This Creamy Mushroom Pasta is super easy, incredibly delicious, and wonderfully comforting. There are a few basic ingredients, but they all come together in the best mushroom sauce for your favorite pasta. This mushroom sauce features different types of mushrooms, heavy whipping cream, white wine, parmesan cheese, and a few other ingredients for more flavor.
If you love this dish, try my Mushroom Steak Sauce and Parmesan Mushroom Orzo.
Table of Contents
What could possibly be more comforting for dinner than a bowl of creamy, cheesy pasta? The only thing that makes this dinner even better is how fast and easy it is to make! It’s really a perfect weeknight dinner any time you need to feel a little happier. After a busy work day or hectic day with the kids, this pasta is what you need to treat yourself to. It’s so very rich, which is what you need on those trying days.
The decadence of the mushroom sauce it really what makes this pasta so downright delicious. It’s made creamy with heavy whipping cream, and flavorful with an abundance of ingredients like white wine, minced garlic, and fresh sage.
Of course, the most predominant ingredient other than the mushrooms themselves may just be the incredible amount of rich parmesan cheese that adds to both the texture and flavor of the sauce. Every element of the rich mushroom sauce is delicious, and the combination with mushrooms makes every mushroom lover’s dream.
Ingredient Notes
Pasta – I like to use fettuccine in this recipe but you can use any pasta you prefer. If you need to keep this recipe gluten free, use gluten free pasta.
Olive Oil – use a neutral oil with a high burn point like olive oil or avocado oil.
Shallots – The delicate sweetness of shallots and a hint of garlic is perfect for this well balanced sauce.
Garlic – Use fresh garlic that’s been smashed and minced, not the pre-minced garlic you can buy in a jar.
Mushrooms – There are various mushrooms you can choose from, such as cremini, shiitake, oyster, or porcini.
White Wine – For the best results, use a dry white wine like Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay. Do Not use sweet wines like Riesling or Moscato.
Pasta Cooking Water – Remember to reserve some of the pasta water before you strain the noodles! This will help create the best consistency for your sauce.
Heavy Whipping Cream – for the best sauce, don’t substitute this ingredient with any other milk. Heavy whipping cream is what makes this sauce rich and creamy.
Parmesan – For the best flavor and texture, freshly grate the parmesan block yourself or get freshly grated cheese from the deli. Pre-shredded parmesan cheese contains an anti-caking powder that prevents the cheese from melting smoothly.
See recipe card for complete information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Creamy Mushroom Pasta
First, start off by cooking your pasta according to package directions and remember to reserve some of the pasta water before straining.
Preheat a pan and add olive oil, then sauté the shallots until soft and brown. Then, add the minced garlic (1) and cook until fragrant.
Add mushrooms to the pan (2) and sauté until softened, continuing to cook until they’re nicely golden brown (3). Stir them often so they cook evenly.
Make a little well in the center of the dish, then add the white wine. Let it simmer for a few minutes, then add the pasta cooking water (4). Stir.
Pour in the heavy whipping cream and add sage, salt, and pepper (5). Stir everything together (6) and lower the heat. Make sure the sauce is simmering, but not boiling!
Allow the mushroom sauce to gently simmer for a few minutes, stirring from time to time. Stir in grated parmesan cheese and let it cook for a couple of minutes (7).
Add the cooked pasta of your choice to the pan, gently stirring to gently mix (8).
Tips for the Best Mushroom Sauce
- Use a pan that is large enough! You want to make sure there is space to cook all the mushrooms, then the sauce, and then toss the sauce with pasta.
- Try not to eliminate the white wine because it adds quite a bit to flavor. But if you have to, use a mixture of half chicken stock and half white grape juice.
- Use a mix of different mushrooms for the best deep, earthy mushroom flavor.
- Depending on how much mushrooms you want, use at least 1 lb. but you can also increase that to 1.5 lbs.
- When using wine with cream, make sure to simmer the wine for a couple of minutes first, before adding the cream.
- Remember not to let the cream sauce boil! Only a slow simmer is good for creamy sauces or they will separate.
Recipe FAQs
There are usually three or four kinds of mushrooms that you will commonly find in most supermarkets. Those include baby bella (cremini), portobello, white button mushrooms, shiitake, and oyster mushrooms. Those are totally fine to use, but if you’re lucky to find some chanterelle, Hen of the Woods, or porcini, feel free to use those as well!
Dried porcini mushrooms could be easier to find and if you do, simply soak them in some hot water to reconstitute.
There are 4 servings in this recipe. If you serve it with a side or a protein, or you’re prefer smaller portions, you can easily feed four people. If you’re servings larger portions and just this pasta dish, you may be able to feed 2-3 people.
