Mushroom lovers, beware! This recipe is addictive. Beautiful mushroom caps stuffed with sausage and cheese, baked until they’re golden brown. It looks like you slaved for hours. Yet, this is a very simple party snack, baked in 20 minutes, that you can make ahead of time. It’s one more finger food to add to your repertoire. If you’re having a large gathering, double the recipe.
Mushroom Mayhem?
What kind of mushrooms are best suited to your recipe? If you want to use this as a main dish, you want something like portabellos with plenty of stuffing space. Plus, they’re “meaty.” Otherwise, white mushrooms or cremini do the trick. Once you get them home, rinse them briefly in a colander. Don’t soak them. They’ll get mushy.
Personalization
Use any type of sausage you like. Change up the cheeses (mozzarella, harvarti, provolone, fontina). Bear in mind that cream cheese is a binding agent, so you may want to keep it as a foundation. And don’t forget to play with herbs and spices.
Tip: Don’t throw out your mushroom stems. Freeze them for stock, or chop them up for pasta, stir-fry, or soup.
Ingredients
- 18 mushrooms
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- ½ c white onion (finely minced)
- 1 ½ tsp fresh garlic (minced)
- 8 oz sausage (your preference. Italian is good.
- 4 oz cream cheese (softened (you can use pre-flavored cream cheese if you wish like bacon, chive, garlic, or onion).)
- ¼ c parmesan cheese (grated)
- ¼ cheese (shredded (Monterey Jack, or one of your choosing))
- ¼ c fresh parsley (chopped)
- ⅓ cup panko breadcrumbs or Italian-style breadcrumbs
Instructions
- Set your oven to 375F.
- Coat a baking pan with cooking spray or use a piece of parchment paper.
- Remove the stems from the mushrooms and set aside
- Remove the casing from the sausage
- Put 1 tbsp butter in a pan.
- Add the garlic and onion, sauteing for 4 minutes until they’re fragrant. Set aside.
- Crumble the sausage into the pan. Cook for 5 minutes, making sure the sausage doesn’t clump.
- Transfer the sausage into a large bowl, adding the garlic mixture and cream cheese. Give it a good stir.
- Add the parmesan and Monterey Jack cheese and parsley
- Stir again until everything is well integrated.
- Put the mixture evenly in the mushroom caps
- Melt the last two tbsp of butter. Stir in your breadcrumbs.
- Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the mushrooms.
- Put in the oven for about 20 minutes. The breadcrumbs should be golden brown and the mushrooms cooked through. You can do a toothpick test on the mushroom meat to be certain.
- Garnish with parsley.