A portobello mushroom pizza is a delicious way to enjoy all the flavors of your favorite pizza variety in a healthier form. Simple steps and a mixture of pizza sauce, melty mozzarella, and your favorite toppings form these easy, lower-carb "pizzas".
I've been on a portobello mushroom kick lately, which means as the only mushroom eater in my house, I've been enjoying quite a lot of them.
Without much prep they become excellent portobello mushroom burgers, but once cleaned out they make excellent vessels for a variety of fillings. This portobello mushroom pizza recipe is one of my favorites. It's hard to beat pizza in any form, right?
Reasons to Love This Recipe
- "Meaty" portobello mushrooms act as a delicious vessel for enjoying all of these delicious pizza flavors in a lighter way.
- If you live with mushroom haters, you can easily make this recipe accommodate everyone by loading up English muffins, as well.
- As written this portobello mushroom pizza recipe is gluten-free, and can be adapted to be vegetarian and/or dairy-free with simple substitutions.
Recipe Ingredients
I like to take this portobello mushroom pizza recipe to the limits with a fun supreme pizza inspired take.
A supreme pizza has a lot going on, with a big assortment of vegetables and meats. Olives, onions, mushrooms, and peppers are usually in the mix, along with crumbled sausage and pepperoni. I omit the mushrooms as everything gets piled inside of one.
That said, you can absolutely just keep things simple with pizza sauce and mozzarella, adding just pepperoni, etc.
- Portobello mushrooms: Look for the largest caps you can find as they shrink while they cook.
- Sauce: Pizza sauce or your favorite marinara sauce works here.
- Mozzarella: I've used both regular block and fresh mozzarella for portobello mushroom pizza and either is just fine. Broiling them right at the end of cook time ensures the fresh mozzarella melts nicely.
- Toppings: There's wiggle room here! Lots of leftover cooked meats and vegetables work well.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- First prep your portobello mushrooms, including cleaning the dirt off of them and removing the stem and gills. All of the steps are shown in detail in my how to clean mushrooms before cooking post. Each cap will end up pictured below.
- Season both sides of the prepped portobellos with salt, pepper, and garlic powder and place them on a wire rack set over a sheet pan. Bake, without filling, at 400°F (204°C) for 10 minutes.
- Flip each mushroom cap over and blot away any excess moisture. Spoon in pizza sauce, taking care not to overfill the cap as other toppings are coming.
- Continue to fill each mushroom cap with the remaining toppings, ending with the mozzarella. I like to add the cheese last (versus adding it below things like pepperoni on a regular pizza) as I find it helps hold in all of the toppings once it all melts together.
- Bake for another 10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted fully and everything is hot. You can also utilize the broiler if you'd like your cheese to melt quicker. Garnish with fresh basil, crushed red pepper, etc. and serve.
Recipe Notes
- Clean portobello mushrooms just before you begin cooking, as mushrooms are very porous and will absorb any water if left to sit.
- While using a rack to pre-bake the portobello caps isn't 100% necessary, it helps ward against sogginess and excess moisture as it allows the air to circulate all around the caps while they bake.
- On that note, you'll might be surprised to see how much moisture ends up on the baking sheet afterwards, so do use a rimmed baking sheet.
- This portobello mushroom pizza recipe is a great way to use up bits of leftover ingredients: cooked and crumbled sausage, bell peppers, olives, etc.
Recipe Variations
- If someone doesn't like mushrooms: you're not out of luck! You can add the pizza sauce and toppings (sans mushrooms) to a lightly toasted English muffin, then stick it under the broiler until the cheese melts. That way your crowd can all enjoy mostly the same meal without undergoing a ton of extra effort.
- Switch up the toppings. While we love this fun supreme pizza spin, any of your favorite pizza toppings would be great.
- Vegetarian: Omit the sausage and pepperoni or use meatless substitutes.
- Dairy-Free: Omit the mozzarella or use a vegan substitute.
Related Recipes
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Portobello Mushroom Pizza
Ingredients
Portobello Pizzas
- 8 large portobello mushroom caps
- Salt to taste
- Ground black pepper to taste
- Garlic powder to taste
- ¾ cup pizza or marinara sauce
- 8 ounces mozzarella, shredded
- 4 basil leaves, roughly chopped
Optional Toppings
- ¾ cup cooked and crumbled Italian sausage
- ½ cup chopped pepperoni
- ¼ cup chopped onion
- 2 Tablespoons chopped black olives
- 2 Tablespoons chopped green pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C). Wipe each portobello mushroom cap with a damp paper towel to clean off visible dirt. Remove the stems and gently scrape out the gills to discard.
- Place an oven-safe wire rack on a rimmed baking sheet. Spray it generously with cooking spray.
- Season the front and back of each mushroom cap with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Place them on the wire rack inner-side down and bake for 10 minutes.
- Blot any excess moisture that you can from the mushrooms and flip them over. Spoon approximately 1 ½ Tablespoons of pizza sauce into the well of each mushroom cap. Evenly scatter sausage, pepperoni, onion, olives, and peppers over each mushroom, and top with mozzarella.
- Bake for 10 minutes, or until heated throughout and the cheese is melted. If desired, pop them under the broiler at the end of the cook time to brown the cheese. Garnish with fresh basil and serve immediately.
Notes
- Do use a rimmed baking sheet when baking the portobello caps as they'll release a fair amount of moisture as they cook.
- If you'd like to make this but also cook for mushroom haters (like I do), consider making English muffin pizzas for those who won't want portobellos so not much extra work needs to be done.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as an estimate. As it can vary due to many factors (brands used, quantities, etc.), we cannot guarantee its accuracy.
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Kimberly says
Such an interesting recipe to try with mushroom. Pinned for later. Thanks!
Alyssa says
Hope you enjoy, Kimberly!