Mushrooms are a great meat substitute in that they have that same great meaty flavor and bite. Plus, they can serve as a great vessel to hold onto all kinds of delicious fillings, like the cream cheese and spices in this recipe.
Why not make a meatier version with some Crab Stuffed Mushrooms? Or make some Garlic Balsamic Sautéed Mushrooms and Onions instead?
Simply Delicious Stuffed Mushrooms
Stuffed mushrooms have long been used as a vegetarian side dish to lend some much needed umami flavor to a meal.
With the addition of some rich cream cheese and just a few seasonings and spices, mushrooms can be turned from a pretty bland, albeit meaty, food into something absolutely packed with flavor.
Feel free to play around with the exact seasonings and spices in this recipe, as even just a few tweaks will drastically alter the flavor profile of the finished dish.
Simply Delicious Stuffed Mushrooms Ingredients
Make sure you look at the recipe card at the very bottom for the exact amounts so that you know exactly what to buy for this recipe.
• Whole mushrooms
• Vegetable oil
• Garlic
• Cream cheese
• Parmesan
• Black pepper
• Onion powder
• Smoked paprika
How To Make Simply Delicious Stuffed Mushrooms
• Spray a muffin tray with cooking spray
• Clean your mushrooms with a damp paper towel, being careful not to break the caps
• Remove the stems with a slight twisting and bending motion, again being careful with the caps
• Cut the tough, dry ends of the mushroom stems off and discard
• Mince the remaining mushroom stems finely and set aside
• Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat
• Add the chopped mushrooms stems to the skillet and fry until the moisture has all disappeared
• Add in the minced garlic, fry for 2 minutes until it is just browned and fragrant
• Remove into a medium mixing bowl and cool
• While cooling, stir in the cream cheese, Parmesan, black pepper, onion powder, and the smoked paprika
• Place the filling into a large Ziploc plastic bag, cut off the corner and use as an icing bag to fill all of the mushroom caps
• Fill up each of the mushroom caps with the filling until they are slightly higher than the edges so that you can add in some extra cheese at the end
• Place one mushroom cap in each of the prepared muffin tin wells
• Bake at 350 Fahrenheit for 20-30 minutes, depending on the size of the mushroom caps, until the mushrooms are piping hot and liquid has started coming out of the mushrooms
• Remove from the oven, cool slightly, and then serve warm.
How To Clean & Prepare Your Mushrooms
Cutting and cleaning mushrooms can sometimes be a bit of a daunting task, especially if you are using a mushroom other than the regular white button mushrooms or closed caps at the supermarket.
The main things you are trying to do when preparing mushrooms is to wash off any leftover dirt, silt, or sand left on the mushroom, as well as remove any woody, unpalatable bits that won’t cook down properly.
To clean it, you can either use a wet paper towel or you can run it under some cool water.
There is a pervading myth that washing or soaking your mushrooms somehow removes some of the mushroom flavors, but this is actually totally false – feel free to just run your mushrooms under cool water if you don’t want to bother with paper towels.
For the actual cutting process, you want to separate the stems from the caps. While you could simply slice the stem off from the cap using a knife, this will actually leave a sizeable chunk of stem still embedded within the cap.
The best way to get the whole stem out is to remove it using a sort of twisting, bending motion as you tug on it. This will allow the stem to break cleanly from the mushroom cap, letting you cut the stem down further to remove any dry or woody bits to make it more palatable.
From there, just make sure that the cap is totally cleaned and doesn’t have any hidden sand embedded within it, as that can sometimes happen.
What Mushrooms Could You Use For This Recipe?
This recipe is definitely designed to use regularly closed cap mushrooms, the kind that you would easily find at the supermarket at probably the cheapest prices.
If you are a mushroom connoisseur and prefer to use more extravagant mushrooms, you could absolutely substitute nicer ones instead.
Just keep in mind the shape of the cap of the mushroom that you are using. Something like a morel mushroom, with its large top that has a convenient hole in the middle for filling, would be perfect.
Something more vaguely and unhelpfully shaped like the lion’s mane mushroom probably wouldn’t do any good here.
Stick to mushrooms with simple gills and caps, and probably also ones that are a little bit cheaper. The flavorful filling will probably mask most of the intricate flavors of the nicer mushrooms anyway.
Looking for more delicious Side Dish recipes? Try these out:
• Fast & Easy Teriyaki Fried Mushrooms
• Buttery Garlic and Thyme Roasted Mushrooms
• Rich & Creamy Parmesan Garlic Sautéed Mushrooms
Happy Cooking
Love,
Karlynn
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Stuffed Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 8-12 whole fresh mushrooms Large
- 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
- One 8 ounce package cream cheese softened
- 1/4 cup Parmesan or a Parmigiano Reggiano cheese grated
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Spray the muffin tins with cooking spray.
- Clean the mushrooms with a damp paper towel, wiping off all of the dirt but being careful not to break the caps!
- Carefully remove the stems from the caps with a slight twisting, bending motion, being careful again to not break the caps.
- Cut the tough, dry ends off of the mushroom stems and discard that part.
- Mince the remaining mushroom stems finely and keep to the side.
- Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.
- Add the chopped mushroom stems to the skillet.
- Fry the mushroom stems until the moisture has disappeared, then add in the mined garlic. Fry for another 2 minutes until the garlic is browned and fragrant. Scoop into a medium sized mixing bowl and cool.
- When garlic and mushroom mixture has cooled down to being just warm, stir in the cream cheese, Parmesan/ Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, black pepper, onion powder and the smoked paprika.
- Place the filling into a large ziploc plastic bag, Cut the corner off and use like an icing bag to fill the mushroom caps.
- Using the bag, fill each mushroom cap with the filling until they are slightly more than level (just a bit higher than the edges so that you can still add more cheese later if you want!
- Place one mushroom cap in each prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle a little bit extra Parmesan cheese on top if you want.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes (this is all depending on how large your mushroom caps are) until the mushrooms are piping hot and the liquid has started coming out of the mushrooms and into the bottom of the muffin tins.
- Remove from the oven and cool slightly, then serve warm.
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