Mushroom Sauce + Rigatoni = Weeknight Dinner Dreams
Calling all mushroom lovers! We’ve got a delicious mushroom sauce and we’ve paired it with pasta for an easy rigatoni recipe, but it also goes great with vegetables, chicken, or sopped up with a hunk of bread. Any way you serve it, this mushroom sauce is a perfect choice for a quick and delicious weeknight dinner. Our recipe for rigatoni with creamy mushroom sauce has become an instant classic rigatoni recipe around our houses, and you'll understand why when you make it. We love this rigatoni with mushroom sauce recipe because it is a great way to add another meatless dish to the weeknight dinner repertoire. The white wine, cream, and mushrooms really shine through to make for a memorable meal. Throw in a few fresh herbs and some cream and voila! For even more simple pasta fun, check out our Fusilli with Spicy Tomato Sauce and Bow Tie Pasta.
What Else Goes Into This Irresistible Rigatoni With Mushroom Pasta Sauce?
First things first, Can I substitute rigatoni for penne? Yes! Rigatoni and penne are essentially the same shape (a tube). Rigatoni is cut straight, and penne is cut on the diagonal. Both noodle shapes are ideal for this mushroom pasta recipe.
Butter, because all good sauces start with butter
Mushrooms, of course
Garlic...we like a lot of garlic in our sauces
White wine (more on that in a moment)
Stock, we call for chicken stock, but this could easily made vegetarian by using vegetable stock
Heavy cream
Fresh herbs (we use chives and parsley, but thyme, rosemary, or tarragon would all be delicious additions individually or altogether)
Parmesan cheese
How Do You Make White Wine and Mushroom Sauce?
Our recipe for mushroom sauce calls for white wine, not least because we enjoy a glass of wine with dinner, but also because mushrooms are classic companions to both red and white wine. For this recipe we use a full-bodied Sauvignon Blanc, and any dry white wine would work well. When cooking with wine, we prefer to buy a nice bottle, using a cup for the sauce and then finishing the bottle with guests during the meal. Our Chicken Dijon uses white wine in the cream sauce, if you’re looking for more white wine scented dishes. Not a single drop goes to waste!
How Do I Make a Creamy Mushroom Sauce For Rigatoni?
The thing we love so much about this homemade mushroom sauce is how creamy and delicious it is, and how perfectly it sticks to a bowl full of rigatoni noodles. Let’s go!
Heat the oil and butter in a skillet. We love the taste of both butter and olive oil for cooking the mushrooms.
Add the mushrooms and garlic.
Then add the wine and reduce it down. This will give your sauce so much flavor!
Add the chicken stock and reduce it down, too.
Next, add the cream and parmesan, along with the fresh herbs.
Lastly, season your sauce with salt and pepper.
Tips for Making Mushroom Pasta:
Since this is a pretty straight-forward recipe to prepare, it’s a great opportunity to focus on ingredients. We used rigatoni for this recipe, but any pasta will do. We like that rigatoni is easy to pick up with a fork and makes a good carrier for the rich sauce, as well as all those tasty mushrooms. Also, be sure to season your pasta water with plenty of salt so that it is nice and flavorful. You can use any mushrooms available to you for this recipe. We go for the wild mushrooms when they are in our local stores, but will also grab cremini or baby bellas (those are the brown mushrooms that are common to most grocery stores). For the wine, you’ll want to use a dry white wine for this recipe. (we suggest a Sauvignon Blanc, but you can go with whatever you like best.) And cheese–our favorite ingredient–is important here! The parmesan cheese in this recipe not only gives the sauce extra flavor, but also acts as a thickening agent. We recommend freshly grating your cheese before adding it to the sauce, because the preservatives found in pre-shredded cheese prevent it from melting well.
What To Serve With Mushroom Sauce
This easy rigatoni mushroom sauce is already a delicious pasta dinner, but you don’t have to be limited to this one dish, because this sauce is so versatile! Feel free to literally put it on ALL THE THINGS!
Any type of pasta (especially rigatoni), with added meat (chicken or beef) and extra veggies–Green Beans Almondine or Roasted Asparagus would be great!
Drizzle it over a Whole Roast Chicken with Carrots with a side of Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes, and serve with a delicious crusty loaf of bread.
Creamy mushrooms love Steak Bites. Just add a Simple Butter Lettuce Salad and call it dinner!
We like to add sautéed spinach to this pasta. Just wilt the spinach in a separate pan and add it to the pasta and sauce towards the end of cooking.
Keep it simple–just make this rigatoni with mushroom sauce, pour yourself a glass of wine, and call it a night!
Double down on all things creamy and shroomy and check out our Pork Chops with Mushroom Cream Sauce Recipe.
Tools You'll Need
- A good skillet (this is our favorite)
- A large pot for boiling that pasta
- A good knife.
- A cutting board.
- A wooden spoon.
Need More Mushroom Pasta Recipe Inspiration?
- This Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce is a real winner!
- This Baked Penne Alla Vodka is so easy you don’t even have to boil the noodles.
- 4 Cheese and Mushroom Rolled Lasagna...need I say more?
- For even more mushroom inspiration, be sure to check out our 20 Best Mushroom Recipes post!
Pasta, It's What's For Dinner.
If you make this mushroom rigatoni, we’d love to hear about it! Be sure to snap a photo, add it to your Instagram feed or stories and tag @themodernproper and #themodernproper if you do. Also, feel free to leave a comment on the post and tell your friends where you discovered the recipe.
