Mushroom and tomato pasta is an easy recipe for beginners. You don’t need to buy any special equipment though we recommend investing in a stainless steel skillet and a high-quality chef’s knife for this and other recipes.
It’s no secret that it’s important to have a sharp knife in the kitchen. Having a solid stainless steel frying pan will allow you to develop a good, flavorful layer of fond which will add an excellent umami element to your sauce.
You’ll start the recipe by slicing, chopping and mincing the mushrooms, onion, garlic cloves and chili peppers to create an organized mise en place. The rest of the recipe will fall into place and requires the most basic of cooking skills.
If you look on the internet, you’ll probably find lots of opinions about the best mushrooms for spaghetti sauce and how to cook them. As for us, we like to make our mushroom pasta with fresh whole white mushrooms that we cut into thick, chunky slices.
Our recipe calls for a lot of mushrooms and they can be any variety. Since mushrooms cook down as they release their fluid, more is better in this dish. After all, the first word in the recipe is mushroom.
If you have access to better mushrooms like criminis, oysters or even more exotic wild mushrooms like chanterelles or porcini -we say use them. The addition of great flavors and textures will elevate your finished sauce.
Pro Tip
We don’t recommend a certain type of pasta since any type of noodle works well in this recipe. You can use whatever’s in your pantry.
Once you make this pasta dish a few times, you probably won’t need to look at the recipe when you make it again and again. It’s that easy and that good.
Plus, you’ll love spending under 60 minutes to create a satisfying dinner and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that!
Pro Tip
We like adding mushrooms to spaghetti sauce for an earthy meatiness with fewer calories and less fat than a meat sauce. However, you can replace the fungi with ground Italian pork sausage (removed from its casing) or seasoned ground beef if you’re craving savory protein.
