Stuffed Mushrooms: The Best Vegetarian Appetizer
Stuffed mushrooms are such a perfect party bite, particularly in the fall and winter when we crave earthy, rich, warm foods like this. We love them browned from the oven–with that golden crispy panko-topped mound of cheesy, garlicky filling in a toothsome cremini mushroom cap. Bonus: these easy stuffed mushrooms are meatless. It just so happens that this stuffed mushroom recipe is the perfect vegetarian appetizer! In other words, they’re appealing to carnivores and vegetarians alike!
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Ingredients For Stuffed Mushrooms And The Best Mushrooms For Stuffing
Many of the ingredients you’ll need to make our stuffed mushroom recipe will be super familiar to you—you might even have most of these things in your fridge and pantry already. If you don’t, though, they’re easy to find at most any grocery store. Cremini mushrooms are our preference—instead of regular white button mushrooms—for a few reasons. They’re actually the same variety, but cremini mushrooms are simply a little bit more mature than white buttons. As a result, they’re a little more firm, which is really nice for this recipe because they’re less susceptible to getting soggy when they bake. Cremini mushrooms are sometimes labeled “baby bella mushrooms” or “baby portabella mushrooms,” so don’t be confused! Those are creminis and they are the mushrooms you want!
Cremini mushrooms
Butter
Shallot
Fresh garlic
Cream cheese
Parmesan cheese
Onion powder
Cayenne pepper
Fresh parsley
Panko breadcrumbs
How To Make Stuffed Mushrooms
We’ve got a few tricks for making this easy stuffed mushroom recipe work really well. Instead of baking the stuffed mushrooms directly on a baking sheet, we suggest baking them on a wire rack (placed on a baking sheet). This gives any liquid that comes out of the mushrooms a place to drain as they bake, so that the mushrooms don’t get soggy or rubbery. We also recommend chilling the mushroom filling before you stuff the mushrooms because it’ll help it stay in place as you bake them (rather than oozing out of the caps). With these two tricks up your sleeve, you’ll find that stuffed mushrooms are pretty darn easy to make. They’re also great for making ahead of time—we’ve called out how to do that in the instructions below.
Make the stuffed mushroom filling. Pop the stems off of the cremini mushroom caps and chop them up. Sauté shallot, garlic and chopped mushrooms in butter.
Stir the sautéed garlicky mushroom mixture into the cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, onion powder, cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper and parsley.
Chill the stuffed mushroom filling for at least 30 minutes.
Fill the mushroom caps! Mound the cheesy filling into clean cremini mushroom caps (into the cavity side, where the stem was). If you’re making the stuffed mushrooms ahead of time, STOP HERE! Pop them in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
Toast the panko bread crumbs in butter! Yum!
Roll the stuffed mushroom caps in the panko.
Bake the stuffed mushrooms! For 25 minutes or so, until they’re golden brown on top.
More Easy Appetizers And Recipes To Feed A Crowd
Our original stuffed mushrooms are great, and next time try a twist on the flavors! These Pecan Stuffed Mushrooms are so good.
The best appetizer ingredient? Cheddar cheese. Try our Cheddar & Onion Cheese Ball, White Cheddar Beer Cheese Dip, Bacon Cheddar Biscuits, or Buffalo Chicken Dip next time you’re entertaining.
Jalapeño Poppers, Baked Brie, Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip, and Bacon-Wrapped Scallops are sure-fire party starting classics.
Love bell peppers? Roasted Red Peppers and Meatball Stuffed Peppers are both fun dishes to serve when entertaining.
Sheet Pan Italian Sausage Heros with Honey Mustard when you’re entertaining a crowd, and you want to do it as easily as possible!
Tools You’ll Need
Microplane grater (for the Parmesan)
Stuffed Mushrooms Are Quite Possibly the Most Perfect Appetizer of All
Rich, but not too filling. One-bite. Easy to eat with your fingers. Easy to prep ahead of time. Fancy enough to feel special, but also completely crowd-pleasing. We hope you and everyone you share them with adores them! When you make this stuffed mushroom recipe, let us know how you like it! Share a photo and tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper so that we can see your stuff! Happy eating!
