Creamy Mushroom Pasta with Fontina Cheese
This delicious, melt-in-your-mouth Creamy Mushroom Pasta with Fontina Cheese will be your new favorite way to serve pasta. This ultra-satisfying mushroom pasta recipe has a delightfully rich-tasting mushroom sauce with garlic, buttery Fontina cheese, and meaty baby Bella mushrooms—sinful!
We love mushrooms! We add them to breakfast, like my Weekend Breakfast Casserole and my Easy Boneless Chicken Cacciatore, for a hearty dinner. They are such versatile ingredients to cook with. They are fabulous in vegetarian-based dishes because they are satisfying, have a wonderful texture, and are delicious!
Ingredients
- Dried pasta – Farfelle works great for this dish because the shape holds the sauce well.
- Baby Bella mushrooms – This is one of my favorite mushrooms. They sauté beautifully without releasing a lot of liquid. The mushrooms should be sliced.
- Shallot – for a mild allium flavor that blends into the sauce flawlessly.
- Fresh garlic – for a slight touch of added flavor
- All-purpose flour – to help to thicken the sauce
- Kosher salt – for the pasta and to season the sauce
- Coarse pepper – pepper works well with this dish
- Dried Thyme – dried or fresh, add a nice and light herbal touch to the dish
- Nutmeg-gives this dish just the right amount of earthy touch and works well with cream.
- Garlic powder- for extra depth of flavor
- Onion powder – for extra depth of flavor
- Paprika- use sweet paprika for this dish
- Half and half or heavy cream- for that richness in the sauce ( I prefer half and half for this recipe)
- Butter – to emulsify the sauce
- Extra virgin olive oil – to saute the mushrooms
- Fontina cheese – creamy and mild, delivering the perfect blend of creaminess
- Parmesan cheese or Romano cheese – for that nice sharp finish to the dish
- Pasta water – the perfect finish to any pasta dinner
Step-by-step directions
This fabulous Creamy Mushroom Pasta with Fontina cheese comes together quickly. I typically start boiling water for the pasta while preparing the mushrooms and other ingredients. When I’m ready to start the pasta, the water is boiling; the timing is just about right. I use a 3.5-quart pan for this recipe.
- Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain and keep 1 cup of pasta water.
- Preheat the pan over medium heat.
- Add 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter.
- Add sliced mushrooms, shallots, and fresh garlic. Sauté for 2-3 minutes, or until the mushrooms are tender and have cooked down.
- Once the mushrooms are cooked, use a slotted spoon to remove the mushroom mixture, place it in a bowl, and set it aside. The mushroom liquid will remain in the pan; this is fine.
- Lower the heat on the pan to medium-low.
- Using the same pan, add 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter.
- Add the flour and stir to create a roux. Stir for about 1 minute.
- Add the half and half and stir until the roux is thoroughly blended and the sauce is smooth.
- Add the shredded Fontina cheese, salt, pepper, dried thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, nutmeg powder, and paprika.
- Stir until the cheese is completely melted and the sauce is thick and smooth. Add 1/4 cup of pasta water to thin the sauce.
- Add the cooked pasta and toss together.
- Adjust the thickness of the sauce with the remaining pasta water a quarter cup at a time.
- Garnish with chopped parsley and top with freshly grated Parmesan Cheese.
- Serve hot.
How to serve this delicious pasta
I like to serve this delicious Creamy Mushroom Pasta with a simple green salad like my Butter Lettuce Green Salad. This is a perfect pasta dish for entertaining. If you decide to make a big batch of this delicious pasta for friends and family, start with The Ultimate Antipasto Platter for a perfect appetizer.
Frequently asked questions:
Yes! However, you will need more pasta water to thin the sauce. Heavy cream is delicious in this recipe, but the sauce is much thicker.
White mushrooms and large portabellos work well with this recipe. If you opt for large portabellos, remove the stems and gills of the mushroom. Both are edible, but the stems are tough, and the gills will darken the sauce. Shiitake mushrooms work well, also. It’s the same thing; remove the tough stems.
Emmental, Provolone, Gruyere, or Havarti can be substituted for Fontina cheese.
Shredded rotisserie chicken is perfect for this recipe! I recommend one to two cups for this size recipe.
This delicious pasta recipe can be reheated on the stovetop with chicken or vegetable broth. Add about 1/4 cup of broth and heat over low heat until the sauce starts to liquefy. Stir gently until heated through.
If you love mushrooms in pasta, try another fan favorite: Creamy Tomato Chicken and Mushroom Pasta. I think you will love it!
If you tried this recipe, please help other readers by commenting below and sharing some stars! We 🫶🏼 appreciate you!
All content and photographs ©Claudia’s Table and claudiastable.com
Creamy Mushroom Pasta with Fontina Cheese
February 17, 2025
Equipment
- 1 pan 3.5-quart
- 1 pot 4-quart for cooking pasta
Ingredients
- 8 ounces Farfelle pasta
- 1 cup Pasta water
- 2 tablespoons Extra virgin olive oil divided
- 2 tablespoons Butter divided
- 16 ounces Baby Bella mushrooms sliced
- 1 small Shallot finely chopped
- 1 clove Garlic, fresh minced
- 1 tablespoon All-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup Half and half or heavy cream *if you use heavy cream, see note below
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Coarse pepper
- 1 teaspoon Thyme dried
- 1/8 teaspoon Nutmeg ground
- 1/2 teaspoon Garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Paprika sweet
- 2 cups Fontina cheese
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese or Romano cheese grated, for serving
- Parsley, fresh finely chopped, for garnish
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain and keep 1 cup of pasta water.
- Preheat the pan over medium heat.
- Add 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter.
- Add sliced mushrooms, shallots, and fresh garlic. Sauté for 2-3 minutes, or until the mushrooms are tender and have cooked down.
- Once the mushrooms are cooked, use a slotted spoon to remove the mushroom mixture, place it in a bowl, and set it aside. The mushroom liquid will remain in the pan; this is fine.
- Lower the heat on the pan to medium-low.
- Using the same pan, add 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter.
- Add the flour and stir to create a roux. Stir for about 1 minute.
- Add the half and half and stir until the roux is thoroughly blended and the sauce is smooth.
- Add the shredded Fontina cheese, salt, pepper, dried thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, nutmeg powder and paprika.
- Stir until the cheese is completely melted and the sauce is thick and smooth. Add 1/4 cup of pasta water to thin the sauce.
- Add the cooked pasta and toss together.
- Adjust the thickness of the sauce with the remaining pasta water a quarter cup at a time.
- Garnish with chopped parsley and top with freshly grated Parmesan Cheese.
- Serve hot.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is calculated online and should be used as a guide.
All content and photographs ©Claudia’s Table and claudiastable.com
Friends! You must try this recipe! It’s on a rotation here at home and perfect for busy weekdays when you want dinner on the table fast. I hope you enjoy it and let me know below!
Thanks for the recipe. Overall quite tasty! I swapped half of mushrooms with a 5 oz bag of baby spinach and that tasted good with the nutmeg. There was sufficient salt from the pasta water and cheese that I didn’t need to add any extra. The mushrooms took about 3 times long as the instructions to cook down.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!