June 28, 2017
(last updated June 13, 2024) 
This recipe for vegan mushroom scallop pasta uses nutrient-dense oyster mushrooms to create a plant-based meal that’s inspired by seafood pasta. The dish includes juicy burst cherry tomatoes and sautéed zucchini. It’s colorful, fresh, and filling.
Vegan mushroom scallop pasta. Who knew?!
Perhaps at some point you’ve had a seafood pasta dish. And perhaps the seafood in question was seared or sautéed scallops.
I can remember having a few such dishes before I became vegan.
I love mushrooms, and I’m always looking for new ways to incorporate them into my cooking, as they are a decidedly nutrient-dense ingredient.
King oyster mushrooms, also called king trumpet mushrooms, can be sliced crosswise in such a way that they sort of resemble piece of scallop.
From there, you can sear the mushrooms, and after that, you can add them to the juicy, hearty, fresh concoction that is this vegan mushroom scallop pasta. I’m excited to tell you how to make it!
The making of mushroom “scallops”
The vegan “scallops” in this recipe are made with king oyster mushrooms. Let’s say a few words about this type of funghi!
All about king oyster mushrooms
King oyster mushrooms sometimes go by the name of king trumpet mushrooms.
These type of mushrooms have a small cap and a thick, round, substantive stem.
Like most types of mushrooms, these mushrooms have numerous health associations.
Mushrooms are quite rich in fiber, for one thing, which is associated with digestive regularity and in maintenance of a healthy blood lipid profile.
Mushrooms also contain Vitamin D and vitamin B6. They’re a source of selenium, which plays a role in immune health and thyroid health, when it’s consumed in proper amounts.
All mushrooms, including oyster mushrooms, contain some plant protein. They also have antioxidants that may be associated with numerous chronic diseases.
King oyster mushrooms can be found in many markets year-round, especially in Asian-specializing markets and grocers.
Once purchased, both the stem and cap of the mushroom can be consumed.
However, for the purpose of this mushroom scallop recipe, you’ll be focusing on the stems.
How to make vegan “scallops”
Once you’ve found king oyster mushrooms, you’ll slice their stems crosswise into pieces that are about 1-inch / 2.5cm thick.
These pieces, you’ll notice, resemble small or medium-sized scallops!
The pieces can be sautéed, stir-fried, or roasted. For the pasta we’re chatting about today, pan-sautéing is the cooking method.
An abundance of summer produce
The mushroom scallops are only one component of this mushroom scallop pasta recipe.
Other components include plump, juicy burst cherry tomatoes and sliced, sautéed zucchini.
These are two of my favorite summer vegetables to cook with. However, you could incorporate many other types of sautéed vegetables into the dish, including:
- Dark, leafy greens
- Broccoli florets
- Cauliflower florets
- Peas
- Corn
- Green beans
You can also trade the burst cherry tomatoes for chopped, fresh tomatoes, especially when they’re seasonal and in peak ripeness.
How to make mushroom scallop pasta
The steps for making this pasta are relatively straightforward.
I keep things super simple: cherry tomatoes, garlic, zucchini, and a splash of balsamic vinegar at the very end.
With really juicy tomatoes, the pasta doesn’t need any additional sauce, because the tomatoes will burst in the pan as they’re heated and release plenty of sweet liquid.
I add a bit of pasta water at the very end of cooking to create a creamy texture and bring everything together.
Best of all, the vegetables cook as you boil water for pasta and prepare the pasta itself. Here are the steps.
Step 1: Boil your pasta
First, bring a pot of salted water to a boil for your pasta.
You can use any medium or long pasta shape for this recipe, really: orecchiette, fusilli, rigatoni, spaghetti, linguine, malfadine, etc. I especially love to use curly spaghetti!
Step 2: Sear the king oyster mushrooms
Next, heat some olive oil in a frying pan or skillet over medium high heat. It’s time to lightly sear your mushroom “scallops”!
Just 3-4 minutes on each side of the mushroom piece ought to be enough to give it a nicely browned appearance.
After this, you can transfer the mushrooms to a plate for holding. If your skillet or pan is deep and roomy, you can now use it to cook the tomatoes and zucchini (and ultimately, to bring the whole pasta dish together).
