This creamy garlic mushroom pasta is made with chestnut mushrooms, garlic, herbs and cream cheese. It is a delicious cheap and easy meal perfect for a weeknight dinner. This is an amazing recipe for anyone cooking on a budget, the meal costs just £1.32 per portion. This recipe is for 2 but double it and you could feed a family of 4 for under £5!
Ingredients:
This pasta recipe is super simple and easy to make. It contains just 9 main ingredients:
- pasta, I recommend tagliatelle or pappardelle
- garlic
- onion
- chestnut mushrooms
- dried mixed herbs
- soy sauce
- milk
- full-fat cream cheese
- vegetarian Parmesan
Pasta
For this recipe I used Austrian bandnudeln. However, any long, flat pasta shape would work well in the recipe. I would recommend either tagliatelle or pappardelle as they are great shapes for picking up plenty of mushrooms and sauce in every bite.
Flavourings
Extra flavour is added into this dish using garlic, onion, mixed herbs and soy sauce. I used mixed Italian herbs but feel free to use your favourite herbs to flavour this dish. Just before serving your pasta you could also stir through some chopped, fresh parsley to add some freshness.
Chestnut mushrooms
I used chestnut mushrooms for this recipe as they have a delicious texture and are cheap and widely available. However, feel free to use other types of mushroom. I recommend button mushrooms, shiitake or oyster. Make sure you finely slice your mushrooms as this makes them easier to pick up with the rest of the sauce.
Dairy
I used milk, cream cheese and vegetarian Parmesan to make my cream cheese pasta sauce. To keep my recipe cheap I used Tesco own-brand plain cream cheese. However, feel free to use your favourite cream cheese or flavoured soft cheese. Boursin garlic and herb or Philadelphia garlic and herb would both work well in this recipe.
What can I add to mushroom pasta?
- Protein – if you would like to improve the nutrient content of this food try adding in some protein. I would recommend adding in some Quorn vegetarian chicken style pieces. You can add these into the pan at the same time as the mushrooms.
- Mushrooms – I decided to use chestnut mushrooms in my pasta, however other mushroom types would also taste delicious in this recipe. White mushrooms or button mushrooms are also cheap and would taste delicious with the garlic cream sauce. If you’re happy to spend a little extra you could also use shiitake mushrooms or oyster mushrooms. Both of these mushrooms have extra umami flavour and a meatier texture and would really elevate the dish.
- Double cream – if you like, replace the milk with double cream to make this pasta extra rich and indulgent. You will need to add in some extra pasta water to loosen the sauce if you choose to use cream.
- White wine – once your mushrooms have finished cooking you can add in a splash of dry white wine for extra flavour. I recommend adding around 75ml and waiting for it to simmer off before adding in the rest of your ingredients.
- Fresh herbs – If you have any fresh herbs, finely chop them and add them in for extra flavour.
- Lemon – if you would like to add a zesty lemon twist to your pasta add in the zest and juice of half a lemon to your sauce once it has been removed from the heat.
Creamy mushroom pasta bake
Replace the pasta for pasta shapes such as penne or fusilli and turn your mushroom pasta into a pasta bake. Ensure your pasta sauce has been nicely loosened with enough pasta water, place in a roasting tray, top with your favourite cheese and grill until golden and bubbling. I recommend topping your bake with fresh mozzarella or shredded Cheddar cheese.
Creamy garlic mushroom pasta: similar recipes
Check out some of my other delicious vegetarian pasta recipes:
- Comforting Christmas pasta bake
- Pesto pasta bake
- Spicy vodka rigatoni bake
- Courgette and lemon pasta
Check out my other recipes with mushrooms:
Creamy Garlic Mushroom Pasta
Ingredients
- 180g/6⅓oz pasta e.g. tagliatelle or pappardelle
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
- 1/2 white onion finely chopped
- 225g/8oz chestnut mushrooms thinly sliced
- 1½ tsp dried mixed herbs
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 50ml/3 tbsp+1tsp whole milk
- 100g/3½oz full-fat cream cheese
- 20g/4tbsp vegetarian Parmesan grated, plus extra to serve
Instructions
- Cook the pasta until just al dente*. Set aside a cupful of pasta water before draining.
- Whilst the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a large frying pan on a medium-high heat. Add in your onions and garlic and fry for 30 seconds.
- Add in your sliced mushrooms and fry for a further 7 minutes, stirring frequently. Turn down the heat if the mushrooms are browning too quickly.
- Turn the heat to low and allow the mushrooms to cool a little**. Add in your mixed herbs and stir through the mushroom mix. Next, add in the soy sauce, milk and cream cheese and stir until you get a creamy sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Stir through your drained pasta and grated Parmesan, adding splashes of pasta water until your sauce is smooth and glossy. Serve with extra grated Parmesan cheese.
Love it