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.
Made this for supper tonight, and it turned out great! This recipe is a keeper!
Fantastic! So glad to hear you enjoyed it Mrs D, thanks so much for trying my recipe! N x
Hi Nagi,
l tried this recipe last night and it was the bomb!!! It looked and tasted like real Italian pasta woohoo So yummy. Had a few white mushrooms and romanao cheese that I wanted to use up. Typed quick light meal recipes into your search and chose this one because it suited the ingredients I had. It looked simple quick and do-able for me. I Have always been very wary about cooking pasta because could never get it right. Using the pasta water and combination of butter and oil worked awesum. Can’t wait to try brown mushrooms I agree they are a lot tastier. I grew up gathering wild mushrooms when in season and they taste soooooo much better than the cultivated ones I have tried from the shops.
I have never been a cook and and in fact hated it. Inviting anyone for a meal or having to take something for a shared meal just terrifies me for that reason. I try as much as I can not to cook and if I do, mostly stick to very simple plain boring fare or buy . I am absolutely thankful I stumbled on to your page a couple of months ago and have been secretly trying your recipes. While I have a long way to go your blog has helped me start to get over my fears and I am beginning to enjoy cooking. Most of my issues are around multitasking and timing but it is getting better and last nights success certainly makes me more confident.
I find your notes and tips extremely important because for someone who hasn’t got a clue. A simple thing like not over crowding your dish and why and the substitute ingredients that can be used increases your understanding and confidence. I enjoy your humour and ability to make cooking look easy and doable and feel like you are right there in the room.
Thank you Nagi
Wow what a message! Thank you so much for trying my recipes and I’m glad you enjoyed this and find my tips/notes helpful! 🙂 N xx
I made this last night as a quick and easy dinner for watching the last game of the Series. Turned out great! I love the way the starchy water makes a creamy sauce without adding extra calories. I used a mix of button and crimini mushrooms and added a small amount of dried thyme as a flavor boost. My husband loved it. This is the third recipe of yours I’ve tried – looking forward to many more!
I’m so glad Cheryl! Thank you for taking the time to come back and let me know – N x
I have to confess to using button mushrooms , but then I don’t like too strong a flavour. I just wanted to say…… AWESOME! Absolutely loved it. Hubby took left overs for lunch and said was amazing reheated too!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Nicole, thank you for letting me know! N x
Forgot the stars.
I cannot believe I’ve been dumping the pasta water all these years!!! Love simple recipes that are amazingly delicious!! Thanks again Nani! After reading the other posts I now want to grow my mushrooms.
Lol oh jeez.
Know you know!! 🙂 The pasta water is gold, do that step for every single pasta recipe. I swear. Every recipe on my site has that step – whether it’s bolognese, ragu or a creamy pasta. The Italians know best!
Nagi I always cook mushrooms on the very highest temperature. It works great! I drop them into a really hot pan!
That’s a great tip Maureen, I have to try that! I haven’t heated oil to stinking hot for mushrooms. 🙂 I know butter doesn’t work because it browns too quickly but oil is a good tip! N xx
Hi Nagi!
I’ve been a fan of your website for a while now and everything I’ve made from it has been amazingly good… including this!
I made it last night after a big storm whipped through Brisbane and took out our power for a couple of hours. I had already bought the ingredients so I did all the cooking on my camp stove and with a head torch for light. Best home/camping dinner ever 🙂
My wife and I are on a bit of a health kick at the moment and are mostly doing this through portion control. We found that we were really satisfied with a quarter of the total serving which means we’ve both got lunch sorted for today. It worked out to be about 350 calories each too which was great.
Keep up the great work!
Cheers
Scott
Sorry to hear the power was out but super impressed you made this with camping gear!!! I was just camping on the weekend actually – I love sleeping on dirt and cooking on the ground. So glad you enjoyed it – and impressed you are being so good with portion control! N x
Harroooo
TJ’s food bearers here.
The humans are about to sit down for dinner and eat your meat free meal.
I thought “meat free” thats cute – and added beef.
Though the comment about adding bacon also sounds good.
The kitchen smells amazing right now.
We have switched things up though, 2/3s of the adults are having pasta and the other is having it with mashed potato.
So we didn’t mix the pasta through, it is more like a sauce on top.
Still delicious.
xox
Oh my goodness, this was absolutely delicious!
Needed a quick and easy meal tonight and we both couldn’t get enough of it. Definitely will be cooking this dish time and time again in this household.
Thank you so much!
Virtual high five! So glad you enjoyed this Lyndell, thank you for letting me know! N xx
This looks absolutely delicious! Dozer is such a gem – cooking with him close by must be very fun ~ always a captive audience close by.
It is kinda useful to have a Hoover nearby at all times…. 😉
This looks terrific. I love mushrooms!
I can’t get enough of them!!
