Miso Mushroom Pasta

on Feb 17, 2025

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This miso mushroom pasta is one of those easy weeknight dinner recipes that’s worthy of a weekend too. After simmering the noodles and sautéing the mushrooms with garlic and scallions, you melt white miso paste, a little butter and some of the starchy cooking water to create a super light and creamy sauce. After that you stir in the noodles and mushrooms with parmesan. Serve the pasta with a salad and you have the perfect vegetarian meal.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe
The Ingredients
How To Make Miso Mushroom Pasta
Serving
Leftovers & Storage
Recipe Tips
More Mushroom Recipes
Miso Mushroom Pasta Recipe

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

With just 10 ingredients, this mushroom pasta is an easy vegetarian dinner recipe that delivers on flavor. Miso paste is a one of those special ingredients where a little goes a long way. Big impact with minimal effort.

This miso mushroom pasta is like a grown-up version of buttery noodles. Miso paste, melted butter and the starchy cooking water meld together to create a fast and light sauce that tastes fancy and is simple to make.

If you bought miso paste for one recipe, this pasta is another way to use it. I make a crispy tofu salad with peanut ginger dressing. It doesn’t require all the miso in the container, so then I can use it in this twist on an Italian pasta recipe.

The Ingredients

Ingredients including mushrooms, miso paste, fettuccine, scallions, parmesan, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper.

This is what you need:

Miso paste is a fermented soy bean paste used in Japanese cooking. This recipe calls for white miso paste which ferments for less time than red miso paste, so it isn’t as salty and strong. Miso adds fantastic umami flavor.
Mushrooms: Either baby bella mushrooms or cremini mushrooms are best for this recipe. They are more exciting than white button mushrooms. Take a paper towel and brush off the dirt and then slice the mushrooms. You can also buy mushrooms already sliced.
Pasta: A long shape is good for creamy pasta dishes. Try tagliatelle, fettuccine, bucatini or spaghetti.
Butter gives the sauce richness, but it is still a light creamy mushroom pasta. There is no heavy cream in the recipe. Butter and starchy pasta water are enough to get that silky consistency.
Garlic: I sauté the mushrooms with 3 minced garlic cloves. If you are a garlic lover, you can add another one.
Scallions give the pasta delicate green onion flavor. I like to think of them as a cross between onions and fresh herbs. They are often used in Asian cuisine, so they make a lot of sense with the miso butter sauce. I don’t recommend substituting with another type of onion.
Parmesan: I stir grated parmesan cheese into the pasta. The heat melts it, and then I serve it sprinkled with a little more.
Olive oil: For the best taste, use high quality extra virgin olive oil.
Kosher salt and black pepper season the mushrooms and then that transfers to the pasta.

How To Make Miso Mushroom Pasta

1. Cook the pasta. Bring a big pot of salted water to a boil. Simmer the noodles for 1 minute less than the recommended cook time on the package for al dente noodles. Save 1 cup of the cooking water before draining the pasta.

2. Sauté the mushrooms. Heat a tablespoon of oil over medium high heat in a big skillet or sauté pan. Give them 7-8 minutes to sauté, so the mushrooms release their liquid and start to brown.

Pasta simmering in a pot. Sautéed mushrooms in a large skillet.

3. Stir the white parts of the scallions, minced garlic, salt and pepper in the mushrooms. Continue sautéing for a few minutes until the mushrooms are caramelized and fragrant. Then transfer them to a plate.

4. Make the miso sauce. Melt the butter, miso paste and a half cup of the reserved pasta water into the skillet. Stir them until fully combined. Keep simmering for a couple minutes to let the miso butter mixture bubble and thicken slightly.

Garlic and scallions sautéed with mushrooms. Sauce melted in a saute pan.

5. Add the cooked pasta, stirring it into the sauce.

6. Fold in the sautéed mushrooms, sliced scallion greens and parmesan cheese. The pasta should be lightly dressed in the miso butter sauce. If needed, you can add more of the cooking water 1 tablespoon a time.

Pasta stirred into sauce. Mushroom, scallions and parley folded into pasta.

Serving

Mushroom pastas are good with bright and zesty salads with a sharp vinaigrette. Try this classic house salad, lemon arugula salad or an Italian chopped salad. I also like serving it with bread with a good crust to sop up any extra sauce.

Leftovers & Storage

This miso pasta is best eaten right after you make it. If you do have leftovers, you can keep them in an airtight container in the fridge up to 3 days. The longer the pasta sits the more it will soften. Reheat it in the microwave or in a skillet with a little oil.

Recipe Tips

Don’t overcook the pasta. Check the cook time on the package. You want to drain the noodles a minute or so before they are ready because they will finish cooking in the sauce.
Even though the recipe says to save 1 cup of the pasta cooking water, you may only need a half cup. I always like to have a little extra just in case the sauce needs to be loosened up more after you stir in the noodles.
Use a pan large enough for both the mushrooms and the pasta. A sauté pan is great because it has straight sides, but a big skillet is fine too.
To make this miso pasta vegan, use plant-based, diary free substitutes for the butter and cheese. There are brands at the grocery that make vegan parmesan cheese and vegan butter.
You can use gluten free pasta. You need to be extra careful not to overcook it. Gluten free pasta doesn’t have as much al dente bite as regular noodles.