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Easy, Italian-style recipe: Sun-dried Tomato and Mushroom Pasta in a Garlic and Basil Cream Sauce. Enjoy this meatless pasta as is, or serve it with grilled chicken or grilled veggies!
If you're looking for a delicious and easy-to-make pasta recipe to add to your weekly/monthly recipe rotation, try this sun-dried tomato and mushroom pasta in a garlic and basil creamy sauce. The combination of flavors in this dish is SO GOOD, it's pure comfort food that you will be tempted to eat right out of the pan:
The fettuccine pasta is tossed with sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, mushrooms, and basil in a very tasty, creamy and velvety sauce.
This Italian-inspired dish is great served with garlic bread on the side. And a big fresh salad. And please, don't forget about a glass of wine.
I've been eating the leftovers for 3 days now, and the pasta + the sauce still taste just great! The pasta is best reheated in a pan, on medium heat, with a little bit of milk added gradually to thin the sauce as it gets reheated.
This delicious, meatless pasta dish is TOTALLY WORTH making it!
Sun-dried tomato and mushroom pasta in a garlic and basil sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 8 oz mushrooms sliced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 3.5 oz sun-dried tomatoes diced
- 2 cubes chicken bouillon cubes (use Vegetarian "Chicken" Bouillon for vegetarian version)
- 2 cups water
- ½ cup half and half
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese shredded
- 1 tablespoon dried basil or up to 2 tablespoons minced fresh basil
- ½ lb fettuccine pasta
Instructions
- Heat olive oil on medium-high heat, add sliced mushrooms and garlic - and cook the vegetables for about 3 minutes. Add diced sun-dried tomatoes. Reduce heat.
- Dissolve 2 cubes of chicken bouillon in 2 cups of boiling water. Carefully add the broth to the skillet - continue to cook the vegetables in a chicken broth on medium heat until the mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes absorb some of the broth and the broth reduces somewhat. Add half and half, heavy cream and bring to boil just for a short moment. Add Parmesan cheese and cook the sauce, stirring, for a couple of minutes, on low-medium heat until the cheese melts. Add the basil.
- If your sauce is too thick at this point - add another ½ cup half and half. If your sauce looks thin to you - do not continue simmering the sauce to thicken it as you will be adding pasta shortly (in the next step) - and pasta will absorb some of the sauce liquid. Even if the sauce looks thin now, it will not be so thin once you add pasta.
- Cook fettuccine al dente according to the package instruction. Drain and rinse in cold water (this will stop the cooking). Add the fettuccine into the sauce and continue cooking the sauce with the pasta in it, on medium heat, for a couple of minutes (or more - to achieve the desired thickness) stirring constantly to coat well.
- Note: do not add salt to the creamy sauce because it should already be salty enough from the dissolved chicken cubes. Only in the very end when the sauce is done, you may add some salt if needed.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist's advice.
Hello! Just made this for dinner tonight, and i really loved it. However, when I put my Parmesan cheese in it all just clumped up and never really combined with the sauce. Any tips for avoiding this?
Rachel, to avoid the Parmesan cheese getting clumped up, make sure that the sauce STARTS BOILING. Then, sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese even over the sauce, reduce heat to medium and cook the sauce, constantly stirring, for a couple of minutes, until the cheese melts. It's important that the sauce is completely heated through, before adding the grated cheese, to ensure that the cheese reaches its melting point almost immediately after it's added to the sauce.
This looks delicious. I am looking for a way to make this dairy free! I do have some almond milk. Could that be substituted for the heavy cream and half and half?
Also, could I use 2 cups of Vegetable broth instead of the water and chicken bouillon?
Hi Elizabeth,
I am dairy intolerant and yes you can use almond milk. You will just need to make a Bechamel sauce. Here is a link to one just copy and paste http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/mario-batali/bechamel-sauce-recipe.html#!
I use this method all the time for an Alfredo substitute. Once you melt in Parmesan just like Julia does in this recipe and add black pepper it taste just like Alfredo. The recipe I linked here makes a large amount so I would cut it in half to use with this recipe. I hope this is helpful and yes I'm sure you can use vegetable broth, but to be truthful I don't think it will taste as good as vegetable broth has a very different flavor.
Julia,
I made this last night and it was wonderful, something about adding the bouillon cube adds so much flavor thanks for sharing.
Angela, thank you so much for such a helpful comment! Great to know that this sauce can be done with almond milk - I want to try that too myself! I agree about the bouillon cubes - they have lots of flavor and add just the right amount of salt to the sauce.
Can't wait to try this recipe! Quick question though, I'm overseas and can't seem to find half and half on the economy. Can I use a half and half substitute recipe (butter and milk)?
Do you have any suggestions for making this dairy free? I have some almond milk. Could I use that to replace the half and half and heavy cream?
Also, could I substitute 2 cups of vegetable broth for the water and chicken bouillon?
This looks delicious!
What are your suggestions for making this dish dairy free? I have some almond milk. Could I substitute that for the heavy cream and half and half?
Also would 2 cups of vegetable broth adequately replace the chicken bullion and water?
It looks delicious!
Holy moly. I found this recipe on pinterest and made it last night- (i love mushrooms, pasta and sun dried tomatoes). IT. WAS. DELICIOUS!!!!!
Like I can't wait for the work day to be over just so I can go home to eat leftovers. . . #pathetic
Thanks for a FANTASTIC recipe!!!!
Another gem!
Your recipes are on another world!
Absolutely delicious! I used fresh basil from my garden.
Love this recipe.
Oh my goodness !!! Made this tonight and it was delicious !!! Looked just like pic and not hard to make !!! Thank you !!!!
Made this tonight. Delicious! I added some chunks of rotisserie chicken breasts at the end to satisfy the meat lovers in my family. Also, I used pappardelle egg pasta because that's what i had in the pantry. I will definitely make this again.
This looks amazing! I can't wait to try it!
Made this tonight and my family devoured it!!!! Even my picky 6 year old daughter loved it!!! Will be making this again!!! Thanks for sharing this recipe!!!