This creamy garlic mushroom tagliatelle is the perfect date night dinner – it can be on the table in 15 minutes, and the flavours are incredible!
If there was ever a dish that demonstrated the name of this blog perfectly, it’s this creamy garlic mushroom tagliatelle. It’s easy. It’s cheesy. And, you guessed it, it’s vegetarian.
In just 15 minutes, you could have a bowlful of this ultra creamy, cheesy, garlicky pasta on the table. Do it now!
Simple ingredients
There aren’t a huge amount of ingredients in this recipe, but they all go beautifully together – such a perfect combination.
Garlic + mushrooms = a match made in heaven
Mushrooms + parsley = a match made in heaven
Garlic + cream cheese = a match made in heaven
Creamy sauce + pasta = a match made in heaven
I mean, I’m not going to go through all the different combinations, but you get the idea. Simple ingredients, paired together in simple ways, to create a simple pasta dish that’s much greater than the sum of its parts.
15 minute dinner
Sometimes it can take over an hour to cook dinner, only for it to be gobbled up in 3 minutes flat – it’s so disheartening. But not with this creamy garlic mushroom tagliatelle – it can be on your table in just 15 minutes!
I love quick meals like this – the sauce cooks in the time the pasta’s boiling, so everything comes together without any fuss.
Garlic mushrooms
The recipe starts by frying up some garlicky mushrooms.
There’s no better smell in the world than mushrooms frying with garlic and butter!
You want to cook them until they’re starting to turn slightly golden – it adds such a lovely flavour.
Then, just add some cream cheese and a dash of milk to create that glossy, silky sauce, along with some grated parmesan.
Is parmesan cheese vegetarian?
In the EU, ‘parmesan’ is actually a protected term, and all real parmesan cheese is made with animal rennet. Therefore, parmesan cheese is unfortunately not vegetarian.
However, it’s really easy to find a vegetarian version – in the UK, it’s often called something generic like ‘Italian hard cheese’, and it’s pretty much identical as far as I can tell, just without the animal rennet.
Bonus – it’s usually much cheaper too!
I believe other countries don’t have the same restrictions over the use of the word ‘parmesan’, so you may be able to find vegetarian cheese labelled as parmesan. Either way, just make sure you double check the label if you’d like to make sure your cheese is vegetarian!
Fresh tagliatelle
Finally, just add the cooked pasta, and you’re done!
I used fresh tagliatelle, which cooks in about 5 minutes. You can use dried tagliatelle instead if you prefer – it will just take a few extra minutes to cook – or a different shape, like mafalde, farfalle or spirali. I don’t discriminate.
Perfect date night dinner
I love cooking a meal like this creamy garlic mushroom tagliatelle for date nights with my husband. It doesn’t take long to cook, so there’s plenty of time to relax afterwards with a glass of white wine.
Plus, since it’s so simple to make, you can both help in the kitchen without getting too irritated with each other.
(or is that just us?)