Creamy Mushroom and Bacon Pasta with a Japanese twist! A dash of soy sauce is the secret ingredient that gives nice umami and savoriness to the dish.
Whether it’s a Monday dinner for the family or a Friday date night, no one can dispute the idea of a rich, comforting, and oh-so-good pasta like this Creamy Mushroom and Bacon Pasta. And yes, the Japanese love pasta just like anyone else. We love noodles and carbs, and we enjoy experimenting with global dishes, giving them some new dimension with our very own Japanese twist.
Creamy Mushroom and Bacon Pasta
In Japanese cuisine, there’s a thing called Japanese-style pasta or what we call Wafu Pasta (和風パスタ). They are essentially Italian pasta dishes that include a few Japanese condiments, and sometimes Japanese ingredients.
In this Creamy Mushroom and Bacon Pasta, for example, I added shiitake mushrooms and shimeji mushrooms, to give new life to the Western-style noodle dish. I also added a splash of soy sauce to the cream. You don’t need a lot of soy sauce here, but just the right amount to lend nice umami, depth, and savoriness.
Some other condiments like miso, sake, and tonkatsu sauce are also commonly used in Western dishes (pasta, soup, main dishes, etc). You don’t have to save Japanese condiments for Japanese food. Have fun experimenting!
Here are some Wafu Pasta recipes on the blog:
- Easy Wafu Pasta with Shrimp and Asparagus
- Classic Mentaiko Pasta
- Ume Shiso Pasta
- Napolitan (Ketchup Spaghetti)
Versatile Creamy Mushroom and Bacon Pasta
This recipe calls for 4 main ingredients: pasta, bacon, mushroom, and garlic, which are staples in the kitchen. But feel free to replace them with pretty much any other ingredients from your fridge. Here are some of my suggestions that would go with this creamy sauce.
Protein
- Chicken
- Ham
- Sausage
- Shrimp
- Salmon
Vegetables & Mushrooms
- Spinach
- Arugula
- Kale
- Asparagus
- Portobello mushrooms
- Oyster mushrooms
- Chanterelle mushrooms
- Enoki mushrooms
Do you have any other good ideas? Please share in the comments below!
5 Tips to Remember When Making Pasta
The following tips will apply to the majority of pasta recipes you’ll be cooking.
- Use 4 quarts (4 L) of water for ½ to 1 lb of pasta.
- Add 1 ½ tablespoons of kosher salt (if table salt, use half) to the water.
- Typically, cook 4 oz (113 g, ¼ lb) of dried pasta per person.
- Cook pasta till al dente; slightly undercooked or “firm to the bite”.
- Reserve ½ cup (120 ml) pasta cooking water just in case you need to dilute your pasta sauce.
Love of Italian Food in Japan
If you have never been to Japan, it’s probably hard to imagine that the Japanese cook and eat western food quite often. In fact, Italian restaurants are everywhere in Japan, and I mean everywhere. At home, we cook all kinds of pasta, some are with a Japanese twist (we call this type “Wafu Pasta” 和風パスタ).
Several years ago I read an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about the growing Japanese influence on San Francisco food (It’s an interesting article to read if you have time). In the article, the editor Michael Bauer mentioned that chef David Kinch at Manresa said, “the best French and Italian restaurants in the world outside of France and Italy are in Japan. It is that amazing.” My neighborhood Italian restaurants in Yokohama serve superb Italian food compared to the local Italian restaurants here in my neighborhood in the US.
When you’re in Japan and got tired of eating Japanese food, try an Italian restaurant and you might be pleasantly surprised!
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Creamy Mushroom and Bacon Pasta
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon (5.3 oz, 150 g)
- 1.8 oz shimeji mushrooms (½ package; or use any other mushrooms)
- 4 cremini mushrooms (1.8 oz, 50 g; or use button mushrooms)
- 4 shiitake mushrooms (1.8 oz, 50 g; or use any other mushrooms))
- 1½ Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
For the Pasta
- 8 oz pasta (spaghetti, linguine, or fettuccine; 4 oz, 113 g per person)
- 4 quarts water
- 1½ Tbsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
For the Creamy Sauce
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
- freshly ground black pepper
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour (plain flour)
- 1 cup milk
- ⅓ cup heavy (whipping) cream
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- ⅛ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
For the Garnish
- parsley
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Add 1½ Tbsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt and 4 quarts water to a large pot and bring it to a boil for cooking the spaghetti. Meanwhile, prepare the rest of the ingredients. Once the water is boiling, add 8 oz pasta and cook according to package instructions. Tip 1: Stop cooking 1 minute earlier as you will continue to cook the pasta in the frying pan. Tip 2: Before draining the pasta, reserve ½ cup (120 ml) pasta cooking water. Drain well and set aside.
