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Creamy Mushroom Pasta with Garlic Sauce

This easy mushroom pasta with garlic sauce is sure to be a hit. Creamy garlic parmesan sauce and sautéed mushrooms make this a filling and delicious weeknight recipe. 

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Side photograph of spaghetti in white sauce topped with chopped parsley on a small white plate with a light background.

This pasta with garlic sauce is sooooo yummy.

Close-up photograph of spaghetti pasta in a skillet with white sauce and mushrooms

Longtime Life As A Strawberry readers (hiiiiii, I heart you!) might actually recognize this as one of the OG LAAS recipes from back in the day.

This easy mushroom pasta with garlic sauce was first posted just five months into the life of this website, back when I had no idea what I was doing (still don’t, let’s be real) and no inkling that this delightful little corner of the internet would someday be a major piece of my full-time self-employed life.

Ahhhhh, memories.

Side photograph of a hand in front of a white background dropping chopped parsley into a skillet full of spaghetti and mushrooms.

I’m bringing this sauce back today because 1) it is BONKERS EASY and 2) it is BONKERS DELICIOUS and 3) the old pictures were BONKERS TERRIBLE so I gave them a lil’ facelift.

Overhead photo of two small white plates with spaghetti in white sauce topped with chopped parsley on a light grey background with a dark blue napkin in the corner.

I serve this creamy mushroom garlic sauce over a pile of spaghetti, but it’s also tasty with chicken, pizza, or any other place you might use a simple white sauce.

It’s also FAST, which means YAY, because we all have better things to do than stand over the stove all day, right?

Close up side photograph of spaghetti with white sauce and mushrooms in a dark grey skillet, topped with chopped parsley

 

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Creamy Mushroom Pasta with Garlic Sauce

Side photograph of spaghetti on a white plate topped with chopped parsley on a light background

★★★★★

4.6 from 17 reviews

A quick and easy mushroom pasta with garlic sauce.

  • Author: Jessie
  • Prep Time: 15 mins
  • Cook Time: 20 mins
  • Total Time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: Serves 6

Ingredients

  • 3/4 lb. – 1 lb. spaghetti (see recipe notes)
  • 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
  • 8 oz. baby portobello mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 4 large green onions, chopped
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 Tbsp. flour
  • 1.5 cups milk
  • 2/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped, plus extra for garnish

Instructions

  1. Cook pasta in very salty water according to recipe or package directions. Make the sauce while the pasta cooks.
  2. In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat.
  3. Add mushrooms to oil and sauté until mushrooms have reduced in size, about 4 minutes. If the mushrooms soak up all the olive oil, add another teaspoon.
  4. Add garlic, green onions, salt and pepper to mushrooms and stir to combine. Cook until garlic is fragrant and mushrooms have released some additional liquid, about one minute.
  5. Add flour to saucepan and stir to incorporate all ingredients. Let cook for 30 seconds or so.
  6. Add 1/2 cup of the milk and stir to break up any lumps of the mushroom and flour mixture. The milk will thicken fairly quickly; that’s okay. Add the remainder of the milk and stir to incorporate all ingredients.
  7. Bring sauce to a simmer and cook until milk has thickened, about 5 minutes.
  8. Remove sauce from heat and stir in parmesan cheese. If you can, shred your own cheese – pre-shredded cheese has additives in it that make it more difficult for the cheese to melt smoothly. Stir in the chopped parsley.
  9. Garnish with extra parsley and serve immediately.

Notes

If you’re serving this recipe over pasta, use 3/4 lb. pasta if you like things a little saucier, or use up to 1 lb. pasta for a lighter coating of sauce. You can also lighten the pasta version of this dish up by using zucchini noodles in place of pasta!

If you are a strict vegetarian (or if you’re cooking for one!) make this dish vegetarian by using a vegetarian (rennet-free) parmesan cheese.

Use shallots or white onions in place of the green onions for a stronger taste.

Add chicken, shrimp, salmon, or sausage to this pasta for additional protein.