If you like, you can also use a small, separate pan for searing the mushrooms.
Step 3: Cook the tomatoes and zucchini
Next, it’s time to sauté the non-mushroom veggies, cherry (or grape) tomatoes and zucchini.
You can do this in the same piece of cookware in which you seared the oyster mushroom stems, if it’s big enough, or you can use a fresh pan or skillet.
The main thing to remember is that this dish needs to be able to hold the entire recipe’s worth of cooked pasta, so choose something roomy accordingly.
First, you’ll cook the tomatoes until they burst and start to cook down. Then, you’ll add garlic and zucchini and cook until the zucchini is quite tender.
Step 4: Add the cooked pasta to the pan & season to taste
Finally, you’ll add the cooked pasta and some of the pasta water back to the pan.
Continue cooking for a couple minutes, until the pasta water and tomatoes create a light, ethereal sauce, and all of the ingredients mingle.
Then, season the pasta to taste. The seasonings that I like to use for this recipe are fresh thyme, oregano, or chopped basil leaves, a splash of balsamic or white balsamic vinegar, and some of my vegan cashew parmesan cheese.
At this point, the pasta is ready to plate and to serve.
The Vegan Week
Embrace the joy of eating homemade food every day with the hearty and wholesome recipes in The Vegan Week.
Whether you have three, two, or even just one hour of time to spare, The Vegan Week will show you how to batch cook varied, colorful, and comforting dishes over the weekend.
Storing mushroom scallop pasta
With light, summery, fresh pasta dishes such as this one, I prefer to make and serve the dish right away. Something can get lost in translation as the pasta is stored.
However, the leftovers will hold on to a great deal of their original deliciousness, and you can store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days.
More vegan summer pasta recipes
There’s nothing I love more than a summer pasta supper that comes together with only a few, fresh, seasonal ingredients.
And I especially love putting all of my summer tomatoes to use in a baked pasta or stovetop pasta recipe!
Here are some of my other favorites:
- 20-minute smoky red pepper pasta
- Vegan baked feta pasta (the viral recipe!)
- Simple vegan burst cherry tomato pasta
- The best vegan macaroni salad (with creamy avocado sauce)
- Creamy zucchini corn pasta
- Tahini pesto pasta
- Butternut zucchini pesto pasta
- Vegan pasta alla Norma
- Chickpea orzo with roasted tomato sauce
- Curried tahini pasta salad
- Lemon orzo pasta salad
- Lemon pepper tempeh vegetable pasta bowls
If you ask me, pasta is always the answer to the question of “what’s for dinner?”
Here’s one of my favorites!
Vegan Mushroom Scallop Pasta with Burst Cherry Tomatoes & Zucchini
Author –Yields: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 4 large king oyster mushrooms sliced crosswise into 1-inch / 2.5cm pieces (you should have about 16 pieces total)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes (10-12 ounces / 300-360g)
- 3 cloves garlic, very thinly sliced
- 1 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced into 1/2-inch / 1.25cm half-moons
- 8 ounces medium or long pasta shape of choice (I like spaghetti and linguine in particular)
- 1-2 tablespoons fresh, chopped herbs of choice (such as thyme leaves, oregano leaves, or chopped fresh basil leaves, to taste)
- Balsamic vinegar or white balsamic vinegar
- cashew parmesan cheese (optional, for topping)
Instructions
- Bring a large stockpot of generously salted water to boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package instructions, or to taste. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water. Drain the pasta.
- While the water is heating and pasta cooks, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large, roomy skillet over medium high heat. When the oil is shimmering, add the mushroom slices and sprinkle them with a pinch of salt and a few turns of black pepper. Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side, adding salt and pepper to the second side once you've flipped, or until both sides are a nice, golden brown. Transfer the mushrooms to a plate for holding.
- Heat the other tablespoon of oil in the skillet, again over medium high heat. When the oil is shimmering, add the cherry tomatoes. Allow the tomatoes to brown gently, stirring every two minutes. Once the tomatoes burst (this should take 6-8 minutes), reduce the heat to medium.
