truffle cream sauce

Truffle cream sauce is a satiny, luscious cream sauce that can be used on pasta, pizza, seared meats, and gratins. We love to make it with fresh black truffles, but truffle oil and truffle pate work as well!

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This truffle cream sauce is pure luxury. Grated black truffles, shallot, and garlic are sautéed in butter, simmered with white wine, and then gently cooked with heavy cream.

The truffle sauce can be used in a variety of dishes (see here for ideas), but we especially love to toss it with fresh pasta, grated parmesan, and more shaved truffles. Because if you have fresh truffles in your kitchen, why not?

what you need for truffle cream sauce:

• fresh truffles (see here for substitutes)
• shallot
• garlic clove
• heavy cream
• dry white wine
• butter
• salt and black pepper

how to make truffle cream sauce:

1. Sauté shallots in butter.
2. Add garlic and grated truffle, cook until fragrant.
3. Add white wine and reduce to a few tablespoons.
4. Stir in cream and gently simmer until thickened.
5. Strain and toss with pasta.
6. Enjoy!

how to prepare fresh truffles for this sauce:

I love to use a microplane to grate fresh truffles. It doesn’t look as stunning as the thin, iconic shavings of black truffle, but it is a great way to maximize the flavor.

Grating truffles exposes much more surface area to air, so it releases more flavor into your food. It is one of the most efficient uses of this piece of black gold. You could mince the truffle, too, if you don’t have a microplane.

If you use this truffle cream sauce with pasta, you can grate or shave more truffle on top depending on your visual preference. Both ways are delicious!

Store any unused fresh black truffles in the refrigerator, wrapped in paper towels, and kept inside a glass storage container.

This will minimize moisture, slow mold growth, and help preserve the flavors of your fresh truffle for up to 1 week. After that, grate the rest of the truffle and make truffle butter!

ways to use truffle cream sauce:

Don’t limit yourself to pasta here. This cream sauce can be used for a whole variety of dishes! Remember, you can simmer the sauce for as long as necessary to reach your desired consistency.

• As a base for potato gratin or cauliflower gratin
• Stirred into pureed soup (wild mushroom cream soup, anyone?) or your favorite chowder
• Heated with a few handfuls of gruyere or white cheddar, then tossed with shell pasta for a decadent truffle mac and cheese
• As a base for creamed peas or creamed spinach
• Stirred into red skin mashed potatoes or creamy mashed rutabaga
• In a pan sauce for seared chicken
• In savory mushroom bread pudding
• Stirred into eggs for quiche

how to make truffle cream sauce without fresh truffles

Don’t skip this recipe if you don’t have fresh truffles!

There are so many truffle products out there that can do a great job of standing in for fresh truffles. My favorite is truffle pate and my least favorite is truffle oil, but use what you’ve got!

The beauty of this cream sauce is it’s more than just truffles and heavy cream. I use a lot of aromatics to build complexity in the sauce, so it will still be delicious with a variety of truffle products.

• Truffle pate: stir in 1 tablespoon at the end of cooking, add more to taste
• Truffle oil: stir in 2 teaspoons at the end of cooking, add more to taste
• Preserved truffles: stir in 2 tablespoons at the end of cooking, add more to taste
• Truffle salt: use in place of the kosher salt; taste and add more if needed

how to make pasta with truffle cream sauce:

The key to making a great pasta truffle cream sauce lies in liberal use of pasta water. It creates a silky sauce that drapes over the noodles and coats the ridges of every shape. 

1. Make truffle cream sauce and keep warm.
2. Cook 12 oz pasta in boiling salted water until very al dente (a few minutes earlier than package says).
3. Drain, reserving 1 cup pasta water, and return pasta to pot.
4. Add sauce and ½ cup pasta water; bring to a gentle simmer.
5. Cook, tossing often and sprinkling in ¼ cup grated parmesan, until cheese is melted and sauce is thick and creamy, about 3 minutes.
6. Remember sauce will tighten as it cools, err on the side of a loose sauce.
7. Taste, add more salt, pepper, parmesan or pasta water to adjust consistency and taste.
8. Top with more shaved truffles and serve immediately! 

more truffle recipes to try!

black truffle butter

truffle aioli

truffle popcorn

truffle mashed potatoes (buttery and creamy!)

porcini truffle arancini

mushroom frittata with truffles

truffle risotto

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