Lemon Garlic Mushroom Spaghetti

5 from 4 votes

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Ready in 15 minutes, this easy mushroom spaghetti has lemon, garlic and sautéed mushrooms. It’s tossed with Parmesan and parsley and is wonderful for dinner any night of the week especially ones when you’re pressed for time.

Lemon mushroom spaghetti in a skillet.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

After you make this spaghetti once, you will add it to your list of fast pasta recipes. One of the many great things about mushrooms is that they don’t take long to sauté. It makes them perfect for pasta since you can multitask and have everything ready to serve in the time it takes for the noodles to be al dente.

This recipe only requires 9 ingredients. And half of them I would call pantry ingredients, meaning you already have them in your cupboard, or they are items that you probably buy regularly on your weekly grocery run.

The combination of garlic and lemon are so tasty in pastas tossed in olive oil. When your approach to spaghetti is lighter and doesn’t involve a cream or tomato sauce, minced garlic and fresh lemon are good ways to add flavor—a little effort with a lot of impact.

It’s a complete vegetarian meal and can easily be vegan. Just skip the Parmesan and use nutritional yeast if you want to make it plant-based.

The Ingredients

Ingredients including mushrooms, spaghetti, lemon, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and parmesan.

This is what you need:

  • Mushrooms: Also sometimes referred to as baby bellas, cremini mushrooms are meatier and more interesting that just white button mushrooms. Brush any dirt off the mushrooms before you prep them.
  • Spaghetti: Always keep this all-purpose noodle in your pantry. Spaghetti is great for olive oil-based pastas and heartier tomato sauce, too. If you have linguine, bucatini or fettuccine in you kitchen, you can substitute with one of them.
  • Lemon gives the mushrooms and garlic some brightness. I use both the juice and the zest of 1 lemon in the pasta, so nothing goes to waste.
  • Garlic: The recipe calls for 2 minced garlic cloves. If you like things really garlicky, then don’t hesitate to include another clove.
  • Olive oil: With such a short ingredient list, you want the best flavor, so use high quality extra-virgin olive oil.
  • Parmesan: There is something so classic about this hard cheese grated into pasta. You can also use Pecorino Romano or a mix of both.
  • Salt & pepper: I season the sautéed mushrooms, but always taste the pasta to see if you need to add more.  Salt and pepper are so important for recipes with 10 or less ingredients.
  • Parsley: I finish the pasta by tossing in chopped parsley to add some fresh herbs.

How To Make This Lemon Mushroom Spaghetti

1. Cook the pasta in salted boiling water on the stovetop. The pasta should turn out al dente and still have some bite.

2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.

Cook the pasta in a large pot. Heat the olive oil in a skillet.

3. Sauté the mushrooms. Give them 5 minutes to turn brown and caramelize.

4. Add the minced garlic, salt and pepper. Stir them into the mushrooms, so the mixture becomes really fragrant.

Saute the mushrooms until they turn brown and caramelize. Then stir in the garlic, salt and pepper.

5. Pour in the lemon juice. Let it bubble and steam.

6. Fold the spaghetti, lemon zest and olive oil into the mushrooms. Do your best to time this just right so you can use tongs to take the spaghetti directly from pot to skillet.

Squeeze the lemon juice into the sauteed mushrooms. Then stir in the spaghetti, olive oil and lemon zest.

7. Stir in the parsley and Parmesan.

8. Divide the pasta into serving bowls or onto plates and top with additional Parmesan, parsley and black pepper.

Toss the spaghetti with parsley and Parmesan. Spoon the spaghetti into a serving bowl.

Serving

Pair the pasta with an arugula salad with lemon vinaigrette, a classic house salad or an Italian chopped salad. Sometimes I will even make a brussels sprout Caesar salad. I just love a big plate of pasta with a salad. You also can serve it with a piece of bread with a good crust.

