Creamy Spinach and Mushroom Pasta

This creamy, spinach and mushroom pasta is perfect cosy comfort food. It's really tasty and satisfying, quick and easy to make, great for a tasty weeknight dinner.

This spinach and mushroom dish comes together fairly quickly, it's ready in about 30 minutes so is perfect for an easy weeknight dinner. It's creamy, indulgent and packed with mushrooms and spinach. The creamy, cheesy sauce is smooth and garlicky. Perfect for mushroom lovers, this pasta dish is everything you want in a cosy pasta dinner. I use chestnut mushrooms for this as they have more flavour, but you could add in some wild mushrooms too. Linguine is my favourite pasta for this recipe but tagliatelle or pappardelle work really well too.

How to Make Creamy Spinach and Mushroom Pasta

1. Start by cooking the shallots in olive oil, then add the butter and the mushrooms. Add the mushrooms to the pan in batches. Cook them until they are soft and a lovely brown colour.
2. Next, stir in the garlic and thyme and cook for a minute. Then pour in the cream slowly. Once all the cream is added stir in the cheese.
3. Now add the spinach, again add this is batches too. The spinach will wilt quickly so as soon as one batch has wilted slightly add the next.
4. Finally, add the pasta to the sauce. Gently toss it then when the pasta is covered in the cream sauce add the toasted pinenuts. Serve immediately with some chopped parsley and some grated veggie parmesan cheese.

Tips for Making your Best Creamy Spinach Mushroom Pasta

• Shallots - Finely chop the shallots so that they will cook quickly but be careful not to cook them until they are too brown. They should be soft, if they are too brown they will colour the sauce.
• Mushrooms - I use chestnut/ brown mushrooms for this pasta. They have more flavour than white button mushrooms. I have made this with a mixture of chestnut mushrooms and wild mushrooms and that works really well too. You may need to cook wild mushrooms longer though.
• Cream - Double/heavy cream will give you the best results for this pasta dish. It will give you a lovely rich sauce with plenty of it too.
• Cheese - I use vegetarian parmesan cheese for this. The cheese needs to melt well, so take that into consideration when choosing your cheese. If you're not vegetarian then regular parmesan or Pecorino works very well.
• Pasta - Linguine is my favourite pasta for this recipe it is just the right size to soak up some of that creamy sauce. I have made this with tagliatelle, pappardelle and penne too and all of those work really well too.
• Serving - This pasta dish really is best served immediately. I serve it with a garnish of finely chopped parsley, some cracked black pepper and a little grating of vegetarian parmesan cheese.

Making Ahead and Storing

This spinach and mushroom pasta dish really is best made fresh and served straight away. However, if you do have any leftover you can store it in the fridge for a day and reheat it on the hob. You may need to add a little more cream to it as the pasta may soak up the sauce. I don't recommend freezing this dish.

Looking for More Quick and Easy Weeknight Dinners?

• Mushroom Stir Fry with Broccoli
• Portobello Mushroom Sandwiches 
• Creamy Mushroom Risotto
• Halloumi Burgers
• Red Pesto Pasta

* This recipe was originally published on November 9, 2017. It has now been updated with new photos, new process photos, a step by step guide, expert tips and new nutritional information. The recipe has also been tweaked to make it even more delicious.