This Fettuccine Boscaiola pasta recipe is from an Italian chef I once worked with. It’s deliciously rich and dangerously addictive!
Updated 8 April 2023
Forget that diet for now
Seriously, this Fettuccine Boscaiola is bloody amazing, but it’s loaded with delicious stuff healthy people would avoid. For me, it’s one of those dishes where I would say ‘Stuff it, the diet starts tomorrow!‘
Let’s all loosen our belts to 3 or 4 holes outwards or undo the drawstrings on our shorts so we can enjoy this ridiculously yummy bowl of pasta.
How on earth could we go wrong with a dish that has bacon, mushrooms, wine, cream and pasta? Just hearing those ingredients together makes me want to lick the plate clean! I’m so shameless, but I don’t care. It’s no wonder I have no self-control and always give in to this super-indulgent dish.
This one time, I served this Fettuccine Boscaiola dish for lunch with friends. They all raved how about how amazing it was and most went in for seconds. One of my friends, Tina, had dairy-related IBS but still ate a large bowl. She was weak against the outrageously delicious creamy sauce. Tina reminded me she would obviously pay for this dearly when she got home and it was ALL MY FAULT!
I’ve slightly adapted this Fettuccine Boscaiola recipe from an Italian chef I once worked with. It was just a local pizzeria, and it definitely wasn’t a fancy restaurant! In saying that, they constantly had people flocking in and out of the pizzeria for their Fettuccine Boscaiola.
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Tax Law killed my life twice!
Because of my laziness and lack of preparation, I flunked Tax law in my last year of Uni when I should’ve graduated. Repeating tax law was a nightmare! It was boring and our lecturer had the most painstaking monotone voice I’ve ever heard. Don’t ask me how I did it, but I eventually got my degree.
There was no reason for me to live on campus for just one subject, so I moved back with my parent. I had to face their wrath because their hopes of me becoming a CEO of a giant finance company went down the drain. They were extremely mad, but what made me feel guilty was their pure disappointment in me.
Yup, my life sucked pretty badly. My parents forced me to get a casual job whilst I doing tax law. However, I wasn’t ready to dive into the world of finance, so I settled for a position at our local pizzeria. Yes, random I know!
Pizzeria and a ‘wacko boss’
The pizzeria was formerly owned by two Italian brothers. Stevo, my boss, wasn’t from was from our area. He bought the wood fire pizzeria without having the faintest idea of how to make pizza or pasta, and he has never managed people.
Stevo ended up employing Marco (the younger of the brothers he bought the pizzeria from) to help run the restaurant with him. Of course, Marco took advantage of how clueless Stevo was and charged him a ridiculous amount per hour.
Marco was a qualified chef specialising in Italian cuisine. He was engaged to a beautiful blonde in her twenties, and her ambition was to become a model. No wonder Marco was charging Stevo up the roof because he needed to fund their glamorous lifestyle. Their relationship was volatile and dramatic, but I can’t say it wasn’t entertaining.
Things were something happening at that pizzeria. Stevo’s very eccentric, and it took me a while to adjust to his personality. He was a loud, obnoxious extrovert, and he loved telling everyone about his intimate relationships. I mean in glory detail and with way too much information!
As much as Stevo was wacko, he was a nice guy at heart, and I found a way to get along with him. I left the pizzeria after 7 months to join the finance sector.
The best part of my experience was learning the chef’s secrets and learning how to make pizza and pasta dishes. After all these years, I still remember how to make their best-selling Fettuccine Boscaiola by heart!
More creamy goodness right here!
Creamy Tuscan Chicken
Salmon In Creamy Lemon Sauce
Lobster Mac & Cheese
Ukrainian Beef & Potato Stew
Ingredients for Fettuccine Boscaiola
Bacon – My favourite bacon is streaky, as I like the ratio of fat and meat. However, all kinds of rindless bacon will work. If using you’re using lean or shortcut bacon, you may need an extra teaspoon of oil for frying.
