Recipes

Garlic Bacon Blue Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

Button mushrooms stuffed with bacon, shallots, blue cheese and herbs will be a hit at any get-together, but the Armanino Creamy Garlic Sauce will make them legendary. We recommend doubling (or tripling!) the recipe as 12 mushrooms will disappear in the blink of an eye.

Ingredients

3 slices bacon, finely diced
12 large button mushrooms 1 ½ – 2″ in diameter, about 1 pound
1 medium shallot, finely diced (about 1 ½ tablespoons)
3 tablespoons Armanino Creamy Garlic Sauce
¾ cup panko breadcrumbs
¼ teaspoon dried thyme
3 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese
kosher salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 400˚F.
Line a rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper or foil.
Remove stems from mushrooms and with a sharp paring knife, gently cut around the rim of the cap, just inside the outer edge, to remove the white covering and open up a larger cavity. With a small spoon, carefully scrape away and discard the dark brown gills from each mushroom (see tips below).
Place mushrooms, cavity side down, in a single layer on the prepared sheet pan and spray or lightly brush with vegetable oil. Turn cavity side up.
Finely chop the mushroom stems for no more than ¾ cup.
Over medium heat, cook the bacon for a minute or two until it begins to render some fat, then add the shallot and chopped mushroom stems.
Cook, stirring frequently, until the bacon is crisp and the shallot and mushrooms are tender and golden brown, about 6-8 minutes. Remove from the heat.
Once the mixture has stopped sizzling and cooled down, stir in the creamy garlic sauce. Set aside to cool.
In a medium bowl, combine the panko breadcrumbs, bacon/garlic mixture, thyme and a pinch of salt. Once combined, fold in the blue cheese. Taste and add more salt if needed.
Spoon filling into the mushroom cavities, level with the cap top. Don’t pack tightly or mound too much as the filling will expand slightly during baking.
Bake 20-25 minutes or until mushrooms are tender and filling is golden brown and warmed through. Serve warm.
Do ahead: the filing can be made and refrigerated a day ahead. Mushrooms can be stuffed several hours ahead. Refrigerate until needed and let come to room temperature, about 30 minutes, before baking.

Chef’s Tips

Bacon is much easier to dice if frozen. Wrap the slices in plastic wrap, parchment paper or place on a plate and freeze for 30 minutes until firm.
The recipe can be easily doubled or even tripled. The filling recipe makes enough to stuff around 12-15 large mushrooms, more if smaller. Club stores typically have mushrooms that are consistent in size within the container but the best bet to get consistently sized mushrooms is if you can find a store that sells them loose.
The best way to tell if a mushroom is very fresh is to look at the underside of the cap – it should be tightly closed with no visible gills (the dark part inside the cap). As the mushroom ages and dries, this tight net starts to pull back, exposing the gills.
For the ideal baked mushroom, Chef’s often scoop out and discard the dark brown gills on the inside of the mushroom. The gills release a lot of liquid during baking, making the filling soggy, causing the cap to collapse and imparting a muddy flavor. With a sharp knife, trim back the white covering just enough to open up the cavity and gently scrap away the gills with a small spoon, taking care not to break through or tear the cap edge. It’s an extra step that is worth the effort.