Add any veggies you have on hand to make this a little heartier! I like peas, broccoli, asparagus, bell peppers, spinach, and arugula as mix-ins.

I serve this sauce over pasta, but it’s also good as pizza sauce or atop grilled chicken.

Nutrition

  • Calories: 416
Creamy Mushroom Pasta With Garlic Sauce - This easy weeknight garlic mushroom sauce recipe is sure to be a hit. Creamy garlic parmesan sauce and sautéed mushrooms make this a filling and delicious weeknight recipe.
Creamy Mushroom Pasta With Garlic Sauce - This easy garlic mushroom sauce is sure to be a hit. Creamy garlic parmesan alfredo sauce and sautéed mushrooms make this a filling and delicious weeknight recipe.

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Comments

  2. We really enjoyed this recipe. We did not have any fresh herbs on hand, so instead, I added a splash of fresh squeezed lemon juice to help brighten it up, which was good, but the parsley would have been better. I also tossed in some leftover roasted chicken for my carnivorous husband, but it did not need it with the meaty portabellas. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe, we will be certain to make it again!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  3. Great recipe, i found that it was quite rich even with lite milk and added more garlic for flavour. I accidentally made the sauce too thick so used some pasta water i saved to improve the texture.

    ★★★

    Reply

  10. Fantastic recipe!

    I used white onion instead of green, almond milk instead of regular mil, BBQ’d the chicken and double the mushrooms. And it was all to die for!!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

    • I like them both! If I’m in the mood for something lighter, I’ll use veggie broth, but I generally reach for milk or a mix of both depending on what I have on hand. Hope that helps!

      Reply

  12. is this sauce one that can sit over night and heat well next day? (or made in the morning and then reheated a few hours later ?

    Reply

    • It reheats really well, actually (I love this recipe as leftovers)! The sauce doesn’t tend to separate, which I love. The only thing is it may thicken up a bit in the fridge, so you might want to add a splash of milk/broth/water when you reheat to help it thin out to the right consistency. Hope that helps!

      Reply

  14. Made it for supper. Added cut up left-over cooked chicken breasts browned a bit. We all loved everything about this dish.

    Going to make a double batch next time that I’m in the mood to do some in-advance cooking, and I’ll split into two half portions for freezing. This will cut the time in half the next time I want to prepare this delicious pasta recipe for supper.. or to take to a friend’s home.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  16. i tried this recipe twice and tweaked it a bit the 2nd time. it was amazing both times especially for an amateur like me:)

    Reply

  19. This is such an easy and yum recipe! One of our go-tos. We find the balance of pasta to mushrooms is a bit off though, so usually add an extra couple handfuls of mushrooms 🙂

    ★★★★

    Reply

  20. Thanks Jessie.

    Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. We are vegan so I replaced milk with almond milk and skipped the cheese part. Also, used wholewheat flour instead of plain flour. Turned out really nice. My 5 year old loved it.

    Reply

  21. So easy and yummy. Love the mushrooms and parsley together. I used shallots and sautéed it all in butter and olive oil and used Hal & half instead of milk. Served it on top of farfalle (bow tie) pasta. Thank you.

    ★★★

    Reply

    • Heavy cream will make the sauce considerably richer, and it will also thicken a bit more (but you can adjust the flour to counteract this). If that’s your style, go for it!

      Reply

    • You can definitely make it ahead of time – it doesn’t separate too much on reheating (if it starts to come apart at all, just stir in a splash of milk to bring it back together).

      Reply

  25. Made this for dinner tonight. The whole family loved it. I added
    spinach and sweet onion along with the green onion and also
    added chicken. Added more milk so that it would go farther as
    all were very hungry. It was delicious and will be making it again.
    Thank you for sharing.

    Reply

    • I’m so happy you liked it, Pat! I LOVE the spinach and onion additions. Thanks for letting me know how it turned out!

