Portobello Mushroom Pappardelle
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This is a quick and easy vegetarian pasta recipe — mushroom pappardelle pasta in a savory sauce (ragu!) thick with chunky portobello mushrooms and rosemary. The meaty-tasting portobello mushroom sauce combined with ribbons of al dente cooked pasta noodles make this a very satisfying plate, and you can make it on the fly!
I would describe the sauce as inspired by a traditional ragu or Italian meat sauce, only it doesn’t use any meat at all.
Portobello mushrooms with pasta
Portobello mushrooms have abundant earthy, woodsy flavors. I love the way they match up with the piney, aromatic fresh rosemary, garlic cloves and red pepper. The caps are big and meaty, which means portobellos are great for stuffing, as well as roasting with garlic and herbs.
And with pasta, a thick mushroom ragu is a best friend with pappardelle — the flat, wide strands coil and curl easily around a fork, catching all the juices and chunky bits of sauce. Yum!
I used to work in a produce market in high school, I still remember learning that portobello mushrooms (or portabellas) are simply the adult versions of cremini mushrooms. It seemed pretty interesting! They’re cultivated a bit longer, until they’re 3-4 inches in diameter.
How to prep portobello mushrooms:
- Choose firm mushrooms with unbroken caps. The underside of the mushrooms, or the gills, should be tight, dry and light brown in color.
- Wipe the mushrooms gently with a towel if they seem dirty — don’t soak them in water or they’ll become soggy.
- Yes, you can eat the gills of portobello mushrooms. But if they look very dark in color and moist (verging on slimy) you can feel free to remove them or they might make the sauce murky.
- If the gills are moist and/or turning black, scoop them out with a spoon and discard before slicing and cooking over medium-high heat.
Portobello Mushroom Pappardelle
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons (45 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 medium shallots, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced (about 2 ounces each)
- Kosher salt
- 3 (350 g) portobello mushroom caps (10 -12 ounces), sliced into 1-inch pieces
- 8 ounces (225 g) pappardelle pasta, fresh or dried
- 1 garlic clove, finely sliced
- 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 2 tablespoons (30 g) tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons (30 g) unsalted butter
- 1 chunk (50 g) Parmigiano Reggiano or Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Put the oil, shallots and a pinch of salt in a large skillet and place over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until the shallots are softened, but not browned.
- Add the mushrooms to the pan. Cook the mushrooms for a few minutes until they take on some color, then stir and add ½ teaspoon salt. Continue cooking until the mushrooms become tender and their liquid evaporates.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and add 2 tablespoons kosher salt. Cook the pasta until al dente, according to the package directions. Scoop out and reserve ¾ cup of the pasta water, then drain the pasta.
- Add the garlic, rosemary, red pepper, tomato paste, vinegar and butter to the mushrooms. Add ½ cup of the pasta water and stir over medium heat until the mixture becomes saucy. Add the pasta to the pan and toss gently with tongs to coat with the sauce, adding more water if it seems too dry. Taste for seasoning.
- Shave curls of Parmigiano cheese over the pasta with a vegetable peeler and serve.
Karen’s Notes and Tips
- Any leftover pasta and sauce will keep up to 3 days in the refrigerator.
- The sauce coats up to 8 ounces of pasta. If you’d enjoy larger servings or are cooking one pound of pasta, add one more shallot and 1-2 additional portobellos. Increase the sauce by doubling the tomato paste, balsamic vinegar and butter. Add up to 1 cup of the pasta water.
Nutrition per serving
Nutrition facts are calculated by third-party software. If you have specific dietary needs, please refer to your favorite calculator.
Hey, I’m Karen
Creator of Familystyle Food
I’m a food obsessed super-taster and professionally trained cook ALL about creating elevated dinners with everyday ingredients. Find simplified recipes made from scratch and enjoy incredibly tasty food! Read more about me here.
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Hi, I’m wondering if I can use dry rosemary?
