Creamy Miso Pasta

This creamy miso pasta is a delicious combination of tasty pasta, perfectly seared mushrooms, and a creamy miso sauce made with garlic. The nori flakes perfectly complement the flavor of this dish and make it taste absolutely amazing. Plus, this dish comes together quickly making it perfect for a weeknight dinner.

If you have some miso paste in your refrigerator that’s waiting to be used, make sure to try this creamy miso pasta recipe! The sauce is incredibly flavorful, super creamy, and perfectly balanced. This recipe has quickly become a favorite as it turns a small amount of plain heavy cream and miso paste into a tasty and flavorful sauce.

Plus, you can use any leftover miso paste to make delicious miso soup as a side for tasty main dishes like teriyaki chicken, teriyaki salmon, or gochujang chicken wings.

Miso Pasta Ingredients

To make this creamy miso pasta, you’ll need the following ingredients:

• Pasta: I used and recommend linguine for this pasta dish, but most other pasta types work, too. Just pick the one you like most if you can’t find or don’t like linguine!
• Mushrooms: You’ll also need regular brown mushrooms. If you don’t like mushrooms, you can use other vegetables like zucchini or baby spinach.
• Aromatics: You’ll also need garlic and shallots to make this dish. The shallots are perfect here as they don’t taste as strong as yellow or white onions.
• Olive oil and butter: Olive oil and butter are used to sauté and add flavor. If you don’t like butter, you can use only olive oil. But be sure to not skip the olive oil as butter burns when you heat it too much. Therefore, it’s not recommended to use butter to sear the mushrooms. Only use it to sauté at lower temperatures.
• Miso paste: I recommend using either white or brown miso paste. Red miso paste is probably going to taste too strong. So I’d recommend sticking with the other two options.
• Heavy cream: Heavy cream is used to make the sauce extra creamy and to balance the flavor of the miso sauce. I tried this pasta dish without heavy cream, and it definitely tastes better when some heavy cream is used. You don’t need a lot, just a small amount really adds to the taste of this miso pasta.
• Parmesan cheese: Parmesan cheese is used for the sauce. It adds flavor and makes things extra creamy.
• Roasted nori: Roasted nori is another must when you make this dish! You can either chop the nori yourself or buy pre-shredded nori leaves. I always chop some roasted nori leaves to add them to this dish.
• Red pepper flakes: Another delicious addition is red pepper flakes. It goes super well with the other ingredients but can be omitted if you don’t like them.

How to make creamy miso pasta

This miso pasta is ready in only 20 minutes, making it perfect for dinner on busy days! This is how you make it:

1. Cook the pasta: Cook the pasta in a pot of salted water according to the package instructions. Save some pasta water, drain, and set aside.
2. Sear the mushrooms: While the pasta cooks, preheat some olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms. Let them sit on one side until they brown. Then toss until they start to brown evenly. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Sauté the aromatics: Now lower the heat. Add the garlic, shallots, and butter. Sauté until fragrant.
4. Add the sauce ingredients: Next, add the heavy cream, miso paste, and parmesan cheese. Stir until the miso paste dissolves. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Combine: Now transfer the cooked pasta to the pan. Add some pasta water and toss. Add more pasta water and continue to toss until the sauce thickens and clings to the pasta.
6. Garnish and serve: Garnish with chopped nori and red pepper flakes. Serve and enjoy!

Tips & Notes

Here are a few quick tips and notes that I recommend reading through before making this creamy miso pasta.

• Don’t toss the mushrooms too early and too often. If you want them to brown nicely, make sure to let them sit in the pan on one side. It does require some patience, but it’s definitely worth it! 😊
• Make sure the butter doesn’t burn. This can happen quite quickly. So don’t sauté the aromatics on medium-high heat. Use medium or medium-low heat instead.
• Add more heavy cream to taste and use as much pasta water as you need. Depending on your personal preferences, you may want to use more or less heavy cream than the recipe box states. I think ½ cup for 4 servings is perfect, but feel free to use more if you want to! The amount of pasta water can also vary, so use as much as you need until the sauce clings to the pasta. It should thicken nicely before you serve it.
• Use the nori flakes. They are part of this whole dish and really add to the taste of the miso pasta. So make sure to use them!

Variations

The creamy miso pasta tastes absolutely delicious as is, but here are a few things you can change to switch up the flavor of this dish.

• Vegetables: If you don’t like mushrooms or want to add more veggies to your meal, feel free to use other (additional) vegetables. I can recommend zucchini, baby spinach, and asparagus.
• Protein: If you want to add more protein, you can sear some shrimp or salmon that can be served alongside this pasta dish. Chicken is another great option. Make sure to check out this air fryer chicken breast recipe and air fryer shrimp recipe to prepare some extra protein in a fuss-free way.
• Miso paste: Another way to change the taste of the sauce is to experiment with different types and brands of miso paste. Since they all taste different, you may want to try this recipe with different types.

Frequently Asked Questions

More quick and delicious pasta recipes

If you love pasta dishes, be sure to go give the following recipes a try! They are super delicious and easy to make.

• Tomato Basil Pasta
• Pesto Gnocchi
• Creamy Fettuccine Bolognese
• Vegan Penne alla Vodka
• Baked Feta Pasta with Shrimp