Plant-Based Meaty and Smoky Goodness
We simply LOVE grilled veggies here at PWWB. 🌽🥦🧅 You may already share our enthusiasm for sweet grilled peppers or charred onions, but today we’re sharing one of our favorite plant-based treats – grilled mushrooms!
With their meaty texture and umami flavor, mushrooms are absolutely perfect for grilling. They take on a beautiful rich and smoky char from the grill, delivering a very similar flavor and texture as a grilled steak, minus the meat 🤯. Grilled portobello mushrooms make a fantastic plant-based burger or taco. But you can also grill skewered creminis or fancy-feeling enokis, trumpets, or chanterelles – whatever you love!
Their heartiness makes mushrooms a fantastic meatless substitute! Throw them in a tortilla with zippy chimichurri, a veggie burrito bowl, or a big bowl of pasta. You can also simply enjoy them as a good-for-ya side dish showered with herbs and a drizzle of balsamic. Plus, with just 3 ingredients and less than 10 minutes of cooking time, they couldn’t be easier to make. Basically, grilling mushrooms is always a good idea!
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The Best Mushrooms for Grilling
If you’re not familiar with the world of edible fungi, it might surprise you to learn that there are TONS of mushroom varieties to choose from! From ubiquitous white button mushrooms to highly sought-after chanterelles, savory shiitakes and creminis, to peculiar-looking enokis and chicken of the woods, culinary mushrooms are super fun to play with.
We love to reach for big portobello caps or creminis when grilling mushrooms! But if you have access to other mushroom options then definitely grill those up too. A few suggestions…
- Thick-stemmed King Oyster mushrooms are popular in many Asian cuisines and for good reason. They have a remarkably meaty flavor and their size is quite impressive.
- Skinny limbed enoki mushrooms are also a treat to eat! Grab small clusters and wrap them in kitchen twine before letting them hit the grates.
- Sizable shiitake mushrooms can also easily cook on your grill’s grates. We love the unique buttery texture of shiitakes when they’re cooked.
Pro Tip! ⇢ Mushrooms lose up to 50% of their size as they cook due to moisture loss (they’re full of water!). Keep this in mind as you determine your cook time. Larger varieties of mushrooms naturally take longer to cook than smaller ones.
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Buy Now → How to Grill Mushrooms
Prep the mushrooms for the grill. If you’re using a smaller variety of mushrooms, like creminis, start by slicing and threading them on wooden skewers (this helps prevent them from falling through the grill grates!). Grilled portobello mushrooms are big enough to lay flat on the grates. From there, simply brush your mushrooms with oil and season with plenty of salt and pepper. Pro Tip! → Soak your wooden skewers in water for at least 20 minutes to prevent them from burning!
Grill. Place your mushrooms on the grates of a grill pre-heated to 450-500 degrees. Cook for 7-8 minutes, flipping them halfway through, until tender and charred as desired. Tip! → If grilling skewers, place them perpendicular to the grill grates so they don’t slip through.
Serve. Hot grilled mushrooms are best enjoyed immediately with fresh herbs and a drizzle of balsamic. You can also slice up your portobello mushrooms at this point and toss them into your meal. The bite-sized cremini slices are already good-to-go!
Tips and Tricks For Grilling Mushrooms
- Wipe, don’t wash. Mushrooms are like sponges and a heavy wash can overload them with liquid instead of flavor. Use a clean towel or a soft veggie brush to wipe away any dirt instead of running them under water.
- Marinate your mushrooms! A mushroom’s absorptive nature can also be used to your advantage with a marinade. Try this grilled mushroom recipe with a Brown Sugar Bourbon Marinade or our PWWB All-Purpose Marinade. The mushrooms easily soak up tons of flavor in about 15 minutes. Learn More → 15 Go-To Grilling Marinade Recipes
- Thread smaller mushrooms onto skewers or grill in a basket. This easy extra step prevents any mushrooms from falling through the grates!
- Soak your wooden skewers. Wood + Fire = More Fire. Keep your skewers intact by giving them at least a 20-minute soak before threading the smaller mushrooms.
Serving Suggestions
These tender, smoky grilled mushrooms are fantastic for pretty much everything. Grilled portobello mushrooms are an excellent meatless substitute for burgers, tacos, pasta, and more. Other varieties are great all on their own or added into summer mains for some extra veggies.
