Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms With Tomatoes and Goat Cheese

If you are crazy about the rich and meaty taste of mushrooms, you will love these stuffed portobello mushrooms. They have a delicious filling of oven roasted tomatoes and goat cheese making a fantastic dinner party appetizer, meatless meal or vegetarian main course served with a green salad. They are the perfect side dish for a meaty steak or pork chops..

Mushrooms and Umami

When I learned about the fifth taste called umami, I began to understand my love of mushrooms. Umami is a term borrowed from the Japanese language conveying a pleasant, delicious, savory taste. It's a singular taste that cannot be called sweet, sour, salty or bitter. Find umami in other foods like asparagus, tomatoes, soy sauce and truffles, shellfish, and Parmesan cheese.

Ingredients

These oversized stuffed mushrooms are so good! Let me show you how tricks to clean the mushroom caps, stuff them, and bake them.

• 1 recipe of oven roasted tomatoes (link here, they are easy)
• 4 Portobello mushrooms about 4″ across
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Lemon juice
• Shallot 
• Garlic cloves
• 4 ounces plain goat cheese
• Fresh chopped parsley (optional)
• Fresh chopped chives (optional)
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 1 pound grape or cherry tomatoes
• Fresh thyme

About Portobellos

Portobello (also spelled Portabella) mushrooms are mature Cremini mushrooms. The only difference is size. The caps are about 4” across. They are dark brown in color and unlike smaller mushrooms they are purchased with the gills showing.

Portobellos have a foresty, earthy smell and meaty taste and texture. Most people leave the gills in but I scrape them out. When you do, the big jumbo caps make a great vessel for filling, plus they look better and are more appetizing without the gills.

How to Buy

Choose large fresh mushrooms with firm, moist caps that are not broken. Portobello caps are about 4” across.

How to Clean

In the kitchen of a steakhouse restaurant, I worked along side prep cooks cleaning mounds of Portobello mushrooms. They trimmed off the tough mushroom stems, then scraped out the chocolaty colored gills on the inside of the mushroom with a spoon creating a clean mushroom to grill or fill. It was a great idea.

Note - Discard the stems of the mushrooms as they are woody and unpleasant to eat.

Gently wipe the outside of each mushroom cap with a damp paper towel to remove any surface dirt. Next, pop out the stem by pushing it from side to side. It should come out clean. If not, remove any extra with a paring knife so the inside is flat. Next, use a teaspoon to gently scrape out the dark brown mushroom gills from inside the cap. 

Stuff and Bake

Brush with olive oil, broil for a few minutes, then fill with roasted tomatoes, crumbled goat cheese and herbs. Place on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper in a single layer and bake for 12 minutes.

Make Roasted Tomatoes

Make these ahead to save time. Find the recipe for the oven roasted tomatoes here. They take about 25 minutes and will last a few days in the fridge. You need a pound of cherry or grape tomatoes, fresh thyme, olive oil, salt, and pepper. For exact ingredients see the bottom of the recipe card.

Slice the tomatoes in half, place in a medium bowl and toss with the olive oil, garlic and lots of fresh chopped thyme. Roast on a rimmed baking sheet covered with parchment paper and roast 25 minutes

To Serve

These are delicious just as they are, but if you'd like, sprinkle them with a little bit of dairy Parmesan cheese or vegan parmesan cheese. A drizzle of good balsamic vinegar is tasty too. As an optional garnish, sprinkle with a little chopped fresh parsley.

Variations

All of these variations have so much flavor, so be creative and do what sounds good. Next time, try one of these:

• Don't have time to roast the tomatoes? Chop them, drain them off some of the juices, and use them as is.
• Swap the goat cheese for grated mozzarella cheese and top with marinara sauce before baking (almost like a pizza).
• To add protein, add a little cooked and crumbled Italian sausage. Tip: for sausage links, chop roughly and run it through a food processor to refine it. I like to use the pre-cooked links from this brand.
• To add some "green", add chopped fresh spinach
• Add a little thinly sliced red onion

More Recipes and Nutrition

Need more of a reason to eat mushrooms? Read this terrific post on the science backed health benefits of eating mushrooms and try these steakhouse style mushrooms. 

📖 Recipe

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms With Tomatoes and Goat Cheese

Sally Cameron

These giant, meaty mushrooms make a terrific appetizer (½ per person) or meatless main dish (1 per person). The oven roasted tomatoes, goat cheese and herbs add to their earthy, savory flavor. For a more substantial meal, add a green salad. See notes in post for more ideas. Make the roast tomatoes ahead or while you are prepping the mushrooms. They take about 25 minutes. For variations see post.

5 from 3 votes

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Course Appetizer, Mushrooms, Side Dish

Cuisine American

Servings 4 to 8

Calories 200 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 recipe of oven roasted tomatoes LINK BELOW
• ▢ 4 large Portobello mushrooms about 4″ across
• ▢ 3 tablespoons olive oil
• ▢ 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• ▢ 2 teaspoon finely chopped shallot optional
• ▢ 1 large garlic clove finely chopped
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon sea salt to taste
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ▢ 4 ounces plain goat cheese

Optional Garnishes

• ▢ 1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
• ▢ 1 tablespoon fresh chopped chives
• ▢ 4 teaspoons Balsamic vinegar

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Instructions

 

Roast Tomatoes (can be made ahead)

• If you have not made the oven roasted tomatoes ahead, do them first. They take just a few minutes of prep time and 20-25 minutes in the oven.

Prep Mushrooms

• While the tomatoes are roasting, clean the mushrooms by gently wiping the outside of the caps with a damp paper towel or brushing any dirt off with a soft brush. Next, pop out the stems by pushing them from side to side until the snap out. Then with a teaspoon, scrape the gills out until the underside is mostly clean. Place them on a foil lined rimmed baking sheet.
• Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, shallot and garlic. Brush mushroom caps inside and out with the olive oil mixture (or plain olive oil). Sprinkle each cap with salt and pepper.

Broil Mushrooms

• Pre-heat the broiler. With the oven rack on the second to the top level, broil the mushrooms for 3-5 minutes until they are hot and the edges are starting to brown. They will start to release moisture and get juicy. Remove from the oven.

Bake Mushrooms

• Pre-heat the oven to 375 (190C). Fill the caps with the roasted tomatoes and dot with the goat cheese. Sprinkle with the fresh herbs. Bake for 12 minutes or until hot and the cheese has softened. Brush with a little extra olive oil on the edges to make them shine. Serve.

Notes

The recipe link for the oven roasted tomatoes is here

Nutrition

Calories: 200kcalCarbohydrates: 6gProtein: 8gFat: 17gSaturated Fat: 6gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0.003gCholesterol: 13mgSodium: 265mgPotassium: 457mgFiber: 2gSugar: 4gVitamin A: 688IUVitamin C: 16mgCalcium: 53mgIron: 1mg

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