8 Mistakes To Avoid When Cooking Mushrooms, According To A Professional Chef

Whether they're the star of the show in a hearty mushroom stew, tucked into a mushroom grilled cheese, or layered in a mixed mushroom lasagna, mushrooms make any dish more delicious. There are numerous types of mushrooms to choose from, each with its own unique texture and taste. No matter the variety, their earthy flavor and meaty texture can elevate any recipe — as long as they're cooked properly.

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Unfortunately, it's easy to make simple mistakes that can leave you with soggy, flavorless 'shrooms instead of the rich, caramelized ones you're craving. In cooking school, I learned the basics of cooking mushrooms properly, and I mastered the technique during my years working as a personal chef when they were a popular ingredient in the dishes I prepared for my clients. Like many foods, mushrooms are easy to cook, and if you know what to look for, you can avoid rubbery, slimy, or mushy mushrooms. These are the common mistakes cooks should avoid when cooking mushrooms.

Not cleaning them properly

It's no secret that mushrooms can be dirty. They're grown in the ground, and it's easy for soil to cling to their tender flesh. The last thing you want is to bite into your mushrooms and experience the crunch of that dirt in your favorite dish. Giving your mushrooms a rinse or soak in water might seem like the obvious solution, but dousing them with water is not the best way to clean mushrooms. Mushrooms are more than 90% water and they can absorb any water they are exposed to. This can be problematic when they're cooked. The excess moisture can cause them to steam instead of crisp, ruining their meaty texture.

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For best results, use a damp paper towel, a mushroom brush, or a pastry brush to gently wipe any dirt or soil away. You can easily get rid of the dirt without sacrificing the texture. If your mushrooms are covered in soil and no amount of damp paper towels or brushing will do the job, you can safely rinse your mushrooms. The key is to move quickly to minimize the time they're in water.

Cooking wet mushrooms

Water is the enemy when it comes to cooking mushrooms. If you've had to rinse your mushrooms to remove excess dirt, it's imperative that you make sure they're completely dry before you attempt to cook them. When you add wet mushrooms to a hot pan, the water they've absorbed and the water they naturally contain will turn to steam. Steam will cook the mushrooms, but they won't brown or sear, and they'll lose their texture. This is the big mistake cooks make that produces the soft, soggy 'shrooms you want to avoid.

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Fortunately, it is possible to get rid of any excess water your mushrooms contain. The easiest way is to use paper towels or a clean kitchen towel to pat them dry. You should press them hard enough to force the water out but not so hard that you pulverize them. If you're not cooking them immediately, you can air dry them by placing them on a dry kitchen towel for about an hour to give them time to dry out even more.

Prepping all mushrooms the same way

All mushrooms are not created equally. They each have their own unique taste, texture, and look, and there's no one-size-fits-all approach to prepping them. The steps you take to prep them will vary depending on the type of mushroom you're working with and how you plan to cook them. For delicate mushrooms, like the white button variety, leave the stems intact and slice or quarter them as your recipe dictates. You should remove the stems from sturdier mushrooms, like shiitakes. They are excellent for making a flavorful mushroom broth.

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Larger mushrooms, like portobello, require a little more attention. Whether you're putting them on your grill or making stuffed portobellos, the first thing you should do after cleaning them is to flip them over and scoop out the dark gills under their caps. Though they're technically edible, there are a few reasons why the gills of portobello mushrooms are often removed. First, the gills are the perfect hiding spot for dirt and other debris that you don't want to incorporate into your dish. In addition, they can also cause discoloration. When they're cooked or mixed with other food, they can transfer their dingy, dark brown color to the rest of your dish.

Choosing the wrong pan

Using the right tool for the job is an important component of cooking any dish, especially mushrooms. The same way choosing a waffle iron to cook a steak would lead to disastrous results, choosing the wrong type of pan to prepare your mushrooms can lead to an equally terrible outcome. To cook mushrooms correctly, there are several things to consider. First, make sure your pan is large enough to hold your mushrooms in one even layer. Piling the mushrooms on top of each other can lead to uneven cooking. A larger pan gives all of the 'shrooms an opportunity to come into direct contact with the heat on the bottom of the pan.

