This Miso Pasta recipe is creamy, rich, and full of umami goodness. Topped with sauteed mushrooms, it’s an easy weeknight meal in under 30 minutes! Video.
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This Miso Pasta with Mushrooms is incredibly easy and delicious! It’s even mentioned in the New York Times (thank you!). Pasta is tossed with a combination of browned butter and miso paste, garlic and shallots and a little pecorino cheese. We top it with sauteed wild or tame mushrooms, but really, it’s a good foundation for almost any veggie or seafood! This is a very old recipe (2012!)on the blog that needed a little refresh- it’s vegan-adaptable and gluten-free adaptable!
Miso Pasta Video
Miso Pasta Ingredients
- Pasta– use any pasta you like- spaghetti, linguini, fettuccini, penne, soba noodles, or gluten-free noodles.
- Miso Paste – I love using white miso paste for its subtle flavor, but other miso will work well too.
- Butter- browning the butter gives this a deliciously nutty flavor. You can keep this vegan and use olive oil.
- Garlic and Shallots – add depth of flavor.
- Mushrooms- use your favorite mushrooms or a combination- shiitake, oyster, morel, chanterelles, cremini, maitake, etc.
- Pecorino Cheese- gives a creaminess to the pasta as well as depth. Feel free to use parmesan cheese, if that is what you have! Vegans can either leave this out, use vegan parmesan, or add a little nutritional yeast to the sauce.
- Fresh Black Pepper
- Optional Garnishes- fresh herbs, red pepper flakes (urfa biber or Aleppo) Furikake, toasted nori ribbons, chives, toasted sesame seeds
How to make Miso Pasta (instructions)
Step 1: Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta.
Step 2: At the same time, saute the mushrooms in a large pan, with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Step 3: When the pasta is done, drain saving 1 cup of salted pasta water. To the same pot, heat the butter until golden, the add the shallots, garlic and pepper.
Let the butter get golden and the shallots and garlic slightly crispy.
Step 4: Whisk in the pasta water and miso, gently heating, then whisk in the cheese.
Step 5: Toss the pasta with the creamy miso sauce. Taste and adjust salt, pepper and cheese to your liking. You can either toss in the sauteed mushrooms or place them on top when serving.
Step 6: Divide the pasta among bowls and garnish with any of the optional toppings.
Serving suggestions
Serve Miso Pasta with a leafy green salad or healthy slaw, garlic bread, or just on its own!
Storage
Leftovers will keep up to 4 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container. To reheat, gently warm in a pan or skillet on the stove, or microwave.
More Favorite Miso Recipes
- 40 Irresistible Mushroom Recipes!
- Mushroom Toast
- Simple Sautéed Mushrooms
- Polenta with Wild Mushrooms, Garlic and Sage
- Mushroom Risotto with Frizzled Leeks
- Creamy Mushroom Soup
- Creamy Vegan Mushroom Artichoke Pasta
Miso Pasta
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4
- Category: pasta recipe
- Method: stove-top
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
This Miso Pasta recipe is creamy, rich, and full of umami goodness. Topped with sauteed mushrooms, it’s an easy weeknight meal in under 30 minutes, Vegan-adaptable and gluten-free- adaptable.
Ingredients
- 8 oz pasta- spaghetti, linguini, fettucini, soba noodles, etc. ( or gluten-free pasta)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lb mushrooms – morels, shiitake, cremini, maitake, oyster, etc.
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2-3 tablespoons butter (or sub more olive oil)
- 2-4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 1 fat shallot, finely diced
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black peppercorns
- 1 cup hot pasta water
- 1 – 1 1/2 tablespoons miso paste– I like white, but any color will work. ( Use chickpea miso, for gluten-free)
- 1/4–1/2 cup grated pecorino cheese or sub parmesan cheese, but pecorino adds more depth.
- Optional Garnishes: fresh herbs, chives, chili flakes ( urfa biber, Aleppo), furikake, sesame seeds, or toasted nori sliced into thin ribbons.
