High five for little roasty mushrooms stuffed with onion-y kale and cream cheese, topped with toasty breadcrumbs! These were my recent addition to a family Christmas get-together where I was tasked with bringing some kind of vegetable appetizer. I’m not a crudités kind of girl, I refuse to bring something raw to the party. I’m here to cook and make things creamy and roasted and crispy on top. Can’t stop me. So, vegetables? No problem – earthy, meaty mushrooms + kale. Appetizer? I gotcha – bite-sized + finger food. Let’s party.
With New Year’s Eve just a day away, give these little shrooms a space at your party because they are full of flavor and you can make them ahead if needed.
I don’t know if this is standard when making stuffed mushrooms but I roast them first, without the filling, so they have time to release all their water. Then, once you fill and bake them, they’ll be in good shape to soak up the flavor from the creamy filling and get a little caramelized on the bottom.
So, while the mushrooms are doing their pre-roast, buzz up some kale and onion in a food processor. Get them pretty fine – it should look like this:
Slice about half a leek (or a few scallions if you prefer) and sauté with the kale in a skillet until the moisture has evaporated. (BTW, this happens to be the same filling for this delicious stuffed squash, if you’re in the mood.) Stir that mixture into softened cream cheese along with some shredded mozzarella and Parmesan. Fill your mushrooms, top them with bread crumbs and bake for 10 minutes. Then serve these beauties to your friends and enjoy!
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PrintStuffed Mushrooms with Kale and Cream Cheese
Roasty mushrooms stuffed with onion-y kale and cream cheese, topped with toasty breadcrumbs – a yummy appetizer for your next party!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 16 mushrooms 1x
- Category: Appetizers
- Method: Roasting
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 16 white mushrooms, cleaned and stems removed
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 4 C kale
- 1/4 of an onion
- a pinch of nutmeg
- a pinch of crushed red pepper
- 1/2 of a leek, cleaned and sliced thin (a few scallions would be fine too)
- 1/4 C shredded mozzarella
- 1/4 C grated parmesan
- 4 oz softened cream cheese
- 1/4 – 1/2 C bread crumbs (see note)
- Non-stick spray
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Toss the mushrooms with 2 TBS of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange them gill-side down on a baking sheet and roast until their liquid is release and they’ve shrunk a little – about 20-25 minutes.
- Meanwhile, pulse the kale and onion in a food processor until finely chopped – do this in batches if needed. Heat 1 TBS of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add chopped kale mixture, leeks, salt and pepper to taste, nutmeg, and crushed red pepper. Cook, stirring often until kale is tender and liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes.
- Transfer the kale mixture to a bowl with cream cheese, mozzarella, and Parmesan and stir to combine. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed.
- Fill mushrooms with kale/cream cheese mixture. Top with breadcrumbs and spray lightly with oil. Return the pan to the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown on top.
Notes
For my breadcrumbs, I used some stale garlicky baguette rounds I had in the freezer and pulsed them into crumbs in my food processor. Panko would work fine too.
To make these ahead, follow instructions to the point of filling the mushrooms with the cream cheese mixture, then they can be refrigerated over night before continuing with the rest of the steps.