The other day I was updating my blog post for Mushroom Herb Gravy in anticipation of the Thanksgiving season, and while I sat there trying not to drink the gravy straight from the skillet, I thought, “Maybe I can turn this into a pasta sauce…” And so I did. With the addition of a little cream for body and some lusciously thick fettuccine to sop up the delicious sauce, this Creamy Mushroom Herb Pasta was born.
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Weeknight Gourmet
This rich and creamy pasta is so fast and simple you could easily make it on a weeknight. Add some homemade garlic bread and a simple green salad on the side and you have a meal worthy of any restaurant… except you did it yourself. And for half the money. Eat that pasta, girl. You deserve it.
What Kind of Mushrooms are Best?
I used regular white button mushrooms for this Creamy Mushroom Herb Pasta, but if you have room in your budget you can use something like baby bellas or full sized portobella mushrooms (sliced down to size). You’ll get more color and a slightly deeper flavor with the bellas.
Do I Have to Use Fresh Thyme?
You don’t have to, but you’ll definitely get a much better flavor with fresh thyme in this dish. And while I used rubbed (dried) sage, if you have fresh sage on hand, I would definitely use that. You’ll only need about one to two sage leaves, minced.
Creamy Mushroom Herb Pasta
Servings 4Ingredients
- 8 oz mushrooms ($1.99)
- 12 oz fettuccine ($0.75)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.16)
- 3 Tbsp butter ($0.33)
- 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour ($0.03)
- 1.5 cups vegetable broth ($0.19)
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1/4 tsp dried) ($0.32)
- 1 tsp rubbed sage ($0.10)
- 1/2 cup half and half ($0.62)
- Salt and pepper to taste ($0.05)
Instructions
- Wash the mushrooms to remove any dirt or debris, then thinly slice them.
- Begin cooking the fettuccine according to the package directions. Cook the pasta just until al dente, then drain in a colander. The pasta will continue to soften slightly once it’s in the creamy mushroom herb sauce, so do not overcook it.
- While the pasta is cooking, add the butter and minced garlic to a large skillet. Sauté the garlic over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, or just until fragrant and tender. Do not let the butter or garlic turn brown.
- Add the sliced mushrooms and continue to cook until the mushrooms have turned dark brown and all of the moisture they release has evaporated (5-7 minutes). Turn the heat down slightly to medium-low, add the flour, and continue to sauté until the flour begins to coat the bottom of the skillet and turns golden brown (about 2-3 minutes).
- Whisk the vegetable broth into the skillet with the flour and mushrooms. Whisk until all the flour has dissolved off the bottom of the skillet. Add the thyme, sage, and some freshly cracked pepper. Turn the heat up to medium and allow the sauce to come to a simmer, at which point it will thicken.
- Stir the half and half into the sauce and allow it to return to a gentle simmer. Taste the sauce and adjust the salt or pepper as needed (the amount of salt needed will depend on the type of broth used. I added approximately 1/4 tsp).
- Add the drained pasta to the sauce in the skillet. Toss to coat and allow the pasta to heat through over medium-low heat. The pasta will absorb some of the liquid and flavors, and further thicken the sauce. Serve hot.
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Nutrition
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How to Make Creamy Mushroom Herb Pasta – Step by Step Photos
Start by washing 8oz. of mushrooms to remove any dirt, then slicing them thinly. Also mince two cloves of garlic.
Begin cooking 12oz. of fettuccine according to the package directions. Cook only until al dente, as the pasta will continue to soften a bit once it’s in the creamy mushroom herb sauce. Drain the cooked pasta in a colander.
While the pasta is cooking, you can prepare the sauce. Add 3 Tbsp butter and two minced cloves of garlic to a large skillet. Sauté the garlic in the butter over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, or just until it’s soft and fragrant. Don’t let the butter or garlic brown.
Add the sliced mushrooms and continue to sauté for 5-7 minutes. As the mushrooms wilt, they will begin to release water and the water will begin to pool in the skillet. Just keep sautéing until all that water has evaporated and only the mushrooms and butter remain. You want to cook out ALL the moisture.
