mushroom alfredo pasta

Creamy Mushroom Alfredo Pasta

This quick and easy one pot Creamy Mushroom Alfredo Pasta is my go-to comfort food recipe when I’m craving something decadent, and I’m also feeling lazy to spend hours in the kitchen. With the pasta boiled, this barely takes 10 minutes to come together and I cannot begin to tell you how delicious and filling it turns out to be. You have to try for yourself. 

As a devotee of mushrooms, I love experimenting with it and coming up with recipes that fill me up with joy. Strictly for mushroom lovers, this fusilli cooked to perfection folded in luscious creamy mushroom Alfredo sauce with just the right amount of seasoning, cheese (because cheese makes everything perfect!) and delicious aroma filling the air around your kitchen is everything you’re going to need to turn your boring dinner nights and Sunday brunches tedious and boring to fun and lip-smacking! 

How to cook the perfect pasta every single time!

No one likes a plate of mushy broken pasta, and so, while it is important put in our best efforts in perfecting the sauce, where the entire flavour lies, it is also extremely important to boil the pasta to perfection. It is not rocket science, just a few basic steps and you’ll have yourself perfectly cooked pasta every single time: 

Bring sufficient water to a roaring boil

It is very important to have enough water in the pan to properly drown the pasta- Lesser volume of water may result into it getting extremely starchy; and bring it to a roaring boil before adding your pasta- the boiling water agitates the pasta pieces, thus helping them cook more evenly, keep them separated from one another and avoid clumps.

Add salt to boiling water

A very common mistake a lot of people make is adding oil to their pasta water in order to keep them from sticking to one another. However, this is completely false, as the only thing that can keep pasta from sticking is ample amount of water and a rolling boil, and hence is a waste of oil. Adding salt to the pasta water ensures that the pieces/strands of pasta do not remain bland while the only flavour and seasoning is in the sauce, because no one likes to bite into pasta that has all the flavors in the sauce and none into those pasta pieces.

mushroom alfredo pasta

Save the pasta water

Saving a couple ladles of pasta water goes a long way. Not only does the salty pasta water help flavour your sauce, it also plays a major role, along with butter and olive oil, to bring that glossy magical finish to your pasta. In this recipe, the saline pasta water plays a major role in making the sauce thick and creamy!

Cook according to pack instructions

There is no universal rule to cook the perfect pasta, it completely depends on the brand or product you are using and it is advisable to cook as per the packet instructions; especially timing. The most common way to cook pasta is till al dente, which loosely translates to “to the bite/tooth”, means almost cooked but not completely cooked. However, the above tips ensure getting the perfectly cooked pasta every single time. 

Ingredients in This Creamy Mushroom Alfredo Pasta

As mentioned before, this recipe calls for the most basic and minimal ingredients. Let’s take a look at the key ingredients:

Mushrooms

As the name of the recipe suggests, mushroom is the star ingredient of this recipe. It is strictly for mushroom lovers because the savoury, earthy flavour of it dominates all the other flavours of the sauce for this pasta. You can use any kind of mushroom or a combination of the same. I’ve used button mushrooms for this recipe which is very easily and abundantly available around where I live and would be for most of you as well.

mushroom alfredo pasta

The finely chopped mushrooms impart the maximum flavour to the sauce. One word of caution while cooking the mushrooms – do not salt them right in the beginning and do not touch them too much. These two tips ensure that the mushrooms turn crispy and not soggy. 

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) and Butter

Butter is a key ingredient in any kind of Alfredo sauce. Paring it up with extra virgin olive oil elevates your dish by providing a bitter and fruity flavour to your pasta; increase the richness of the sauce as well as increasing the health co-efficient because extra virgin olive oil is probably the healthiest fat in the world.

Fusilli

A variety of pasta formed into corkscrew or helical shape, fusilli is used with cold salads with creamier dressing or with thick sauces as the twisted shape holds more flavour and sauce and is also aesthetically pleasing. Where I prefer fusilli with this pasta recipe as it soaks up the piquant mushroom flavours of this thick and creamy sauce really well, you can use any pasta of your choice. Fettuccini and Penne are other great choices for pastas in Alfredo sauce.

mushroom alfredo pasta

mushroom alfredo pasta

Here’s the recipe:

Let’s take a look at the recipe.

Preparation time – 20 minutes

Cook time – 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 300 g fusilli pasta
  • 30 ml extra virgin olive oil
  • 15 g butter
  • 15 g garlic, finely chopped 
  • 100 g red onions, finely chopped
  • 200 g button mushrooms, finely chopped
  • 4 g black pepper powder
  • 15 g dried basil
  • 100 ml fresh cream
  • 100 g grated cheese
  • Salt to taste 

Directions

  1. To a pan, heat extra virgin olive oil and butter.
  2. Add the finely chopped garlic and sweat it. Do not brown.
  3. Only the garlic is golden on the edges, add the finely chopped red onions and sauté till translucent.
  4. Add the finely chopped Mushrooms and let it cook, stirring occasionally.
  5. Season with some black pepper powder, give it a good mix.
  6. Add the dried basil and cook till the mushrooms are properly done.
  7. Throw in the saline pasta water that we saved, and mix.
  8. Add the fresh cream, mix well and cook for a few minutes.
  9. Adjust the seasoning at this point.
  10.  Throw in the cooked fusilli and mix well. 
  11.  Add in more pasta water and cook to adjust the creaminess and the consistency of the sauce as per preference.
  12.  Mix in some grated cheese and take it off the heat.
  13.  Enjoy hot with some freshly baked garlic bread! 

mushroom alfredo pasta

mushroom alfredo pasta

Recipe Notes:

As letting the cooked pasta sit out for too long is not advisable, boiling the pasta simultaneously while making the sauce can be a good way to go about it. Since most pasta sauces take about 5 minutes to cook, you should put the pasta to boil slightly before starting up your sauce.

Try this mushroom alfredo pasta out if you’re a die-hard mushroom fan just like me!

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