Creamy mushroom pasta with an easy mushroom white sauce, garlic, and no heavy cream. Ready in 30 minutes.
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Welcome to one of the easiest meals on the planet. (Besides pouring cereal or heating up leftovers. WHICH DO NOT COUNT).
This creamy mushroom pasta is easily top 10 on the list of my favorite things ever. I probably make some variation of it at least once a week because it’s so dang quick and simple. Just your favorite pasta, an easy garlic mushroom pasta sauce, and any other proteins or veggies you have on hand.
Plus, y’know, any excuse to say “shrooooooooms!” in a singsongy voice over and over while I make dinner.
This is the perfect “we-have-no-food” food. Even when our fridge is at its emptiest and our grocery shopping procrastination level is at its highest (so, basically every day of my life), I just about always have the stuff on hand to make this creamy mushroom pasta.
Let’s run through the ingredient checklist, shall we? Here’s how to make mushroom pasta:
- Pasta.
- Olive Oil.
- Garlic.
- Onion.
- THE SHROOMS.
- Lil’ bit of flour.
- Milk.
- Cheese
- BOOM.
- DONEZO.
But the beauty of this creamy mushroom pasta is that it doesn’t even necessarily have to be creamy mushroom pasta – you can substitute anything you have on hand to make it a complete dish.
Out of parmesan cheese? Swap some cream cheese, goat cheese, or shredded asiago or romano.
No mushrooms? NO WORRIES! Just make the sauce and toss in some broccoli or spinach or whatever else you’ve got.
No pasta? Order takeout. Carbs are non-negotiable. (KIDDING. Sort of).
You can use rice or spaghetti squash or even slather the sauce over some baked chicken if you’re out of pasta (⬅ This is actually really good and it’s making me feel kind of bad about my pasta-only comment. But not so bad that I’m going to scroll all the way back up the page and delete it. So there we are. Sorry, chicken, but PASTA 4 LIFE).
Which reminds me, you could also totally add chicken to this creamy mushroom pasta.
Prep Time:
Yield:
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Easy, creamy mushroom pasta with a tasty parmesan sauce.
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb. pasta (I used bowties!)
- 3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
- 12 oz baby portobello mushrooms, sliced
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 Tbsp. flour
- 2 cups milk
- 1.5 cups shredded parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Cook the pasta in very salty water until al dente. Drain and set aside.
- Return the pasta pot to the stove. Add olive oil and turn heat to medium.
- Add garlic and onion to oil and sauté until onion has softened, about 2 minutes.
- Add sliced mushrooms to oil and cook until they begin to brown, about 5 minutes.
- Add salt and pepper to taste and stir to combine.
- You should notice a bit of liquid in the skillet with the mushrooms – this is what you want! If your pan looks dry, add another tablespoon or so of olive oil so you have enough liquid to form a roux in the next step.
- Add flour to mushroom mixture and stir to help the flour soak up any liquid and form a roux. Cook for 1 minute.
- Slowly add milk to mushrooms, stirring constantly to break up any chunks of flour. Cook 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sauce has thickened.
- Remove sauce from heat and stir in shredded parmesan cheese.
- Add cooked pasta to sauce and toss to combine. Serve immediately.
Notes
Shred the parmesan cheese yourself for best results! Pre-shredded cheese often has preservatives applied that prevent the cheese from melting smoothly.
If you’re a strict vegetarian, use vegetarian parmesan cheese (look for parmesan cheese made without rennet).
This is a great base recipe – customize it with whatever you have in the fridge! I like to add leftover chicken or turkey, steamed broccoli, peas, or chopped spinach to mix the recipe up a bit. Play around to find your favorite combinations and make it your own!
If you’re feeling fancy, you can always garnish your pasta with an extra sprinkle of parmesan cheese or some fresh chopped parsley.
For a healthy twist, swap our favorite Magic Cauliflower Cream for the flour and milk in this recipe!
Nutrition
- Calories: 580
I love this! This proves that mushroom is another amazing and indeed
a magical plant. Thank you for sharing those mouth-watering recipe. Will surely give it a try.
Amazing!