Once all the moisture is cooked out, turn the heat down a touch to medium-low, add 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour, and continue to sauté for 2-3 minutes. The flour will create a paste around the mushrooms. Just keep sautéing until the flour begins to coat the bottom of the skillet and the flour on the mushrooms loses its white-ish color. Toasting the flour like this gives the sauce better flavor and removes that pasty, flour-like taste.
Whisk in 1.5 cups vegetable broth. Whisk really well until all the flour has dissolved off the bottom of the skillet.
Add a couple sprigs of fresh thyme (or about 1/4 tsp dried), 1 tsp rubbed (dried) sage, and some freshly cracked pepper. Stir in the herbs, turn the heat up to medium, and let the sauce come up to a simmer, at which point it will thicken. If you don’t want to bother with fishing out the thyme stems later, you can just pull the leaves from the stems before adding them.
Once the sauce has thickened, stir in 1/2 cup half and half, and allow it to come back up to a gentle simmer.
Finally, give the sauce a taste and add salt or pepper if needed. The amount of salt needed will depend on the salt content of your broth. I added about 1/4 tsp salt. Remember, you want the sauce to be seasoned a little on the heavy side as the flavor becomes a little less dramatic once the pasta is added.
Finally, add the cooked and drained pasta, toss to coat, and heat through. The pasta will absorb some of the sauce as it heats.
I garnished with parsley just because I had it and that’s always nice for photos, but it isn’t necessary. Parmesan is quite nice with this pasta, though.
Super dreamy Creamy Mushroom Herb Pasta!
ok listen. listen. I am grabbing you by the shoulders and shaking you to emphasize this.
this sauce is so good that the whole time I was eating it I was consciously debating whether or not to literally voluntarily cry about it. if I were a slightly different person I would have just cried on instinct. this deserves it. I sent pictures to my family and all my siblings were jealous that I live on the other side of the country and therefore they can’t have any.
my grocery store was out of vegetable broth so I ended up using beef broth and since I haven’t made it with vegetable broth, I don’t know the difference it made, but I hope by now I have conveyed to you that it was very tasty. I also pan fried some zucchini with butter, garlic, and salt to go with it and that was really good. an excellent flavor combination.
Delicious! I had to sub chicken bullion for the vegetable stock because I forgot it at the store but I think it’s so good!
Budget Bytes comes through again! We have enjoyed every recipe we have made from your site, and this one is no exception. Whenever I have a box of mushrooms that need to be used, this recipe is our “go to.” We have used either dried or fresh thyme – both ways are tasty. I used the pasta water from cooking the fettuccine and a vegetable bouillon cube for the vegetable broth, which thickened the sauce faster. This is a perfect Friday night dinner. It’s quick, delicious and feels like a special meal. Many thanks for a winning recipe.
This is one of my favourite pasta recipes. I add some cubed tofu and frozen green peas.
Delightfully herby! Followed this recipe exactly, but using pink oyster mushrooms instead of button mushrooms/cremini/portobello. I think a mushroom medley would be nice for some more dynamic flavors, and agree that a base of cremini/portobello is perfect for this since they bring in more savory notes vs oyster mushrooms. Still wonderful.
My sister uses this as a step up to canned cream of mushroom in our family’s Broccoli Bake recipe. We combine cream of mushroom with blanched broccoli in a casserole dish and top with Ritz/crackers.
It’s a staple at our holidays, and I don’t think I’ve seen our combination on blogs after looking. You have my blessing if you find it appealing and would like to recipe test it. Your blog has given a lot to us, after all.
Oh – and sour cream to the sauce!
