Mushroom Alfredo is a creamy and irresistible pasta dish where sautéed mushrooms are hugged in a velvety homemade Alfredo sauce.
You can make this easy pasta recipe in about 20 minutes for a meatless and satiating dinner.
Table of Contents
If you are a regular reader here, you may have noticed that we love veggies ☺️.
This Alfredo pasta is another example; we sauté beautiful mushrooms and make them the star of your plate.
If you love Alfredo pasta, but you are curious about eating more vegetables, you are in the right place. Enjoy ❤️!
The flavor and texture of sautéed mushrooms are a perfect flavor match to the heavy cream, butter, and parmesan in Alfredo sauce.
If you are vegan or dairy intolerant, you can easily make this recipe with non-dairy alternatives for the cream, cheese, and butter.
No matter which ingredients you use, this vegetarian dinner idea is rich, tasty, and so easy to make you’ll want to cook it every night.
Mushroom Alfredo sauce is a luscious dish for pasta lovers who want to eat more veggies.
As the mushrooms are hugged by generous amounts of sauce, it is also a great dish for picky eaters 💪.
Uh, and if you are looking for something lighter, check out our cauliflower Alfredo sauce without heavy cream.
Ingredients
Quantities are in the recipe box at the bottom of the page.
Pasta
Alfredo sauce is often served with Italian tagliatelle or fettuccine noodles.
Mushroom Alfredo is delicious with most long–shaped pasta types. Try linguine, bucatini, bavette, spaghetti, and pappardelle.
Short pasta: use penne, fusilli, rotini or farfalle. The pasta will be delicious no matter what pasta shape you use.
Gluten-free: substitute gluten-free pasta for regular pasta to make this recipe gluten-free.
Vegan: typically fettuccine and tagliatelle contain eggs, look for an egg-free pasta to make a vegan dish.
Mushrooms
We recommend a mix of white and brown mushrooms, such as button mushrooms, cremini mushrooms, baby Bella mushrooms, and portobello mushrooms. You can use fresh or frozen mushrooms.
Optional vegetable add-ins: Add in a handful of spinach or a cup of frozen peas.
Butter
Use unsalted butter (best if European-style butter) or non-dairy butter.
Cream
Use heavy whipping cream. Note that most Italians avoid using cream in their Alfredo sauce (Alfredo sauce was invented in Italy, but was made with parmesan and butter).
Dairy-free: Use non-dairy heavy cream. If you cannot can’t find non-dairy cream, substitute vegan cream cheese, which is easier to find in most stores.
In this case, you’ll also need a little plant milk to make the vegan cream cheese saucy.
Parmesan cheese
Grated parmesan (Grana Padano or Parmigiano Reggiano).
For a vegan alfredo sauce, we recommend a vegan cheese that melts. I like Vio Life and Simply V, but there are many more.
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.
How to make Mushroom Alfredo
Clean and chop the mushrooms. To clean the mushrooms, rub the dirt off with a paper towel if not soiled.
Try not to wash the mushrooms with water because they’ll absorb it, get soggy, and take longer to brown.
Cook the mushrooms in a large skillet with olive oil, salt, and pepper on high heat for about 5 minutes until well browned. Stir often.
The mushrooms will release water. Keep cooking them until all the water is gone and they start sticking to the pan.
Brown the mushrooms on medium heat on the dry pan for another few minutes. Brown color equals flavor.
Add butter and grated garlic, and sauté for one minute, stirring often. Now, you can cook the pasta in a large pot with plenty of salted water.
Add the heavy cream and simmer for about 5 minutes or until the cream thickens.
Turn the heat off and add the parmesan cheese and grated nutmeg. Stir the parmesan in the sauce until it melts.
When the pasta is al dente, drain it and add it to the mushroom Alfredo sauce. Add some pasta cooking water if the sauce gets too thick.
Stir the pasta in the sauce until fully coated, then serve immediately.
Tip: If your pasta gets thick and pasty, add a ladleful of pasta cooking water to thin it up.
Serve in a bowl and garnish with chopped fresh parsley and a twist of freshly ground black pepper.
Serving suggestions
This pasta recipe is a protein-rich vegetarian meal that Louise and I serve with a side salad:
Variations
Cauliflower Alfredo
If you want a lighter alternative to Alfredo sauce, try our cauliflower alfredo. We substitute blended cauliflower and ricotta cheese for the heavy cream and butter.
Alfredo with broccoli florets
Obviously, we are obsessed with adding veggies to our food, and there is no better way to get your greens than adding them to a creamy pasta dish.
It’s a variation of our cauliflower Alfredo, it’s with broccoli florets, and it’s delicious.
Storage
Make ahead: Mushroom Alfredo pasta doesn’t store well because it gets sticky and pasty, so we don’t recommend making it in advance.
Refrigerator: If you have leftovers, let them cool down completely at room temperature, then store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
Reheat: You can reheat it on a pan with a dash of water in the microwave. Alternatively, add it to an oven dish, mix in more veggies, sprinkle with some cheese, and bake for 10 minutes until golden.
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.
You can also substitute blended cauliflower for cream. We explain how to do that in our cauliflower Alfredo sauce recipe.
Guidelines recommend 2.1 to 3.5 ounces or 60 to 100 grams of pasta per person, depending on your calorie needs.
Pasta portion sizes vary if you have pasta as a main and only meal or if it’s part of a 2 – 3 course menu.
Also, remember that a simple pasta with tomato and basil will have substantially different calories and macros than this rich Alfredo sauce.
For this recipe, we recommend keeping the portion size small, at around 2 ounces per person.
Similar recipes
MUSHROOM RECIPES: Mushroom risotto, vegan mushroom pasta, stuffed mushrooms, mushroom gravy, 25 mushroom recipes,
EASY PASTA RECIPES: Garlic and oil pasta, broccoli pasta, chickpea pasta salad, macaroni salad, zucchini pasta, spaghetti pomodoro, Penne arrabbiata, Red pepper pasta.
For many more 30-minute meal ideas, check out our 30-minute meal category page.
Mushroom Alfredo
Ingredients
- 12 ounces fettuccine or another pasta
- 1 pound mushrooms white, brown, or portobello
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 twists black pepper
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter or non-dairy butter
- 2 cloves garlic grated
- 1 cup heavy cream or non-dairy cream
- ½ cup grated parmesan or non-dairy cheese
- 1 sprinkle grated nutmeg or grated lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon parsley chopped
Instructions
- Clean and chop 1 pound mushrooms, then cook them in a large skillet with 1 tablespoon olive oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and 2 twists black pepper on high heat for 5 minutes.Tip: The mushrooms will release water. Keep cooking them until all water is gone, the pan is dry, and the mushrooms get brown.
- Add 3 tablespoons unsalted butter and 2 cloves garlic (grated), and sauté for one minute, stirring often.Now you boil 12 ounces fettuccine in a large pot with salted water.
- Add 1 cup heavy cream to the mushrooms and simmer on low-heat for 5 minutes or until the cream thickens.Turn the heat off, add ½ cup grated parmesan and 1 sprinkle grated nutmeg. Stir until parmesan melts.
- When the pasta is al dente, drain it and add it to the sauce. Add a ladleful of reserved pasta water if sauce gets too thick.Toss until the pasta is fully coated in sauce, then serve immediately.
- Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon parsley and a twist of freshly ground black pepper.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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i loved this reciepe everything was so well explained