Ugh this recipe looks delicious! I can tell by how your pup looks like they want a bite!
http://www.bunnybernice.com/single-post/2016/10/13/23-Carat-Gold-Pizza
He wants a bite of EVERYTHING. 😉
So I tinkered again. I only had half the necessary amount of mushrooms (or so I thought until AFTER everything was cooked) and honestly my boys are more satisfied with meat for dinner, so what else could I do but sautee up some bacon to put in this? Oh yes I did! I wasn’t going to add cream, really I wasn’t. But my taste test prior to serving I discovered I had over-salted, probably because of the bacon. So I had to add a dab of cream to mellow out the salt; totally legit reason for adding cream at the last minute. Thank goodness for noticing your note that you sometimes add it or I wouldn’t have thought of it. Thanks for another wonderful, and easy, recipe.
Well salvaged! And really…bacon makes EVERYTHING better!
Absolutely and totally moreish: I use a blinding hot wok and one needs less oil!! Swiss Browns/Portobellos a treat . . . but for their cost, one has a tendency to add the buttons . . . NOW, ’tis too late for this year in Australia – but why don’t you grow your own ‘more expensive’ mushrooms: kits at just over $A20 available each late autumn and t’out winter . . . the quality cannot be surpassed and you pick them and use them . . . [oh Dozer: you should be earning huge modelling fees 🙂 !!]
That is SO SMART Eha, I can’t believe I never thought of that! Swiss Browns are as low as $6 / kg at the moment, I’ve gone MAD over them! Don’t tell me you grow your own mushrooms…… PS Modelling for me is how Dozer earns his keep. 🙂 N x
Well, you grow them in the dark: say garage or laundry, twixt about May – October where I live. You simply cannot buy that quality and it is a quick twist of the stem for as many as you need [SO heavy and into pot or pan immediately] – more ‘meat’, less ‘water’, more ‘taste’ – don’t know they come out cheaper necessarily . . . but it is like the difference between organic farm chicken and that in plastic wrap at the supermarket 🙂 ! Any on line plant store in Australia will ship! Your own greengrocer can probably order in . . .
That sounds incredible Eha! I might have to give it a go!!
Got home late … what to cook… have lots and lots of mushrooms ummmm lets check out Nagi…. Bingo perfect!!
So 20 mins later with a nice glass of red we are eating mushroom Pasta… thanks again Nagi
PS we had the Lamb Shanks last night …. to die for …6 lamb shanks for 3 adults and non left!!! the boys had two helpings … Served with Horseradish Mash …. great match
Ooooh!!! I’m so glad you enjoyed it Jane, THANK YOU for letting me know! And I’m glad you enjoyed the lamb shanks too….SIX???? For 3 people????
I can smell it, I can taste it and I will one day very very soon. Thank you!
Love seeing Dozers tail fly past the window. Hugs Dozer.
The sight of his tail flying past the window is one I see many times every day, and always makes me smile! PS You should come here for lunch one day and see it for yourself 😉
Just curious about something. You are right. Button mushrooms are the least flavorful of all mushrooms, so why do you use them? Why not use better mushrooms like Maitake, Shiitake, Chicken of the Woods, etc.? Fall is mushroom season after all so there should be lots of choices at your local farmers market. Yes, I know we could use any of these in this dish, but I’m wondering why you didn’t. Just curious. (PS…I’m a mushroom farmer so I might be a bit biased. LOL) I will be testing this recipe out this week with some Chicken of the Woods.
Hi Angel! I actually used Swiss Brown 🙂 Maybe they looked like the white ones – bad filming on my part! I remember friends asking me to go mushroom picking in fall (Autumn 🙂 ) but actually (strangely????) now is the time when mushrooms are fantastic value here in Australia! In our supermarkets, Swiss Brown and portobello mushrooms become really cheap – up to 25% of the usual price – and these are the ones that are so much better than the ordinary button mushrooms! We have shiitake, oyster, and a handful of other Asian mushrooms but these are usually more expensive all year round (cheaper at Asian grocers though 🙂 ) I love that you’re a mushroom farmer and that you’re biased! LOVE IT!!! PS Never had Chicken of the Woods, I would adore trying all sorts of more exotic mushrooms!
We make this recipe and it’s a winner. We used our log-grown Shiitake and it was so rich a savory. Love it, and I didn’t change a thing. This recipe is a keeper. We will be making this again.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Angel, thank you for letting me know! N x
We love mushroom pasta… As usual, you give a tip or 2 to further enhance a meal we often enjoy..
Thank you and scratch Dozer’s ears for me… :O)
SCRATCHED!!! 🙂
oops….one star didn’t light up… :o(
OOOH Nagi! you really are a darling! i am on this dish tonight thanx a lotttt!
I hope you LOVED IT!!!
Oh I can’t wait to go to the grocery today! I am making this for dinner and going to pair it with a beautifully tender and thinly sliced steak (medium), and let’s face it, a nice white wine! My mouth is watering already!!
YUM!!!! My mouth is watering too!!!
I wish I would have thought to take a picture. It was so amazing! The girls at work really liked the left overs too.
Thanks for the recipe!