Marinated and then baked, these portobello mushrooms are simply the best, whether as a side accompanying another entrée or as a vegetarian main dish.
Time really got away from me this month. I can’t believe it has been over two weeks since I shared that spinach recipe! We had Ted’s uncle and his girlfriend staying from Russia last week and then overnight guests three nights this week. All this while toiling away on a side project with the hubs.
Buuut, it doesn’t matter how busy it has been. Its my day off, the blues are pumping through my speakers, and I’m back and excited to share these portobello mushrooms with you.
These portobellos are all kinds of awesome – delicious, easy, healthy and versatile. Mushrooms are great for the immune system too which makes them perrrrfect for fall and winter when noses are runny and sleep is lacking.
I mean they’re enough of an immune booster that I keep these in my medicine cabinet all season to ward off any would be illnesses. I’m not normally one for supplements but these truly seem to do wonders. Since they’re rather spendy, I just take them whenever I am feeling overworked, underslept, and at risk of getting sick.
And for more good news, the husband and his Russian posse picked a ton of chanterelles last week so I’ve been working on a few more mushroom recipes for you all.
In addition to being loaded with nutrients, portobello mushrooms happen to be extremely low in calories so they’re great for weight loss (or to make up for downing too much cheese and wine the night before – no judgments here).
This recipe is extremely simple. Almost too simple actually. In making these portobello mushrooms, you’ll end up with extra time on your hands that you thought would be spent on dinner. I know. The horror!
Next thing you know, you’ll be pouring yourself a glass of wine and relaxing. The risk of relaxation is huge with this recipe so consider yourself forewarned…
First you mix up a simple marinade that takes about 5 minutes flat. Then you toss those portobellos in the marinade and let them sit while you prep something else.
I usually start some teriyaki style rice while the shrooms are marinating and serve this as the main dish over the rice or serve both as sides, alongside some kind of meat. If using this as the main, you might want to serve something on the side with a little more protein or throw some legumes all up into that rice to make it more filling.
Once the mushrooms have sat for a good 15 – 20, toss ’em in the oven and bake, bake away.
They’ll come out looking like this. Yum!
Now, remove those flavor packed works of edible art from the pan and soak that thing immediately!!! I can’t stress this part enough. Or, if you have more hindsight than I ever seem to, line the pan with aluminum foil before baking to make clean up a breeze.
You can do it the easy or the hard way. Its up to you.
From here, wrap up anything else you’re doing and down that last gulp of wine because dinner is on. The rice should be done cooking by now and you’ll have had plenty of time to whip up anything else you’re serving with these scrumptious portobello mushrooms.
I chose to snip a few chives over the top sheerly for aesthetic purposes, but this is entirely optional and doesn’t do much for flavor.
Remember how I said the texture of portobello mushrooms is downright meaty? Well, check out how meaty it looks too. I mean there’s something about this that looks oddly like some kind of quasi-meatloaf to me.
Who needs the beef when you’ve got veggies that look like beef?
Well, I know some of you do, and for those of you, I’ve already given you full consent to use this as a side dish instead of the main course. It pairs wonderfully with steak. Like, REALLY wonderfully.
No matter what you serve these with, I want this recipe to work just as well for you as it has for me. This being said – portobello mushrooms come in all different sizes. As you can see, the ones I used were ginormous. I can’t remember the exact weight but I know they weighed well over a pound together.
Not all portobellos will be this ridiculously huge. If yours are a bit smaller, the amount of sauce should still work fine. If yours are bigger though or if you’re using three smaller portobellos, you might want to scale the sauce up a bit. The risk of under-saucing is more dire than the risk of over-saucing with this recipe.
If yours are even more ginormous than mine, another half of the recipe (3 T soy sauce instead of 2, 1 1/2 T balsamic, etc.) should make sure the mushrooms get saucy enough.
Another option is to double the sauce recipe and use two portobellos and two red peppers. When doing this, I just cut the red peppers in half, remove the seeds, flatten a bit with my hand, and marinade and bake alongside the mushrooms. This adds a nice variety when eating as a main course.
Enjoy this one and Happy (soon to be) Halloween!
