This tasty mushroom Alfredo recipe is an easy 15-minute dinner idea with an irresistibly creamy and smooth sauce and sautéed mushrooms.
If you like pasta and mushrooms, you will fall in love with this easy mushroom alfredo.
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Pasta with Alfredo sauce is a popular Italian-inspired American recipe. And while the original recipe for tagliatelle Alfredo is delicious as is, we love it even more with added veggies.
If you are wondering how to add mushrooms to Alfredo sauce, you are in the right place.
In this blog post, you'll learn how to make Alfredo sauce with sautéed mushrooms, which are a perfect flavor and texture to match the cream, butter, and parmesan in Alfredo sauce.
This recipe is not the usual plant-based recipe you'd find on this site, as it contains mainly dairy and some mushrooms.
However, you can make it dairy-free by substituting dairy-free/vegan heavy cream, butter, and parmesan for their dairy counterparts.
No matter which ingredients you use, this pasta is rich, creamy, smooth, tasty, and so easy to make you'll want to do it every night. It's a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.
Ingredients
Pasta
Alfredo sauce is often served with fettuccine. However, this recipe is delicious with most long-shaped pasta types. Try linguine, tagliatelle, bucatini, bavette, spaghetti, and pappardelle.
Can you make mushroom Alfredo with a short pasta type? Sure, go ahead and use whatever pasta you have, from penne to fusilli, rotini to farfalle. It's going to taste delicious no matter what pasta you use.
Substitute gluten-free pasta for regular pasta to make this recipe gluten-free.
Mushrooms
Get a mix of white and brown mushrooms, such as button mushrooms, cremini, baby Bella mushrooms, and portobello mushrooms. You can use fresh or frozen mushrooms.
Butter
Use unsalted butter (best if European-style butter) or dairy-free butter.
Cream
Use heavy cream or dairy-free heavy cream. If you can't find dairy-free dairy cream, you can replace it with vegan cream cheese, which is easier to find in stores. Of course, you'll need a little milk to make it saucy if you use vegan cream cheese.
Parmesan cheese
Grated parmesan (Grana Padano or Parmigiano Reggiano) or vegan parmesan.
Garlic
Grated or minced garlic is a classic in Alfredo sauce.
Nutmeg or lemon zest
To take this dish to the next level, add a small amount of grated nutmeg, which is a great flavor match with the butter and cream.
If you don't like grated nutmeg, try a small amount of grated lemon zest.
Parsley
Fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped and added on top before serving.
Salt and pepper
Sea salt or kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper.
Instructions
Clean and chop the mushrooms if they are not pre-chopped. To clean the mushrooms, rub the dirt off with a paper towel if they are not too soiled.
Try not to wash the mushrooms with water because they'll absorb it, get soggy, and not brown the same way.
Cook the mushrooms in a large skillet with olive oil, salt, and pepper on high heat for about 5 minutes until well browned.
The mushrooms will release water. Keep cooking them until all water is gone and they start sticking to the pan.
Keep browning the mushrooms on medium heat on the dry pan for another couple of minutes - brown color equals flavor.
Add the butter and grated garlic, and sauté for one minute, stirring often.
Now you can boil the pasta in a large pot with plenty of heavily salted water.
Add the cream and simmer for about 5 minutes or until the cream thickens up a little.
Now, off the heat, add the parmesan cheese and the grated nutmeg. Melt the parmesan in the hot cream off the heat; then, you are ready to add in the pasta.
When the pasta is al dente (with a bite), drain it and add it to the mushroom Alfredo sauce. Reserve one cup of pasta water in case your sauce gets too thick.
Stir the pasta in the sauce for a minute until fully coated, then serve immediately.
Tip: if your pasta gets thick and pasty, you can add a couple of tablespoons of pasta cooking water to thin it up.
You can sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley, grated parmesan, and a twist of freshly ground black pepper.
Serving suggestions
This pasta Alfredo recipe is a quick dinner idea that you can serve on its own or pair with a veggie-packed side dish, for example:
- Roasted Brussels sprouts with a mustard vinaigrette
- Simple side salad with leafy greens
- Delicious pear salad with mixed salad greens
- Baked broccoli with a garlic-lemon marinade
- Garlic roasted cauliflower florets
- Fennel salad with orange wedges and pomegranate seeds
- Red cabbage salad with orange and pinto beans
- Roasted butternut squash - tender and aromatic
Variations
Double Cauliflower Alfredo
Try this lighter version of pasta Alfredo with a steamed and blended cauliflower sauce.
Alfredo with broccoli florets
Get your greens while eating a creamy bowl of pasta with this cauliflower Alfredo variation.
