Stuffed Mushrooms (2024)

Few things in life give me more joy than this. A mushroom cap stuffed with a glorious mixture and baked until golden brown and sizzling. I could pop ’em in my mouth every day till Kingdom Come and I’d never get tired of them.

Which brings me to something I’ve discovered about stuffed mushrooms: I actually prefer to stick to small/medium mushrooms, rather than the gargantuan caps you see in restaurants. Those are delicious, too—don’t get me wrong. But I like the pop-in-your-mouth convenience of the small ones, and they also tend to hold together a little better than the big, ooey-gooey suckers.

I love these things. They’re so delicious, even if they are straight out of 1983.

But I’ve always been a very nostalgic eater.

Let’s get the fun out of the way: you’ll need white wine. Good, dry white wine.

You’ll need mushrooms. 24 ounces of the white button suckers. That’s three 8-ounce boxes.

I’ve always been really good at math.

You’ll need 1/3 pound (1/3 package) hot breakfast sausage. (You can use Italian sausage, too, if you prefer.)

Go ahead and brown it in a skillet, making sure it crumbles into fine bits as it cooks.

When it’s thoroughly browned, remove it to a plate to cool.

Grab a medium yellow onion…

Cut it in half from root to tip…

Lay one half on its side and peel off the outer layer…

Then dice it very finely. Remember that the onions will eventually be in the mixture that tops the mushrooms, so you don’t want overly large chunks.

Four cloves of garlic. It’s the right thing to do.

Smash ’em with the bottom of a glass or aluminum can, peel off the paper…

And mince it very finely.

Then grab a chunk of Parmesan cheese…

And grate up about 3/4 cup. It’s better to have larger shreds than a fine powder, so use the big holes in your grater.

I rinse mushrooms with very cold water; I can’t help it. I know some schools of thought recommend simply wiping them with a towel, but I just can’t bring myself to go that route.

Mushrooms are DIRTY, man! Dirty little fun guys.

Now, just pop out the stems, one by one.

And chop up all the stems…

Until the pieces are pretty small.

I love including the stems when I make the stuffing mixture, because it makes me feel like a frugal Pioneer Woman.

Plus, it just makes sense to include more mushroomy texture and flavor in the stuffing.

That’s my stance. I will not be wavering from it.

And that’s what I’m all about, my friends: unwavering stances.

Now, in the same skillet where you cooked the sausage (and without cleaning the skillet) cook the onions and garlic for a few minutes.

Stir them around for a minute or two and let them get hot…

Then pour in 1/3 cup (give or take) of dry white wine.

Stir them around and cook, allowing the wine to evaporate, about two minutes.

Now add in the chopped mushroom stems.

Stir them around and start cooking them, sprinkling in 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt…

And freshly ground black pepper.

Cook this mixture for a couple of minutes, or until the stems are tender and most of the liquid has cooked out.

Remove mixture to a plate to cool.

Now grab an egg…

And separate out the yolk.

Now add 1 block of cream cheese to a bowl.

Then add the egg yolk.

Poor hen! I’ll bet this required stitches.

Sorry. Not a great visual, I realize.

Stir the mixture together…

Throw in the Parmesan.

Stir together, then add in the cooled sausage.

And the cooled, cooked mushroom stems. Stir the mixture together, checking for seasonings and adding in whatever you think will give it some kick. Minced parsley is always good.

Lay all the mushroom caps upside down on a large rimmed cookie sheet. Give them a light sprinkling of salt.

Using a small teaspoon, smear mounds of filling on the top of each mushroom cap, pressing slightly to get it down into the cavity.

I would like to announce to the world that I took this photo with one hand, balancing the spoon on the side of the bowl so I could hold the mushroom cap with my other hand.

It’s called food photography gymnastics. I’m getting better every day.

The filling at this point was a little more room temperature than I usually like. It’s really best if it’s slightly cool; it keeps its shape better.

But I couldn’t wait any longer.

When I’m in a hurry, I’m not quite as neat as I could be.

But I wasn’t catering a corporate party here. I was catering my own private party, and I don’t care WHAT they look like.

Now just pop em into a 350 degree oven for about 20 to 25 minutes.

Or until they look like this. Oh, man. I’m in big, fat trouble.

You’ll notice I was so desperate, I stole one out of the oven before they were done. I’ve got problems, man.

You want them to be nice and golden brown and lovely.

Help me Rhonda. Help, help me Rhonda.

This recipe makes quite a few, by the way.

I didn’t count. I was too busy drooling.

How could you go wrong? Crumbled sausage. Wine-soaked mushroom stems, onions, garlic. Cream cheese. Parmesan. All the wonderful goodness of life.

Try them next time you have friends over! The great thing is, you can assemble these way ahead of time and keep them in the fridge, unbaked. Or you can freeze them, unbaked, and thaw and bake them later. OR…you can bake them, freeze them, and reheat them later. They’re really very forgiving.

Enjoy them!

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On another note, when I added this recipe to Tasty Kitchen this morning, I found a bounty of other recipes for stuffed mushrooms. Check ’em out and see if you find another one that floats your fancy!