- 2 portabello mushrooms
- 2 Tbsp. soy sauce (use tamari if needed to be gluten free)
- 1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
- ½ tsp. minced garlic
- ¼ tsp. minced or grated ginger root
- ½ Tbsp. olive oil
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Find a baking dish that will fit both mushroom caps. Add all other ingredients and stir to create marinade. Add mushrooms and rub sauce onto them. Let sit for 15 minutes, stem side down.
- Once 15 minutes is up, rub mushrooms again with sauce before placing dish in the oven.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Remove and turn mushrooms over. If there is any sauce left in the pan, spoon it over the mushrooms. Continue baking another 15 minutes. Remove and let sit for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
I love your seasonings in this recipe, what a great idea, and your photos are amazing by the way. Thank you for visiting my site, it was really nice to see there!
Of course! Thanks for linking back to my recipe! Its always fun seeing other bloggers tweak my recipes to come up with something entirely new and delicious looking. I just ended up on your site the other day actually looking at those turmeric carrot fritters – yum!
I did this with a cop-out Blue Dragon chow mien sachet. Great! Had it with barbecue rub spare ribs. Great together!
Wasn’t playing blues – think it was Led Zep and Marilyn Manson….
Haha, nice! I love hearing cheats and things to pair recipes like this with. And YES always to Led Zeppelin!!! Classic rock is my go to cooking music at least 50% of the time. Can’t beat the tunes I actually know the words to. 😉
Nothing against the blood mind Christy! From tgevlikes if Stevie Ray Vaughn, Gary Moore, White Stripes family and the olderr hands Elmore, Muddy and Sonny and Brownie.
Fast gambas oil pills by Dave. Prawns, garlic and chilli (powder or real). Ceramic dish. Olive or other oil. Microwave for a couple of minutes.
Joy!!
X
Sorry – few typos in last. Including blues and gambas oil pills. Think you can work it out.
While visiting in Dallas last week, my friend ran to local farmers market and found the 2 most ginormous portobellos I’ve ever seen. Googled and stumbled onto your recipe… they were Da Bomb!! Back home in Cali I’m now making them again.
Yeahhhh! I love those huge honkin portobellos and they’re really what works best with this recipe! So happy to hear you liked it!
This was delicious. We had it with roasted veggies and shrimp
Sounds like a great combo Nancy!
It turned out Amazing! Thanks for the recipe. What I also like to do is put them in a tight container with the marinade and shake it for a min or so, then put it in the fridge for about 20-30 min. 😉
Thanks for the tip! I actually have some portobellos in the fridge right now and will try that when I get around to making them. 🙂
Thanks for the recipe, I didn’t have any balsamic vinegar so used red wine vinegar and it turned out delicious too!
Awesome – good on you for switching it up! I used lemon juice once which was a bit over powering, but haven’t tried red wine vinegar yet. Definitely going to do that next.
If you want to make it lighter,try rice vinegar.
Hi! Wondering if you can marinate these over night ?!
I haven’t tried it but I think the mushrooms would get soggy. I’ve tried marinading stir fry veggies overnight and the mushrooms just got too soft and mushy for my taste. I haven’t tried it with this recipe though so I can’t say either way for sure. Good luck and report back if you do end up trying it! 🙂
I can tell you from experience that portobellos can marinate too long. Used a red wine marinade once years ago….your imagination won’t be too far off, regardless of what your mind offers.
I made these tonight. SO much yum!!
Agreed, these mushrooms are major yum!
Lovely!
Oh. My. Word!!!
These are out of this world! It was so good that we made it twice today. The second time around we used a container of baby portobello mushrooms sliced up. This is going to become a staple for us!
Thanks for a great recipe that doesn’t use oil!
Ahhh I’m so happy to hear it!!! I’ve never tried with baby bellas but now I’m definitely going to! Thanks for the pro tip. 😉
Thanks for this comment! Was wondering if it would work if mushrooms were already sliced!
I really cannot wait to try this recipe for the holiday!
Saw this message way after the holiday but I certainly hope you made it and it turned out fantastic! 🙂
These were amazing! Being an *extremely* amateur chef myself I’m always skeptical but these were perfect. I was worried the intense flavors of the marinade would overpower the mushroom but it complimented it very well. Will be woo-ing all the ladies I cook for for a while!