Leftovers

You can store the spaghetti in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 3 days. Warm it in a skillet with a little olive oil on the stove or in the microwave. You can eat it cold and throw in some baby arugula or spinach to treat it like a pasta salad.

Spaghetti with lemon and mushrooms on a plate.

Recipe Tips

Have all your ingredients prepped and ready to go. For this dish, I give the same advice I would for a stir-fry. It cooks so fast that you won’t have time sneak in some slicing while you have the pot and the pan on the stove.

Timing is everything. While I simmer the pasta on one burner, I sauté the mushrooms on another. Then I use tongs to pull the spaghetti out of the pot and into the skillet. Just enough starchy pasta water will cling to the noodles, which helps to coat them along with the olive oil and lemon juice. If you have trouble timing it, save 1/4 cup of cooking water. Then and you can add a couple tablespoons or more of that reserved pasta water as needed when you toss the spaghetti with the mushrooms in the skillet.

Use sliced mushrooms for a shortcut. There are so many varieties of mushrooms you can find in the produce department. And that includes sliced mushrooms, which will make this recipe even quicker.

Recipe FAQs

What other pasta shapes can you use instead of spaghetti?

I prefer long noodle. Linguine, bucatini or fettuccine are other good options.

How do you make this recipe gluten free?

All you have to do is use a gluten-free type of pasta such as chickpea pasta, lentil pasta or brown rice pasta.

How do you make this recipe vegan?

Either leave out the cheese or use a plant-based Parmesan.

Did you make this quick and easy pasta recipe? Please leave a rating and comment below. Thanks!

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Lemon Garlic Mushroom Spaghetti

5 from 4 votes
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes
Total: 15 minutes
Servings: 4
This 9-ingredient mushroom spaghetti recipe is fast and easy with plenty of lemon, garlic, fresh herbs and sauteed mushrooms.

Ingredients 

  • 10 ounces spaghetti
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • Juice and zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
  • Grated Parmesan for serving

Instructions 

  • Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the spaghetti until al dente according to package instructions.
  • While the spaghetti is cooking, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium high heat in a large skillet. Add the mushrooms and sauté for 5 minutes until the mushrooms start to brown.
  • Add the garlic, salt and pepper and continue cooking for a few minutes until the mushrooms are caramelized and fragrant.
  • Stir the lemon juice into the mushrooms. It will bubble and steam.
  • Use tongs to transfer the cooked spaghetti directly from the pot to the skillet. Also, stir in the lemon zest and 1 tablespoon olive oil.
  • Finish the pasta by stirring in the parsley and Parmesan.

Notes

You can make the pasta first if you are worried about cooking the spaghetti and mushrooms at the same time. Just save about 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water before you drain it. Then add 1-2 tablespoons when you toss the spaghetti, lemon zest and olive oil with the mushrooms. You likely won’t need that much water, but it’s good to have extra.
Leftovers can be saved in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 3 days. Warm them in the microwave or in a skillet on the stove with a splash of olive oil.
If you want the recipe to be vegan, use nutritional yeast instead of Parmesan cheese.

Nutrition

Calories: 344kcal | Carbohydrates: 57g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Sodium: 590mg | Potassium: 443mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 87IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 32mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Pasta
Cuisine: Italian
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Hi, I'm Paige.

Welcome to Last Ingredient where you will find simple seasonal recipes with plenty of fruits and vegetables, all for the home cook.

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Recipe Rating




5 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Excellent and easy. I used a combo of maitake and shitake mushrooms from the farmers market, added some fresh thyme and just a touch of cream. My husband said to keep the recipe!

  2. 5 stars
    Delicious! I’ll definitely be making this again. The only thing I would change is I might double the mushrooms next time, as I feel like they cooked down a lot and it seems like there really aren’t enough of them. This might just be personal preference though as I love mushrooms.

  3. 5 stars
    This was really tasty! I used zoodles instead of pasta since we anre trying to eat less carbs and it came out great! My husband said it’s a keeper!