Absolutely! There are lots of different meats you can serve it with.
Chicken – you can always use some leftover chicken or rotisserie chicken and add it to the pasta. If you would like to cook some thicken, Chicken Milanese is a great choice, as well as chicken meatballs, roasted chicken, or baked chicken breast or baked chicken legs. Or, you can simple slice a chicken breast in half, widthwise, to created two thinner filets. Cook it seasoned with some salt and pepper in a cooking pan over medium to medium-low heat.
Steaks – you can cook some pan seared steaks or steaks in the oven for this pasta.
Pork – try pork tenderloin cutlets, roasted pork tenderloin, or pork chops.
Seafood – there are various seafood options like baked salmon, grilled salmon, baked cod, seared scallops, shrimp, and so much more.
Although this sauce is smooth, creamy, and slightly thick, you may prefer to make it thicker.
To do that, use a combination of about 1/4-1/2 tablespoon of cornstarch and a splash of cold chicken or vegetable stock to make a slurry.
Stir it into the sauce during the last couple of minutes of cooking, after all of the other ingredients are already in the pan cooking. Make sure to slowly but constantly stir it as the sauce thickens.
Storing and Reheating Instructions
Store leftover mushroom pasta in an air-tight food storage container, in the refrigerator. Properly stored, it should last 3-5 days.
Reheating: I don’t really recommend reheating mushroom sauce in a microwave because it separates easily if it is overheated. The key to reheating this sauce is doing so at a low temperature and slowly. So if you wish to try and reheat it in a microwave, use lower power setting and heat it up for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between.
The better way to reheat it though is in a small sauce pot, over medium-low heat. Let it warm up slowly, while stirring often. If you need to, you can add a splash of cream or whole milk to re-invigorate the pasta.
One more way to reheat the sauce is to mix cold sauce with hot, freshly cooked pasta. As soon as you drain the boiling water off pasta, add it back to the empty pot and add cold sauce. Mix it together and let hot pasta heat up the sauce.
Try More Comforting Pasta Recipes
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Creamy Mushroom Pasta Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb fettuccine or your favorite pasta*
Mushrooms Sauce:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 shallots sliced thin
- 4 garlic cloves smashed and minced
- 1 lb various mushrooms like crimini, shiitake, oyster, porcini, etc. sliced
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 1/2 cup pasta cooking water
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 tsp minced fresh sage packed
- salt
- black pepper
Instructions
- Start cooking pasta a few minutes before cooking the sauce so you will be able to get starchy pasta water.
- Cook pasta in salted water according to the box instructions and make sure to set aside some cooking water before draining pasta. Drain pasta and set aside while finishing the sauce.
- Preheat a large cooking pan over medium heat for a few minutes and add olive oil.
- Add sliced shallots and sauté until soft and starts to brown. Add minced garlic and sauté just until fragrant.
- Add mushrooms to the pan and sauté until all mushrooms are softened. Sauté a couple more minutes to let them get nicely golden brown. Make sure to stir from time to time to brown then evenly.
- Make a little well in the center of the pan and pour in white wine. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes and add pasta cooking water. Stir everything together.
- Pour in heavy whipping cream and add fresh grated Parmesan cheese, sage, salt, and pepper. Stir and lower the heat a little below medium so the sauce simmers but doesn't come to a boil.
- Let the mushrooms sauce gently simmer for a few minutes and make sure to stir from time to time.
- Add cooked pasta to the pan and gently mix it to coat it with the sauce completely. Let it cook just until pasta is reheated and serve right away.
Notes
- *Feel free to use your favorite pasta or gluten free pasta if needed.
- Use a pan that is large enough! You want to make sure there is space to cook all the mushrooms, then the sauce, and then toss the sauce with pasta.
- Try not to eliminate the white wine because it adds quite a bit to flavor. But if you have to, use a mixture of half chicken stock and half white grape juice.
- Use a mix of different mushrooms for the best deep, earthy mushroom flavor.
- Depending on how much mushrooms you want, use at least 1 lb. but you can also increase that to 1.5 lbs.
- When using wine with cream, make sure to simmer the wine for a couple of minutes first, before adding the cream.
- Remember DO NOT let the cream sauce boil! Only a slow simmer is good for creamy sauces or they will separate.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in September 2021.
Carmel says
What could I use instead of heavy cream – would creme fraiche work or Greek yoghurt.
LyubaB says
I wouldn’t use greek yogurt it won’t have a good consistency. You can make a sauce with sour cream but you will still need milk, half and half, cream, or you could use some chicken stock to thin it out. You can refer to my chicken stroganoff recipe to see how I make the sauce using sour cream.
https://www.willcookforsmiles.com/chicken-stroganoff/