Haha, woo those ladies! Glad I could help. 😉
Tried it Tonight!!!! I was out of Balsamic vinegar (Don’t know how that happened) and used a Balsamic dressing(lite) instead and it turned out great!!! My whole family ate it and liked it including my three year old! My husband said he’s going to use the marinate for a meal for himself!!!!!
Great improv! I’m always running out of ingredients and do the same thing. Good to know dressing works in this one!
Tonight will my first time experimenting with these. Wish me luck!
This was awful. It was way too salty. I thought I had gone overboard with the Soy sauce, but I did the same amount stated.
Oh bummer! Sorry it did not work out for you. I’ve made this recipe multiple times with both soy sauce and tamari and haven’t had it turn out too salty. What brand of soy sauce did you use? Or did you marinade for a long time? The mushrooms can really absorb a lot of salt if it sits in the marinade too long.
Oh bummer! Sorry it did not work out for you Jonathan. I’ve made this recipe multiple times with both soy sauce and tamari and haven’t had it turn out too salty. What brand of soy sauce did you use? Or did you marinade for a long time? The mushrooms can really absorb a lot of salt if it sits in the marinade too long.
Way too salty plus burned
Sorry it didn’t work out Susan! I used absolutely huge portobellos for that amount of cooking time and marinade. I included a small note on this in the recipe but I know this has happened to a few people, which I absolutely hate to hear. I’ll make that note more prominent so that this doesn’t happen to anyone else!
30 minutes at 400 degrees was way too much. The mushrooms were burned to a crisp after only 15 minutes!
Sorry to hear that Susan! My portobello mushrooms have been huge each time I’ve made this and smaller caps cook more quickly. That’s a good thing to note in the recipe – I’m adding a note on that right now to save anyone else the same pain!
I tried this tonight, and the flavor balance was excellent. If the mushrooms didn’t turn out a bit watery, the combination of flavor and texture would have been stellar. I see much potential, but am keen on the next step to fully unlocking it. So I have a few questions/thoughts:
(1) Will cooking the mushrooms for a longer period cause them to become more or less watery? Of course, everything left in an oven at 400 degrees will eventually become asphalt, but there must be a curve of wetness vs. time where the mushrooms become more watery, hit a maximum value of sogginess, and then rebound towards less watery until they eventually arrive at dry clumps of carbon. Are we looking to cook long enough for the sauce to dry up and the mushrooms to partially dessicate, which would be on the upward swing to dryness, or are we aiming to stop the cooking process in the downwards swing before maximum sogginess happens in the first place?
(2) If the goal is to pull them from the oven before they hit peak sogginess, would a gentle dehydration prior to marinade help to preserve a firm texture?
I know I’m approaching this from an unusually analytical standpoint, but your answers will definitely help me to steer future attempts (and there will definitely be many) of this recipe towards the perfection they deserve.
Haha, I love it! I used to be an analyst by trade so I fully appreciate your scientific approach. Mine never end up that soggy but I do a pretty quick wash and don’t marinade very long. If yours are getting soggy, it does seem like your dehydration idea might be effective. Like wash the mushrooms and then let them sit for an hour or two before marinading and baking? Next time I try this recipe, I’ll try it out and get back to you. Or if you beat me to the punch, let us all know how it worked!
Just made this for dinner. Served with rice pilaf and salad. Really Enjoyed. Good texture – not soggy. a little too salty, but will definitely make them again., maybe a low sodium soy sauce would be better. Thank you for sharing.
This was the second comment I got on them being too salty so I experimented with these again and agree that they can turn out too salty, especially with certain soy sauce brands. I just updated the recipe to use low-sodium soy sauce to prevent that from happening to anyone else. You can always add more salt after but can’t take it away I figure. Thanks for the feedback!
You don’t remove the stems and gills? I keep reading hat you should but the first time I used portobellos, I didn’t and I didn’t really notice any ill effects, but now I’m scared not to!
