When my family gathers, there are always lots of things to eat and drink–as it’s always a kind of “open-door” scenerio, we never know how many friends or other relations may stop by. One of the standards are my cousin Amy’s stuffed mushrooms. They are super simple and a total guilty pleasure–as the filling consists of sausage and cream cheese. Even though I love her version…I had to do my own version…I just can’t help myself!
For these mushrooms I swapped breakfast sausage for spicy italian (I’ll add heat anywhere I can), reduced the cream cheese by quite a bit, added some parmesan, a bit of wilted spinach for color and science, and some intensely sweet and chewy sun dried tomatoes. I added more parm and a little panko to the top for toast-iness and crunch. I think these stuffed mushrooms are the perfect 2-bite appetizer–they don’t have to be served super hot and you can eat them one handed, freeing your other hand for cocktail wrangling. Which, is totally key for appetizer greatness, amiright?!
Sausage, Spinach, and Sundried Tomato Stuffed Mushrooms
Makes 12 large stuffed mushrooms.
I used neufchatel-style cream cheese (1/3 less fat) instead of cream cheese and I don’t think the results suffered at all…but go ahead and use the regular cream cheese if you like. I think one could go even further in the flavor department and add capers or briny olives to the filling–I didn’t think of it at the time, but I bet it’d be delish! (PS, my grocery store sells mushroom caps for stuffing, you can use regular button or cremini mushrooms–they will be smaller and will make double the amount in smaller mushrooms).
12 large mushroom caps
1 spicy italian sausage link
2 cups fresh baby spinach
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 clove garlic, minced
salt
2 ounces neufchatel or cream cheese (cut from an 8 ounce block), softened
4-6 sun dried tomatoes, chopped
4 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese, divided
3 tablespoons panko bread crumbs, divided
olive oil
Preheat the oven to 375˚F and line a baking sheet with parchment. Set aside.
Brush off any soil stuck the the surface of the mushrooms with a pastry brush or dampened towel. Remove the stems and place the caps, well-side down, on the baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool while you prepare the filling.
In a skillet over medium-high heat, remove the sausage from the casing and crumble into the pan. Cook, breaking up the sausage into small crumbles with a wooden spoon, until browned and cooked through. Remove from skillet onto some paper towels to drain the grease and cool completely Pour the remaining grease out of the pan, return to the heat and add the spinach, red pepper, garlic, and a sprinkle of salt. Cook the spinach over medium until wilted. Remove from the pan and set aside to cool completely. Once cooled, squeeze the spinach to remove excess liquid. Chop coarsely.
In a small bowl combine 2 tablespoons of the parmesan with 2 tablespoons of the panko, drizzle with olive oil (1 teaspoon or so), and mix together with a fork to combine. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, stir the softened cheese until creamy and slightly loosened. Add the sun dried tomatoes, 2 tablespoons of the parmesan, 1 tablespoon of the panko, the cooked and cooled sausage, and the chopped, wilted spinach, and fold to combine. Spoon the filling into the pre-baked mushroom caps, sprinkle with the parm-panko mixture and bake in the 375˚F oven for another 10-15 minutes or until the tops are lightly browned.
These look crazy delicious! I like that you held back on the cream cheese because so many popular appetizer recipes are dripping in cream cheese, sour cream or mayonnaise and I’m always like, yeesh, can we dial this down a bit? I love all of those things, but I’d like to taste the other things, too!
exactly! I just want the cream cheese to be a binder and add a bit of creamy texture. It’s more about the other mix-ins for me, too!
You stuffed these with some of my favorite ingredients! Sun-dried tomatoes and olives are such a good combo, I feel like that would send these over the edge in awesomeness.
yes! next time, for sure!
Whenever I arrive at a get together, the first thing I scope out is the appetizers. If there are stuffed mushrooms present, I immediately swoon. Nothing beats salty sausage and cheese stuffed into a savory mushroom. Love the addition of panko! Thanks for sharing Cindy 🙂
thanks, Morgan!
Hooray for stuffed mushrooms! I love them, but I am sadly the only mushroom-lover (not to mention meat-eater) in our house, so I don’t get them very often. But now I’m thinking I should whip up some of these for a delicious & off-the-wall solo lunch. 🙂
you definitely should, treat yo’ self!
Girl, you are SO right. About all the things! Stuffed mushrooms are one of my favorite appetizers, but I haven’t seen them around much lately. What gives? Totally making these for my next appy/cocktail party!
yes! thanks, Amanda!
these look crazy delicious!!! sausage & mushrooms are my two favorite things! (non carb things, that is!)
thanks, Tracy! sausage and mushrooms are just so easy to love!!
So, I have this bizarre aversion to cleaning mushrooms, even though I love eating them. I need to get over that ASAP and make these. I love the inclusion of sundried tomatoes – they’re one of my fave ingredients!
I hate cleaning them too! ha!
I need this in my life!! Love stuffed mushrooms. It soaks up all the flavors 🙂
yes! exactly!
so…what´s in the glas? 🙂
whiskey!
These look so good!
Stuffed mushrooms have to be the ULTIMATE appetizer. I like that you reduced the cream cheese, and YES to those sun dried tomatoes. I’m with you on adding spice to everything.
yes! thank you!
my family would LOVE these!