Sautéed mushrooms is a perfect rich and buttery side dish for your steaks, chicken, and pork. It only takes about 15 minutes to prepare but you get a ton of flavor from a simple addition of butter and garlic to the mushrooms.
It’s our favorite side dish to serve with any steaks, whether we make steaks in the oven or pan seared.
Table of Contents
Even though potatoes are hard to beat, sautéed mushrooms is definitely our favorite vegetable side dish. It’s such a perfect companion to steaks and chicken, especially when the protein is simply grilled, seared, or baked. So mushrooms make a perfect rich and flavorful side that is still healthy and not packed with carbs and starch.
Don’t let the simplicity of this dish fool you, these sauteed mushrooms have a full, rich flavor. All you need is some butter, fresh garlic, salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. I do like to combine fresh garlic and garlic powder because each bring something different to the overall flavor.
As an added bonus, when you slice them thinly, sautéed mushrooms will make a delicious topping on grilled steak, oven baked chicken, or burgers.
Ingredient Notes
Cremini mushrooms– these are your basic baby bella mushrooms but you can also get creative with a gourmet blend.
Cooking oil– go with neutral flavored cooking oil like light flavored olive oil, avocado, or vegetable.
Butter– this will add a lot of rich flavor to the sautéed mushrooms. Use unsalted butter to have full control over the sodium in your dish.
Garlic – fresh garlic is the best choice for flavor. Trust me, the ones you can get already pressed and minced at the store don’t taste as good.
Seasoning– For even more flavor, I add salt, fresh cracked black pepper, garlic powder, and some parsley.
See recipe card for complete information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Sautéed Mushrooms
Clean and prep the mushrooms:
After cleaning them, you’ll want to slice them into halves or quarters. If the caps are rather large, you can simply cut them into slices. The important thing is to keep the pieces as equal in size as possible.
When the mushrooms are clean, dry, and sliced, add them to a bowl, toss with oil, and then toss with pressed garlic and seasoning (1).
Preheat your skillet: Then, place a dry skillet over medium-high heat to get hot before you add mushrooms.
Sear mushrooms:
The first step of sautéing any food is to sear the outside. This will lock in the flavor, create more flavor, and help mushroom from being tough or dry when they are cooked. So let them sear undisturbed for a couple of minutes (2).
Add butter to the pan and reduce the heat (3).
Continue cooking for several minutes, until the mushrooms reduce in size but are still soft and plump (4). Try not to disturb them too much or stir too much so you get a nice sear of all the sides.
Garnish with fresh parsley and serve!
Recipe FAQs
For an average weeknight dinner, I just use white button mushrooms or cremini, aka baby bella mushrooms.
If you want something a little fancier, get packages of shiitake and oyster mushrooms to combine with the cremini. It will make a nice gourmet mushroom blend.
Most mushroom varieties grow in overgrown, high humidity forest areas. As a result, they are usually harvested with a good amount of mud and dirt on them.
Wiping them one at a time with a moist paper towel is one way to clean them, but it can be tedious and time consuming.
You’ll be happy to know that you can actually wash whole mushrooms by quickly rinsing them under cool tap water! However, avoid washing cut mushrooms.
Mushrooms are like little sponges so when they’re cut, they absorb a lot of liquid when exposed to it.
Whole mushrooms won’t absorb liquid easily or quickly. So you can quickly rinse whole mushrooms under cold water and wipe them with a paper towel right away. This will save you some time in preparation.
If you have any sautéed mushrooms left over, store them in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. For the best flavor, use them within 3 days, but they should keep for up to 5 days.
To reheat mushrooms, preheat the cooking pan over medium heat first. Then, add the mushrooms with the juices and butter that might be in the storage container. Cook it just until mushrooms are heated through.
Tips For The Best Sauteed Mushrooms
Season – season mushrooms simply to enhance the natural flavor instead of masking it. Use garlic powder and fresh garlic to get the aroma and flavor and add some salt and pepper.
Use oil and butter – start with using oil to cook the mushrooms and about half way through, add the butter to flavor the mushrooms.
Preheat the pan! It is very important to preheat the pan when cooking and even more so when you are searing something. Whether you are searing veggies or searing meats, always preheat the pan for a few minutes first.
Don’t overcrowd – this is one of the most important parts to searing. If you have too many mushrooms in a pan, they will steam instead of searing. If making more mushrooms, use a larger pan, use two pans, or cook mushrooms in batches.
Don’t disturb, let them sear! To get the best sear, do not disturb your mushrooms. Let them sit in the pan and cook for longer period of time. But make sure to keep an eye on it so you are not burning them!
Start cooking on higher heat! Start cooking of medium-high heat (avoid high heat setting due to higher chance of burning your food). After you got a nice sear going, turn the heat down to finish cooking the mushrooms through.
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Sautéed Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 16 oz cremini or white button mushrooms
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- salt to taste
- 1/2 tbsp canola oil to toss mushrooms
- 1 tbsp canola oil for cooking
- 1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
- minced parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Rinse whole mushrooms under cold water quickly and pat them dry with a paper towel right away.
- Cut mushrooms into half, or quarter if they are very large, and add them to a mixing bowl.
- Toss mushrooms in 1/2 tbsp. of oil to coat them and then add pressed garlic cloves, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Mix well to coat mushrooms evenly.
- Preheat the skillet first, over medium-high heat.
- Add a tablespoon on oil and spread it around. Add mushrooms in an even layer and let them sauté, undisturbed, for a few minutes to get a nice sear on them.
- Add butter and let it melt. Once butter is melted, mix mushrooms and let them sauté again, undisturbed. Keep mixing once in a while, but not too often, letting mushrooms get a sear each time. Depending on the size, it will take 7-10 minutes to cook mushrooms.
- Once mushrooms are done, take them out and serve. Garnish it with some parsley if you'd like.
Notes
- Season – season mushrooms simply to enhance the natural flavor instead of masking it. Use garlic powder and fresh garlic to get the aroma and flavor and add some salt and pepper.
- Use oil and butter – start with using oil to cook the mushrooms and about half way through, add the butter to flavor the mushrooms.
- Preheat the pan! It is very important to preheat the pan when cooking and even more so when you are searing something. Whether you are searing veggies or searing meats, always preheat the pan for a few minutes first.
- Don’t overcrowd – this is one of the most important parts to searing. If you have too many mushrooms in a pan, they will steam instead of searing. If making more mushrooms, use a larger pan, use two pans, or cook mushrooms in batches.
- Don’t disturb, let them sear! To get the best sear, do not disturb your mushrooms. Let them sit in the pan and cook for longer period of time. But make sure to keep an eye on it so you are not burning them!
- Start cooking on higher heat! Start cooking of medium-high heat (avoid high heat setting due to higher chance of burning your food). After you got a nice sear going, turn the heat down to finish cooking the mushrooms through.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in February 2021.
Karen says
There was a nice steakhouse my parents went to on special occasions, my dad ordered a porterhouse steak with sautéed mushrooms that were delicious, simply sliced mushrooms, butter, garlic and sweet vermouth. I still make them that way. Your recipe looks good and I will give it a try.
LyubaB says
I hope you like it, Karen!
Sarah Doss says
Perfect recipe – absolutely scrumptious!
LyubaB says
Thanks so much, Sarah!
Amy Breault says
Absolutely DELICIOUS!
LyubaB says
Thanks, Amy!