Hi Kary – Yes, you can. I suggest giving it a sniff to be sure it smells good. Dried rosemary can get stale pretty quickly! Otherwise, you might try fresh or dried thyme.
Hello,
The looks wonderful. I am making this for my book club tomorrow evening. Could it benefit from addition of some wine? I feel nearly everything saucy is better with wine.
Thank you.
You betcha! A dry red or white wine would work very well for the sauce. Add about 1/4 cup in step 4 along with the vinegar and butter. Let it boil and reduce for a few minutes before adding the pasta water. I hope you enjoy!
Thank you so much! I’ll post after the evening.
This was a hit with my book club tonight. One member is vegetarian so we stick to those menus. It was savory, silky and delicious. The only change I made was addition of some white wine. I’ll make this again and again.
Very tasty. Took a bit of time to organize and get started but other than that I would totally make this again. My husband and my son loved it! We added leftovers to this that we needed to use up (rotisserie chicken, cannellini beans and broccoli). All worked well!
So easy and yummy!
Everyone will love this!
Delicious recipe, great taste. I used fresh lasagna leaves cut in 4 strokes for pasta. Made it yummy
This was excellent exactly as written. I read others reviews and several said the rosemary was overpowering, so I used half, I ended up adding the rest. I didn’t think the rosemary was overpowering at all. It was perfect and delicious!
I also love the rosemary flavor. I’m so happy you enjoyed it Deanna!
I am not really a fan of rosemary but others are, so I used it anyway and did not find it overpowering.
I love this recipe! It’s easy, yet tastes so fancy. A great way to impress your guests. My husband and I made fresh pasta on Christmas Eve and I served it with this mushroom ragu and a fresh sala-divine!
I did love this recipe, my husband did as well! So much, in fact, that I’m making it our Christmas dinner this year 😊
Very tasty! I am definitely a rosemary lover; however, it was very over powering. Next time I would add less rosemary and double the sauce, as it was very dry, but it is definitely a keeper!
Made this recipe for the second time today. I cut back on the rosemary, because it dominates the flavor. All in all a great recipe that everyone enjoyed.
Great recipe! Thank you! Made it to go with my homemade sourdough pasta which I rolled and cut as pappardelle for this recipe. Omg everything was chef kiss 🤌🏼 PERFECT!!!!!
Wow!! I love your homemade pasta. So happy you enjoyed it!
Looking forward to making the portabella pappardelle recipe.
Hello. I love the Pappardelle Pasta with Portobello Mushroom Ragu. Thank you for sharing this great qnd easy recipe. I am struggling a bit as I am not able to cook a decent amount of juicy sauce to stick to the pasta. Mushrooms taste great, but sauce, which should bone used to bind with the pasta, is often scarce. Can you explain how can I produce more sauce? Thank you!
Hi Jose, If you want a saucier sauce, stir in a bit more of the pasta water than the recipe calls for until it’s the consistency you enjoy. I hope that helps!
I made this for my family and it was a hit! My son is saving this as a new family recipe. Thank you for sharing this recipe! Love it!
WOW! This is a special dish. Echo what previous commenters have posted in that the recipe is perfection as written. I did struggle somewhat with the noodle. The pappardelle was woven into tight bundles resembling birds nests and took extra time and babysitting to unfurl than the package directions indicated. As a result, I pulled the mushrooms off the heat for a few while dealing with the noodles. Only mentioning this in case anyone else is a pappardelle newbie like me. That being said, they are the perfect noodle for this dish. Mangia bene!
So easy and so good. I will definitely be making this again. Made it exactly as written. I don’t think I could improve on it.
Rarely after making a recipe the first time do I not think about how I would change something. Nope, this recipe is perfect !
LOVE LOVE LOVE this recipe. I also added a little chicken (2 small tenders cut into small pieces like the mushrooms) and it was delicious. I also add quite a bit more of the balsamic vinegar since we love the taste of it. I have made this a few times and it is always enjoyed by my family!
Made a vegan version and it’s now one of our favorite dinners. This is so good!
Easy and absolutely delicious. Thank you for such a great recipe