Cooking perfect mushrooms every time isn’t difficult – use these tips and learn how to cook mushrooms without any fuss. You won’t believe the secret to cooking perfect mushrooms!
There are three things I don’t eat: celery, honey, and mushrooms. Well, that’s not entirely true. I don’t eat other things like tripe or chicken feet or beef tartar, but those aren’t very common.
As for the common foods that everyone seems to consume but I don’t – it’s those three mentioned above. For years I couldn’t stand the smell of honey, taste of celery, and the texture of mushrooms. But as it turned out, tastes change and I am opening up to mushrooms.
In fact, I’ve been buying them semi-regularly at Costco. They sell big containers of organic sliced mushrooms for under 6$ – I like the convenience of not needing to wash and chop them and the price is the same as if I bought whole mushrooms.
There are tons of classic mushroom recipes but I decided to start learning and appreciating mushrooms with something simple: sautéd mushrooms. I began pan frying mushrooms in a big skillet, painstakingly stirring them with a spatula, reducing the heat as they started to brown, adding very little oil.
In the middle of it all, the pan would be filled with bunch of liquid from the mushrooms and they’d be steaming and boiling instead of sautéing. I did it again and again thinking that this is just how mushrooms are – they have lots of liquid inside and that’s the way to cook them.
That is until I came across an article explaining how to cook mushrooms in a different way. Unfortunately I did not save the link to that page and I couldn’t find it again, so if anyone has a link, I’ll be really grateful as I’d like to link to it here.
That article changed how I cook mushrooms now – there’s no dreaded steaming, there’s even no stirring. It’s just cooking! Mushrooms come out perfectly brown and cooked – no chewy texture, no bland flavour!
So, how to cook perfect mushrooms every time?
It’s easy! How to cook mushrooms comes to three things: heat, fat, time.
- You need high heat; not the highest that would burn everything, but high enough to actually sear the mushrooms and not steam them. I usually use medium or medium-high, but it depends on your stove.
- Then fat – you do need fat and more of it than you’d normally use if you are like me and always try to reduce the amount of cooking oil or butter. I never measure how much I use, but it should be enough to generously cover the bottom of the pan. I prefer butter or vegan butter, not oil, but oil can also be used. You’ll need butter (vegan or regular) in the beginning of the cooking process and in the middle – don’t be tempted to skip that step, it really adds flavour!
- And now the main secret tip about time: do NOT stir the mushrooms! Add the mushrooms to the pan with melted butter, stir once and then forget about them. Depending on the amount of mushrooms, size of the pan and your stove it could be 5 minutes or it could be 10-15 minutes. Just. Let. Them. Be. Do not stir no matter how tempting it is.
You’ll know when to stir – mushrooms will reduce by half most likely and you’ll see them starting to get golden edges. This is when you add more butter and stir/flip the mushrooms and then let them cook without stirring again. Easy peasy!
NOTE: I use a good non-stick pan for making these Perfect Mushrooms and they come out great every single time. I have not tried making them in a stainless steel pan.
Can you store Perfectly Cooked Mushrooms in the fridge?
Yes, you can! Whenever I buy that big container of mushrooms at Costco, I cook them this way and if we don’t eat them right away, I store them in the fridge for a few days and add to various recipes.
How to use these Perfect Mushrooms
- These Perfect Mushrooms are great with steak
- They are scrumptious to add to warm winter salads
- Delicious addition to pasta and omelettes
- Amazing filling for my Vegan Potato Cakes stuffed with Mushrooms
- Try them with my Mushroom Crostini 3 Ways and you’ll be hooked
How to cook perfect mushrooms every time
- Wash and dry mushrooms. Mushrooms need to be completely dry. Slice the mushrooms.
- Heat enough butter in the pan to cover the bottom.
- Heat the pan to a generous medium to medium-high heat.
- Add the mushrooms to the melted butter, stir and then let the mushrooms cook without stirring.
- Let mushrooms cook without stirring.
- Let mushrooms cook without stirring!!!
- Once mushrooms reduced by almost half and you start to see golden edges and there’s no more steam, no more liquid and they sound and look like they are going to start burning soon, then add more butter and stir/flip the mushrooms.
- Let the mushrooms cook again without stirring. This will take less time than the first part.
- Add salt, pepper in the end.
- Add herbs if using. I prefer lots of fresh dill, but you can add parsley or thyme.
If you don’t believe you can do it, check out this video to see how to cook perfect mushrooms every time!
How to cook perfect mushrooms every time
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound mushrooms
- 4 teaspoons butter or vegan butter
- 1/4 cup chopped dill (or other herbs)
- salt, pepper to taste
Instructions
- Please note, the amounts are approximate. You may want to add more or less butter or vegan butter. You could also use more or less herbs or omit all the herbs. The main idea is to use enough fat in the beginning and in the end and also not stir as described below!
How to cook perfect mushrooms every time
- Wash and dry the mushrooms. Mushrooms need to be completely dry. Slice the mushrooms
- Heat enough butter or vegan butter in the pan to cover the bottom. About 2 teaspoons.
- Heat the pan to a generous medium to medium-high heat.
- Add the mushrooms to the melted butter, stir and then let the mushrooms cook without stirring.
- Let mushrooms cook without stirring.
- Let mushrooms cook without stirring!!!
- Once mushrooms reduced by almost half and you start to see golden edges and there's no more steam, no more liquid and they sound and look like they are going to start burning soon, then add the rest of the butter or vegan butter (2 teaspoons) and stir/flip the mushrooms.
- Let the mushrooms cook again without stirring. This will take less time than the first part.
- Add salt, pepper in the end.
- Add herbs if using. I prefer lots of fresh dill, but you can add parsley or thyme.
Video
Nutrition
Mention or tag @Imagelicious
Kavster says
I like to add soy sauce to the pan when cooking my mushrooms…..absolutely delicious
And ….ahem……I am a self confessed mushroom stirrer
Alyssa says
Julia, this looks so good! I love mushrooms . I’ll have to try this out sometime soon. Thanks for sharing!
EDVALDO BARROSO COSTA says
I put your recipe in my pancake and it looked wonderful.