This sauteed mushrooms recipe is a simple side you’ll want to serve with just about everything! Unlike oven roasted mushrooms, this sauteed version frees up your oven for other dishes. Plus, these garlic butter mushrooms have beautiful caramelization that you just don’t get from the oven method. And even if you’ve done it before, I think you’re going to love my method — let me show you how to saute mushrooms for maximum savory flavor and perfect texture. This post is loaded with tips to make them perfect every time! I’ve tested several methods and settled on this being the best way to saute mushrooms. You can also combine this technique with caramelized onions, too. Don’t worry, it’s not hard or time consuming at all — this sauteed mushroom recipe with butter and garlic is ready in just 20 minutes.
Ingredients You’ll Need
This section explains how to choose the best ingredients for garlic butter mushrooms, what each one does in the recipe, and substitution options. For measurements, see the recipe card below.
Mushrooms – I think the best mushrooms for sauteing are a combination (I used a mix of shiitake and cremini mushrooms), but you can saute any kind of mushrooms you like. Try cremini, shiitake, portobello, oyster, or white button mushrooms.
Olive Oil – We’ll start the sauteed mushroom recipe with olive oil (I love using extra virgin olive oil), then finish with butter. This technique gives buttery flavor without burning the butter. For the oil, any neutral cooking oil, such as avocado oil, will work as well.Butter – Sauteed mushrooms in butter have the best flavor!Garlic – The recipe calls for 2 cloves, but feel free to adjust to your own tastes. You can mince fresh garlic yourself for the best flavor, or use jarred garlic for convenience. You can substitute 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder in a pinch, but I think using actual garlic tastes much better.Chicken Broth – This helps cook the mushrooms down while also adding more flavor, almost like a pan sauce. You can use vegetable broth to keep this dish vegetarian, or bone broth for added richness and nutrition.
How To Saute Mushrooms
This section shows how to cook sauteed mushrooms, with step-by-step photos and details about the technique, to help you visualize it. For full instructions, including amounts and temperatures, see the recipe card below. Any of these additions can be added toward the end, when you add the chicken broth. Coconut aminos is an alternative to soy sauce, which could technically be used as well.
How Long To Saute Mushrooms?
This entire sauteed mushroom recipe takes just 20 minutes! The part where you actually saute the mushrooms only takes about 4-5 minutes per side, but it adds up to 20 minutes when you factor in 2 batches, adding the garlic, and deglazing the pan.
Should You Wash Mushrooms Before Sauteing?
Many chefs say to only wipe mushrooms, but to avoid getting them actually wet, which they say can dilute the flavor. Others say it’s no big deal — you can get mushrooms as wet as you like. Some take a middle-of-the-road approach that says you can rinse mushrooms quickly under running water, but don’t submerge them. So, who is right?
The process above outlines the best way to saute mushrooms, but these tips will explain the keys to each step that makes them so good:
Slice the mushrooms, but not too thinly.
Slicing the mushrooms gives them more surface area to brown and caramelize, but you don’t want them too thin. About 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick is perfect. They will shrink as they cook, so you want to give them room to do that without shriveling into nothing.
Use a large, heavy bottom pan like this.
Heavy pans retain heat better, so the sauteed mushrooms brown better. And, a large pan gives the mushrooms more room for the liquid to evaporate.
Heat the oil and pan before adding mushrooms.
The oil should shimmer and slide around the pan easily when tilted. This ensures that the mushrooms will sizzle and any moisture will evaporate from the beginning.
Fairly high heat is important.
You don’t want to burn the mushrooms, but heat needs to be high enough for the water released by the mushrooms to simmer away quickly. If the heat is not high enough, your sauteed garlic mushrooms will steam instead of browning. Err on the side of higher heat by beginning with medium-high, and you can decrease it if they start to brown too much.
Be aware that different mushrooms have different moisture levels.
White mushrooms have more water than wild ones, so will release more and take longer to saute.
Saute mushrooms in a single layer.
If your mushrooms crowd the pan, adding them to the pan at once will increase the chances that they release a lot of moisture, steam, and don’t brown. If you have too many to fit in a single layer, cook them in batches – this is why we do that in this garlic butter mushrooms recipe.
Don’t stir too much.
Stirring the sauteed mushrooms too often prevents browning. Leave them be for a few minutes and flip only after the bottom is browned, then do the same on the other side.
Add aromatics at the right time.
If you are making sauteed mushrooms with onions, the onions can cook alongside the mushrooms, since it’s hard to overcook them (who doesn’t like caramelized onions?!). Shallots are best added halfway through cooking, to avoid burning them.
Minced garlic burns very quickly and is best added at the very end. I like to make a well in the center to make sure the garlic is in contact with the pan, then stir it in once the aroma develops.
Add herbs at the right time.
Sauteed mushrooms with fresh herbs are delicious! I made this a simple sauteed mushroom recipe and just sprinkled on parsley at the end, but you can easily add various herbs during or after cooking:
Heartier herbs like rosemary or thyme, or most dried herbs, can saute with the mushrooms for a few minutes toward the end if you like. Delicate herbs such as parsley are best added after removing from heat.
Add seasonings, especially salt, at the end.
Salting the mushrooms before sauteing will cause them to release even more moisture, even more quickly, which again will steam them instead of browning. Let them cook down first, then add salt and any other seasonings to taste just a couple of minutes before they are done.
Add butter at the end.
Butter adds delicious flavor to mushrooms, but burns easily — and mixing butter with olive oil does not actually reduce its smoke point. Instead, saute mushrooms in olive oil and add butter toward the end for flavor.
Deglaze the pan if you like.
This is not required, but for even more flavor, add a few tablespoons of broth to the pan after the mushrooms are done cooking, and scrape the pan with a wooden spoon. Then, let the sauteed mushrooms simmer until all the liquid absorbs or evaporates away. According to research done by Huffpost, the warning not to wash mushrooms is a myth: Even submerging mushrooms actually absorbs very little water, and the flavor comes from an amino acid within the cell — it can’t be washed away. Just be sure to dry them very well if you wash your mushrooms, so that they can brown. However, if you still prefer to wipe your mushrooms instead of washing, this sauteed mushroom recipe works just fine no matter how you clean them.
Storage Instructions
Store garlic butter mushrooms in the fridge for 3-5 days. Reheat in the microwave or a hot skillet, until warm.
Can You Freeze Sauteed Mushrooms?
Yes, you can freeze this sauteed mushroom recipe for up to 9 months. However, the texture changes after you thaw and reheat them. For this reason, frozen sauteed mushrooms are best used in recipes rather than on their own.
Ways To Use Sauteed Mushrooms In Recipes
Sauteed mushrooms make a delicious topping or add-in for so many recipes! Try them with:
Steak – Top your favorite sirloin steak, New York strip, or filet mignon with mushrooms for a steakhouse meal. They’re also great on a reverse sear steak.Pasta – Stirring mushrooms into noodles, or for me personally, zucchini noodles, adds loads of flavor.Rice – Similar to pasta, mushrooms make a great add-in. My favorite way is with cauliflower rice though, such as mushroom cauliflower risotto.Eggs – Sauteed garlic mushrooms make a great addition to a frittata or omelette.
What To Serve With Sauteed Mushrooms
Sauteed mushrooms for steak are a natural choice, but there are so many other healthy dinner ideas to serve with these mushrooms! If you prefer to serve the mushrooms on their own as a side dish, here are some good pairings: Share your recipe picture by tagging @wholesomeyum and hashtag it #wholesomeyum on Instagram, or in our Facebook support group, too – I’d love to see it!
