Brown butter makes everything taste better, especially this Spinach Mushroom Pasta. It’s a quick and easy dinner!
When it comes to this pasta dish with mushrooms, spinach and brown butter, you couldn’t ask for an easier or quicker meal for the evening.
Simply sauté a hefty batch of mushrooms, add cooked pasta and spinach, and stir until spinach wilts. Just like that, dinner is ready!
With so few ingredients, you might think this dish would be too easy. But this is where the magic of brown butter comes in. Brown butter transforms this very simple pasta into something special.
You may have seen it in baked goods recipes like Elise’s Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies, but its nutty flavor pairs great with pasta, too. If you’ve never made it before, this pasta is a great place to start experimenting.
How to make brown butter
Here’s your science lesson for the day: Butter is made up of clear butterfat, water, and milk proteins. When browning butter, you allow the water to evaporate and then brown the solids.
Use a heavy-bottomed pan – any kind will work, but if you’re doing this for the first time, use a stainless steel or aluminum pan to monitor the browning of the milk solids (which is harder with cast iron or nonstick). Pans).
Put the butter in the pan and let it melt. Once the water has evaporated (it will bubble and splash), the milk solids will quickly turn golden. Keep the heat low and keep stirring. Take your time at this point, and then quickly remove the pan from the heat when you notice the particles at the bottom of the pan starting to turn brown and smell a nutty aroma. That’s it!
- Check out this step-by-step guide: How to Make Brown Butter
With such a small amount of butter in this recipe, it may only take a few seconds for the butter to melt, so be careful.
Once you’ve tried it, you’ll want to use brown butter again and again — and honestly, there’s nothing wrong with that. Brown butter enhances the flavor of both sweet and savory dishes.
More recipes with brown butter
- Browned Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- Cauliflower puree “potatoes” with brown butter
- Seared Scallops with Brown Butter Capers Sauce
- Butternut squash with browned butter and thyme
- Mashed potatoes with brown butter, goat cheese and sage
Pasta with spinach, mushrooms and brown butter
All types of mushrooms can be used in this recipe, such as white button mushrooms, cremini, portobello or shiitake. Use a mix or just a single variety.
ingredients
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2 tablespoons unsalted butter
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2 tablespoons olive oil
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1 1/2 pounds mushrooms, sliced (see recipe note)
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1/4 teaspoon salt
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1/8 teaspoon black pepper
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1/2 pound small shaped pasta, like orecchiette, bowties, campanelle, or clams
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5 ounces (4 to 5 large handfuls) baby spinach leaves
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2 tablespoons lemon juice
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Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
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1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan (for garnish)
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1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (for garnish)
method
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Cook pasta:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente (check package for specific times for your chosen pasta).
Skim off 1 cup of the pasta cooking water and drain the noodles in a colander. Put aside.
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Meanwhile, prepare the brown butter:
In a small stainless steel skillet or another light-colored pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the butter is light brown on the bottom and the butter smells nutty. Immediately remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
For a complete guide to making brown butter, check out this post.
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Cooking mushrooms:
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes or until the mushrooms release their juice and turn golden brown. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
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Finish pasta:
Add the drained pasta to the pan with the mushrooms and toss over medium-high heat. Stir in half the spinach and 1/4 cup of the pasta water into the pasta and cook until the spinach begins to wilt. Add the remaining spinach and stir until all of the spinach wilts. If the noodles appear dry, stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons of the remaining pasta cooking water.
Stir in the browned butter, lemon juice, and lemon zest and toss. Taste and add more salt and pepper if you like.
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Serve pasta:
Place the pasta in shallow bowls and sprinkle over the parsley and parmesan. Grind a little fresh black pepper over each bowl.
