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This is a fun, easy, summertime recipe for chanterelle pasta: any sort of pasta tossed with with chanterelle mushrooms, sweet corn, cherry tomatoes and basil. You could use other mushrooms, too, found or bought.
Most of the United States sees their chanterelle flush in summer, unlike us here in California and the Pacific Northwest, so it’s only natural to pair these pretty, golden mushrooms with the bounty of a summer garden.
To that end, use this recipe as a guide, not dogma. The idea is fresh chanterelle mushrooms tossed with pasta and perfectly ripe vegetables and herbs from your garden or farmer’s market or supermarket.
I went with a yellow theme because chanterelles are yellow-orange: Yellow sweet corn, yellow cherry tomatoes, and a yellow bell pepper… oh yeah, and I snuck in a yellow datil pepper in there, too, because I like it hot.
The pasta in this chanterelle pasta is orecchiette, a hat-shaped pasta that holds sauce and small ingredients well. I’d definitely go with short pasta here because this recipe is every bit as good at room temperature as it is warm, and short pasta makes a better pasta salad.
Fresh chanterelles, or their cousins the cinnabars, or their northern, cool-weather cousins the yellowfoot chanterelles, will all work. You can find them in a forest near you, or in farmer’s markets and fancy supermarkets.
If that’s not an option, you can absolutely make this dish with pickled chanterelles. (Chanterelles don’t dry well, so don’t use them.)
No chanterelles? No worries. Use shiitake, cremini or another smallish fresh mushroom. Lobster mushrooms are a good option, as are meadow mushrooms or hedgehogs. Hell, we still get morels in the high country in summer, so if you got ’em, use ’em. (Another recipe you can use with a wide variety of foraged or store-bought mushrooms is creamy mushrooms on toast.)
Again, think pasta salad. Sauté the chanterelles with minced onions and garlic, then add the other ingredients at the last minute, to just barely cook them. Toss in the basil when you mix everything with the pasta, and bang, yer done.
Simple. Easy. Tasty, and great for a hot evening. Leftovers are great cold as lunch the next day.
Looking for more chanterelle recipes besides chanterelle pasta? I make a mean chanterelle risotto, and an even better chanterelle soup.
Chanterelle Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 pound fresh chanterelle mushrooms, cleaned and torn into small pieces
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- Salt
- 1 medium yellow onion, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 yellow bell pepper, diced
- 1 small hot pepper, minced (optional)
- 1/2 pound cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 cup corn kernels
- 1/2 cup feta or cotija cheese, crumbled
- 1/2 cup fresh basil, torn into pieces
- 1 pound short pasta, orecchiette, farfalle, penne, etc.
- A splash of vinegar or lemon juice
Instructions
- Get a large pot of water hot, then salt it well. When it's boiling, add the pasta.
- Put the mushrooms in a large sauté pan and turn the heat to high. Toss them as they heat up — they'll squeak — and they'll soon release their water. When that happens, add the onion and garlic and some salt and toss to combine.
- Add the olive oil and toss to combine. Let this sauté for about 3 minutes, tossing or stirring often. Add the peppers, cherry tomatoes, and corn and mix well. Cook for a minute or two, the add the basil and cheese and turn off the heat.
- Drain the pasta well, and if you want, toss it with a little more olive oil. Mix with the contents of the pan, and serve. Splash a little vinegar or lemon juice over everything right as you serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is an amazing & simple recipe. Great instructions on how to properly cook chanterelles. We usually just cook out the water and then sauté with garlic and a fat and eat it alone or on toast. But I was looking for a simple full dinner recipe. Love this. I adjusted a bit because we didn’t have corn but the flavors of the veggies and mushrooms come through well. Thanks for sharing
I love this recipe. Now I just wish I had some more reliable spots to gather chanterelles.
I’m reaching out to MacKenzie Scott to see if she can help me finance a pound of chanterelles (they are $10CAD/100g here – $45/#).
S Rose: Whoa. I just collect mine. Sorry!
Excellent as always Hank thank you!
Hi, I found some Chicken of the Woods mushrooms today, growing on a tree up in NW Wisconsin. I have never seen them before. I sautéed a couple of pieces and they are meaty, but like many mushrooms they need good seasoning. But I wonder if they could be at least a partial substitute for the chanterelles?
Thanks, Steve
What an amazing recipe, it brings out the texture and flavor of chants so well.
Delicious, will absolutely make again!
Didn’t have chanterelles so substituted dried morels and oysters mushrooms harvested in our SW WI woods along with the addition of zucchini and andouille sausage. Really loved the combination as our veggie garden is outdoing our consumption rate and the yellow cherry tomatoes are in sync with this type of recipe.
Loved it!
Thanks,
Dick G
Are the corn kernels cooked ,canned or raw?
Gordon: Raw. You can cook them if you’d like, but they really don’t need it.
Where are you finding chanterelles this time of year – everyone in Seattle markets tells me to wait for fall/winter – trying to make a Hog Island roasted oyster/chantrelle recipe.
JG: The entire rest of the country. Chanterelles are a summer mushroom everywhere except California and the Pacific Northwest.
Another great one Hank. Will go on the menu this weekend!
Thanks
Tad