I will for sure try this. Just a friendly piece of advice – write not only American units but also European ones (grams, liters) – we are sometimes just lazy to convert and for you, it can become a routine :)
My son is not a fan of mushrooms. I wanted to get back into making family meals after a long work day. Made this tonight. BF son, and I loved it and I am not a great cook. Subbed herbs de Provence bc I thought I had sage but didn’t. Subbed heavy cream for half and half. Amazing!!!!! BF wants to make spin tort as a sub for the pasta. Maybe a touch of balsamic vinegar. We order a ton of DD and was surprised I managed to get it done so quickly
I make this often and just “veganize” the half and half portion. It’s omnivore approved as well ;)
For the vegan half and half:
1 Tb nutritional yeast
Heaping 1/4 cup cashews
1/2 cup almond milk
2tbl lemon juice.
Blitz all that in a nutri bullet or vitamix then follow the rest of Beth’s recipe.
If my budget allows I also dice up and cook 2 hot Italian Beyond sausages and add them to the finished sauce.
You have an excellent site. I make SO many of your recipes and need to make a point to comment more often. Although I’m vegan you have plenty of options and many that are easily customizable to my diet. THANK YOU!
I make this at least once a week since I found this recipe like 1 years ago and it changed my life IT IS THE BEST. Everyone I made it for so far loved it and even people who claimed not to like mushrooms ;)
wow this pasta looks beautiful, delicious and creamy…. nice
Great recipe! I had mushrooms that I needed to use up, and that’s pretty much all I had so I went with this recipe for a quick weeknight dinner. It was fab! I subbed 1/4 c almond milk and 1/4 c greek yogurt whisked together for the half and half (simply bc I didn’t have it) and dried herbs for fresh, and it still turned out great. If one also subbed olive oil for the butter, this could be a vegan dish.
I love your recipes, Beth. They are solid, delicious, and made with few ingredients – at least compared to other recipe sites I use. Thank you for your blog!
average recipe. made alot of changes in the recipe to make it more flavourful..
Hi! Quick question—could this be made without the sage? That’s not usually something I have on hand but I don’t want to ruin the recipe by excluding it!
This site has introduced to me to cooking On my college and I’m so grateful! Thanks for your easy to follow instructions for newbies like me!!
Hi Kari! You can leave it out but it gives the recipe a really great flavor that I think you’ll enjoy. Sage can be found in smaller canisters too.
It was so delicious and filling! I used milk because i never have half n half and i served it with chicken breast. I will make it again!
Another great, quick dinner go-to! I can’t say enough good things about this recipe especially when trying to mix things up for dinner with making a hearty veg option. It was a perfect way for me to unload on some fresh herbs I had on hand and I swapped the fetuccini noodles out for egg noodles since that is what I had hanging in the pantry. The meal came out just as advertised – creamy, herby, and savory. Thanks for sharing!
Happy to hear it Nikki!
We love everything we’ve made on this site! Hubby and I have each made this several times and it always turns out amazing. Plus, our 2 toddlers are OBSESSED with this! We’ve even had their friends gobble it up when we don’t mention the mushrooms 😂
Ha great work Megan! Thanks for sharing!
YUM! Made this tonight with my roommate and it was SO good. We added a couple splashes of balsamic vinegar with the broth and it turned out amazingly. Topped with parmesan and paired with peas too – really tasty. Will be making again!
Oooh I’ll have to try the balsamic next time.
Hi, this recipe looks amazing but I couldn’t try it yet because of the half and half. They don’t sell it in the country I’m living. Is it possible to replace it with milk?
This is months later, but I just made this with milk because I didn’t have half and half and it’s amazing – go for it!
Thanks Roxanne!
I think this is my favorite budget bytes recipe, and I have many in my rotation! I’m so-so on mushrooms, but this really rocked. I used baby Bella mushrooms, and slightly less half and half than the recipe called for, but otherwise followed the directions. It turned out very rich without being too heavy and the earthy mushroom flavor was mild. We all went back for seconds.
I’m reviewing this website for an english project and I chose this recipe to make. I am beyond impressed!
We’ve made this one a couple of times and really loved it. I was thinking about mixing it up a bit, though–are there any veggies you can think of that we could add to this without interfering too much with flavor/texture?
baby spinach!
