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Home Pasta Recipes

Mushroom Pasta

By:Nagi
Published:3 Sep '20Updated:16 Apr '21
231 Comments
Recipe v Video v Dozer v

This is a mushroom pasta that’s nice and juicy, in no way dry and dull even though it’s not made with a tomato or cream sauce like this Creamy Mushroom Pasta. It’s buttery and garlicky, and it’s 6 ingredient magic at its best.

Plus my little trick to make extra buttery mushrooms using LESS butter!

Skillet with spaghetti and mushrooms

Mushroom Pasta

Anyone who has sautéed mushrooms will know that the minute mushrooms hit the skillet, the bottom layer of mushrooms soaks up the oil, leaving the top layer dry.

So I used to think that the best way to sauté mushrooms was with loads and loads of butter or olive oil. As you sauté the mushrooms, they start to leech water, creating moisture. But still! That first layer of mushrooms lucky enough to hit the skillet first stole all the butter, leaving the remaining 80% of mushrooms butter free!

In a bid to even out the butteriness of mushrooms, my solution is to reduce the amount of butter melted in the skillet, add a bit of olive oil (so you can heat the butter more without it burning and get the mushrooms browned faster). Then AFTER the mushrooms are golden (i.e. water leeched so they are no longer butter-sponges), add a small knob of butter.

Boom! A big skillet of mushrooms that look and taste WAY more buttery than if all the butter is melted at the beginning! See??

 

Close up of freshly cooked Mushroom pasta

What you need for mushroom pasta

Here’s what you need for this mushroom pasta. You can use any type of long strand or even short stand pasta you want (like orecchiette, penne, ziti, macaroni). Also, the parmesan is not just for serving. Tossing the pasta with parmesan before serving is a little trick I like to use for an extra flavour boost!

What goes in Mushroom pasta

How to make mushroom spaghetti

Here’s how to make this mushroom pasta:

How to make mushroom pasta

The two key steps here are:

  • Butter added later – Hold back some of the butter until AFTER the mushrooms are golden – for extra buttery mushrooms with less butter!

  • Pasta cooking water – Use some of the pasta cooking water to toss with the spaghetti and mushrooms. The starch in the water will emulsify (thicken) with the butter in the mushrooms, creating a slick juicy transparent “sauce” that clings to the pasta strands. Classic Italian cooking technique used for all pastas.

If you do this key step of tossing the pasta with some of the pasta cooking water, people will think you’ve made a mushroom pasta sauce. That’s how juicy and “saucy” it seems!

Mushroom pasta in a bowl, ready to be eaten

Fork twirling mushroom pasta

I know I keep going on and on about how juicy and slick this pasta is! It’s because this is hard to capture in photos and I feel like people see pastas like this one without a large pot of sauce and assume it’s dry and boring. When in actual fact, this is about as far from that as it can be!

If you’d like to add some extra greens into your meal, try this with a classic (super quick) Rocket/Arugula Salad with Balsamic Dressing. Otherwise, a juicy tomato salad, fresh crunchy cucumber salad, or have a browse through my Vegetable Sides and pick something using vegetables you have!

– Nagi x

PS If you want to indulge in a special Italian pasta meal, add a side of Garlic Bread or Cheesy Garlic Bread, and finish with Tiramisu. Sheer perfection!


Watch how to make it

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Mushroom Pasta

Author: Nagi | RecipeTin Eats
Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 15 mins
Total: 20 mins
Pasta
Italian
4.96 from 99 votes
Servings2 -3
Tap or hover to scale
Print
  • 1652
Recipe video above. An incredible way to use mushrooms in a meal - in a mushroom pasta! The tastiness of this pasta lies in the mushrooms you use because it's all about the mushrooms. This pasta is made the proper Italian way so even though it's only made with 6 ingredients, it's saucy and juicy and so incredibly tasty!

Ingredients

CHOOSE pasta

  • 200g / 7 oz short pasta like orecchiette, penne, macaroni (Note 1)
  • 160g/6 oz long pasta - spaghetti, fettucine (Note 1)

Garlic Butter Mushrooms for pasta

  • 400g / 14 oz mushrooms , sliced 1/2 cm / 1/5" thick (Note 2)
  • 50g / 3 tbsp unsalted butter , separated
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves , finely minced
  • 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (or 1/4 cup store bought grated)

To serve

  • Parsley , finely chopped
  • Parmesan cheese , grated

Instructions

Pasta

  • Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add the pasta into the pot when you start cooking the mushrooms.
  • Cook pasta per packet instructions minus 1 minute. RESERVE 1 mugful of pasta cooking liquid, then drain pasta.

