This past Superbowl we had friends over for the game and I had to make my stuffed mushrooms. It's such a decadent day. Pretty much everything had bacon in it, and I also reverse seared a full cut of beef tenderloin, so stuffed mushrooms were a no-brainer.
These were a hit though. I did caramelized onions for the first time in them...mostly because I was out of green onions, but honestly, I liked them more with the caramelized onions. I doubled the batch and used it for a quiche I had put together for the following day, so it all worked out quite well.
Either way, bacon and caramelized onions with cream cheese and mushrooms...it's just a dreamy combination. The addition of the parmesan on top of the mushrooms to create a little crispy crust to bite into gives the mushrooms that pop of texture that you didn't know you needed.
I created a reel on Instagram to highlight how I made these, but overall, they're fairly simple. You just need a bit of time and some patience.
Which also, if you aren't following me on IG @ForcesandForks, go give me a follow. I post a lot of recipes within the app that I sometimes am not always so great at moving over to the blog as well.
Ingredients:
White, sweet onions
Bacon
Cream Cheese
1 lb of Cremini mushrooms (these are baby portabella mushrooms and always available in the grocery store)
Fresh Herbs - I used Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
Salt/Pepper & Garlic
Powdered Parmesan cheese
How To Make Stuffed Mushrooms:
Like I said, a bit of time and patience will go a long way with these mushrooms. It's essential to get the bacon extra crispy and especially if you are storing ahead of time, which is totally doable, the bacon just needs to be crispy. So I typically get the bacon going first while I prep the rest of the ingredients.
Next I focus on getting the mushrooms and stems separated and cleaned, then subsequently dried. I usually make these ahead and to ensure the mushroom cap holds its shape and doesn't get soggy, ensuring it's dry before adding into the greased pan is imperative. I just bake them when it's time to entertain or head to a function so I'm not dirtying up my kitchen while trying to get out the door.
While the bacon cooked and the mushrooms dried, I caramelized the onions. This is a very simple process that just involves some time and patience and a bit of stirring. The addition of the water into the pan helps to soften the onions more so they can caramelize faster. I had a preschool pick up to get to so I was good with speeding this process up. Sugar, salt and butter is all it takes to caramelize the onions though. It's super easy
Lastly, I mixed all of the ingredients together. Starting with the cream cheese, garlic and fresh herbs. I used a KitchenAid mixer for this so that the herbs are well distributed among the cream cheese. I like to use hardy herbs, in this case, sage, thyme and rosemary. While parsley would be delicious, it would break down too easily in the stand mixer. Folding in a softer-leaf herb would be a better choice.
The addition of the bacon, mushroom stems and caramelized onions at the end are pretty much the icing on the cake. I would highly recommend folding in slowly though so that the bacon doesn't break. It allows each bite to have a nice texture to it that really adds to how delicious these are.
Putting it all together:
I like to use a 9x13 casserole dish for my stuffed mushrooms but mostly because I don't have something in between an 8x8 and a 9x13. I spray the bottom and put the caps down, hole side up, before I start filling the caps. About 1 tablespoon per mushroom will do, but if it's a larger mushroom don't be afraid to add more of the stuffing in.
The last step is a little sprinkle of parmesan cheese. I used about 2 tbsp total on the whole pan, but less or more is equally fine. This provides the mushroom with a little crunch for the perfect bite.
That's it! Bake them at 375° for about 40-45 minutes. They become very fragrant when it's time to pull them out.
Serve them up and enjoy :)