- Add the garlic and zucchini to the pan, along with the salt and a few turns of freshly ground black pepper. Sauté the zucchini and garlic with the tomatoes for 3-4 minutes, or until the zucchini is tender, but not mushy.
- Add the cooked pasta and a 1/2 cup / 120ml cooking water to the pan. Stir everything and continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes, or until the dish of pasta and vegetables is fully incorporated and the tomatoes and pasta water have created a light sauce. Add additional pasta waster as needed, till the pasta has a consistency that you like.
- Taste the pasta. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar, fresh herbs, and cashew parmesan to your liking. Serve the pasta right away and enjoy.
Now that I’ve tried them, I definitely understand why mushroom scallops are so popular: they have a great, chewy texture, and they crisp up nicely on the outside while remaining tender on the interior.
You could add the mushrooms alone to any vegan dish for substance and flavor. I’m thinking they’d work well with risotto in the winter, or served over my garlicky edamame mash.
Enjoy the pasta!
xo
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Categories: Pasta
Method: Stovetop
Ingredients: Mushrooms, Tomatoes
Dietary Preferences: Gluten Free, Soy Free, Tree Nut Free, Vegan
Method: Stovetop
Ingredients: Mushrooms, Tomatoes
Dietary Preferences: Gluten Free, Soy Free, Tree Nut Free, Vegan
Leave a Comment
This dish is a perfect combination of ingredients, Gena! This would be my new favourite lunch recipe! Can I use regular instead of cherry tomatoes?
You can, but they may not be as sweet! If you find a nice, juicy, summer tomato, though, the dish will still be delicious ๐
What a delicious pasta vegan recipe Gena, I will try this soon!
Thank you for sharing it.
Congrats for your amazing blog !
For all readers that would like to discover what really a vegan lifestyle is, there is a great guide out there :
http://stop-animal-cruelty.org/the-ultimate-guide-to-vegan/
Please share it with your friends.
I am a sucker for traditional ravioli! It has been my favorite since I was a kid. Love it with plain butger or a good marinara sauce!
I love buttered noodles with olive oil and Parmesan cheese.
I made this last night and it turned out great. Next time I will add more herbs and maybe some capers or kalamata olives. Really delicious and creamy!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Pesto pasta with cherry tomatoes and parmesan…mmm!!
here is correct tweet link for 7/9ย I entered wrong one in form.
https://twitter.com/cshell202/status/884138479269027840
My favorite pasta dish is lasagna
My favorite pasta dish is roasted chicken alfredo linguini.
I love Pasta Carbonara.
My favorite pasta is fettucine alfredo! Just made an incredible vegan version last week.
My favorite is Chicken Parmesan with spaghetti.
My favorite pasta dish is Aglio E Olio, and my whole family loves it too!
I am a huge fan of browned “butter” noodles with peas. We mostly eat just plain spaghetti with marinara though, since it’s the kiddo’s favorite.
My favorite pasta dish is mac and cheese.
I love pasta primavera!
My favorite pasta dish is Spaghetti alla Carbonara.
Tim! I love my pasta simple with tomatoes and meatballs!
I just adore a simple pasta with pesto, tomato, and maybe some mozzarella. Delicious! These pans would be a wonderful addition to our kitchen!
My favorite pasta is Cajun pasta!
This looks AMAZING!! I still haven’t tried the mushroom scallops in any recipe yet, I think this might be the one! Thanks for sharing!
I love pasta recipes!! Its really looks so good; Thanks for sharing.
Wow, this looks and sounds so delicious- I love mushrooms! I will definitely pin to try later- and such an awesome pan! My favorite pasta dish is definitely seafood ravioli!
My favorite pasta dish is Fettuccine Alfredo.
My favorite is shrimp and a white wine sauce.
My favorite pasta dish would have to be homemade macaroni and cheese. The cheesier the better!
My favorite is baked ziti.
My favorite pasta dish is my mom’s homemade spaghetti and meatballs!!!!
rigatoni or bolognese ๐
I LOVE my moms veggie pasta recipe, made with all fresh veggies.
My favorite pasta dish is veggie lasagna
mi paborito, e um recipe por Pasta.
Stuffed shells are my favorite pasta dish.
My favorite pasta dish is goulash.
I like stuffed pasta shells.
