Pasta with pancetta and mushrooms is a great easy pancetta recipe that you can make as a weeknight meal or a special dinner because it looks and tastes wonderful and it's so easy to make. It is one of the easiest and tastiest pasta recipes with pancetta and it will soon become a favorite once you try it.
About this Easy Pasta and Pancetta Recipe
What makes this pasta with pancetta and mushrooms so easy is there are very few ingredients. All the ingredients are big on flavor and very easy to find in grocery stores.
The one caveat I always like to add when working with very few ingredients is to make sure the ingredients you are using are all quality ingredients. This will make the meal so amazing!
The ingredients you will need to make this pasta with pancetta recipe are
- spaghetti (or any pasta you have on hand)
- pancetta
- mushrooms
- olive oil
- Parmesan cheese (the real stuff!)
- garlic
- red pepper flakes
- salt and pepper
The pancetta in this recipe is an Italian bacon. It flavors the olive oil with all of its spices and it combines so well with the mushrooms to bring a meaty bite to the dish.
If you do not have pancetta, you can use bacon as a substitute. Do try to find pancetta if you can!
I will often keep many of these items on hand so I have a quick easy dish to throw together during the week. I do love pasta dishes and make them all the time (like my cajun chicken pasta or my energy pesto pasta).
I may be biased but pasta to me is just so easy to throw together and should be part of everyone's cooking repertoire.
How to make pasta with pancetta
The steps to making this dish are as easy as the ingredients. It is so easy that we make this dish as an alternative to takeout when we are just too tired to cook but we still want a good meal.
Here is what you need to do.
- Bring your water to a boil and cook your pasta (reserve some of that pasta water!)
- Saute your pancetta and mushrooms in a large pan along with your olive oil and red pepper flakes.
- Once your pasta is finished cooking, throw it into the pan with the mushrooms and pancetta along with some of that reserved pasta water.
- Toss for a minute.
- Serve with your freshly grated Parmesan.
As you can see from these steps, this pasta with pancetta and mushrooms is so easy to make! This dish will come together in no time and will certainly be a hit with everyone who tries it.
Substitutions for this easy pancetta and pasta recipe
The pancetta
Not everyone has pancetta on hand (though I think you really should) so if that is the case for you, bacon works great too. If you are using bacon instead of the pancetta in the recipe, make sure you dice the bacon into ¼ inch pieces and follow the recipe the same.
The mushrooms
This pasta and pancetta recipe uses Baby Bella mushrooms but I encourage you to use any mushrooms you have on hand. Use your favorite mushrooms.
Since Baby Bella mushrooms are smaller, make sure if you are using larger mushrooms to slice them and cut then so they are no wider that one inch.
You want to make sure you are able to get some mushroom, pasta and pancetta in each bite.
For more easy pasta recipes
- Pasta with broccoli and truffle cream sauce
- Spaghetti aglio e olio (galic and olive oil pasta)
- Pasta with tomatoes and caper butter
- Pasta with spinach chickpeas and lemon
- Pasta Genovese
- Ricotta Pasta
- Pork Bolognese
- Authentic Bolognese
- Ham and Parmesan Pasta
Pasta with Pancetta and Mushrooms
Tried the Recipe? We Would Love To Hear From You In The Comments Below!
Ingredients
- 6 cloves of minced garlic
- ¼ cup good olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 6 ounces diced pancetta you can either find this near your deli section already diced in a container or at your deli
- 1 6-8 ounce package of mushrooms sliced and cleaned I used Baby Bellas (baby portabella mushrooms) but any variety you like will work
- 1 box of spaghetti
- 1 tablespoon salt and pepper to taste and (salt for pasta water)
- 1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Fill a large pasta pot with water and place over high heat to come to a boil
- In a large saute over medium heat add your olive oil and red pepper flakes and warm for about 3 minutes to let the red pepper release into the oil
- Now add your pancetta and cook until the pancetta starts to crisp, about 5 minutes
- Now add your mushrooms and saute until slightly soft (about 5 minutes)
- Reduce heat to low and add your garlic stirring it well until combined
- Your pasta water should be boiling. Once this happens, add a good handful of salt to the water so it's nice and salty.
- add your spaghetti and cook according to instructions for al dente
- once your pasta is in the water and has been cooking for a few minutes, take a coffee mug and scoop out a mug full of the starchy water and set aside.
- Also, scoop out a ladle full of pasta water from the pot and add it to your mushroom and pancetta pan and mix well. This is your sauce. The reserved pasta water is just in case the pasta looks dry later when you add it to the pancetta and mushrooms.
- Once pasta is cooked, drain the pasta and add it to your pan of mushrooms and coat the pasta well by constantly turning it around in the sauce. Add your salt and pepper.
- Keep tossing your pasta in the pan for a few minutes over low heat then remove pan from the heat
- The pasta may have absorbed a lot of the sauce. If it has, and it looks dry, add ½ of your mug of reserved pasta water to it and toss it around. Keep doing this until you have a moist looking pasta.
- Add ½ cup of your parmesan cheese, some more fresh cracked pepper and a sprinkle of salt on top.
- Serve with extra parmesan on the side
- enjoy
Nutrition
Nutrition Values are estimates only.
See full nutrition disclaimer here
Joni says
My hubby loves this. I also add a few sun-dried tomatoes and a little few fresh spinach leaves.
Melissa says
I am so glad to hear that 🙂 Those additions sound delicious with the pasta!
Teak Simonton says
Used Hawk's Wing mushrooms found in Colorado Mountains - strong flavor was perfect for this recipe. We enjoyed it immensely - used angel hair pasta as that was what was on hand. Delicious!
Melissa says
Those mushrooms sound delicious! So glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Annie says
Delicious! So simple too
Josh says
So tasty!