If you are a fan of stuffed mushr0oms then you need to give this recipe a try. These mushrooms are marinated in a balsamic vinegar, stuffed with a gorgonzola cheese mix, and cooked on a smoker / grill to finish them off and they are amazing.
These stuffed mushrooms are a new favorite of mine. They are packed with so much flavor from the balsamic marinade and the gorgonzola cheese and they are very simple to make. Another great thing about this recipe is that it only takes about an hour to cook. This is another recipe that has a ton of options to try out to get it to turn out the best for your particular taste. I will go over some of the alternatives at the end of this blog.
Cooking Basics
There is not too much prep work for this recipe but you do need to plan ahead a little. That is because this recipe calls for marinating your mushrooms. You will want to wash all of yoru mushrooms to get any dirt off of them and then remove the stems and put aside becuase they will be used in the cheese stuffing. Once this step is complete you will want to put your mushroom caps in a plastic bag and pour in your balsamic vinegar to marinate for an hour or two before cooking. You will then want to chop the ends off of yrou stems and then dice up the remaindr of the stems into small pieces.
The next step will be to finish preparing the cheese mix we will use to stuff our mushrooms. Throw a little olive oil in a pan and once it is heated up dump in your chopped mushroom stems. Let those cook for 3 to 4 minutes and then thow in the garlic and let cook for another minute. At this time remove from heat and allow to cool down. Once these have cooled a little we will mix them in with the rest of the stuffing ingredients listed in the recipe and set aside until we are ready to cook the mushrooms.
When you are ready to cook the mushrooms you can remove the caps from the marinade and arrange them in an aluminum pan stem side up. You will now spoon in your mixture to the tops of all the mushrooms. If there is extra stuffing when you are done I would just sprinkle it over the tops of the mushrooms and you are ready to fire up the pit.
Preheat your smoker or grill to 225. You will want to use indirect heat to cook if using a grill. If using a smoker I suggest using some type of fruit wood. If you only have a grill but would still like to smoke the mushrooms you can buy yourself a smoke tube which can sit on your grill and produce the same effect as a smoker. This could be used with most of the recipes on my blog. I have included a link below if you are interested. Once the smoker / grill is up to tmeperature throw the mushrooms on and let them cook for about 45 minutes. This is one of the few recipes where you will not go by internal temperature and you can count on these being done somewhere somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour.
Once the time is up you can remove these and then yrou ready to eat.
Final Thoughts
Alternatives - I love recipes that you can use over and over again and change up to try out different flavors. This is definitely one of those recipes.
- Marinade - My wife and I are fans of balsamic vinegar so we loved the flavor of these mushrooms. If you are not a fan I have seen recipes out there that use italian dressing on mushrooms instead and there are a lot where no marinade at all is used and I am sure they still taste great.
- Mushrooms - We used baby bella mushrooms in this recipe but you could certainly use white button mushrooms instead if you prefer those.
- Stuffing - There are a ton of varieties of stuffing mix you can use with mushrooms. I used gorgonzola in our mix because I enjoy the sharp flavor it has. If you like milder cheese you could replace this with parmesan chesese or your own personal favorite type. There are plenty of other things you could change in the mix other than cheese as well. I have seen some stuffing use crab meat so there are a lot of options to choose from.
If any of you decide to get creative please leave a comment with what you tried and how it turned out either on this post or any of the social media channels I have set up. I would love to hear about it.
Recipe
Recipe Information
- Prep Time: 15 Minutes
- Cook Time: 1 Hours
- Rest Time:
- Total Time: 1 Hours 15 Minutes
- Servings: 4 (6 mushrooms per person)
- Category: Appetizer
Ingredients
- 24 Baby Bella Mushrooms
- 1 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
- 1 Tsp Minced Garlic
- 3/4 Cup Gorgonzola Cheese crumbles
- 3/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 5 Tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Rinse Mushrooms to remove dirt then remove stems from caps
- Places caps in plastic freezer bag with balsamic vinegar to marinate for an hour or 2
- Chop ends off stems and throw away then chop up remainder of stems into small pieces
- Put 1 Tbsp of olive oil in pan and turn on medium heat.
- Add chopped stems and cook for about 4 minutes.
- Add garlic and cook for another 1 - 2 minutes then remove from heat
- Combine stem mixture with gorgonzola, bread crumbs, parsley, salt, pepper, and remaining olive oil (4 Tbsp)
- When caps are done marinating place into an aluminum pan and then top each mushroom with stuffing. Sprinkle remainder over top of mushrooms.
- Preheat smoker / grill to 225 degrees (If smoking try to use fruit wood or maple)
- Place on smoker / grill over indirect hear to cook
- Cook for 1 hour then remove from smoker
- Serve and enjoy!