- Today I'm gonna show you how to make an appetizer
that doesn't get nearly enough credit,
easy stuffed mushrooms. (graphic ringing)
Literally every party that has these,
I'm hoarding them at the buffet line because I love them.
This recipe is so simple (graphic chiming)
and it's in my new cookbook.
That's right, cookbook worthy.
I'm gonna show you how to make these.
They're gonna become your favorite, and I'm hungry.
So let's get started.
We'll start with a little bit of prep.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Also in a large non-stick skillet.
Saute your bacon until it's browned and crisp.
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This should take about three minutes per side
over medium heat.
You can also cook your bacon in an air fryer
or the oven if you prefer.
Also to keep your stove top clean.
I love using this splatter guard.
And I will link to my favorite one in the notes.
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Once your bacon has browned, transfer that
to a cutting board lined with paper towels
to soak up the excess grease.
Let that cool for a few minutes.
Then chop it up into small bacon bits.
Chop that up into tiny pieces
because we're gonna use it in the filling
and as a topping for those mushrooms.
And I do think bacon makes everything better,
so do not skip it.
Set the bacon aside.
Then lightly coat a large rimmed baking sheet
with a little bit of olive oil.
To keep my hands clean, I love greasing my pans
with a pastry brush.
And I will link to a great one in the notes.
Set that aside.
And now we're gonna prepare the mushrooms.
Now I'm someone who normally will just wash
and dry my mushrooms,
but when you're making stuffed mushrooms,
you don't want them to absorb any extra water.
So it's important to use a damp paper towel
and just wipe the outsides.
This is probably the most tedious step in the process,
but really only takes five minutes.
And it's important to clean those mushrooms.
You'll be surprised how brown those paper towels turn
after cleaning the mushrooms.
Once they're all clean,
preparing the mushrooms is super easy.
All you do is pop off the stem.
I used to spend all this extra time
scooping out the centers of the mushrooms,
but it's completely unnecessary,
and you'll have plenty of space to stuff them
by just removing those stems.
If you wanna make good use of those stems,
you can saute them with a little salt and pepper.
You can throw them into some soup, make a mushroom gravy,
or just toss them.
It's completely up to you.
Arrange the mushrooms on your oiled baking sheet
with the stem side up.
Now it's time to make that easy and delicious filling.
We'll start with four ounces of softened plain cream cheese.
Also add some finely shredded
or freshly grated Parmesan cheese and two garlic cloves.
You can either press the garlic
through a garlic press like this or grate it.
Of course, I will leave a link to this garlic press
and all of my favorite cooking tools in the notes.
Chop up some fresh parsley.
And you can either use flat leaf parsley or curly parsley.
And I like to set aside a little extra for garnish.
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Season that with salt and some freshly cracked black pepper.
Now use a fork to mash that mixture together
until it's all well incorporated and combined.
And last but not least,
add half of your bacon bits to the cream mixture.
Stir that together until the bacon is well incorporated.
Now to fill the mushroom caps,
I love using a small trigger release scoop.
This helps with even portioning
and it's super quick to fill them.
You'll need about two teaspoons of filling per mushroom,
and this will fill about 24 mushrooms.
Just a small scoop is plenty.
You don't wanna overstuff the mushrooms.
And if you use too much, you won't have enough filling
for all of the mushroom caps.
Once all of the filling is in,
I like to add a little pinch of bacon
over the top of each mushroom
and press it down lightly so that it sticks better.
Now, bake them in the center
of a preheated oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit
for about 15 minutes.
The mushrooms are done when they're softened,
and the tops have started to brown a bit.
You'll also see a little bit
of juice at the base of the mushrooms.
Woo-hoo, hot and ready.
And I cannot even describe
how much my mouth is watering for these right now.
Oh, I love stuffed mushrooms.
And they're so cute too.
Look, just like in the picture in my cookbook, love that.
I love it when it turns out just like it's supposed to look.
That's what you can expect.
All that it needed was a little bit of garnish of course,
that little bit of hiss hazzle,
and you can garnish it on here.
Actually, what would be better,
unless you're serving it right out of the baking sheet,
which you can, is to transfer it to a serving platter.
And then I'm gonna sprinkle the parsley on afterwards.
But oh my goodness, I'm getting so impatient.
Oh, that topping of the crispy bacon on top
and then the creamy, cheesy bacony filling,
these stuffed mushrooms are everything, so good.
Oh my goodness, I wish I could pass one
through the screen to you
so you could have a sample as well.
But they really are pretty simple to make.
I think the most tedious thing about this
is wiping them with a paper towel.
But really it takes like five minutes.
What's five minutes?
I mean, come on. (Natasha chuckles)
Oh, this is such a good recipe.
Perfect for holiday parties.
It's such a yummy and cute appetizer.
And that bacon on top stays crispy as it bakes.
It's just so good.
But when you pop it in your mouth,
that's when the magic starts.
We're going to bedazzle these a little bit more here.
Just look at how pretty that little bit of green makes.
Otherwise, it's a brown food.
You know, we gotta make brown foods prettier
with some garnish as usual.
Okay and these two cuties over here,
'cause these are the ones I'm gonna sample.
I cannot wait.
Okay, here we go.
Yum, yum, yum, yum.
Hopefully it's not too hot inside
'cause I'm not patient enough to wait.
Oh my gosh, I love that this is staring back at me.
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Oh, mm, and those mushrooms are perfectly cooked.
They're so meaty and juicy inside.
That's why it's important to wipe them
with a damp paper towel
and not to wash them so they don't absorb the excess liquid.
The texture is just amazing.
Oh, and then creamy, cheesy filling such a treat.
I love that little salty bite of bacon and that crunch.
Wow, make this for your next holiday party
and seriously watch people's eyes light up.
This is also a favorite of my son's.
If you haven't already,
make sure you get your hands on our new cookbook.
I will leave a link in the description.
It's filled with tons of recipes.
We've got lots of appetizers in there.
Main courses, easy dinner ideas,
salads is such a good chapter.
Everything in here is good.
Hope you guys love all the recipes.
And make sure, make sure you try these mushrooms.
They're so good.
If you guys want more great appetizer recipes
that are crowd pleasers, make sure you check out
one of our most popular ones right over there.
Let me know where you guys spotted sharky.
And we'll see you in the next episode of Natasha's Kitchen.
I'm gonna go enjoy my stuffed mushrooms.