Storage
Refrigerator: mushroom alfredo pasta doesn't store well because it gets sticky and pasty, so we recommend trying to avoid leftovers.
If you have some leftovers, let them cool down completely at room temperature, then store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 24 hours. Then, reheat on a pan with a dash of water or milk.
Freezer: this recipe is not suitable for freezing.
Tips
- Brown the mushrooms: make sure they are well browned on a hot pan to make them flavorful.
- Add parmesan with heat off: parmesan cheese tends to get lumpy if added with the heat on. This is true for many recipes such as risotto, cacio e pepe, and more. The solution is to add the parmesan to the hot cream off the heat.
- Serve immediately: don't let your mushroom Alfredo pasta sit in the pan; it'll thicken up and get all sticky and pasty.
Questions
You can substitute cream cheese or vegan cream cheese for heavy cream in Alfredo sauce. In this case, you must add a splash of milk to make the sauce thinner.
More mushroom recipes
If you love mushrooms, get inspiration from these easy mushroom recipes with few ingredients:
- Mushroom risotto: authentic Italian flavor with plenty of chewy mushrooms
- Easy mushroom pasta with cherry tomatoes, a restaurant-worthy pasta dish!
- Tofu mushroom cutlets: an easy dinner idea ready in 20 minutes
- Kung pao tofu with mushrooms and a sweet and sour sauce
More easy pasta recipes
Love pasta and only have 30 minutes? Not a problem, these quick and easy pasta recipes are perfect for weeknight dinners:
- Garlic and oil pasta: a classic Italian dish with plenty of garlic, parsley, and flavor
- Mashed broccoli pasta with 6 ingredients only and an easy sauce-technique
- Chickpea pasta salad: a favorite lunch idea and meal-prep-friendly recipe, ready in just 20 minutes!
- Zucchini pasta: a vibrant green pasta with grated zucchini and a cheesy taste
- Spaghetti pomodoro: 15 minutes of cooking, and this tomato-rich pasta is ready!
- Penne arrabbiata: authentic Italian flavor and fiery tomato sauce in just 20 minutes
- Red pepper pasta: use canned bell peppers, and make this creamy sauce in just 20 minutes!
For many more 30-minute meal ideas, check out our 30-minute meal category page.
Recipe
Mushroom Alfredo
Ingredients
- ¾ pound pasta linguine or fettuccine
- 1 pound mushrooms white, brown, portobello
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 4 tablespoons butter unsalted (or dairy-free butter)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 cup heavy cream (or dairy-free cream)
- ½ cup grated parmesan (or dairy-free parmesan)
- 1 sprinkle grated nutmeg or grated lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon parsley chopped
Instructions
- Clean and chop the mushrooms, then cook them in a large skillet with olive oil, salt, and pepper on high heat for about 5 minutes until well browned.
- The mushrooms will release water. Keep cooking them until all water is gone, the pan is well dry, and the mushrooms get brown. Brown color equals flavor.
- Add the butter and grated garlic, and sauté for one minute, stirring often.Now you can start boiling the pasta in a large pot with plenty of heavily salted water.
- Add the cream to the mushrooms and simmer for about 5 minutes or until the cream thickens up a little.Turn the heat off, add the parmesan cheese and the grated nutmeg. Stir to melt the parmesan.
- When the pasta is al dente (with a bite), drain it and add it to the mushroom Alfredo sauce. Reserve one cup of pasta water in case your sauce gets too thick.Toss until the pasta is fully coated in sauce, then serve immediately.
- You can sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley, grated parmesan, and a twist of freshly ground black pepper.
Video Recipe
Notes
- Mushrooms: to clean the mushrooms, rub the dirt off with a paper towel if they are not too soiled. Try not to wash the mushrooms with water because they'll absorb it, get soggy, and not brown the same way.
- Parmesan: add it with the heat off. Parmesan cheese tends to get lumpy if added with the heat on.
- Serve immediately: don't let your mushroom Alfredo pasta sit in the pan; it'll thicken up and get all sticky and pasty.
- Pasta water: if your pasta sauce gets thick and pasty, you can add a couple of tablespoons of pasta cooking water to thin it up.
Nutritional Values
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Susan
This is delicious and so satisfying! A wonderful weeknight meal. An earlier reader commented about the use of butter and may have been confused that this recipe said it did not contain butter. Reading the entire recipe, you’ll find it is NOT the usual type of recipe for the site, as clearly noted in the text. However, he mentions that the recipe can be made vegan-friendly if that is desired. Hope this helps.
Louise
Hi Susan,
Thanks so much for your comment. I'm very happy you liked it 🙂
Have a wonderful week ahead. Kindest,
Louise