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Creamy lion’s mane mushroom pasta combines the earthy flavors of lion’s mane mushrooms with the comforting goodness of pasta in a creamy, silky sauce that coats every morsel of this dish. You’ll love the harmony of textures and flavors that make you wish you made more!
Alright, it seems like we have come full circle now with lion’s mane mushrooms. I’ve educated you on what lion’s mane mushroom is, I’ve given you a simple recipe if you’re just starting out exploring the culinary side of it, and now, I’ve taken that simple recipe and incorporated it into this creamy lion’s mane mushroom pasta.
Picture this: tender lion’s mane mushrooms sautéed to perfection in butter, thyme, and garlic then tossing it into a creamy al dente pasta dish to create a symphony of savory, cozy goodness. I mean, seriously — it’s super dreamy and you’ll want to slurp it right up.
Why You’ll Love This
- Unique and flavorful: I like that this specific recipe allows you to explore lion’s mane mushrooms and for you to experiment ways to elevate your flavor profile. This dish has a distinctive taste and texture that will leave your taste buds wanting more.
- Quick and easy: It truly is so quick and easy to cook with mushrooms. They last up to two weeks in the refrigerator, are low-maintenance, and are super easy to cook. Just chop them up and they’re ready to go!
- Health and nutritional benefits: Even though research and studies are still fairly new, lion’s mane mushrooms are in fact known for their potential cognitive and immune-boosting properties (source). So, not only do you get a tasty dish, you may even get some health benefits to boot!
Ingredients You’ll Need
Creamy pasta dreams are made of these! Here’s what you’ll need to make lion’s mane mushroom pasta. Make sure to scroll down to view the full recipe for exact measurements.
- Pasta – I used bucatini for this as it’s my favorite long pasta but you can use regular spaghetti or linguine if you can’t find bucatini.
- Butter
- Garlic
- Onion
- Thyme
- Heavy cream
- Lion’s mane mushroom
- Parmesan cheese
How To Make Lion’s Mane Mushroom Pasta
Here is a general overview of the steps involved to make mushroom pasta. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this post for the full recipe.
Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the bucatini pasta according to the directions on the package. Be sure to save at least 1 cup of pasta water before draining!
Sauté the aromatics. In a cast iron skillet, melt butter then sauté onion and garlic until fragrant. Add thyme sprigs to the mixture and let flavors cook together.
Add the mushrooms and cream. Add all the mushrooms and cream to the skillet. Allow the cream to simmer a bit then add the pasta to the skillet.
Finish the pasta. Toss the pasta in all the ingredients and add a little of the saved pasta water to the skillet to thin out the sauce, if needed. Finish with parmesan cheese and toss to incorporate. Prior to serving, remove the sprigs of thyme from the dish and discard.
Recipe Tips, Substitutions, and Variations
- Not making the mushrooms ahead of time? If you aren’t making my Simple Lion’s Mane Mushroom Recipe ahead of time, no worries. You’ll just add all the mushrooms to the skillet before the cream and pasta gets added in. You’ll just have cook the mushrooms down since it’s quite a lot!
- Prefer something lighter? Use half and half instead of the heavy cream or use whole milk or 2% milk. It won’t be as creamy but as long as you’re ok with that, then making the swap will be fine.
- Save that pasta water! I love the starchy pasta water and I always reserve at least a cup when I’m making any pasta dish. It helps loosen up the sauce without completely loosening it up, if you know what I mean. The pasta water helps it retain its thickness because of the starch in the water.
- Add some alcohol. If you are able to have alcohol, a splash of white wine in the sauce would be an excellent flavor booster!
- Keep your garlic whole. Keeping your garlic whole (but smashed) helps it not burn but still gives it the same garlic flavor in your dish.
Storage and Reheating Instructions
To reheat, this pasta dish can be reheated in the microwave with a splash or more of water or reserved pasta water (if you kept it). Alternatively, you can do the same in the skillet on the stovetop.
What to Serve with Creamy Lions Mane Mushroom Pasta
Pasta is always best served with some side dishes to really maximize the meal. I personally love extra carbs like bread to sop up the sauce but vegetables are a great alternative as well. Here are some ideas:
- Bread. Garlic Herb Parker House Rolls and Extra Garlicky and Cheesy Bread would be my picks!
- Vegetables. Roasted Vegetables, Roasted Parmesan Broccoli, Crazy Roasted Cauliflower Recipe, and Best Ever Roasted Potatoes would be stellar compliments to this pasta dish.
Creamy Lion’s Mane Mushroom Pasta
Equipment
Ingredients
- 10 ounces (284 g) bucatini pasta
- 1 tablespoon (14 g) butter
- 5 cloves garlic, smashed
- 1 large onion, diced
- 6 sprigs fresh thyme
- 220 grams lions mane mushrooms, see notes below
- ½ cup (118 ml) heavy cream
- ½ cup (50 g) grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta according to the directions on the package. Be sure to save at least 1 cup of pasta water before draining!
- In a cast iron skillet, melt butter then sauté onion and garlic until fragrant. Add thyme sprigs to the mixture and let flavors cook together.
- Add all the mushrooms and cream to the skillet. Allow the cream to simmer a bit then add the pasta to the skillet.
- Toss the pasta in all the ingredients and add a little of the saved pasta water to the skillet to thin out the sauce, if needed. Finish with parmesan cheese and stir to incorporate. Prior to serving, remove thyme sprigs and discard.
- Garnish with extra parmesan cheese and cracked black pepper.
Really great recipe especially with fresh made pasta! I did miss one thing though. It’s not mentioned in the recipe (only in the write up ahead of the recipe) that the lions mane mushrooms are to be cooked ahead of time.
thanks for the feedback!! i’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Yes! The instructions should be revised to make this clear. Anyone who jumps to the recipe will miss that. This was our first time with lions mane and it was a little weird since it probably should have been sauteed — that wouldn’t happen just adding them to the cream.
thank you so much for your feedback, Polly! I will be absolutely be adding this to the recipe card. However, as you mentioned, the information is in the blog post and you chose to skip it. If this was my first time using lion’s mane I would’ve personally reviewed that helpful information before starting. I spend a lot of time crafting my blog posts to be helpful and informational! i hope you give lion’s mane another try! :)