Love your site! My favorite pasta is with raw red sauce. You might want to check this one out and tweak a bit.
https://juliehughesrecipes.wordpress.com/2013/02/20/meatballs-and-sauce-raw/?fb_source=pubv1
Should say nut balls instead of meat balls ๐
My favorite pasta dish is chicken fettucine.
Ziti
This looks delicious! I’ve never had the mushroom scallops, but this looks really good so I might have to try it soon. I love simple pasta dishes like this one, lots of herbs and veggies!
This looks amazing. I love a rigatoni with chunky tomato sauce and eggplant. I also really like linguini with a creamy roasted red pepper sauce.
pasta with pesto
I love whole grain pasta with chickpeas, rosemary, garlic, and vegetables.
I love spaghetti with meatballs.
I love the ease of this recipe! Thanks for sharing, and wow what a giveaway!!!! ๐
I love pasta w/ marinara sauce ๐
We love pasta with roasted red pepper sauce but I’m eager to try this recipe too – thanks!
Loved your summer vegetable penne from your Food52 cookbook — can’t wait to give this one a try!
I’ll try this dish … I really like the hempesan notion. And there’s a mushroom grower at our local farmers market so, plenty to experiment with. Thanks, Gena!
I like oven baked macaroni and cheese, with that golden brown layer of cheese on top.
spaghetti bolognese
I absolutely love shrimp pesto!
Mushroom scallops? How have I never?! This looks divine. My current favorite pasta as of late is green/red lentil pasta with a beet marinara sauce and healthy heaping of roasted broccoli. Pasta is a dream food.
Recently I make a lot of pasta w/ garlicky guacamole, so good!
My mom makes an ever-changing vegetables-and-pasta that is accidentally seasonal in that it includes whatever’s in the fridge at the time – not a fixed dish, but it’s one of my favorites nonetheless!
Spaghetti carbonara
This looks delish! I have a recipe I love with penne and asparagus as the main ingredients. So good! Thanks for the giveaway!
My fav is spaghetti with tomato sauca and mushrooms.
I’d love to win this! The recipe looks delish too!!
Let’s be real, I love all pasta! But my favorite is with slow roasted tomatoes, garlic, and roasted eggplant.
Shrimp and pasta! My husband makes several pasta dishes that are yummy! Thank you!
This is exactly something I would make and love (minus the mushrooms, which I can’t eat). I can’t wait to try it with tomatoes from my own garden!
I love simple cherry tomatoes and onion, sauteed with some oil.
I’ve never seen mushroom scallops, but I’m totally in love with this idea!
What a creative way to use mushrooms. My favorite pasta dish especially in the summer is cold spiral pasta with beans and an oil free balsamic vinaigrette.
This looks so incredibly delicious, Gena! Love the mushroom scallops, and yay for tomato season!!
I’m a long distance runner, so I eat pasta several nights a week! Not Italian, but I love a peanut miso sauce on soba (or whatever pasta I’ve got leftover) with lots of roasted veggies and smoked tofu!
Is there a difference in taste between regular tomatoes and cherry tomatoes? I’ve never had cherry tomatoes. This recipe sure looks delicious. I need to try it out.
Gena, this looks fabulous! It makes me want to show up at your dinner table. I love the idea of the mushrooms scallops and the burst tomatoes and how they “color” the pasta. My kind of pasta dish! Thank you!! Enjoy your fresh tomatoes. . .still waiting out here on the coast. xoxo
It looks like a beautiful set! I’ve really been enjoying your recipes lately. My favorite pasta dishes are the red lentil olive oil walnut pasta from Oh She Glows and a zucchini pasta dish w feta from a cookbook called Community (which is a great vegetarian cookbook).
This looks wonderful! I still haven’t tried mushroom scallops, but now you have me itching to do it. My favorite pasta is pappardelle with garlicky red wine mushrooms.
While I love all pasta-the simplest wins most of the time, spaghetti with marinara and steamed veggies- sometimes I’ll add chickpeas or/and garlic bread.
Cooking is my #1 passion in life and Italian Drunken Noodle is always a hit. Everyone joins the Clean Plate Club when I cook that. Thanks so very much for the chance to win this!