These perfectly spiced, easy to make Garlic Mushrooms go great on top of steaks, hamburgers, grilled chicken, and so much more!
A few years ago, I picked up mushroom foraging as a hobby. A nearby high-altitude forest boasts lots of wild edible varieties of mushrooms, and nothing soothes my soul like a good, slow walk in an old-growth forest! On a good year, our local forest has porcini, oyster, and chanterelle mushrooms by the pound, ready to be picked by eager foragers like myself. So I bought all the foraging books, read all the mushroom-hunting information I could, and set out to find my bounty. (Note: Please don’t go foraging until you know exactly what you’re looking for! Eating the wrong wild mushroom can kill you!)
As it turns out, not every year is a good mushroom foraging year. I struck out so many times that first year and had to drive back home with an empty basket more times than I’d like to admit. It’s hard to spend a whole afternoon thinking of how you’re going to cook all your mushrooms, then end up with zero mushrooms to cook. Thankfully, the grocery store always has mushrooms in stock, and you don’t have to go to a forest on the right day to get them! In all my research, I learned all the basic ways to cook mushrooms (wild or store-bought), and it’s very simple to cook really good mushrooms.
This recipe for garlic mushrooms is one of the easiest ways to cook up a pan of mushrooms, but it’s also one of the most flavorful! The recipe calls for cremini or white button mushrooms, which are the most common store-bought mushrooms, but these instructions will work for most types of fungi. If you forage, feel free to try this out on your wild mushrooms (after a positive species identification, of course).
Are These Garlic Mushrooms Healthy?
Mushrooms are absolutely healthy! Mushrooms contain lots of different B-vitamins, including B2, B3, B5, and folate. They have trace amounts of many important minerals, like phosphorus and selenium. Garlic is a heart-healthy and flavorful addition to any food. The only thing to be concerned about in this recipe from a health perspective is the amount of butter, which adds a lot of calories and fat to each serving. Be sure to limit your servings if you’re watching your saturated fat intake. Alternatively, you can omit the butter and use more olive oil to make up for it, which will give you a lot more healthy fats and will also make the recipe vegan.
Overall, this dish is vegetarian-friendly, low-carb, and gluten-free, making it suitable for many different dietary preferences.
Notes On Preparing And Cooking Mushrooms
Mushrooms have been labeled as “flavorless” by some naysayers, but they are not. No matter what variety you’re cooking, mushrooms do have natural flavors; some just have less than others.
Mushrooms, including those that don’t have powerful natural flavors, have a different superpower: they can taste like whatever you cook them with. The best way to ensure they absorb delicious flavors is to prepare them correctly. That means, instead of washing your fresh mushrooms in lots of water, you should carefully clean them with a wet paper towel and a dry brush.
Many mushroom foragers like myself own a brush that’s specifically used for cleaning mushrooms, but you can use a clean, soft toothbrush or something similar. This minimizes the chance of adding excess water to the pan and making sure they’re only sharing space with herbs and oils!
It’s best to think about seasoning your mushrooms like you’d think about seasoning a steak. If you cook your mushrooms all by their lonesome, they’ll only ever taste mediocre. But if you cook your mushrooms with salt, garlic, herbs, seasonings, oils, and other sources of savory goodness, you’ll have yourself some fantastic fungi! The garlic, thyme, and parsley in the recipe below accentuate many natural mushroom flavors, so you can’t really go wrong with this herby, flavorful combo.
How Do I Store Leftovers?
Store leftover garlic mushrooms in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. You can also freeze garlic mushrooms for up to 3 months, but be sure to do so in a freezer-safe zip-top bag with the air squeezed out, or preferably in a vacuum-sealed bag. The less air in the bag, the better your mushrooms will taste when thawed out!
Serving Suggestions
Garlic mushrooms taste spectacular on and in many main dishes. One of my favorite ways to use these mushrooms is next to a juicy Bacon-Wrapped Steak. I also love them on top of simple pasta recipes, such as this Spaghetti Aglio E Olio, and you can even add them to pasta sauces, like this Garlic-Parmesan Sauce. Try adding some to your next batch of creamy soup—I love them in this Cream Cheese Potato Soup, for example.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound cremini or button mushrooms cleaned and sliced
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped and divided
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat the butter and olive oil together in a large pan over medium-high heat until the butter is melted and foamy.
- Add the mushrooms to the pan, stirring occasionally, until they are golden and crispy on the edges, about 4-5 minutes.
- Stir in the chopped thyme, half of the parsley, and minced garlic, cooking for an additional 30 seconds until the mixture is fragrant.
- Season the mushrooms with salt and pepper to taste, then garnish with the remaining parsley before serving.
Nutrition Info:
Nutrition information are estimates only and may vary based on the specific brands, ingredients, and portion sizes you use. This data is provided for informational purposes only.
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