These zesty Italian marinated mushrooms are the perfect appetizer and elevate charcuterie boards, picnic spreads, and tossed salads. Poached in olive oil and then left to marinate overnight or up to a week in the fridge, these mushrooms are fragrant and tender and luscious. Added bonus: use the leftover marinade to toss a salad.
An Easy, Make-Ahead Bite-Sized Appetizer That Creeps Into All Your Dishes? Yup!
Get ready for the ULTIMATE appetizer. I think the best marinated mushrooms combine aromatic olive oil, a pop of acidity, plenty of zesty garlic, shallots, and a handful of fresh herbs. Once they’re ready you can plop them down and let people dig in as is, or you can make goat cheese crostini and use these mushrooms to top them off. I have used these in salads. I have used these on pizzas (ham, marinated mushrooms, and roasted red pepper anyone?). It’s just so versatile! They also happen to be gluten free and vegan!
What You’ll Need
- Fresh mushrooms: Get as fancy as you’d like. I mixed a blend of farmer’s market mushrooms (including a beautiful, deep brown chestnut mushroom) and white button mushrooms. I’ve also tested this recipe with a blend of button and cremini mushrooms.
- Extra virgin olive oil: Use a nice one here folks, it’s a key ingredient in the dish so you want it to be one you enjoy.
- Red wine vinegar: Use one you like.
- Lemon juice: Fresh is best.
- Lemon zest: Optional, but it really helps the lemon flavor cut through the earthiness of the mushrooms and olive oil.
- Shallots: Shallots are in the same family as onions, but they’re a little less intense. If you don’t have shallot on hand, you can mince a small wedge of red onion.
- Garlic: Fresh cloves. Use them as an aromatic in your poaching liquid, and again, minced in the marinade for a more aggressive flavor.
- Fresh parsley: I prefer flat-leaf parsley over curly; I think it has more flavor.
- Fresh thyme: I prefer to use fresh thyme, and when I don’t have it on hand, I’ll swap for another Mediterranean herb.
- Red pepper flakes: Optional, but even just a hint of spice in these mushrooms adds a nice flavor boost.
- Sugar: Optional, but I like to think it balances everything out.
- Salt and black pepper
Variations
Mushrooms: Experiment with the types of mushrooms for varying textures and flavors. In the pictures you’ll see a mix of mushrooms including chestnut, some dwarf variety of a king oyster, and run-of-the-mill button mushrooms. I’ve made this with button mushrooms and baby bellas. Try chicken of the woods, oyster mushrooms, or whatever else you happen to find at the farmers market!
Herbs: Try different combinations of fresh herbs for the marinade — rosemary, oregano, tarragon, and chives are all potential contenders for this recipe.
Vinegars: The original recipe uses a combo of red wine vinegar and fresh lemon juice, but you can also try white vinegar, balsamic vinegars, white wine vinegar, prosecco or champagne vinegar, or straight-up lemon. Adjust the amount of vinegar in the recipe to suit your personal preference.
How to Make This Dish
- In a large saucepan, bring the olive oil to a slight simmer and reduce to medium. Do not boil.
- Add the mushrooms, teaspoon of salt salt, teaspoon of sugar, garlic cloves, and thyme. Cook until the exterior of the mushrooms soften, 6-7 minutes. The mushrooms will shrink.
- Remove from heat and let it cool.
- Meanwhile make the marinade, by mixing together all of the marinade ingredients: 3 tablespoons of minced shallots, 1 minced garlic clove, 2 tablespoons of finely chopped parsley leaves, 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, ½ teaspoon lemon zest, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar, red pepper flakes (if using).
- Add the mushrooms and the poaching liquid to the marinade. Because the mushrooms are cooked and infused with the olive oil, you can totally dig in, but they will get even better if they chill overnight in your fridge. You can make these up to a week in advance!
Tips & Tricks
- You can serve these mushrooms as part of an antipasto platter, but they also taste great on crostini smeared with a bit of goat cheese or with large chunks of crusty bread.
- When you pull this from the fridge, the fats from the olive oil may have solidified. This is completely normal, so no worries. Just let it sit out at room temperature for 30 minutes before using or place in a warm water bath to speed up the process.
- You can repurpose the olive oil + olive oil marinade. Add more vinegar to taste and toss a simple green salad with it. It’s basically mushroom-infused olive oil, and it’s delicious!
How to Clean Mushrooms
First of all, mushrooms are basically sponges because they are so porous. So the best way to wash a mushroom is to not. Especially if you are going to poach them in olive oil.
If your mushrooms have a bit of dirt on them, I like to take a clean kitchen towel or a dry paper towel and gently wipe off the dirt.
If your mushrooms are truly D-I-R-T-Y and you decide they need a quick rinse of lukewarm water, drain, and then immediately pat dry. Note: rinsed mushrooms won’t keep long, so you’ll want to poach them ASAP!
How to Serve
I think the question here is: What can’t you serve these with?
- Appetizer
- Crostini (or your morning toast)
- Salad Topper: These mushrooms make a great addition to a salad.
- Steak Topper
- Pizza Topping: Try ham, marinated mushrooms, and roasted red peppers.
- In a grilled cheese sandwich.
- With your morning eggs or omelet.
Storage Instructions
You can store these for up to two weeks in the fridge. I don’t recommend freezing these.
📖 Recipe
Italian Marinated Mushrooms
Ingredients
Poached Mushrooms
- 1 cup olive oil
- 16 oz mushrooms
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
Mushroom Marinade
- 3 tablespoons minced shallots from about 2 large shallots
- 1 large garlic clove minced
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley leaves
- 1 teaspoon thyme leaves
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes or Aleppo pepper
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil that mushrooms were cooked in
Instructions
Poach mushrooms
- Bring the olive oil to a slight simmer and reduce to medium. Do not boil.
- Add the mushrooms, salt, sugar, garlic, and thyme. Cook until the exterior of the mushrooms soften, 6-7 minutes. The mushrooms will shrink.
- Remove from heat and let it cool.
Make mushroom marinade
- Meanwhile make the marinade, by mixing together all of the marinade ingredients: 3 tablespoons of minced shallots, 1 minced garlic clove, 2 tablespoons of finely chopped parsley leaves, 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, ½ teaspoon lemon zest, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar, red pepper flakes (if using)
- Add the mushrooms and the poaching liquid (the olive oil) to the marinade. Because the mushrooms are cooked and infused with the olive oil, you can totally dig in, but they will get even better if they chill overnight in your fridge. You can make these up to a week in advance!