Thickened cream (whipping or heavy cream) has gelatine added to it and contains 35% milk fat. I don’t recommend using low-fat cream because the sauce will be thinner and less rich.
Parmesan cheese – This is most likely not authentic, but the pizzeria used ‘Kraft powdered parmesan cheese‘. Supermarket stock these containers of parmesan cheese on shelves and not in the chilled section. If you can’t find this type of parmesan, swap it with freshly grated parmesan cheese.
Pasta – At the pizzeria, we let our customers decide what pasta they would like. Fettuccine, ravioli, tortellini, penne or spaghetti. The most popular choice was fettuccine.
Dry white wine is lower in sugar levels than other white varieties. Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio are popular dry white wine varieties.
Watch how to make Fettuccine Boscaiola
Written step-by-step guide with photos
Cook the fettuccine as per the instructions on the packet, but check regularly so it doesn’t overcook it. The pasta should be a little firm when bitten (al dente). Drain pasta using a colander, then rinse with cold water. Leave pasta in the colander so excess water drips off whilst making the sauce.
Heat oil in a large deep frying pan on medium-high heat. Place in the bacon and stir regularly for 2 to 3 minutes or until the fat renders. Add in garlic and onion, then stir regularly for a minute or until the onion softens.
Pour in the wine and stir regularly for a minute or until the alcohol smell dissipates. Add in the mushrooms, then stir regularly for 1 to 2 minutes or until the mushrooms have softened.
Pour in the cream, once it starts to bubble, reduce the heat to medium-low. Add in the parmesan, pasta and salt. Stir the pasta for 3 to 4 minutes or until heated through. Have a taste of the pasta and add salt and pepper to your liking if needed. Give it a good stir, then remove the pan from the heat. Optional – stir in the parsley.
Leftovers – Fettuccine Boscaiola is best served immediately. Its sauce may split when reheated, but it still tastes good. To store, allow the pasta to cool completely at room temperature, then transfer the pasta into a sealed container. It’ll be good for up to 2 days when stored in the fridge.
I’ve used a third-party application to calculate the calories and nutritional information, so please use this as an approximate guide only.
Cooking measurements are in Australian standard spoon and cup measurements. For specific details and conversions, visit our Australian Cooking Measurements page.
I would love your feedback and support if you made this recipe. To do this, please rate this recipe and provide a comment by scrolling down this page or by clicking that green circle on the bottom left. An email address is required (for spam), but it won’t be published. I would also love to see your dish, so don’t forget to tag me on my Instagram account ‘3catsfoodie’
Cheers – Cat T
Fettuccine Boscaiola
Ingredients
- 350 gm dried fettuccine pasta (NOTE 1)
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 250 gm bacon (roughly diced) (NOTE 2)
- 3 garlic cloves (minced)
- 1 small brown onion (diced finely)
- ¼ cup white wine (NOTE 3)
- 200 gm button mushrooms (thinly sliced)
- 2 cup thickened cream (NOTE 4)
- 2 tbsp parmesan cheese (NOTE 5)
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp finely chopped parsley (optional)
- salt and pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- Cook the fettuccine as per the instructions on the packet, but check regularly so it doesn't overcook it. The pasta should be a little firm when bitten (al dente). Drain pasta using a colander, then rinse with cold water. Leave pasta in the colander so excess water can drip off whilst making the sauce.
- Heat oil in a large deep frying pan on medium-high heat. Place in the bacon and stir regularly for 2 to 3 minutes or until the fat renders. Add in garlic and onion, then stir regularly for a minute or until the onion softens.
- Pour in the wine and stir regularly for a minute or until the alcohol smell dissipates. Add in the mushrooms, then stir regularly for 1 to 2 minutes or until the mushrooms have softened.
- Pour in the cream, once it starts to bubble, reduce the heat to medium-low. Add in the parmesan, pasta and salt. Stir the pasta for 3 to 4 minutes or until heated through. Have a taste of the pasta and add salt and pepper to your liking if needed. Give it a good stir, then remove the pan from the heat. Optional – stir in the parsley.
