, at the very end, so it just wilts instead of turning soggy.
- Why does the recipe say to add the arugula last? Arugula's leaves are thin and break down fast once they hit heat. Tossing it in off the heat, right before serving, keeps it crisp instead of turning it into wilted mush by the time the dish reaches the table.
- Can I make this ahead? Yes, but leave the arugula out until you reheat. The pasta, ham, lemon, and capers keep well in the fridge for up to two days or the freezer for a month (see storage notes below), the greens are the only part that doesn't hold.
- Is this recipe spicy or heavy? Neither, that's the point of it. It's a light, briny, lemon-forward pasta, not a rich one. If you want something richer, my creamy sun-dried tomato chicken pasta leans that direction instead.
📖 Recipe
RECIPE CARD
Recipe Help
Two easy tools to make cooking even easier. Cooking mode keeps the screen on. The easy-step recipe displays the recipe step by step, including the ingredients needed. And you can adjust servings easily
Ingredients
- 5 oz. ham, charcutterie, in cubes
- ¾ pound arugula
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice, fresh
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 pound spaghetti
- 1 tablespoon capers, rinsed and sliced finely
- salt and pepper, at taste
All my recipes are written both in Metric (gram / ml) and US Customary (cups / pounds). Here you can select which type of amount you would like to see.
Instructions
- Bring water to the boil for the spaghetti.
- Bake the ham until it gets a slight brown color.5 oz. ham
- Grate 1 tablespoon of lemon zest and juice.2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- Wash the arugula and cut it into small strips.¾ pound arugula
- Add the spaghetti to the water and cook conforming to the instructions of the manufacturers.1 pound spaghetti
- Rinse the spaghetti and mix with the ham, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, arugula, 1 teaspoon lemon zest, and capers.1 tablespoon capers
- At salt, pepper, and extra lemon juice at the taste.salt and pepper
Notes
- Refrigerator: Keep the spaghetti covered in the fridge for up to two days.
- Freezer: Freeze the spaghetti in a freezer bag or box. This keeps it good for up to a month. Then, let thaw in the refrigerator.
- Reheating: Use the microwave to reheat the spaghetti quickly. You can also heat it in a frying pan with some oil on medium heat. Keep stirring. After it's warm, add the arugula.
Nutrition
Amy Liu Dong says
My family and I love pasta so much. This one is so delicious and easy to prepare!