by Holly
Creamy mushroom pasta is a delicious main dish that’s quick to make and restaurant menu worthy!
In this recipe, fettuccine is tossed with a velvety mushroom sauce, crispy bacon pieces, tender mushrooms, and a sprinkle of parsley.
Why You’ll Love This Pasta Recipe
- The flavor is insanely good. So good!
- The sauce is extra creamy and just a little bit lighter than a fettuccine alfredo.
- Pasta dinner recipes go from stovetop to tabletop in minutes.
- The flavors of this dish welcome other proteins (like chicken or shrimp) and additional veggies.
- Great for a weeknight but also tastes fancy enough to serve to guests!
Ingredients in Creamy Mushroom Pasta
MUSHROOMS: This dish starts with mushrooms of course. White, brown, or cremini mushrooms are great for the base of this recipe. Add in other favorites like portobello or rehydrated morels.
BACON: Bacon adds a smoky and salty flavor to the dish. The bacon fat is used to cook the mushrooms for an extra layer of goodness. Experiment with applewood, hickory-smoked, or maple bacon.
SAUCE: This cream sauce is really easy to make, no roux required. I use half and half or light cream. Ensure the cream cheese is room temperature to help it melt quickly and evenly. Spreadable flavored cream cheeses (like herb and garlic) are great in this recipe too.
PASTA: Fettuccine is our go-to here because the sauce clings to the wider pasta better than thinner pasta like angel hair. This sauce is great over any kind of pasta though.
Variations
- Toss in any combination of vegetables from chopped spinach, steamed broccoli, green peas, or top with grilled pieces of asparagus.
- Mushroom pasta is also a great dish for using up leftovers like roasted chicken, ground Italian sausage, cubes of ham, or shrimp.
- For a fancy presentation top with a blackened salmon filet or grilled chicken breast!
How to Make Creamy Mushroom Pasta
- Cook Bacon & Mushrooms: Cook bacon pieces & remove from the pan. Sauté garlic & mushrooms in the bacon fat (per the recipe below).
- Simmer Sauce: Add cream, broth, & cream cheese, simmer until sauce is smooth.
- Add Pasta: Toss in cooked pasta, garnish & serve.
Feeling Fancy?
If you’ve ever had truffle in a restaurant (the mushroom not the chocolate) you know that it comes with a hefty price tag!
A tiny bit of truffle oil goes a long way, you literally just need a spritz or a drizzle meaning one bottle (which you can get here for $12 or less) can be added to lots of meals.
Add truffle oil to rice, pastas, sauces, or toss with french fries (even frozen fries) just before serving (it’s best added after cooking just before serving)! Fancy at a fraction of the price.
What to Serve With Mushroom Pasta
- Homemade French Bread – made from scratch
- Roasted Brussel Sprouts – ready in 30 minutes
- Caesar Salad – a classic side dish
- Homemade Focaccia Bread – perfect for dipping
- Garlic Roasted Broccolini – simple yet elegant
Did your family love this Creamy Mushroom Pasta? Leave us a comment & a rating below!
Creamy Mushroom Pasta with Bacon
Prep Time 15 minutes
Servings 4 servings
Ingredients
- 6 slices bacon cut into ½-inch pieces
- 2 cups mushrooms sliced ¼" thick, white or brown
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ½ cup low sodium chicken broth
- 1 ½ cups half-and-half cream
- ½ cup parmesan cheese freshly grated
- 1 package fresh fettuccine noodles 8-9 oz or 6-8 oz dried pasta
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped
- pepper to taste
Follow Spend with Pennies on Pinterest
Instructions
- Cook bacon until crisp. Remove from pan & set aside.
- Leave enough bacon grease in the pan to lightly coat the bottom. Add mushrooms & garlic and cook on medium-high heat for about 3 minutes.
- Add chicken broth to the mushrooms and turn heat up to high. Cook until most of the liquid has evaporated.
- Add in cream and cook until thick & bubbly. Add in bacon and cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted.
- Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions reserving ½ cup pasta water. Drain well and toss cooked pasta noodles with sauce.
- Sprinkle with parsley and season with pepper to taste.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
(Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.)
The creamy mushroom pasta with bacon sounds great. You speak about cream cheese or herb cheese( like Boursin) but it isn’t in the ingredients. Is this just an optional ingredient or did you omit it by mistake! I want to add it but don’t know when or how much. Please answer as I’m planning this around Xmas for guests.
Hi Liana, it is an entirely optional addition. For a thicker sauce with a bit more flavor (depending on the cheese you use), I would add about ¼ to ½ cup of spreadable cream cheese. You can adjust that to your preferences :) We hope you enjoy it!
I am finding all recipes from you do not advise how many serves it makes. I live alone so I need to halve, quater or heaven forbid even less.. Could you please rectify this as the recipes are great!! Thank you
Thank you for your feedback! I am going to be adding it to all future recipes and will be editing the current recipes to reflect servings. This particular recipe serves 4.
Holly, this recipe is the BOMB!!! Simply delicious and very simple to put together. Will be making this again….and again………and again…….Thanks for sharing!!
:) I’m so glad you loved it Annette! We love this one too.
Oh My Gosh! I made this tonight and it was FABULOUS. I added shrimp during the boiling of the half & half. My family commented this was a resturant quality dish. Will definitely make this a regular in my house. Thanks for sharing. Definitely trying more of your recipes,
I’m so glad you and your family enjoyed it Stephanie! (One of our favorites too!)
This recipe looks very tasty. Thanks for sharing!