- Cut 4 slices bacon into ½-inch (1.25-cm) pieces.
- Cut the bottom of 4 cremini mushrooms and slice them. Cut the bottom end of 1.8 oz shimeji mushrooms.
- Remove the stems of 4 shiitake mushrooms and slice the caps.
- In a large frying pan, heat 1½ Tbsp extra virgin olive oil on medium heat. Note: If you use a nonstick frying pan, you can skip the oil.
- Once the oil is hot, add the bacon and sauté.
- Once the bacon fat renders, crush 2 cloves garlic and add into the pan.
- Add all the mushrooms and sauté together. Add 1 Tbsp unsalted butter and freshly ground black pepper.
- Add 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour (plain flour) and make sure to keep stirring so the flour doesn’t stick at the bottom of the pan.
- Stir in 1 cup milk, ⅓ cup heavy (whipping) cream, and 1 Tbsp soy sauce. Continue scraping off the bottom of the pan. The flour will thicken the sauce.
- Taste the sauce and add ⅛ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. If the sauce is too thick, you can add ¼ cup of pasta cooking water (after that, add one tablespoon at a time) to dilute the sauce. Tip: You want to make sure it tastes a bit stronger than you want the final dish to be (because you will add the spaghetti).
- Add the cooked spaghetti to the frying pan, or alternatively, you can pour the sauce over the spaghetti on a serving plate. Using the pair of tongs, coat the spaghetti with the sauce.
- If you‘d like, add freshly ground black pepper. Serve and garnish with parsley.
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on March 9, 2011. It was updated with new images in February 2019.
Cooking Time: <45 minutes
Makes 2 servingsIngredients:2 servings of spaghetti
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
4 slices bacon, cut into ½” pieces
3 mushrooms, sliced
2 shiitake mushrooms, sliced
1 pkg shimeji mushroom, cut off the base part of shimeji mushrooms
Freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/3 heavy whipping cream
1 cup milk
1 cube vegetable bouillon
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
Freshly ground black pepper
Parsley for garnishDirections:1. Start cooking spaghetti according to package instructions. Prepare the rest of ingredients. You can combine heavy whipping cream and milk in the same measuring cup.2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet heat olive oil on medium heat and cook garlic until fragrant.3. Add bacon and sauté.4. Add the three kinds of mushrooms and mix all together. Sprinkle pepper if you like.5. Stir in flour and keep mixing with wooden spoon. Constantly scrape off the bottom of the pan.6. Stir in whipping cream and milk and continue scraping off the bottom of the pan.7. Add bouillon and break it with the wooden spoon. Bring the sauce to a boil.8. When boiling, add soy sauce and mix all together.9. When the sauce gets thicken, add black pepper (and salt) to taste. Bacon is salty so I usually don’t put salt here.10. You can add spaghetti in the skillet to mix with the sauce, or you can pour the sauce over the spaghetti on a serving plate. Garnish with parsley and serve immediately.
I am a third generation Japanese Canadian and I have been using your recipes to learn how to cook dishes my mother used to make. Recently I tried your bacon and mushroom pasta and it was delicious! You are right – the addition of the shoyu made a huge impact on the flavor!
Hi Norman! Thank you so much for trying my recipes and cooking Japanese food! I’m so happy you liked this pasta! Yes, shoyu adds fantastic umami – it’s a great secret seasoning!
When I lived in Japan and would eat out, this dish was always included in the pasta section of every menu. Also a staple on every pasta menu was a similar dish, only it was spinach and bacon, with a dashi base sauce (not cream base). I have always wanted to learn how to make this as it’s my all-time favorite pasta, but I can’t figure it out! When I guess, it just doesn’t taste right. If you could publish this pasta recipe as well, I would be forever grateful!
Hi April! So it’s not a creamy one, it’s simple dashi base spinach and bacon pasta. I think it’s a dash of soy sauce. Do you add it? I’ll add to my list. Hopefully I get to try when I go back this summer. I LOVE wafu pasta, but the rest of my family is not a big wafu pasta fan (when they are in Japan, they rather eat other food!) so we rarely go to pasta place… I’ll look into it!