      Reply

  29. Just cooked this for the family loved every bite.
    Only thing i would change its a little more milk to thin the sauce but otherwise spot on thanx 👍🏻

    ★★★★

    Reply

  30. Two thumbs up from the whole family, including my 4 year old! I did substitute penne pasta as my kiddos love to get spaghetti everywhere. Also added real butter & topped w fresh leeks from our garden. This was amazing & I plan on checking out more of your recipes soon!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

    • I’m so happy you guys liked it! I love the idea of adding leeks – yum. Thanks for letting me know how it turned out!

      Reply

    • If I use this sauce as a base for pizza, I usually use toppings like mozzarella cheese, spinach or arugula, maybe some grilled chicken or sausage, and any veggies I have on hand. Hope that helps!

      Reply

    • EU parmigiano reggiano does include rennet, yes. Strict vegetarians can opt for non-imported options like this one from BelGioioso. Hope that helps!

      Reply

    • The sauce will be much thicker and richer if you use heavy cream, so you may have to make other adjustments to the recipe (like less roux, a shorter cook time, or additional liquid) if you choose to make that substitution in order to achieve the same consistency.

      Reply

  35. Great recipe! This will be added to the dinner rotation. We added some leftover rotisserie chicken at the end and subbed in some shredded “tasty” cheese for the parmesan.

    Reply

    • It’s showing up fine for me but I’ll reload the recipe on my end and see if that fixes it for you! I use 8oz. of mushrooms in the sauce. Happy cooking!

      Reply

  37. I search the internet for a recipe for mushrooms/pasta and ran across this. I made it today and it was delish! I used minced garlic from a jar and used Kraft parmesan cheese since I didn’t have any fresh cheese and it worked! Thank you for this recipe.

    Reply

        • It looks like there was a glitch in the recipe card (I use a third party service to format the recipes on the site) – I reloaded it from my end and it should be back to normal now! Thanks for letting me know it wasn’t behaving!

          Reply

      • YOU CAN USE THE SALTED PASTA WATER INSTEAD OF MILK AND FLOUR
        JUST TAKE SEVERAL SCOOPS FROM THE COOKING PASTA AND LET IT COOK WITH THE GARLIC AND MUSHROOMS IT WILL BE CREAMY ON PASTA YOU CAN
        ADD AS MUCH OR LITTLE WATER FOR CREAMYNESS -SAVES CALORIES TOO
        I USE THIS METHOD WHEN MAKING PASTA ALOI

        Reply

  38. Did this recipe change? I’ve made it a few times, and thought it used dill (the pic still shows dill).

    Reply

    • I’m so happy you liked it! Thanks for letting me know and for sharing the pics (and double thanks for putting the recipe in your own words when sharing – you’d be surprised how many people just flat-out steal blog content! I appreciate the adaptation and the credit in your post!)

      Reply

  43. This is amazing AND kid friendly! Even my picky 3 year old ate it. I made a few modifications as I had guests coming over, I used just a little bit of butter and a little half and half for extra creaminess.

    Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  44. I was a bit skeptical with regard to the amount of onions! lol! but it’s amazing how cheese makes everything tastes great! 🙂

    Thanks for the recipe 🙂

    Reply

  45. Thank you very much for this recipe.

    I was mainly interested what to do with my left over beef roast, but wanted to try something different. It turned out really tasty (with mashed potatoes on the side to boot. And it looked appetising. Who knew?!)
    :-

    Reply

  46. Hi there. Do you think this sauce would freeze/refrigerate well. I want to use up some mushrooms and milk I have. Thanks.

    Reply

    • Definitely! I freeze sauce like this all the time. The trick is to reheat it in a saucepan over low heat rather than blasting it in the microwave so that the sauce doesn’t separate.

      Reply

      • Have you tried freezing it already mixed in with pasta, like a casserole? I’m thinking about making this with some chicken and doing doubles to freeze.

        Reply

  47. Thank you for this recipe. I made it, it was amazing. I just used white onion instead of green onion. I’ve never cooked such yummy mushroom sauce. I’m glad that I found your blog! I’ll repeat this sauce many times!

    Reply

  49. It’s so nice making it with the flour & milk instead of cream – doesn’t sit as heavy. I put about 1/2 glass of white wine in there too and it was great – thanks

    Reply