Here are some of our favorite recipes for using grilled mushrooms…
- Grilled Mushroom Tacos – Add a drizzle of bright and zippy chimichurri and enjoy. This is one of our favorite meatless summer dinners!
- Toss grilled mushrooms into a Veggie Burrito Bowl alongside grilled sweet potatoes, green rice, and summer greens.
- Brown Butter Pasta, Marsala Pasta, or even risotto! Pasta and mushrooms are an epic combo.
- Grilled Pizza – Since you already have the grill fired up for your mushrooms, make an epic grilled pizza while you’re at it! Smoky charred mushrooms make the perfect topping.
- Grilled Tuscan Steak with a side of grilled mushrooms and onions is about as perfect as it gets.
- Add grilled portobello mushrooms atop or in place of a classic burger, hot dog, or sandwich for a vegetarian win! You can also add a pile of smaller grilled mushrooms as an easy topping.
- Grilled Vegetable Salad or Grilled Vegetable Platter – Pair your grilled mushrooms with an abundance of other grilled veggies and serve with a zippy, herbaceous sauce or dressing. (If you haven’t noticed, chimichurri and mushrooms are a match made in heaven.)
Need more grilling inspiration? Be sure to check out our Grilling 101 Guide and Must-Have Grilling Equipment for all your summer needs.
I can’t wait for you to try this Grilled Mushroom Recipe! They’re quick, easy, and so full of charred, rich flavor – the perfect addition to any summer meal!
If you do give them a try, be sure to let me know! Leave a comment with a star rating below. You can also snap a photo and tag @playswellwithbutter on Instagram. I LOVE hearing about and seeing your PWWB creations! ♡ Happy grilling!
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15-Minute Rich & Smoky Grilled Mushrooms
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 7 min
- Total Time: 17 minutes
- Yield: serves 2-4 1x
- Category: Side Dish Recipes, Techniques & How-Tos
- Method: Grilling & Smoking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Learning how to grill mushrooms is a game-changer! This simple Grilled Mushrooms recipe gives meaty, umami mushrooms a beautiful smoky char using only 3 ingredients. Perfect for prepping everything from whole grilled portobello mushrooms to skewered cremini mushrooms. Serve them with fresh herbs and balsamic or use grilled mushrooms for meatless tacos, burgers, and pasta. Naturally vegetarian, vegan, dairy, and gluten-free.
Ingredients
- 16 oz mushrooms of choice
- Avocado oil, or other neutral, high smoke point oil of choice
- kosher salt and ground black pepper, to season
Instructions
- Preheat the grill: Prep your grill for medium-high direct heat grilling. My ideal grill temperature for mushrooms is about 450-500 degrees F.
- Prep the mushrooms: For small mushrooms (such as cremini or button), slice in half lengthwise, then string on skewers. For large mushrooms, like portobello mushroom caps, skewers are not necessary. Place the mushrooms on a small baking sheet or large plate. Use a pastry brush to coat the mushrooms with oil (mushrooms are super absorptive, so avoid pouring oil directly them). Season with kosher salt and ground black pepper, and any other fresh hardy herbs or spice blends as desired.
- Grill the mushrooms: Place the mushrooms on the grill grates. For grilled mushroom skewers, position the skewers such that they are perpendicular to the grill grates (which makes the skewers easier to handle on the grill). Grill 3-4 minutes per side until tender and charred as desired.
- Serve! Enjoy your grilled mushrooms immediately, served on their own or alongside your favorite grilled meals. Refer to the blog post, above, for more serving suggestions.
Notes
- Mushrooms: If you want to avoid using grilling baskets and/or skewers, aim for larger mushroom varieties like portobello mushroom caps, sizable shiitakes, or king trumpet mushrooms. If you don’t mind needing a little equipment, go for smaller varieties like cremini (a.k.a. Baby Bella), white button, oyster, porcini, or chanterelles.
- Marinades: Mushrooms are basically sponges, so they take really well to marinades! You’ll only need to let them soak for about 15 minutes for all that flavor to absorb. Check out our go-to grilling marinades for tons of fun flavor inspiration!
Recipe by Jess Larson, Plays Well With Butter | Photography by Eat Love Eat & Rachel Cook, Half Acre House.
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