Double cheese pizza stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
These double cheese pizza stuffed Portobello mushrooms are an absolute treat and inspired by a dish I had in Singapore when I was studying there. The portobello mushrooms are cleaned and oven-roasted and then filled with pizza sauce, a mixture of ricotta and spinach, and baked with mozzarella cheese. These make a delicious part of a vegetarian meal as a side dish or even as a main. All the flavors work so well together and these also look so fancy as well. Stuffed mushrooms are so versatile because you can fill them with so many things but this comes in my top 3. These are great to make when you want the flavors of pizza but not the crust.
Happy Cooking!
Servings: 4-5 servings
Prep Time: 20-25 mins
Cooking Time: 20-25 mins
Total Time: 40-50 mins
Ingredients:
4-5 Portobello mushrooms
3/4-1 cup Ricotta cheese
1.5 cups blanched Spinach leaves chopped
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Chili flakes
1/4 tsp Pepper
1/4 tsp Nutmeg/ajwain powder
About 1/2 cup Pizza sauce (2 tbsp per mushroom)
1/3-1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese shredded or sliced
8-10 leaves Basil chopped
4-5 smaller basil leaves to garnish
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a baking tray with foil and keep aside.
Blanch spinach and keep it aside. Check notes if you need help to blanch it.
Clean the mushrooms with a damp towel and gently remove the stem. Use a spoon and remove the gills of the mushrooms t to clear space in the mushroom cap.
Spray/brush olive oil on both sides of the mushroom and sprinkle some salt over the mushrooms.
Place the mushroom caps facing up on the baking tray and bake for 15-18 mins, rotating the tray mid-way.
Take it out of the oven and let it cool for 3-4 mins. Pour out any water if any.
While the mushrooms are baking I make the filling- In a bowl add ricotta cheese, blanched spinach, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and chili flakes.
Once the mushrooms are slightly cooled fill them. Spread about 1-1.5 of pizza sauce in the mushroom cups. Do not overfill the cups as they will ooze out. Top with about 1.5 tbsp of the ricotta filling on top of the pizza sauce. Spread about 1/2 tbsp of more pizza sauce over the ricotta. Top with some mozzarella cheese and chopped basil leaves.
Bake at 400F for 10 mins.
Garnish with a fresh basil leaf and serve!
Tips/Notes:
Remove the gills of the mushrooms to make space for the filling. Be careful when removing the gills, if you break the edge it will not hold it’s shape.
If the ricotta is too watery, let it sit over cheesecloth for a few hours to remove excess water.
Use a thicker pizza sauce so it doesn’t make the mushroom soggy. I recommend using the homemade pizza sauce but you can thicken a store-bought pizza sauce.
I prefer sliced mozzarella but you can use shredded or sliced.
You can make the ricotta filling from before and keep it.
Blanching spinach- In a pot add water with a pinch of salt and let it come to a boil. Till it comes to a boil, prep a large bowl with ice and cold water. Once it comes to a boil, add spinach leaves and let it soften for 2 mins. Strain the leaves and transfer them to the ice bowl. Let it sit for 1-2 mins and strain the leaves. Squeeze water out of the leaves and let it dry on a paper towel for 3-4 mins. Chop and it’s ready to use!