Thank you so much, David!
I came across this recipe while looking for a way to use leftover mushrooms. Have you tried freezing it? I would like to make the sauce and freeze to use over pasta later.
This sauce freezes really well! I recommend freezing the sauce on its own and reheating in a small saucepan. You might need to add a splash of milk or cream as it reheats to help it smooth itself out again, but the flavor holds up for 3-4 months in an airtight container in the freezer. Hope that helps!
Tasty quick and easy and made both hungry people full with some leftovers.suzys samo
★★★★★
Wahoo! So happy to hear it – thanks for letting us know how it turned out!
Loved that I didn’t need heavy cream or cooking cream or whatever fancy pasta cream some recipes make you think you need! I used this recipe as inspiration and I loved my first try! My sauce was too thick, but that was my own fault haha. Next time I’ll add more milk (or maybe water?) to make it a bit more saucy or just not make it thicken too much.
Thank youuuuuuuuu 😁
★★★★★
Hi Anyra, you’re welcoooome! 😉
super quick and delicious – i needed to add salt tho.
★★★★★
I normally don’t write reviews, there’s no reason why I just don’t but I absolutely had to write one on this recipe. Hands down best pasta recipe I have ever tried on the internet, and I tried a lot. The only thing I changed was a bruin some asparagus and peppers that I roasted on the barbecue last night. OMG! The mushroom taste with the creamy sauce and the taste of the roasted peppers out of this world! I have a salad every night with dinner except for tonight. I put it in a tupperware to eat tomorrow!
★★★★★
I’m trying to upload pictures but it will not allow me to do it. Sorry for the misspelled words. I’m using talk to text because I’m still stuffing my face! 😂
Best compliment ever! 😂 So glad you liked it, Carrie! (And you can always share photos with us by tagging @lifeasastrawberry on Instagram – we love to see what you make!)
Hey Carrie – Wow…we are so honored to have you write this review! This is awesome to read!
How much milk to add?
Hi Ted! You’ll use 2 cups of milk as directed in the recipe. Hope that helps!
What percentage milk do you suggest using? I typically use one percent milk, but I am thinking that the fat content may be too low.
Thank you!
One percent is totally fine! It may need an extra minute or two to thicken up (vs. 2% or whole milk) but I make this with skim all the time and it works just fine. Hope that helps!
Made this today and it was awesome! But the sauce was a bit too thick…and I felt I could have reduced the amount of pasta. But an absolutely delicious sauce.
★★★★
I’m so glad you liked it, Ankita! If the sauce thickens too much, you can always thin it out with a splash of milk, stock, or water! And we fully support swapping out some pasta for your favorite veggies!
Donezo took less than five seconds to cook.
★★★★★
Hello Chris, glad to hear it was enjoyed!
Delicious and a great amount of protein for vegetarian diets! This has become a staple meal in my diet!
★★★★★
Wahoo! So happy to hear that, Madi!
i am so excited to try this, but i am wondering if i can do cream cheese instead. i read yes, but how much??
You can certainly add cream cheese – I recommend adding a few spoonfuls at a time and just tasting in between until it tastes right to you!
Just made it… easy recipe and tastes yummy. I added a little crushed red pepper for some heat and it worked well! Thanks!
I’m so happy you liked it, Annemarie! Love the red pepper addition!
I tried it. Tastes yummy
★★★★★
Thanks, Zandile! Happy you liked it!
This was amazing! I did cream cheese instead of Parmesan and it’s so creamy and thick!!
I’m so happy you liked it! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out (and I love the idea of using cream cheese – yum!!)
This was amazing! I’m putting it on my “good enough for company” list! LOL!
Good enough for company? I’m so honored! 🙂 Thanks for letting me know how it turned out (and I’m so happy you liked it!)
Love love love this recipe!
Had a bad experience years ago while trying to make white sauce pasta and had completely given up making it at home.
Tried this 2 days ago and it was utterly delish!! Never going to order pasta in again 🙂
I’m so happy you liked it! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out! 🙂
well this looks fantastic!
Thank you so much! It’s one of our favorites! 🙂