[…] 8. Creamy Mushroom Bacon Spaghetti […]
OMG this was so good! Melt in your mouth! I like to eat rice with my Japanese dinners but for lunch I don’t like to eat rice again but being Japanese-American and raised in the USA I love pasta for lunch. I will try this again and just use milk and maybe butter to make the roux so I don’t need cream too, maybe use starch but I might not need it. I only used shiitake mushroom and I kicked it up with a little cayenne. Japanese seem to like a little more bland when it comes to dishes but in Southern USA they like fire spice lol, like “Nashville Hot Chicken” (spicy friend chicken). I almost wonder if Japanese Karaage could meet up with Nashville hot chicken fusion one day. Anyways this was so yum, hope you make a video on YouTube. I love collecting your videos in a Playlist. Thank you! ^_^
Hi Lili! I’m glad you enjoyed this dish! Japanese don’t really eat super spicy food so I can see why it can be more bland. I was in Charleston this past weekend and I really enjoyed Southern food! I have YouTube channel but I don’t have the video for this recipe. 🙂 Thank you so much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback. xo
Hi, can I just use all milk instead of using whipping cream? Thanks
Hi Joanne! Sure, you can. It’ll be less creamy but healthier. 🙂
Aloha Nami,
A friend gave me a big bag of eryngii mushrooms the other day so I searched your website and made this for dinner tonight. I also used shimeji, shiitake and enoki mushrooms. It was so delicious, especially with the shoyu in there. I will be making this again. Thank you for sharing!! Mahalo, Amy????????????
Aloha Amy! I’m so glad you liked this recipe! Super easy right? 🙂 Soy sauce makes it wonderful Wafu Pasta. Thanks for trying this recipe (despite the picture is not so pretty)… 🙂
I made this dish, this past Saturday. I was really surprised about a Japanese Italian dish. It was delicious!! Thank you for your recipe!
Hi Kodi! I’m so happy to hear you tried this recipe and enjoyed it. Thank you very much for your kind feedback!
Hi, I am Ravi from Malaysia. Today my wife and I made this dish for dinner.
It was easy to make and very tasty indeed., we replaced bacon with seafood and some vegetables (baby spinach and brocolli). My family enjoyed this dish very much and this recipe is for keeps. We will of course be doing this dish again. Many thanks.
Hi Ravi! Thank you for trying this recipe! I’m so happy to hear your family enjoyed this dish. Thank you for your kind feedback. 🙂
I had no idea, what to cook. I had some crimini mushrooms and bacon in the fridge and wondered which cooking blog to search to find a receipe for these ingredients. Justonecookbook was all I needed, and the first result was a perfect choice! What a satisfying and tasty dish this is! Thank you so much!
Hi Eevamaria! Aww! Thank you for checking my site when you’re not sure what to cook. 😀 I’m so happy you liked this recipe! It’s a super quick and yummy recipe we enjoy too!
I love the pasta in Japan and it is the best I’ve ever tried.
Hi Melisa! Me too! I’m happy you like it too. 🙂
Hi Nami,
If I don’t want bacon, what kind of substitute meat should I go for? How do I prepare for that particular meat? 🙂
Hi Jen! You can use sausage or ham if you like, or chicken or shrimp, maybe. Hope this helps! 🙂
I wish to make this spaghetti but I do not like the taste of shiitake. i will just use regular white mushroom unless you can recommend any other type beside shimeji. Will enoki work or is that one for soups only? We have good ️Virginia thick bacon here that I want to use today!
Hi Tasha! So sorry for my late response! Don’t worry if you don’t like the taste of shiitake. You can simply omit it – do you have any other types of mushrooms you enjoy? Simply use them. Mushrooms have nice umami, so it’s nice to replace shiitake with something else. We do put enoki in Japaense style mushrooms too:
https://www.justonecookbook.com/japanese-style-mushroom-tuna-pasta/
Hope you enjoy! 🙂
Hi Nami, I made this for dinner today for the second time. It’s quite easy and I love mushroom. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Hi Amanda! I like this pasta too! So glad you enjoyed this dish and made it for the second time! Thank you for letting me know! xo 🙂
Hi Nami,
I made this today for lunch and my boyfriend and I both loved it! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe..Look forward to trying all the others… 🙂
Hi Twinky! Sorry I didn’t realize your comment here. Thank you so much for cooking this pasta! I’m happy you liked it. 🙂 Thank you for leaving comment here, too!
I made this today for my dinner and I love it! I added the broccoli too 😀 Thank you~
Hi Jessica! How sweet of you… thanks for coming back and letting me know! I’m glad you liked it. My husband is not much into spaghetti but he absolutely loves this dish. Thank you and I hope you enjoy my website. 🙂
love this creamy mushroom and bacon recipe! it’ll definitely be a staple recipe for me going forward. 🙂 I used king oyster mushrooms instead and it worked out. ps – I was excited for you when I saw kenji in your kitchen!
Hi Holly! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed it. 🙂
Haha, yeah it was a surprise for us too when he said he would come to our house! Our kitchen is blessed!!!