I never remove the gills and only remove the stem when I’m stuffing them with filling. I cut off the tip of the stem a lot of the time, especially if it looks kind of beat up and not fresh. It’s up to you though!
Absolutely delicious!!!! I’ve been a vegetarian for a long time. Usually buy premade stuff, but have recently developed an interest in cooking 🙂
First attempt with these and I was extremely impressed!!! I think they would taste delicious in a meatless Portabello Mushroom Burger! Tastes very similar to the ones at Cheesecake Factory and at BJ’s!!!
Thanks for the recipe!!! Loved it!!!
I love the idea of making these into burgers! I can’t wait to try them that way. 🙂
Thank you they were delicious
Love this…. can it be made ahead of time?
Having family for Christmas and would like
To prepare ahead if possible…
Thanks
Sorry I didn’t get back to you on this before Christmas! The mushrooms unfortunately get a little bit spongey when they’re marinated too long. You might be able to bake them ahead of time and reheat but I haven’t done this so I can’t really confirm that it’ll be good. I hope your holiday was great either way!
Just tried it tonight. First time ever doing anything with a portabello. Delicious! Ate both servings lol because i was not sure how good they would be warmed over. Thanks Christy, will definitely make them again!
Oh yay!! Haha, I could usually eat both servings too!
This was so yummy!
This was so yummy!
Suuuuuper Delicious, thank you! I didn’t have any fresh ginger so I subbed in some ginger powder (the powder is much stronger so use WAY less). I also have a newly discovered onion allergy and have been wary of using garlic as they are in the same family. Recently I found an article that says a combo of chili powder and *ginger powder mimics the depth and aroma of garlic so I did that in this recipe. My kitchen smells amazing and my taste buds are very happy! Thank you again!!! (correction added, please delete or edit my first comment!)
Chili powder and ginger? I never would have thought of that! I’m so happy to hear that you liked it and found a variation that works for you!
I love this recipe looks delicious! Question: is there a good substitute for balsamic vinegar for those watching their sugar intake ? Also; for the soy sauce – can you sub coconut aminos if needed to be soy free?
I haven’t tried either of those swaps so I’m honestly not sure how it would work. If you try though, report back and let us know how it goes!
Awesome recipe. My husband made this for dinner tonight and added the red pepper as suggested . OMG!!! Will be adding this into our recipe rotation, Both of us are trying to eat a bit more healthy and found many recipes on your site that we will be trying, Thanks!
Awesome!!! I love the red peppers in this too! I’ve done it on asparagus too and that was tasty, just cook for less time!
Great flavor! Made them in my toaster oven -!: turned out delicious
I always forget that my toaster oven can be used in lieu of heating up the big one! Glad they fit in there!
After going through 11 ads and reading completely unnecessary info, I got to the recipe part. Don’t know why people left the good reviews. It was totally bland and tasteless. As I write this, more ads are popping up. What a waste of time.
I’m sorry you didn’t like the recipe Rachel. Ads help support the cost of running this and most food websites you’ll find that provide free content like this. I don’t allow pop-up and invasive ads and try to make sure the rest aren’t too obnoxious, but it sounds like you had some that were. Thanks for the feedback, I’ll take another look at my ad layout and see if it can be set up in a more user friendly way. Adding additional text helps Google put recipes in context and make them “findable” in Google searches. There is a “jump to recipe button” on all of my new posts and I’m slowly adding them to older posts like this as I go so that you can skip right past this part. I hope you have better luck with recipes you try in the future!
here here too many ads and how long to get to the recipe!
Sorry you feel that way Gillian! The ads help pay the expenses to run this site. Trust me – I wish it was free too!
I just finished making and eating this dish, and it was delicious!! I had mine with a garden salad and wild rice. A quick and delicious meal!!
Oh good! That makes my portobello loving heart so happy! 🙂
I bought the mushrooms already sliced. do you think that will make a difference in the finished product?
Woooooh this was SO delicious. Thanks so much! I’ve saved it to my “thumbs up” Pinterest board. 🙂
Oh good good good! SO happy you liked the recipe!
This was delicious. Had it with BBQ brisket and ribs for a family member who doesn’t eat meat. We all tried it and loved it! Very tasty and very easy.
