Bacon Mushroom Green Bean Pasta is the perfect dinner for your fresh garden green beans! The green beans cook with the pasta and are tossed with a simple cream sauce loaded with bacon, mushrooms and onions. This simple pasta is a summer favorite!
- Garden Harvest - We always have more garden green beans than we know what to do with! This pasta is perfect for using them, and we love to Blanch and Freeze Garden Green Beans with the remainder!
- Healthy and Fresh! - This pasta is loaded with fresh veggies, garden herbs, and rich bacon for a well rounded summer meal!
- If you Love this Summer Pasta, try my Bacon Kale Spaghetti, Salmon Zucchini Orzo Pasta, and this Creamy Zucchini Mushroom Pasta!
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Ingredients
Real cream, bacon and fresh veggies make the best simple pasta, bursting with flavor!
- Spaghetti - You can make this recipe with spaghetti, linguine, fettuccine or really any shape pasta.
- Green Beans - This recipe was created to use those abundant fresh garden green beans! Pick a good handful when they are young and tender. Pick them daily to avoid large overgrown beans that can be stringy and tough!
- Bacon - Bacon is really a delicious base for a creamy pasta! It cooks together with the onions and mushrooms, giving them lots of flavor. You can drain a little bit of the bacon grease, but leaving some of it in the skillet is delicious in the sauce!
- Onions, Mushrooms and Garlic - These veggies get more and more delicious as they caramelize along with the bacon, getting deep brown in color.
- Cream - Heavy cream can turn anything into a quick pasta! As it cooks, it reduces and thickens into the creamy Alfredo consistency everybody loves!
- Parmesan Cheese - I like to buy a block of Parmesan cheese and shred it myself. It lasts much longer in the fridge.
- Fresh Herbs - When the green beans are in the garden, we always have lots of fresh herbs to go along with them! I'm adding basil to everything this time of year, but any combination of herbs are great in this dish, such as parsley, chives, rosemary, thyme, sage or oregano.
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
This quick pasta is made by boiling the pasta and adding the green beans to finish cooking together, while making the cream sauce in a separate skillet!
Step 1 - Prep your ingredients. Set a pot of water to boil for the pasta.
Slice the bacon, onions and mushrooms, mince the garlic, and trim the ends from the green beans.
Step 2 - Cook the pasta in boiling salted water for 12 minutes.
In the last 3 minutes, add the green beans to the boiling pasta and finish cooking together.
Using a mug, ladle or measuring cup, reserve about 1 or 2 cups of the starchy cooking liquid before draining.
Step 3 - While the pasta cooks, make the sauce in a separate large skillet.
Over medium heat, saute the raw bacon, mushrooms and onions.
Step 4 - Stir often until the bacon is fully cooked and the onions and mushrooms are deep brown and caramelized.
This happens at the same time!
Step 5 - Stir in the garlic for a minute, then add the cream.
Simmer over medium low heat while the cream thickens into a sauce.
Add some of the starchy cooking liquid from the pasta to stretch the sauce. I added about ⅔ cup.
Step 6 - Drain the pasta and green beans together.
When the cream sauce has thickened, add the pasta and green beans and toss well to combine.
Step 7 - Finish your pasta by tossing it well, and adding more starchy pasta water as needed if it becomes too dry. Add the fresh herbs, Parmesan cheese and serve!
Helpful Tips
- Adjusting the Cream Sauce - A cream sauce is constantly in motion. As it sits on the burner, it will continue to thicken and reduce as the steam escapes. This will thicken your sauce, but eventually will dry it out. This is when you add the starchy pasta water. You can always be adjusting the sauce, by either simmering and stirring to thicken OR adding more liquid to thin. Turn the burner off when you sit down to eat, you may need to add pasta water when you come back for a second helping. Always keep tossing and stirring! The starchy pasta water is liquid gold, essential to pasta sauce! Get in the habit of saving it before draining your pasta!
- Amounts Don't Need to Be Exact - The veggies don't really need to be precisely measured, a good handful of green beans, more or less mushrooms, and anywhere from 4 to 7 slices of bacon are fine.
- A Note on Salt - Where's the salt and pepper in this recipe? I've found that cooking the onions and mushrooms with the bacon salts them plenty. I do like to add a pinch of salt to the boiling water to season the pasta and green beans. Taste the finished cream sauce, you can always decide to add a pinch of salt and pepper if you like!
- Make Ahead and Storage - This is a quick cooking pasta that is best eaten immediately. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for 3 days and reheated in the microwave or on the stovetop. You can add a splash of milk or cream when reheating if it becomes too dry.
