A rich and comforting meat-free dinner of creamy pasta with lots of mushrooms. The sauce is luscious and thick, with a good sprinkling of parmesan (I've got an alternative for vegetarians), so it clings to the pasta beautifully.
This creamy mushroom pasta is ready in 15 minutes, so it makes a great weeknight dinner when you need food fast!
Jump to:
If you're craving something rich and creamy, and more importantly, fast, for supper, this is the dish for you.
I love a good creamy pasta sauce and the addition of mushrooms and garlic make this my perfect weeknight indulgence, and it's on the table in fifteen minutes.
I'm the only mushroom lover in our family, so it's nice to have an easy mushroom dish that I can whip up when Chris and the kids are having something else (usually something I'm not overly fussed about - like pizza (I know, shock horror!!)).
Alternatively, I'll make this for the whole family, but try to get most of the mushrooms on my plate, then I'll throw in some crispy bacon and peas, so everyone can enjoy it.
📋 What do we need?
- Pasta - use your favourite pasta. Long pasta, such as tagliatelle, fettuccine, spaghetti, bucatini, linguine and pappardelle work particularly well with creamy sauces, but you can use short pasta shapes if you prefer. I'm using thin egg fettuccine in this recipe.
- Mushrooms - I use chestnut mushrooms, but you can swap out for your favourites. Baby portobello, cremini, button and white mushrooms all work great, but you could go exotic with chanterelle, shiitake or oyster mushrooms too if you like (or use a mixture of a few!).
📺 Watch how to make it
Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- Cook the pasta, reserving one cup of pasta water for later.
- Sauté the onions in the oil and butter for 2 to 3 mins, then add the additional butter and melt.
- Add the mushrooms, garlic, salt and pepper and cook for around 3 minutes until softened, then add the stock and cream and simmer for a few minutes.
- Add the drained pasta to the pan and stir through the parmesan cheese, serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.
👩🍳PRO TIP Be sure to save some of the water from cooking the pasta. You can add in splashes to loosen up the sauce if you want it to go further. The starchiness from this water (rather than plain water) helps to keep the sauce rich and thick and will help it cling to the pasta.
How to make it vegetarian
- Cheese: Did you know that Parmesan isn't vegetarian? Parmesan cheese uses animal rennet. If you want a vegetarian alternative, use vegetarian Italian-style hard cheese, or you could simply replace with a vegetarian strong cheddar.
- Stock: Simply replace the chicken stock with vegetable stock. You can add a splash of wine in too if you want to add an extra flavour kick.
- Also, if you don't eat eggs, then most dried pasta (except those that are labelled 'egg pasta') is egg-free (always check the label to be sure). Fresh pasta often contains eggs, so dried is usually the way to go.
🍽️ What to serve it with
- Homemade Garlic Bread
- Or this Cheese and Tomato Garlic Pizza Bread
- A nice Green Salad
- A Gin and Cucumber Cocktail if you're having a rough day (sometimes a quick pasta meal with a nice cocktail is the only thing that hits the spot 😁).
I can eat this by the (big) bowlful, creamy, delicious and super quick to make, just the thing for tonight's dinner, so what are you waiting for?
🍲 More fantastic Meat-free recipes
Stay updated with new recipes!
Subscribe to the newsletter to hear when I post a new recipe. I’m also on YouTube (new videos every week) and Instagram (behind-the-scenes stories & beautiful food photos).
Creamy Mushroom Pasta Recipe
Ingredients
- 300 g (10.5oz) tagliatelle or fettuccine - (I used thin egg fettucine for my version)
- 3 tbsp (45g) unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 small onion - peeled and chopped finely
- 400 g (14oz) chestnut mushrooms, thickly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic - peeled and minced
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 180 ml (¾ cup) strong chicken stock - (if you haven’t got homemade, water plus 2 stock cubes is fine) - use vegetable stock for vegetarian
- 180 ml (¾ cup) double (heavy) cream
- 50 g (½ cup) grated parmesan cheese - - use vegetarian Italian-style hard cheese for a vegetarian version
To Serve:
- Small bunch fresh curly parsley - finely chopped
- black pepper
- grated parmesan - - use vegetarian Italian-style hard cheese for a vegetarian version
INSTRUCTIONS
- Cook the pasta as per the pack instructions, then drain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta cooking water.
- Whilst the pasta is cooking, add 1 tablespoon of the butter and the oil to a frying pan and heat over a medium heat.
- When the butter has melted, add the chopped onion. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring often, until the onions are just starting to soften.
- Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter to the pan with the onions and melt.
- Add the mushrooms, garlic, salt and pepper to the pan and cook for 3 minutes, stirring often, until lightly softened.
- Stir in the stock and cream and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 3 minutes, until slightly thickened.
- By now your pasta should be ready. Add the pasta to the pan, then sprinkle over the parmesan.
- Use a set of tongs to lift and drop the pasta in the mushroom sauce, until the pasta is fully coated in the sauce.
- If you would like to loosen up the sauce a little, add in splashes of the reserved pasta water, until the sauce consistency is to your liking.
- Divide between bowls and top with chopped parsley and an extra sprinkling of black pepper and grated parmesan.
Video
✎ Notes
You may want to add a splash of water, stock and/or cream to loosen up the pasta, as the pasta will absorb more sauce during storage and reheating. Can I freeze it? No, I don't recommend freezing this dish. Ingredient swaps
- Try adding crispy bacon or cooked shredded chicken for a meaty addition.
- Add peas (just add frozen peas right to the pan) or chopped asparagus when adding the mushrooms, or stir in baby spinach at the end if you'd like to add some vegetables in there.
- Replace the cream with creme fraiche for a slightly lighter version. If you're using a lower fat version, just heat it through gently, as low fat dairy will often split (full fat creme fraiche can be boiled and simmered though).
Nutrition
Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links – which means if you buy the product I get a small commission (at no extra cost to you). If you do buy, then thank you! That’s what helps us to keep Kitchen Sanctuary running. The nutritional information provided is approximate and can vary depending on several factors. For more information please see our Terms & Conditions.
charles says
very very nice, cooked this for lunch today and will be doing it again 🙂
thank you
Lauren says
Absolutely delicious I’ve made this twice now in 3 days and I’m always wanting to go back for more
Kim Shephard says
Very nice. Can’t fault it! I’ll be adding it to my repitoire.
Esther says
So good! Perfect quick comfort food for a rare evening in on my own. Added asparagus which gave a lovely crunch and used vegetarian cheese. Thanks will be making again, maybe for my boys next time 😊
Miroslav Klouda says
I like the combination of herbs, garlic, mushrooms, parmesan and cream. When I want to have the meal more substantial I add chicken.
Lavina says
This looks lush, Nicky. Can't wait to try it. Have been saving this in my inbox until tonight when I'd have time to finally read through it properly! And WOW! I had no idea about animal rennet being used in Parmesan and Parmigiano Reggiano...completely blew my mind! As always, thanks for the great info and recipe.
Susan Crosby says
Really delicious, enjoyed by the whole family. Used fresh tagliatelle, perfect , another winning recipe!
Christine says
Delicious creamy sauce, adding to our recipe rotation for meat free days😋