Woohoo! I’ve been meaning to throw them on the grill this summer to see how that would work since they pair perfectly with BBQ! I’ll report back if it works. 🙂
Is the one serving considered 1 mushroom cap or both?
One mushroom cap. You could eat two though and just double the nutrition facts of course.
Loved this,the second time I. Made it I caprese style.I added chopped tomatoes,Bel Giossa mozzarella and extra basil,When they were done( 20 minutes was enough) I snipped some scallions on top
They were delicious!
That sounds so fresh and tasty! I’ve made something similar but didn’t marinade the mushrooms first – I bet that adds so much flavor!
Christy – I’d like to prepare these as a meal. Have you experimented with stuffing with veggies? Trying to figure out how I might adjust cooking time. Any tips?? Deborah M
I haven’t but Lorraine above commented that she did that with a caprese style filling that sounded absolutely divine! I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. The cooking time for a recipe like this is highly variable already since mushroom caps can differ so much in size. I’d just keep an eye on them if you stuff them to make sure they don’t get too done, but they should take a bit (maybe 10 mins?) longer then they would without the stuffing. I also have a spinach artichoke stuffed mushroom recipe on this site that is one of my favorites! It doesn’t require marinading them first but you don’t need it with stuffing that good! Best of luck to you!
I need to stop by and tell you thanks for this recipe, I’ve made it about five times now and it’s gorgeous. It’s very flexible and goes with many different meals. I really adore it, it’s just so tasty and satisfying. Thank you.
5 times?? That makes me so happy! I love working new meals into my regular rotation of go-to recipes too. Especially when they’re super easy. 😉
Have a soy allergy in my family so i used coconut aminos as a substitute for soy sauce and because it’s a bit sweeter cut back on the balsamic vinegar by 1/2. Came out awesome. Loved the sauce would defiantly do a stir fry with extra sauce in the future. Saving this recipe for future use for sure. Will sub ginger with other herbs depending on the dish I’m making but super excited to have another great portobella mushroom recipe in the mix :o)
Oh lovely! I think I have coconut aminos squirreled away somewhere in the back of my cupboard that I’ve been meaning to experiment with more. This will be a great place to start!
This recipe was absolutely amazing! I bought 6 large portabello mushrooms and trippled the marinade. I ate 1 and brought them to lunch the next day for my coworkers to sample. They loved them too! Thank you for sharing this recipe!!!
Yessss! The coworker stamp of approval is the ultimate recipe test!
I just had to come back to thank you for this lovely idea for cooking Portobellos.
Crazy me, kitchen amateur, decided to buy some beautiful Portibellos without having the slightest idea how to make them! Lucky for me, your recipe is one of the top links in Google.
After pouring a glass of red, I decided to gather the ingredients. Needless to say I lacked many of them, so this is how I compensated for it: Used 1/2 tbsp of crema di balsámico and 1/2 tbsp of apple vinegar (did I mention I’m a bit crazy?), 1/2 tbsp of ginger powder since I ran out of fresh one, 2 tbsps of red wine (we saw this coming, didn’t we? All those beautiful dark ingredients shouted for some wine) and some chilli flakes (because I’m Mexican and because reasons).
I followed the times and temp, but the last 15 min I turned down the oven a bit since I saw the sauce reducing very quickly.
I served them in a bed of salad and wish I could post the picture! Hubby was absolutely delighted, we had no idea that Portobellos were so exquisite!
Thanks, many thanks for this wonderful recipe!
Oh! We loved so much we had them the next day as well, I bought balsamic vinegar, but it took over all the other ingredients, so I think next time I will use less or go back to the crema si balsámico;-)
I LOVE this idea! Gonna have to try those ingredient swaps! And anytime I have a bottle of red wine open, I add it to prettty much everything I’m making too so you’re not alone. 🙂
I made these as a side dish to accompany a whole pumpkin gruyere soup and chunked up some french loafs. All of it paired well together and made the perfect fall meatless meal. Look forward to incorporating into other recipes in the future. So glad I stumble upon this recipe. Happy Fall Yall
That sounds like such a tasty meal! Gruyere on anything is a win for me. 😉