Fresh green peas are currently in season, and in today’s recipe, I am putting them to good use with this creamy mushroom and pea pasta recipe. This quick and easy recipe is flavored with shiitake mushrooms, blanched peas, fresh thyme, and dollops of ricotta cheese.
Similar to my Caprese Pasta Salad with Pesto, Garlic Butter Noodles, Spinach Artichoke Pasta Bake, and Eggplant Pomodoro Pasta recipes, it can be served by itself as a vegetarian meal or with simple roasted chicken breasts for dinner.
Ingredients:
To make this peas and mushroom pasta recipe, you will need unsalted butter, shiitake mushrooms, garlic, flour, white wine, vegetable broth, heavy cream, peas, and ricotta cheese.
A couple of helpful notes on ingredients:
- Pasta: I used spaghetti, but I also like to make this pappardelle pasta. With that being said, you can use any pasta you have on hand.
- Mushrooms: I used shiitake mushrooms, but baby Bella or white button mushrooms would also work. If you need a refresher on how to clean them, be sure to check out my post on how to clean shiitake mushrooms.
We are cooking the mushrooms as we make the recipe but you can also use Roasted Shiitake Mushrooms or even Portobello Mushrooms Baked in the oven. - Peas: I used blanched peas, but you can also use frozen peas.
- Stock: It wouldn’t be a vegetarian pasta dish, but you can also use chicken stock.
How To Make:
This creamy mushroom ricotta pasta recipe comes together in a few easy steps. Simply:
- Cook the pasta: Fill a large pot with water and a generous amount of salt. Bring it to a boil and cook pasta according to the package instructions. Save 1 cup of the pasta water and drain the rest.
- Cook shiitake mushrooms and garlic: Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add in the mushrooms and cook for 3-4 minutes or until they are softened. Stir in the garlic and cook, stirring constantly for 30 seconds.
- Add in the flour: Stir in 2 tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon of flour. Cook, stirring constantly until the butter is fully melted and the mushrooms are coated with flour, a minute or so.
- Pour in the liquid: Stir in the wine and scrape the bottom bits (if there are any) as it reduces. Pour in the vegetable broth, heavy cream, fresh (or dried) thyme, salt, pepper, and cook until the sauce thickens, 7-8 minutes.
- Stir in the peas: Stir the peas into the sauce and let them cook for 1-2 minutes. Add this point you should have a silky and creamy mushroom and pea sauce.
- Add the spaghetti: Add the pasta into the sauce and give it a toss making sure that the pasta is thoroughly coated with the sauce and the peas and mushrooms are evenly distributed.
- Garnish and serve: Sprinkle it with the lemon zest and fresh thyme leaves. Top it off with dollops of ricotta cheese and serve.
Pro tip: As it is with most pasta recipes, this creamy mushroom and pea pasta might dry out as it sits. If that happens, feel free to use a little bit of the reserved pasta liquid to make it nice and moist.
Variations:
While I love this veggie-packed pasta recipe that I shared here, you can make a few adjustments to make it work for your taste buds. Here are a few that I personally tried:
- No Cream, no problem: If you prefer this recipe without cream, you can simply omit using it. Instead, use ¼ cup more vegetable broth.
- Turn it into a creamy mushroom asparagus pasta: Sometimes, I make a version of this with sauteed asparagus by simply using asparagus instead of peas.
- Add in animal protein: Add in sliced baked chicken breasts or thinly sliced prosciutto at the last minute.
- Stir in 2 cups of baby spinach leaves: If you are like me, a fan of mushrooms and spinach, you can add baby spinach leaves into the sauce and cook it for 2 minutes before adding in the pasta.
How To Store:
As with most pasta recipes, this mushroom pea pasta will be best on the day it is made. However, you can store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
When ready to serve, place it in a pot and add in ¼ to ½ cups of water and warm thoroughly. If it starts to stick to the pan, feel free to use more water as needed.
Other Pasta Recipes You Might Also Like:
- Mexican Corn Pasta Salad
- Tomato Basil Mozzarella Pasta
- Ricotta Lemon Pasta
- Eggplant Spaghetti
- Baked Eggplant Pasta
- Spinach Artichoke Pasta Bake
Pasta with Mushrooms and Peas Recipe
Ingredients
For the Pasta:
- 8 oz. spaghetti
- Water
- Salt
Mushroom and Peas Sauce:
- 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter, divided
- 10 oz. shiitake mushrooms, wiped and sliced
- 2 small cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
- ⅓ cup white wine
- 1 ¼ cups vegetable broth
- ¼ cup of heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, plus more for garnish
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 ½ cups of peas, blanched or frozen
- Zest of a lemon
- ½ cup ricotta cheese
Instructions
- Cook the pasta in salted boiling water according to the package instructions. Save 1 cup of the pasta water and drain the rest.
- To make the mushroom pea sauce: Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add in the mushrooms and cook for 3-4 minutes or until they are softened. Stir in the garlic and cook stirring constantly for 30 seconds.
- Add in the rest of the (2 tablespoons) butter and 1 tablespoon of all purpose flour. Cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.
- Stir in the wine and scrape the bottom bits (if there are any) as it reduces. Stir in the vegetable broth, heavy cream, thyme, salt and pepper and cook until the sauce thickens, 7-8 minutes.
- Stir in the peas into the sauce and let them cook for 1 minute.
