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Duck pasta might sound fancy, but this dish is basically comfort food in designer shoes. Tender strands of tagliatelle get tangled up in a rich, garlicky cream sauce spiked with white wine and duck fat.
Add in crispy duck skin on top, and suddenly those leftover duck legs in your fridge just became the best thing that’s happened to dinner all week.
This is as elegant as our Lobster Pasta and makes a beautiful (and easy!) date-night dinner. It’s a great way to repurpose roasted duck legs. If you’ve got some on hand, you’re already halfway there.
Here is Why This Duck Confit Pasta Recipe Works
Leftover duck gets the royal treatment: This is how you turn a couple of cooked duck legs into something dinner-party worthy.
Duck fat = liquid gold: It adds unbeatable depth to the sauce, no sad, bland pasta here.
Balanced richness: Creamy without being cloying, thanks to a splash of white wine and bright lemon juice.
That crispy skin garnish: Optional, sure, but why skip the best part?
You can use leftovers from my duck with orange sauce or ginger roasted duck breast.
Recipe Tips
Salt your pasta water like you mean it: At least 1 tablespoon of salt for every 2 quarts of water. Bland noodles are a crime.
Don’t skip crisping the duck skin: It’s not garnish. It’s texture, flavor, and the reason someone might ask you for this recipe.
Use the good stuff: If you’ve got duck broth or duck fat, use it. Chicken broth and olive oil will work, but they’re backup singers here.
Reduce the sauce until it clings: You want it glossy and just thick enough to coat the pasta, not pooling at the bottom of the bowl.
Finish with lemon zest and juice: That final hit of acid keeps the richness in check and makes the whole thing taste brighter.
Storing Leftovers
- Fridge: Transfer the pasta to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
- Freezer: Not ideal, but doable. Freeze the cooled pasta in airtight containers for 2.
- Reheating: Add a splash of broth, water, or cream before reheating on the stove over low heat. Microwaves work in a pinch, but use short bursts.
- Crispy skin tip: If you’ve saved the duck skin separately (and you should), re-crisp it in a dry skillet for a minute or two.
If you’re into rich, silky pastas with a touch of decadence, don’t miss my Crab Pasta. It hits many of the same notes with a coastal twist.
Duck Pasta Dinner
This duck pasta is your ticket to turning humble leftovers into something that tastes straight out of a fancy bistro. Rich, creamy, a little zippy, and totally satisfying. You’re gonna want seconds.
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Duck Pasta
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Ingredients
For the Duck:
- 2 cooked duck legs , or any leftover duck meat
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
For the Pasta
- 6 ounces dry tagliatelle pasta, fettuccine or linguine
- Salt
For the Sauce:
- 2 tablespoons duck fat
- 2 medium shallots, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, grated or minced
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 1 cup chicken broth, or duck broth
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons butter
- Salt and pepper
- ½ lemon
- Lemon zest
- curly leaf parsley
Instructions
- If using sous vide duck, strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve and reserve the broth. If you are starting with leftover duck meat and you don't have extra duck broth, you can use store-bought duck or chicken broth.
- Pat the moisture from the duck legs, brush lightly with oil.
- Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat and place the duck legs skin side down and cook until the skin is crispy about 5 minutes. Flip over and brown lightly. Remove from the skillet, transfer to a cutting board and when cool enough to handle, remove the crispy skin, chop it and set aside. Strip the meat from the bones, and cut it and the meat into bite-size pieces. Reserve the meat and skin.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta and cook until al dente.
- While the pasta is cooking, add the duck fat to the skillet set over medium heat. When the fat is melted, sauté the shallots until softened then add the garlic and cook until fragrant.
- Pour in the wine and cook for 1 minute to burn off the alcohol. Pour in the reserved duck broth (or chicken broth) and the cream. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring frequently, until the sauce is reduced and slightly thickened, about 8-10 minutes. Stir in the butter.
- Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper accordingly. Stir in the reserved duck meat and squeeze the juice from the ½ lemon over the meat.
- Drain the pasta and add to the skillet tossing until coated with the sauce.
- Divide into pasta bowls and garnish with lemon zest, the crispy skin and chopped parsley.
Notes
- Frozen duck legs confit and duck meat products can be purchased in the frozen meats section of most major grocery stores. You can also use a sous vide immersion cooker to prepare confit-style duck legs.
- If you are starting with leftover duck meat that does not have any extra fat, you may want to use some additional store-bought duck fat for extra flavor.
- If you use frozen sous vide duck legs in their cooking broth, let them thaw overnight in the fridge.
- Save every drop of the duck broth and fat as it is full of flavor. If there is less than 1 cup of broth, add chicken broth or water.
- Fettuccine, linguine, spaghetti—any long pasta works here.
- If you would like the sauce thicker, you can make a cornstarch slurry using 1 tablespoon of cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon of water. Whisk that mixture into the sauce.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!
This is an excellent recipe to have on hand when you have leftover duck or even lamb. We love this recipe so much that we make sure we have leftovers. I think the lemon is a big part of it being so good plus it is very forgiving with substitutions. I rarely have shallots, so I finally dice some onion instead. I don’t usually have duck fat and oil has worked just fine and 2 ounces per person of fettuccine noodles is absolutely perfect for one meal without leftovers. We love this and encourage you to give it a try.
Thank you so much for the thoughtful comment! I’m glad to hear you’ve made this one a regular.
What an awesome recipe! I had a store-bought pre-braised duck sitting in my fridge for a week and thinking of what to do with it. Turned out a perfect 10, thank you very much. My only question was about the skin – wasn’t sure what to do with it.
Thank you so much for trying out the recipe and sharing your fantastic feedback! I’m thrilled to hear it turned out perfectly for you. The crispy duck skin can be chopped and added to eas serving as part of the garnnish. I have made this adjustment in the recipe card.
This recipe calls for 2 TBS of butter. Where is the butter used? Can’t seem to find it anywhere in the instructions. Made this last night and not sure if it was my technique or fact I’m using an electric stove (which I hate) but the sauce was very thin. This is despite the fact I did not just dump all of the cream into the pan after cooking the broth and wine for a bit. I whisked the cream in slowly and it cooked for perhaps 20 minutes on the stove and while the liquid did reduce, it still was not “slightly thickened,” so I had to mix a Tablespoon of cornstarch into some cold cream, then added it to the sauce. I also decided to put the 2 T of butter into it at this point as well. The sauce was a bit bland, despite the tasty shallots and wine, so I added in some sautéed garlic and a bit of Himalayan sea salt. I put the pasta right into the pan, hoping some of that starch would help thicken it a bit. I was hoping for “restaurant quality results,” and missed that mark, but my guests thought it was tasty (and they are not guests who lie).
Thank you so much for trying out the duck pasta recipe and for your detailed feedback. I’m glad to hear that your guests enjoyed the dish!
Regarding the butter, I apologize for the oversight in the instructions.
It’s great that you adjusted the recipe by whisking in cornstarch to achieve the desired thickness. As for the flavor, adding sautéed garlic and a touch of Himalayan sea salt sounds like a wonderful enhancement.
I appreciate your input and will update the recipe to clarify the use of butter and add a note about potentially needing a thickening agent like cornstarch.
Now I wish I had some leftover duck! The pasta looks so good with that rich creamy sauce.
Duck is SO good — love the stuff. Don’t cook it nearly often enough. And I’ve never used it in pasta. What a terrific idea! Gotta try this — thanks.
Oh, I know you will love this dish, John. Wish you could join us.