These mushrooms are a great appetizer for a little dinner party or holiday gathering needing some meatier appetizer options. Â The Italian sausage gives that wonderful herby, savory flavor you want in a good meaty stuffed mushroom. Â I will say though that the type of sausage does make a difference in a dish like this. Â I've made stuffed mushrooms with ordinary store bought sausage (pretty flavorless and super greasy) and then made them with some great quality local fresh sausage and wow....what a difference. Â When you're cooking with real ingredients instead of just fillers, you will taste the difference and get so much more excited about the results, trust me.
Mushroom Shyness
Stuffed mushrooms are something I would not have touched, even through my 20's. Â It took me a long time to enjoy the taste of mushrooms. Â I still can't enjoy all types of mushrooms, it's a texture thing, but stuffed mushrooms like these can be enjoyed even by the finickiest of eaters.
I was so opposed to eating mushrooms when I was a kid I even wrote out a declaration to my parents stating (in other words) that they should stop trying to feed me mushrooms (peppers and onions were also listed) Â because I will not eat them anyway because I could not stand the taste of them. Â I now love onions and peppers and have eaten plenty of mushrooms dishes excitedly. Â I have to thank my husband for this transformation since he cooked me up some amazing mushroom dishes while we were dating, not even knowing I couldn't stand them. Â I was won over in more ways than one with that cooking.
If you're not a mushroom fan as I was not even a few years back, these are some mushrooms to possibly help you overcome your fear of these delectable fungi.
Stuffing the Shroom
Don't be afraid to stuff these little mushroom bowls full, even creating a small tower of filling. Â They stay together quite well and your samplers will appreciate the extra filling. Â Fill them up, pack them in real tight and let the oven do the rest for you.
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Give these delicious meaty fungi a try and let us know how they turn out for you.
PrintItalian Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms
This recipe makes 16 large stuffed mushrooms, easily double for big crowd. For a gathering with many different foods or apps, 2-3 per person could suffice.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 16 1x
Ingredients
- 16 large white mushrooms (approx. 16oz.)
- ¾ lb sweet Italian sausage links (about 3 links), casings removed
- ½ sweet onion, finely diced
- 2 large garlic cloves,minced
- 1 Tbsp sherry (marsala great too)
- 1 Tbsp worcestershire
- 2 tsp dried oregano (fresh is great if you have it, then use about 1Tbs chopped fine)
- â…› tsp ground black pepper
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- 4 oz. real cream cheese (half a box)
- â…“ cup asiago cheese, finely shredded (parmesan great too)
- 1 egg-*Optional- (the egg is optional because I've made it without and it stayed together just fine. It's more that it stays together better if you reheat them the next day.)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Wipe mushrooms clean with a paper towel.
- Remove stems from mushrooms with a twist pull.
- Finely chop mushroom stems and set aside.
- Heat a skillet over medium high heat and crumble sausage into it. Do not stir for a couple minutes to let it start to brown.
- After about 3 minutes start to stir and break up the sausage with your wooden spoon. Cook sausage until it is no longer pink. (It will cook again in the oven)
- Remove sausage with a slotted spoon and set aside, reserving about 1 tablespoon of grease
- Add onions and mushroom stems to skillet and cook on medium about 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in garlic and cook another minute.
- Add sherry through sea salt and cook another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, then remove from heat and add to a medium mixing bowl.
- Add sausage, cream cheese and asiago to the mushroom/onion mixture and stir till well combined.
- Let cool slightly so that it's not too hot to fill mushrooms. Taste your mixture to make sure it's seasoned to your liking here. Once you approve the taste you can add your egg here and mix well.
- Fill mushrooms generously with sausage mixture.
- Add filled mushrooms to baking dish in a single layer.
- Bake mushrooms uncovered 30 minutes or until stuffing well browned.
- Let mushrooms sit to cool 5 minutes before serving.
Melanie @ Melanie Cooks says
Stuffed mushrooms are always a party hit! What a great appetizer!
Katia says
Thanks, Melanie! Agreed. Happy New Year!