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!
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??
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!
How to make mushroom spaghetti
Here’s how to make this 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!
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
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:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published October 2016. Updated with sparking new photos and video!
🍄MUSHROOM LOVE 🍄
LIFE OF DOZER
I have a 4WD car. It’s pretty big. Dozer is bigger. 😂
And from the original publication date:
There is no such thing as a peaceful lunch in this household. Always eyes on you.
I prepared the mushroom pasta for dinner yesterday. As is my wont, I used somewhat more mushrooms, olive oil, butter onions and garlic, and I seasoned with salt, black pepper, rosemary and sage. I prepared the dish as per your instructions using the Parmesan and some pasta water. My guests said it was better than most restaurants!
What a great compliment Jeffrey – you nailed it!
did this today for son and his lovely wife… He’s very difficult to impress but he was with this one to which I added beef stir fry strips but did not alter in any other way! It’s a keeper for sure.
Woot! I’m so glad it was a hit!
Hi Nagi, Loved this, but added some beef stir-fry strips and bacon for a little more flavour and to stretch it a little more to 6 serves with some Masala Peas on the side.
Sounds divine!!
Delicious! delicious delicious. Bu t not 20 min. Try 45
Can I get the recipe for the stuffed mushrooms
There’s a recipe on my site if you have a search!
DELICIOUS!! Loved the bowl shape do pasta! Can’t wAit to make it for my daughter next time she comes home. She loves mushrooms and Parmesan!
I love the shape of this pasta too!!! 🙂 Glad you enjoyed this one Elise!! N x
Came here for the mushroom pasta but got a bonus shot of my beautiful Bungan beach, so many memories growing up here. X
Awww! I love hearing that! Am sure it’s still as beautiful as it was 🙂 N x
Made this today and everyone loved it, thank you so much Nagi for another great recipe!! Luckily I managed to make extra for lunch at work tomorrow 🙂
Love your amazing blog!
God bless,
Chitra x
Ps have made your apple cake three times now, and each time it is just so delicious!
Terrific to hear Chitra! Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed it – N x
Hi Nagi, I tried making this recipe and unfortunately it didn’t work out – the Parmesan stuck together and got all clumpy and the pasta water made it really gluggy. What did I do wrong?!
Hi Belinda, I’m so sorry to hear that, I wish I could have been there to help troubleshoot. Did you use freshly grated parmesan?? 🙂 N xx
This was absolutely delicious. I will undoubtedly be making this again and again.
Hi Nagi, what a delicious recipe you’ve got!What I really like about this one in particular is the color and the portions that you served – they are perfect! Fantastic work!
That’s terrific to hear Elaine! So glad you enjoyed this, thank you for letting me know! N x
What is the recipe for the stuffed mushrooms u were talking about with spinich and ricatta?
I am into sports. I was looking to make my pasta tastes better. Going to try this one today. But I am going to cut on butter. And use olive oil or coconut oil. Please share some more pasta recipes with us. We can’t have enough of your delicious yet healthy recipes.
Salute.
I hope you love this!!! It’s fine to cut down on butter if you want to – sub with olive oil!
It is possible to cut down on the butter?
Hi Michelle! Would you sub with olive oil? 🙂 N x
To make the mushroom flavor really stand out, buy a small package of dried porcini mushrooms and rehydrate them in boiling water. Remove the rehydrated mushrooms and add them to the others you chopped, and reduce the mushroom stock to 1/4 cup. Add the reduced stock and optionally a Tbsp or two of white wine between steps 5 & 6 and reduce further until almost dry.
I was looking for a non-creamy recipe for pasta, (hubby doesn’t like creamy) and this is amazing!
Tastes so good, can’t wait for him try it! Thank you for an amazing recipe =)
That’s fantastic to hear Saleha! Thanks for leaving a review! N x ❤️
I happily stumbled across you while searching for a quick & easy recipe after a busy Monday at work.
I am trying to lower my carbs but could not resist the description & ingredients. I added some fresh spinach, arugula & crushed red pepper but other than that followed the recipe. Wow! Deliciousness! I will make this again! Thank you & nice to meet you, Nagi! 🙂
Susan
Lovely to meet you too Susan! So pleased you enjoyed this one, it is one of my favourite mushroom recipes 🙂 N xx
I don’t eat pasta much anymore these days (those calories can get out of hand SO FAST!) but I made this tonight and it was a delicious change of pace! I added some crispy bacon at the end and took your suggestion to add some thyme. Great recipe all around, though I could have used more mushroom in mine (I didn’t realize how many I needed for this recipe, so I cut the pasta back a bit too). The pasta water I was always skeptical about but it worked very nicely in the dish, and topped with some flake salt it was excellent. I bet you could add some capers in here too, come to think of it. Anyway – great recipe and I’m glad I found it. It’ll be on repeat and that’s a rarity in my house! Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it Christina, thanks for letting me know! N xx
So pleased to have found you . Really enjoying your humour alongside the recipes ,& Dozer’s input .
Have just tried your pasta /mushroom recipe & appreciate the recommendation of including pasta water…I never somehow took on board Jamie’s same tip but really makes a difference ! However , I found the ratio pasta / mushroom to be in reverse for us ….halving the pasta recommended & doubling the mushroom content ! So just down to personal taste , I suppose . I know the Italians love their pasta as bulk of the plate but I love the
Hi Nagi .. So pleased to have found your site .Enjoying your humour & way of showing recipes .Also following Dozer . I have tried several & am particularly pleased with ice creams .
I’ve just tried Mushrooom/ Pasta recipe & found your recommendation for using reserved pasta water to be advantageous ( never tried it when following Jamie Oliver ).
However , I needed to alter ratio of pasta/mushrooms drastically (prob just to suit our palate ?).
I doubled recommended mushrooms & also reduced pasta by 1/3 , which seemed to render a 50/50 concoction . The Italians would probably be horrified ??
I love that you doubled the mushrooms! 🙂 Of coarse Italians would not be horrified – they would probably applaud you! 😉 N xx
I loved this! I didn’t even add any salt and pepper. I did add some smoked oysters to my bowl though, for some protein.
That’s fantastic to hear Beck! Thanks for letting me know! N xx
Hi Nagi! Thank you for this awesome recipe, I just made it for dinner this evening and it was soooooooooooo yummylicious ? Will definitely be preparing this again and again !
Glad to hear you enjoyed it Peggy, thanks for letting me know! N xx