- Add in the now-cooked pasta into the sauce and give it a gentle toss making sure that the sauce is equally distributed throughout the dish.
- Sprinkle it with the lemon zest and fresh thyme leaves. Top it off with dollops of ricotta cheese before serving.
Notes
- A couple of helpful notes on the ingredients:
-
- Pasta: I used spaghetti but I also like to make this pappardelle pasta. With that being said, you can use any pasta you have on hand.
- Mushrooms: I used shiitake mushrooms but baby bella or white button mushrooms would also work.
- Peas: I used blanched peas but you can also use frozen peas.A couple of helpful notes on the ingredients:
- Stock: It wouldn’t be a vegetarian pasta dish but you can also use chicken stock.
- How to store leftovers? As it is with most pasta recipes, this mushroom pea pasta will be best on the day it is made. However, you can store leftovers in an airtight container up to 2 days. When ready to serve, place it in a pot and add in ¼ to ½ cups of water and warm thoroughly. If it starts to stick to the pan feel free to use more water as needed.
- Use the reserved pasta liquid as necessary: As it is with most pasta recipes, this creamy mushroom and pea pasta might dry out as it sits. If that happens, feel free to use a little bit of the reserved pasta liquid to make it nice and moist.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Will be making this soon can i use vegan butter and vegan ricotta as dairy butter and ghee makes me vomit and i dont like dairy ricotta can i skip peas as am not a big fan of them i love pasta and mushrooms soooooooooooo much will tag you on twitter if i make this Thanks Ramya
YAY! That sounds like a plan. Can’t wait to see your creation.
Such a fresh, beautiful tangle of noodles! I’m on a total pasta kick this summer, and I’d love to try this with tofu or cashew ricotta.
Hi Gena!
I am a pasta lover too. I bet this pasta dish would be delicious with cashew ricotta. 🙂 Thank you for stopping by my friend.
Great recipe and gorgeous photos. Well done.
Hi there!
This pasta is a favorite in our house, for sure. It is easy to make and somewhat healthy because it is made with brown rice pasta.
I hope you’ll get a chance to give it a try sometime.
Thanks for stopping by!
I’m not a mushroom lover but this looks so good! Brown rice pasta saved me due to my wheat allergies. I did the same and made a pasta dish with it and told my husband after he ate it and now that’s all we eat. The best part is I don’t gain weight from it like I do with wheat. I look forward to more of your pasta recipes!
Ha ha.. Isn’t it funny though? We are all trying to trick our husbands to eat healthy..
We are big brown rice pasta fans over here too. Thank goodness! 😉 My husband, too, couldn’t tell the difference the first time we tried it. It’s so nice to still be able to eat the same pasta together even though only one of us is gluten-free.
This combination sounds delicious and I love that you’ve lowered the cream factor!
Thank you Tessa. Hooray for Brown rice pasta!! 🙂
This pasta looks incredible, Aysegul! I love that you used ricotta too <3
Thank you Beeta!
Oh my what a delicious recipe, Aysegul! I’m a late comer to brown rice pasta too.. I’ve not tried it, but I’ll be on the look out for it. Those peas! Nothing like peas and pasta. I absolutely love the flavor and textures your included, especially mushrooms and peas! Thank you for sharing your photography and styling props! I headed to Etsy to foodieboards and wow! Gorgeous work. I’ve been looking for some beautiful boards for props…. my eye is on one walnut board. Gorgeous! xo
Hey Traci. Yes, mushrooms and peas are a great combination. I hope you will like brown rice pasta as much as we did.
The foodieboards is great. I have two and I love them.
Cheers my dear.
Mushrooms, peas, ricotta, and wine are such a lovely combination and I would happily have a plate of this any day. Brown rice pasta is always welcome at the dinner table here too. And I always swoon over your styling and props so I love the tips you added to the end of the post. 🙂
Oh Emily… It makes me so happy to hear that I can help in some shape or form.
We are new to the brown rice pasta scene, but I do not think that we’ll ever go back. Okay, perhaps not that much, but in the mean time it is our favorite.
Thank you my friend. Hope you are well. <3
Thank you for all the photo info. on this post, Ice. It’s really nice to see your process. And all your photos are wonderful. I clicked over to the picture pantry and am even more intrigued. LOVE LOVE LOVE
About this dish, I am glad you introduce me to the brown rice pasta. I need to try it. Plus when you serve it with one of my favorite ingredients, mushroom, how can I resist?
Oh Pang.. I have been going through some of my old posts lately and feeling so SO embarrassed with some of the photos I took in the past. I feel like I need to redo all of them, but then I feel like it is a part of my past that I should embrace.
Picture Pantry is a good source of income for me. I look at it as one of those smart passive income resources. I take the photos for the blog, right? Might as well offer them to people who are in need of stock photography. Not sure if you are working with someone, but I would highly recommend working with them.
Yes, brown rice pasta is awesome. Try it and please create some magical pasta recipes with your incredible styling so that I can drool over them. 🙂
Sending lot of hugs to SF!
I feel the same about my past photos, sooo embarrassed! I am redoing them because I feel the recipe deserves to have the best photos. But I understand leaving it in the past too.
So true. I think it is important (also) to show your progress to people. We all have to start from somewhere, no?
Thank you my friend. 🙂
This is true 😀