Instructions
- Cook pasta: In a large pot, bring 2 quarts water to a boil along with 2 teaspoons salt, and cook pasta until al dente. Save 1 cup hot pasta water, when draining.
- Saute mushrooms: At the same time, heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, and saute, lowering heat to medium-low heat until tender, golden, and slightly crispy. Set the mushrooms aside.
- Make the Miso Sauce: Once you’ve drained the pasta, to the same pot, add 2 tablespoons butter and melt over medium-low heat letting it brown just a little. Add the garlic, shallots and black pepper, and saute over low heat until golden and fragrant- a little crispy here is nice! Whisk in the hot, salted pasta water and miso paste, whisking well, heating, but not boiling. Whisk in the cheese until it melts into the sauce and is creamy. Place the cooked pasta into the creamy miso sauce and toss well. Taste and adjust salt, pepper, and cheese to your liking. Either toss in the mushrooms with the pasta, or serve them on top of each bowl.
- Serve: Divide among bowls and garnish with any of the options.
Notes
Vegan-adaptable: Use olive oil instead of butter, and either leave the cheese out, try a vegan parmesan, or add 1-2 teaspoons nutritional yeast to the miso sauce while whisking. It’s also good with toasted walnuts.
For extra nuttiness, toast your pasta first, placing it single-layered on a sheet pan in a 375F oven for 15-20 minutes or nicely golden, then boil like normal.
Leftover miso pasta will keep up to four days in the refrigerator in a sealed container and can be reheated gently in a pan on the stove, or microwave.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 ½ cups
- Calories: 401
- Sugar: 3.5 g
- Sodium: 113.3 mg
- Fat: 18.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 9.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 48.4 g
- Fiber: 3.1 g
- Protein: 12.3 g
- Cholesterol: 37.9 mg
This is so good! My first note is that if you salt your pasta water (which I usually do fairly liberally), add the larger amount of miso, and put the larger amount of cheese, things could get a little salty. I ended up using only half a cup of the pasta water and subbed in cream (maybe a bit more than half a cup) to cut the salt and make it a little more decadent. I really enjoyed the results. My other note is that I chopped up the mushrooms so they would be evenly distributed through the sauce (also I don’t love the texture of mushrooms and this helped). In addition, I added a small amount of white truffle oil to the sauce along with Aleppo pepper before adding the pasta to the sauce. When I plated it, I topped with a sprinkle of parsley and a few drops of sage mushroom infused olive oil. Toasted walnuts would be amazing with this sauce and I might add some additional veggies in the future. I saw that someone else added spinach and I think that would be really good as well. This is magic sauce–it would be good on so many things. Thanks for yet another home run recipe!
Thanks so much Lynn- glad you enjoyed it and we really appreciate all your notes here- helpful!
Quick, easy and delicious!
Awesome to hear Terry! Thanks for rating it for us!
Amazing recipe- easy, nutritious, and delicious!! Needed to accommodate for no cheese, so just omitted and served parm on the side; the sauce is just as delicious without the parm. (Of course, it was delicious WITH the parm as well. Just saying that it tastes amazing without it too). Will definitely be adding this to our dinner rotations.
Went with the higher amt of miso. Also added mushrooms and spinach for added veggies, and I had my bowl with a bit of balsamic glaze- one of the best things I’ve ever made!!
100/10 hands down delicious!
Great to hear!
Excellent! Made this with homemade pasta. Highly recommend adding the greater amount of miso paste. Served with a salad made with miso salad dressing. Perfect vegetarian dinner….made my son very happy. 😊
Glad you enjoyed Mary! Sounds so tender and delicious with homemade pasta.
Made this tonight with assorted mushrooms was absolutely delicious and will certainly be making it again.
I did have clumpy lumps of melted cheese- yes I used pre-grated parmasan so wont use it next time.
I also added a dash of cream to bind it all together.
Thanks Andrea! Your notes are super helpful!
Ah, they add potato starch to pre-grated cheese, I’d assume hence the lumps! Always best to grate ourselves 🙂