Oh my, my tummy started rumbling reading this! Love mushrooms, and love a rich creamy sauce to my pasta. Great recipe!
Simply STUNNING!! doesn’t save very well but I basically ate the whole thing in one sitting. I LOVE MUSHROOMS !!!!! amazing stunning cheap will eat again when my body can handle all that dairy.
This was the first recipe I’ve tried on the website. It was excellent. Well done!
This is SO good! I made this for dinner last night and there were no leftovers. My husband even loved it, and he usually doesn’t like mushroom heavy dishes, unless there’s some kind of meat involved. I forgot to get half & half at the store, so I just subbed with more broth and it turned out great (although I think it would have been even better with the half & half) Really filling, easy to make, and super tasty!
I replaced the half-and-half with more broth, and it still turned out delicious. The flour and butter step adds all the creaminess you need. Great recipe.
I only had rice noodles, so I made the recipe with those, which wasn’t that good that night. However, the leftovers were delicious. Great recipe!
This was absolutely delicious! A great comfort food meal that was pretty easy to make for a weeknight meal or at home date night. I normally never comment on recipes, but I can’t say enough good things about Budget Bytes; I think this was my favorite recipe yet. I did go easy on the sage and thyme, though.
I honestly didn’t like this one. I messed up the part with the whisking, so I didn’t get all of the flour properly dissolved. Even excluding the texture issue I had, I didn’t like the flavor of the sauce. The flavor of sage and thyme in a cream sauce just didn’t taste good to me.
This was delicious! I had some leftover poached chicken breast that just happened to have a thyme seasoning, so I cut it up and added it. Also, I accidentally grabbed linguine instead of fettuccine but it made no difference.
IDK My cat sitter showed up and I felt compelled to give it to her as I was so grateful for her watching the kitties. She keeps asking me for the recipe, though and I gave her your site address She said it was really good and she’s not even vegetarian
This was delicious, thanks! The only modification I made was to add a bit of lemon zest (0.5 tbsp) to give it a “fresh” kick. Yummy!!
Just delicious and so easy. I appreciate the detailed instructions and how they come after the initial recipe. Also appreciate you saying how much salt you personally used. Whenever I see “salt to taste” I’m like “Just give me a ballpark figure!”
I am diabetic, and other family members have tomato allergies, so I thought I’d try this. Do you have anywhere the total nutrition information for your recipes? I am planning to do this this weekend. I just was wondering how much is a portion size?
Delicious! Even without the thyme (I’m out). This is the first recipe of yours I’ve tried but I have a few more marked to try in the weeks to come. I love that you have so many vegetarian recipes on your site, and your directions are so easy to follow. Thank you!
Hey Beth! Would I be able to substitute whole wheat flour or cornstarch in place of the all purpose flour (that’s all I’ve got around the house)?
Love all of your recipes!
Well, whole wheat flour will make this pretty gritty, so I wouldn’t suggest that. Cornstarch doesn’t really brown the same way flour does, so you’ll be missing some of that flavor. Also, cornstarch produces clear, glaze-like thickened liquids, whereas flour makes a nice opaque mixture once thickened.
Made this for the first time for a late Sunday lunch/dinner. My wife just came home from 5K in 20 degree weather and we both love pasta.
Really terrific, we both loved it.
Awesome, I tried this recipe today and loved it, added onions an, green, red peppers in addition to everything else. Loved it!
I have to tell you!! I used the sauce for the broccoli bake at thanksgiving this year. It was ahhhmazing! Subbed the veggie broth for more half and half. I’ll never use cream of crap ever again!
Hi! Quick question—could this be made without the sage? That’s not usually something I have on hand but I don’t want to ruin the recipe by excluding it!
This site has introduced to me to cooking On my college and I’m so grateful! Thanks for your easy to follow instructions for newbies like me!!
Just made this, yum!
Bulked it up with 1/2 a leftover rotisserie chicken, two diced Roma tomatoes and a handful or two of spinach.