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You should also look for a good quality pan that has some weight to it. You've likely seen recipes call for a heavy-bottomed pan. This is because heavier pans typically heat more evenly and maintain that heat when the food is added. Lighter materials like aluminum are not great conductors of heat and can lose their temperature quickly when the mushrooms are added to the pan. Grab a cast-iron or stainless steel pan for best results and steer clear of nonstick pans for cooking mushrooms. Their nonstick coating can inhibit the browning process.

Overcrowding the pan

When you're cooking mushrooms, the goal is that they are beautifully browned and seared to a slight crisp. Roasted mushrooms should also have these same qualities. The simplest way to ruin mushrooms is to mound them into a pan that's not large enough to accommodate them properly. 

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Mushrooms need room between them as they cook to allow both the moisture they naturally contain and any left over from cleaning to evaporate. When they're piled on top of each other, the moisture becomes trapped, and you'll end up with steamed mushrooms instead of sauteed. This also applies to mushrooms roasted on a baking sheet in the oven. Cook them on two trays, if necessary, to give them a little space to cook properly.

If you've ever eaten a steamed vegetable, you know they are never brown. This also applies to mushrooms. The excess moisture in the pan, as a result of overcrowding, will prevent your mushrooms from browning. It blocks the Maillard reaction, the chemical reaction that causes food to brown when it's heated.

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Cooking them at the wrong temperature

If you want to cook mushrooms that are beautifully browned with the most flavor and perfect texture, it's important to get the temperature right. Otherwise, you'll end up with a pan or baking sheet full of soft, soggy mushrooms that are seriously lacking in the taste department. Whether you're cooking your mushrooms on the stovetop or roasting them in the oven, you'll need high heat to get the job done right.

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One of the most common mistakes I've witnessed cooks make is placing a pan on the stove and immediately loading it up with food. Adding food to a cold pan will never yield the best results, and unless your recipe specifically calls for it, you should always allow time for your pan to heat up before you start to cook. This is especially true when cooking mushrooms. A hot pan is essential for eliminating moisture. When food is heated, any moisture it contains is released. With mushrooms, which are mostly water to begin with, water is what can make them soft and soggy. A hot pan or a hot oven will evaporate the water before it has an opportunity to ruin your 'shrooms. If you're using low heat to minimize the chance of burning your mushrooms, crank the temperature up to medium-high at minimum for best results.

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Stirring them constantly

Once you've properly cleaned and prepped your mushrooms and added them to an appropriately sized, piping-hot pan, you might think you're on a path of smooth sailing to mushroom success — but don't get too comfortable. Unfortunately, it's still possible to ruin your mushrooms if you inadvertently make a common mistake we all make when cooking them. In order for your mushrooms to cook perfectly, resist the temptation to stir them constantly.

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You will need to stir them occasionally to make sure they cook evenly on all sides and that there are no hot spots in your pan that might cause them to burn. However, if you start stirring your mushrooms as soon as you add them to the pan and never stop, you're interrupting their cooking process. Stirring them too much can prevent any moisture in the pan from getting hot enough to evaporate away. Instead, that water will remain in the pan and cause your mushrooms to be soggy. Mushrooms that are constantly being moved as they cook will also never brown. They need time to sit in contact with the bottom of the hot pan in order to brown properly.

Undercooking them

Even though you can eat some mushrooms raw, they're at their best when cooked. In fact, some scientists recommend only eating mushrooms when they're cooked because they're too difficult to digest and they offer no significant nutritional value when raw. There can also be a greater risk of illness with raw mushrooms, especially if they're not properly cleaned, and some mushrooms, like morels, porcini, and shiitakes, shouldn't be consumed raw under any circumstances. When you cook them, be sure to cook them fully.

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Cooking mushrooms also gives you the benefit of added flavor, but only if they're fully cooked. When most of the liquid has evaporated from your pan, the mushrooms will begin to caramelize. Caramelization enriches the flavor of the mushrooms and gives any remaining juices a glossy, slightly thick finish that will coat them. How do you know when your mushrooms are fully cooked? They should be gloriously golden brown, crisp around the edges, and have reached an internal temperature of 135 degrees Fahrenheit.

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