What to Serve it with
This Creamy Bacon Mushroom Green Bean Pasta can be a main course on its own, or you can add additional protein or side dishes!
- Add Protein - With bacon being the only meat, you could serve this pasta dish with grilled chicken, salmon, shrimp, or Italian sausage links.
- Summer Side Dishes - When the garden is bursting with summer veggies, add this Panzanella Bread Salad, Cherry Tomato Bruschetta, or Tomato Feta White Bean Salad.
- Add a Salad - Try this Spinach Arugula Salad and this Italian Mixed Green Salad with Crispy Prosciutto, or add this Lemon Herb Dressing to any lettuce salad! If you have summer fruit, a Cucumber Melon Salad or this Prosciutto Melon Salad are a nice balance for pasta!
Recipe FAQs
Wipe any dirt from the mushrooms, or rinse them briefly under running water if they are very dirty.
Yes! The spaghetti can be subbed with linguine, fettuccine, or any shape pasta you like!
Yes! It feels weird to add the raw veggies with the raw bacon, but they cook perfectly together! In the time it takes for the bacon to get crispy, the onions and mushrooms are caramelized and golden delicious! Plus you don't need olive oil or salt and pepper, the bacon provides the fat and salt to cook the veggies!
Try These Garden Recipes Next!
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Bacon Mushroom Green Bean Pasta
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Print Pin RateIngredients
- 1 pound spaghetti or linguine pasta (save 1 to 2 cups of the starchy pasta water before draining)
- 2 cups green beans
- 6 slices bacon chopped
- ½ onion sliced (about ¾ cup)
- 8 ounces crimini mushrooms sliced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ⅓ cup Parmesan cheese shredded
- 2 Tablespoons fresh herbs basil, thyme, parsley or rosemary
Instructions
- Chop and prep all ingredients. Trim the ends off the green beans, no need to trim the pointy tips. Slice the bacon, mushrooms and onions.
- Bring a pot of water to a rapid boil, add a pinch of salt and cook the pasta, about 12 minutes. In the last 3 minutes of the pasta cooking, add the green beans to the boiling pasta (Time the pasta for 9 minutes, then 3 more minutes together with the green beans). BEFORE DRAINING, use a coffee cup, ladle or measuring cup to pull out 1 to 2 cups of the starchy cooking water. Reserve it for the sauce. Drain the pasta and green beans together in a colander.
- Meanwhile, while the pasta is cooking, heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the chopped raw bacon, the onions and the mushrooms. Stir often with a wooden spoon, the vegetables will cook in the rendering fat from the bacon, about 15 minutes.
- When the bacon is fully cooked, the vegetables will be sautéed and golden brown. Add the garlic and stir a minute until fragrant. If there is excessive bacon fat in the skillet, you can spoon out some of it, if not, it will just become part of the sauce.
- Add the heavy cream, reduce heat to medium low and bring to a simmer.
- As the cream reduces, you can add the starchy pasta water to stretch the sauce. It will continue to reduce and thicken as it simmers. Give it a taste and add a pinch of salt and pepper if needed (the bacon may be enough salt for the dish).
- Add the drained pasta and green beans to the sauce and toss well with tongs. Add more pasta water as needed if it becomes too dry. I added about ⅔ cup total.
- Add fresh herbs and Parmesan cheese and continue tossing and serve!
Notes
- Adjusting the Cream Sauce - A cream sauce is constantly in motion. As it sits on the burner, it will continue to thicken and reduce as the steam escapes. This is great to thicken your sauce, but eventually will become dry. This is when you add more of the starchy pasta water. You can always be adjusting the sauce, by either simmering and stirring to thicken OR adding more liquid to thin. Turn the burner off when you sit down to eat, you may need to add pasta water when you come back for a second helping. Always keep tossing and stirring!
- Subbing other Veggies - Green beans could be substituted with asparagus or peas and cooked with the pasta in the same way. Zucchini could be substituted for mushrooms. Kale or spinach could be added to the cream sauce.
- Adding Protein - If the bacon isn't enough, you could top this pasta with grilled chicken, salmon, Italian sausage links, or shrimp!
- Mushrooms - Wipe any dirt from the mushrooms, or spray them briefly under water if they are very dirty.
- Starchy Pasta Water - I added about ⅔ cup of starchy pasta water to thin the cream sauce.
- Bacon Fat - I drained about 1 Tablespoon of bacon fat before adding the cream.
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