Mushrooms

  • Melt half butter and all oil in a large skillet over heat.
  • Add mushrooms and cook until water has leeched then evaporated, and the mushrooms start to turn golden around edges - around 5 minutes.
  • Halfway through cooking, add salt & pepper.
  • Add garlic and remaining butter, cook for 2 minutes until mushrooms and garlic are golden.
  • Add pasta, about 3/4 cup of reserved pasta water and parmesan. Toss gently or until water reduces and thickens into a saucy glaze that coats the pasta. If the pasta dries out, add more pasta water.
  • Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.
  • Remove from stove and serve immediately, garnished with fresh parsley and parmesan cheese.

Recipe Notes:

1. Pasta - you need slightly more if using short pasta for equivalent serving size. Pictured in post: spaghetti and orecchiette.
Orecchiette are shaped like mini bowls and are sold at all major supermarkets in Australia, same price as more common pastas. I like using them for mushroom pasta because I like to scoop up the pasta with the mushrooms - also fabulous with this Sausage Pasta in creamy tomato sauce.
2. Mushrooms - any slicable type fine here. Fabulous with plain button mushrooms, extra good with Swiss Brown/Cremini.
3. Variations: Thyme also goes really well with this pasta because mushrooms + thyme = best mates. Sometimes I will add a splash of cream to the mushrooms, but it's not a make or break, just a "nice to have when you're feeling indulgent".
4. Butter - I provide a range for butter quantities because - well, the more the better. But the minimum is 2 tbsp of butter + 1 tbsp olive oil, otherwise the pasta starts to get dry. No need to measure accurately, just eye ball it!
5. Reheating - Pasta always dries out when refrigerated overnight. For the best reheating option, reserve about 1/4 cup of pasta cooking water. Sprinkle cold pasta with 2 tbsp, then microwave reheat, toss well. Resurrected to near perfect juiciness!
6. Nutrition per serving, assuming 2 (generous!) servings.

Nutrition Information:

Serving: 352gCalories: 583cal (29%)Carbohydrates: 64.9g (22%)Protein: 25.5g (51%)Fat: 26.7g (41%)Saturated Fat: 12.2g (76%)Cholesterol: 121mg (40%)Sodium: 352mg (15%)Potassium: 791mg (23%)Fiber: 2.4g (10%)Sugar: 4.2g (5%)Vitamin A: 600IU (12%)Vitamin C: 10.7mg (13%)Calcium: 230mg (23%)Iron: 8.5mg (47%)
Keywords: mushroom pasta, Mushroom Recipe, mushroom spaghetti
Did you make this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @RecipeTinEats.

Originally published October 2016. Updated with sparking new photos and video! 

🍄MUSHROOM LOVE 🍄

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LIFE OF DOZER

I have a 4WD car. It’s pretty big. Dozer is bigger. 😂

Dozer head touching roof of car

And from the original publication date:

There is no such thing as a peaceful lunch in this household. Always eyes on you.

mushroom-pasta-7

A spectacular way to use mushrooms - in this tasty, juicy Mushroom pasta made the classic Italian way. 15 minute dinner! www.recipetineats.com
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231 Comments

  1. JuliaLala says

    December 8, 2022 at 4:12 pm

    5 stars
    Thanks Nagi! Using Olive oil was great idea! I didn’t need to use lots of butter. It turned out moisture, juicy mushrooms! You can check my Youtube short. http://www.youtube.com/@julialala16 Thanks again !

    Reply
  2. Marbleless says

    November 19, 2022 at 10:49 am

    5 stars
    I didn’t think this was going to be as tasty as it is! I did add in one chicken thigh that was hanging out in the fridge (I don’t know what I was thinking either), and my pasta was a mix of ends of boxes. Terrific dinner!

    Reply
  3. Diane says

    October 23, 2022 at 7:47 pm

    5 stars
    Made this mid week for a group of girls for lunch, another awesome recipe so easy and full of taste, thank you again for making me look like a star in the kitchen xx

    Reply
  4. Marcie says

    July 5, 2022 at 5:27 am

    Had this tonight, another one of your delicious recipes. X

    Reply
  5. Dawn says

    June 22, 2022 at 9:15 pm

    4 stars
    Cooo… that was rather yummy! I did replace half the mushrooms with leeks because we had leeks that needed using. That’s another easy and satisfying mid-week meal for the list. Hubby highly approves. Thank you 🙂

    Reply
  6. Freyja says

    June 16, 2022 at 10:20 am

    5 stars
    soo good! I don’t cook and follow recipes often, but this has gotta be the best pasta I’ve ever made! thanks for the amazing recipe!

    Reply
  7. Karin says

    May 30, 2022 at 12:22 am

    5 stars
    Oh my goodness, this is beyond yummy. It’s mushroom season at the moment and I’ve used this recipe a few times for guests with mushrooms that I’ve foraged from pine forests just outside of Sydney…it’s a specific type of mushroom that has a distinctive flavour (and colour – bright orange!) and I think I keep using this recipe when inviting people to taste it as the recipe really does ensure that the mushrooms are the star of the show (rather than drowned out with tomato sauce etc.) A big thank you to Nagi who shows time and time again that simple is quite often more than enough!

