Air fryer mushroom pasta
Mushrooms roasted in the air fryer until meaty and crisp at the edges, tossed with pasta, garlic butter, lemon and parmesan.
- 30 min total
- 15 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.58 a serving
- 500 calories
- Vegetarian
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Most of the time here is hands-off, so you can sit down while it cooks.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 lb baby bella mushrooms
- 12 oz gluten-free pasta, any shape; regular pasta works too
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp butter
- ½ lemon, juiced
- ½ cup grated parmesan
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
From your pantry
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- 1 tbsp salt, plus ½ tsp
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 500 calories, 13 g protein, 75 g carbs and 18 g fat, and costs about $2.58 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No baby bella mushrooms? White mushrooms work.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No lemons? Limes work.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Heat the air fryer to 400°F. Fill a large pot with water, add 1 tablespoon salt, cover and over high heat.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Quarter the mushrooms and them with the oil, thyme and ½ teaspoon salt.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Air fry 12 to 15 minutes, shaking twice, until browned and crisp at the edges. Do two batches if they don’t fit in one layer.
Timer: 13 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: They shrink a lot as their water cooks off. That’s exactly what makes them taste meaty.Meanwhile, cook the pasta until , tasting 2 minutes before the package time. Scoop out 1 cup of , then .
Al dente. Al dente is Italian for “to the tooth”: pasta cooked until tender but with a slight firm bite in the center. It holds up in sauce and keeps softening a little after you drain it.
How you’ll know: Bite a piece a minute before the package time: tender, with a slight firm bite in the middle and no crunch.
Reserve pasta water. It means scooping out a cup of the starchy cooking water before you drain the pasta. A splash helps the sauce cling and turn silky, and it’s the step everyone forgets.
How you’ll know: A mug of cloudy water is sitting by the stove before the pasta goes into the colander.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
High heatTimer: 10 min
Dolly’s tip: Gluten-free pasta softens fast, so pull it with a little bite left.the butter in the empty pot over low heat and cook the garlic 1 minute, .
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Low heatTimer: 1 min
Add the pasta, mushrooms, lemon juice, parmesan and ½ cup and until glossy.
Reserve pasta water. It means scooping out a cup of the starchy cooking water before you drain the pasta. A splash helps the sauce cling and turn silky, and it’s the step everyone forgets.
How you’ll know: A mug of cloudy water is sitting by the stove before the pasta goes into the colander.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Low heat
Serve with the pepper and parsley on top.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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