What are Philly Cheez Shrooms? Only the absolute best vegan and gluten-free version of Philly’s most famous dish! Sauteéd onions and peppers mixed with fresh almond mozzarella, stuffed into marinated portobello mushroom caps, and topped with even more cheez! YUM!
Last week, I was pondering over new recipe ideas. I have a few yummy eats I’ve been waiting to share with you, but most contain main ingredients I feel like I’ve recently used and I try to mix things up a little. So I was flipping through a magazine I have saved on Flipboard titled, “Recipes to Veganize,” and I saw one I’d tucked away a while ago with a very non-vegan version of this dish. I started thinking of what I could do to change the “non-vegan” part, and it seemed not only easy but delicious!
Onions and peppers are already main ingredients in Philly Cheese Steaks, so that’s easy because they, of course, don’t need to be replaced with any substitutions. I loved the idea the recipe I saw had of stuffing a portobello rather than bread. Portobellos are a delicious food, hearty enough to substitute things like the bread, as well as the meat of a dish.
What I decided to do was make a vegan, beef-flavored marinade to put the mushrooms in, helping this dish reach that cheesesteak flavor. Another delicious idea I had, was rather than discarding the stems, I shredded them, and placed them in the marinade along with the mushroom caps. They can now later get mixed in with the rest of the filling.
The “cheese” of this dish was probably the hardest decision I had to make. There are many different recipes for the original sandwich. Plenty which uses different kinds of cheese and several who claims to be the “original” recipe.
I don’t think any of the recipes I researched used mozzarella but it’s the closest I could do to jack or provolone, and I knew it would taste excellent with the other flavors. I kept tossing around the idea of adding vegan cream cheese to the mix, but to keep the recipe fairly simple it would have to be one store-bought and lately, I’ve been trying to mostly share “clean” recipes, using only whole foods. That’s what finally ruled that out, and the end product came out excellent, so I’m confident I made the right decision!
While my mushrooms marinated, I sliced my onions and peppers and sauteéd them in olive oil with a little salt and pepper. I kept these going until the onions started to look almost carmelized and the bell peppers were completely soft. It took about 15 to 20 minutes.
When the onions and peppers were cooking, I did need to stir them around occasionally, but I was able to make the mozzarella at the same time. I know to make “cheese” sounds like it’d be hard, but this recipe is really easy, I promise!
To make mozzarella, first add all its ingredients to a high-speed blender (almonds, salt, garlic, arrowroot powder, lemon, and water) and blend on high. Next, add the liquid made into a small or medium saucepan set to medium-high heat and constantly whisk until mixture starts looking clumpy. Now you turn the heat down to medium-low and continue to whisk until smooth and stretchy.
When the mushrooms are finished marinating, take the shredded pieces out, and cook them in a little oil on medium heat for just a couple minutes, until the liquid is mostly absorbed and the mushrooms are soft. Mix the shredded mushrooms into the onions and peppers, making sure to squeeze out any excess liquid first.
Next, measure out one-quarter of a cup of the mozzarella and set it aside. Take the rest of your cheez and mix it into your onion-pepper-mushroom mix. Now, remove the mushroom caps from their marinade and lay them bottom-side-up in a lightly oiled baking dish (or use two if your mushrooms are too large). Using a clean kitchen towel or paper towels, blot the inside of each mushroom, soaking up the excess marinade. Fill each mushroom with one-fourth of the cheezy mushroom mix and spread one tablespoon of the remaining cheez over the top.
Now they’re almost done! You now bake the stuffed mushrooms at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes, or until mushrooms are softened. When done, top each one with chopped chives before serving. Mmm…
My omni taste-tester for this one was my friend Gricelda again. She’s a big mushroom fan, so when I make them, I tend to invite her over. Perhaps she’s biased, but she gave them the vegan-made and omni-approved thumbs up!
If you enjoy these Philly Cheez Shrooms, please let me know by leaving a comment below, and don’t forget to snap a pic and tag me on Instagram, @veggiesattiffanis!
Philly Cheez Shrooms
Ingredients
For the marinade...
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup gluten-free tamari or soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp Worcestshire sauce *ensure vegan, and glute-free if necessary
- 1 tsp garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- freshly cracked black pepper (just a few cranks)
Everything else...
- 4 large portobello mushrooms (with stems) wiped clean
- 1 1/2 large yellow onions sliced
- 1 red bell pepper sliced
- 1 green bell pepper sliced
- 1 pasilla pepper, or a second green bell pepper sliced
- 1 batch Fresh Almond Mozzarella
- olive oil, or oil of choice for cooking
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 - 2 Tbsp fresh chives, chopped for topping
Instructions
- Remove stems from mushrooms and set aside. Using a spoon, scrape out the gills from the bottom of each cap, as well as a little of the flesh to create a deeper "bowl."
- Take the mushrooms stems and using two forks, shred each one apart (image is shown above).
- Whisk together the marinade ingredients. Place the mushroom caps and the shredded stems into the marinade. Make sure to rub down each side of the caps. Let sit to marinate for 1 - 2 hours, flipping caps halfway through.
- Preheat the oven to 375° F.
- In a large skillet, over medium heat, drizzle the oil and once hot add all your onions and peppers. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sauteé for 15 - 20 minutes, until peppers are completely soft and onions are about to caramelize. If veggies seem like they're burning, turn down the heat slightly or add more oil if the pan becomes too dry.
- Heat a small skillet over medium heat and drizzle with oil. Remove the shredded mushrooms stems from the marinade and place in the skillet with the heated oil. Sauté a couple of minutes, until liquid is mostly absorbed and mushrooms pieces are soft. Squeeze out the extra liquid from the shredded mushrooms (I did this using my tongs) and add them to the skillet with the cooked onions and peppers. Stir to combine.
- If you haven't already, make the Fresh Almond Mozzarella. Measure out 1/4 cup of it and set it aside. Take the rest of the cheez and mix it into the large skillet with your sauteéd veggies.
- LIghtly oil a large baking dish (or two if one isn't big enough) and place your mushroom caps, top-side-down into the dish. Using a kitchen towel or paper towels, blot the inside of each cap to soak up extra moisture. Fill each cap with a quarter of the veggie-cheez mixture, smoothing out the top of each one using a silicone spatula.
- Take the reserved Mozzarella and top each stuffed mushroom with 1 Tbls of the cheez. Carefully spread it out using a silicone spatula, covering the top of each mushroom.
- Place mushrooms in the oven for 20 minutes, or until the bottoms and sides have softened. To serve, top with chopped chives and enjoy!
Notes