    Reply
  8. Giovanna says

    May 27, 2022 at 8:15 am

    5 stars
    Great recipe! I’ve made this quite a few times always comes out great!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      May 27, 2022 at 1:41 pm

      That’s amazing Giovanna!! Enjoy! N x

      Reply
  9. Michelle Mclaughlin says

    May 25, 2022 at 3:40 am

    5 stars
    Made this tonight, my hubby was a little underwhelmed when I told him it just had mushrooms in it. I followed the recipie to the T it was delicious 😋 the only thing I found was that when cooking the mushrooms a lot of the liquid didn’t evaporate, not sure were I went wrong but it was delicious anyway as are all your recipies Nagi ❤️ I only ever cook using your recipies . . . . Can’t wait for your book to be published. Your the best 👌 xx

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      May 25, 2022 at 9:47 am

      Try cooking the mushrooms on a slightly higher heat so the liquid cooks out Michelle! N x

      Reply
      • Michelle McLaughlin says

        May 25, 2022 at 2:41 pm

        Thank you Nagi will try that next time. I did use a wok type pan as I didn’t have a skillet big enough. Xx

        Reply
  10. Mary says

    May 8, 2022 at 9:19 am

    5 stars
    This was delicious but I had to change the cooking of it a little. I cooked the mushrooms in oil and butter and waited for the released liquid to evaporate but my mushrooms (baby Bellas) just kept producing more and more liquid. I eventually drained the liquid and added it back in at the end.

    Reply
  11. Linda Burnside says

    May 5, 2022 at 10:48 pm

    ok, made this for dinner tonight and it was SO good. The family hoovered through the whole lot. I did add my own flare and used about 1/4 cup of sour cream as it was left over in the fridge and I didn’t want to throw it out. I only had grated pizza cheese but as there was Parmesan in it I improvised and garnished with spring onion (another item in the fridge I want to use up). Will definitely make this again. Great for the novice cook.

    Too easy!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      May 6, 2022 at 3:02 pm

      Great subs Linda and I am glad that you liked it!! N x

      Reply
  12. Theavy K says

    May 5, 2022 at 11:03 am

    5 stars
    Awesome recipe! It was super quick and I had all the ingredients on hand! My husband asked for seconds and I was able to make a baby-friendly version! Thank you!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      May 5, 2022 at 12:58 pm

      Fantastic Theavy!! I’m happy you all enjoyed the meal! N x

      Reply
  13. Theresa Gibbons says

    April 25, 2022 at 9:16 am

    5 stars
    This was surprisingly good and easy! I did add a bag of baby spinach in step 4 and used more garlic. Worked out really well.

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      April 25, 2022 at 12:50 pm

      Thanks for those tips Theresa!! N x

      Reply
    • Linda Burnside says

      May 5, 2022 at 10:50 pm

      5 stars
      Great idea. I will keep that in mind for next time.

      Reply
  14. Linda says

    April 2, 2022 at 6:57 pm

    Nagi, my daughter is dairy intolerant but loves mushroom, is there a white wine/stock version of this you can recommend?

    Reply
  15. Kylie Grant says

    March 7, 2022 at 10:22 pm

    5 stars
    This dish is easy and tastes absolutely Devine! Thanks Nagi

    Reply
  16. Catherine S says

    January 15, 2022 at 1:03 pm

    5 stars
    This was absolutely fabulous. All the richness without the cream. Served it with an arugula and walnut salad. Thanks for your creativity.

    Reply
  17. Sarah Grogan says

    December 28, 2021 at 9:32 pm

    5 stars
    I just made this and I’m in heaven, it was delicious! Tasted like a fancy restaurant dish and it was so easy to make! Thank you so much

    Reply
  18. David Galehouse says

    December 17, 2021 at 10:45 am

    5 stars
    Prepared as described and it was delicious. Almost magical given the rather modest list of ingredients! Surpassed all my expectations. Will go into the “rotation” for sure.

    Reply
  19. Annie says

    November 15, 2021 at 5:28 pm

    5 stars
    Nagi, this is delicious! The first few times I made it, it was perfect. Today, it was still delicious, but the cheese became clumped & chewy. Do you know what I may have done wrong? I used all the same ingredients that I used previously when it turned out without clumps.
    Thank you!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      November 15, 2021 at 5:45 pm

      Hi Annie – was it the same brand of parmesan? Grated in the same method? N x

      Reply
      • Annie says

        November 15, 2021 at 5:51 pm

        Thanks for the reply Nagi! It was a different brand (coles own) but I grated it the same way.
        I hope the book is going well! Can’t wait until it’s published x

        Reply
    • SAMANTHA says

      January 14, 2022 at 6:27 am

      I had the same problem. Is it because there is not enough liquid in it? or because it’s not hot enough?
      I don’t know what happened to cause it.

      Reply
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I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious. You just need to cook clever and get creative! Read More

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