Loved this. I used commercial mushroom stock and threw in some frozen spinach. It was so rich and creamy. I got at least 6 servings out of this so I might use 10 oz of pasta next time.
Wonderful! I sauteed some chicken cubes before adding the mushrooms and added three chopped green onions as well. I love the sauce, this is going to go on to my regular roster.
I really like pasta and you took it to another level. Cant wait to try these later. Thanks
I love your blog and have tried several recipes. I’m definitely going to try this but I plan on substituting the half and half with plain Greek Nonfat yogurt. :)
Made this and it was really good. Didn’t have fettuccine so used PENNE. Also used almond milk. Very good!
Omg I love pasta, and I like the way you did it.
Thank you for the good recipe.
I make my own chicken broth and don’t salt it. I found that after adding a full teaspoon of salt to this recipe that it still needed more after I plated it. Just a heads up for people who use unsalted broth. It was very good – my two-year-old twins gobbled it up! I also added a bit of chicken to mine. Will definitely add this to my future meal plans. :)
Followed exactly and added leftover chicken. Delicious!!!
If you were going to add meat, say chicken or fish, how would you go about doing it?
Fish would be tricky because it’s so easy to over cook (and I don’t think the flavor would be quite right with this). But for chicken you could dice it up and sauté it before the mushrooms, then continue on as directed.
WOW! This was absolutely delicious! Exactly what I was in the mood for. I substituted the vegetable broth for chicken broth (that’s what I had on hand at home) and I think that it worked just great! Also added spinach which was about to go bad. Will make some again!
Fantastic mid-week dish.
Used chicken stock instead and subbedcreme fraiche instead of half and half.
Keeps me craving for more! :)
Is there anything that I can sub the half and half with? Would almond milk work?
Unfortunately I don’t think that will work. You really need something high fat to make the sauce really creamy. I’m not sure if you were trying to avoid dairy or not, but sour cream or cream cheese might also work.
I ended up just using the half and half and it was absolutely delicious! So easy and filling! I have made the majority of your vegetarian pasta dishes and I am always very happy with how they turn out. I love your blog, thank you very much for your response!
Tasty fall dish. Worth making. I used trader joe’s black bean rotini instead of pasta to make it healthier. I used chicken broth instead of vegetable broth because that’s what I had.
Thanks so much for another delicious meal! I didn’t have all ingredients on hand and subbed goat cheese for the 1/2 n 1/2 as we are dairy free. Just wanted to share feedback in case there are other dairy free folks wanting to try this. Two words- MAKE THIS! Served to friends who eat creamy cheesy things all the time- they loved it too! It felt decadent to get to eat something so yummy and ‘creamy’. Thank you Beth!
quick question-At this time of year we pick wild mushrooms in the woods behind our house. My husband has been doing this since he was old enough to walk and so knows which ones to pick and which to leave alone. No danger, however, I am wondering if they would be good in this recipe. They are much more “chewy” than regular cultivated and have a very earthy taste.
Wow, you’re so lucky! I bet they’re super delicious. Honestly, having not ever tried those types of mushrooms I really can’t say if it would work or not. :(
I just made this with chanterelles and porcinis and it was really delicious!
How perfect for a meatless meal! Mushrooms are one of my favorites veggies, but a great substitute for meat, too. Thanks for sharing!
This was SO yummy! Because of your mention of Thanksgiving, I added a lb of fresh green beans cut into 1″ pieces. I’ll never make a green bean casserole again!
I so did exactly this a few years ago when I had that sauce left-over from a Holiday dinner and some 15 % cream :-) It’s great, isn’t it? I totally can’t stop myself from licking the wooden spoon when I make this.
Hahah, glad I’m not the only one! :D
Love it! I happened to have everything on hand and wanted to make pasta tonight! I did make one small addition, which totally isn’t needed as it’s delicious anyway- I did a cup of vegetable stock and a half cup of dry white wine. Love all of your recipes and happy you posted this tonight so I could make it. Thank you!