Easy Pan Fried Mushrooms (the most popular way to prepare any type of culinary mushrooms)
Pan Frying Mushrooms
This is a delicious way to cook mushrooms and probably the quickest and easiest way to prepare most culinary mushrooms.
1. Heat pan to medium high heat with a small amount of olive oil or ghee.
2. Add mushrooms to pan and "dry fry" the mushrooms in the least amount of olive oil or ghee you can use to prevent the mushrooms from sticking. Ghee is clarified butter and doesn't burn under high heat, and olive oil has a relatively high flash point compared to butter, so it won't burn very easily. We like to use olive oil to fry mushrooms due to the great taste. Use a well seasoned cast iron pan if you have it, otherwise a non-stick pan works well too. Stir the mushrooms often. Beware of adding too much oil. Mushrooms will soak it up until they are soggy which isn't desirable.
3. Continue to "dry fry" the mushrooms and allow them to start to brown. If you are using fresh garlic and onions or any other fresh "wet" ingredients, add them about 5 min into "dry frying" your mushrooms.
4. Cook for a total of 8 to 12 minutes or until the mushrooms are almost done (golden brown), add butter for flavor and any dry ingredients such as salt, pepper, thyme, red pepper flakes, garlic powder and onion powder (if not using fresh), and any other spices or seasonings you like. Cook for 2 to 5 more minutes with the butter and dry spices/ingredients in the pan. Keep a close eye on the butter so it doesn't burn. Mushrooms tend to absorb the flavors they are cooked in, but each species of mushroom will maintain its own unique texture and flavor. One flavor characteristic of mushrooms that most gourmet edible species have is the flavor umami. Umami is an earthy, savory flavor. We call it delicious!
The best way to get full flavor out of mushrooms is to do the "dry frying" technique to remove most of the water within the mushroom. If you add dry spices/ingredients too soon, they often burn, or loose their flavor by the time the mushrooms are done. Fresh spices/ingredients can be added earlier than dry spices/ingredients so they can cook off moisture and cook properly. Try to avoid adding too many fresh ingredients into the same pan you are cooking the mushrooms in. This can cause the mushrooms to loose their flavor from cooking in excess water from the fresh ingredients. In this case, cook the other ingredients in a separate pan then the mushrooms, and combine the two pans afterwords.
Enjoy these delicious delights while still hot off the pan! Mushrooms prepared in this way can be put on burgers, in fried rice, in/on eggs, on sandwiches, and in pasta, among other culinary dishes. You'd be surprised how many ways mushrooms can be incorporated into your regular diet.
Also note, that it's necessary to cook mushrooms well to release the flavor, nutrients, and medicinal benefits. The mushroom fruit body is made of mycelium (mushroom tissue) that is hard to digest without cooking well. The cell walls of mycelium are primarily made up of chitin which can make your stomach upset if you eat too many raw mushrooms. Cooking mushrooms breaks down the chitin releasing all the good stuff. Raw mushrooms will act much like fiber in your diet if consumed in small portions.
Below is a dish of blue oyster mushrooms that were pan fried as described above and topped off with some fresh chives. We ate them with a fork immediately!
Check out our collection of awesome mushroom recipes.
