I’ve never really thought about becoming a vegetarian because I’m obsessed with steak. But, if for some medical reason I needed to give up meat, I think I would grill these giant mushroom caps at least once a week. To me they’re the steaks of the vegetable world!
Whether you call them portabella mushrooms or portobello mushrooms, they’re incredibly tasty and meaty. They’re also low in calories and full of good for you minerals along with some fiber, protein and iron.
Grilling the mushrooms is easy. The hardest part is deciding what salt to use. You want a coarse crunchy salt to give a contrasting texture to the chewy mushroom. Since I first cooked portobello mushroom caps in Hawaii, I’ve always used Ono Hawaiian Seasoning Salt on them. Ono means “good” in the sense of tasting good. When something is REALLY good, we call it “onolicious”!
I first had this seasoning on chicken at a fundraiser when I was 14. It was so good that I ate 3 pieces of chicken in ten minutes! It’s basically very coarse sea salt with cracked pepper, ginger and garlic. I now use it on everything from steak to vegetables. I use it as often as I use alaea, my other favorite Hawaiian salt.
You can buy the Ono salt online but if you have an Asian market near you, check there first. It should be cheaper. I can get it for about $5 at mine. You would not believe the one person party I had when I found the Hawaii section my local Asian market! If you just use a plain coarse sea salt, add a little fresh ground pepper.
There all all sorts of ways to cook these beautiful giant mushroom caps, I just find this the easiest. Have you cooked with them before?
Grilled Portobello Mushroom Cap Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 Portabello Mushrooms
- 2 TBS olive oil
- 1 tsp coarse seasoned salt
Instructions
- Remove the mushrooms stems (save them in your freezer for stock). Rinse the caps and gently pat them dry.
- Rub each cap with 1 TBS of olive oil.
- Grill for 5 minutes on each side until they have shriveled slightly.
- Remove from grill and sprinkle with salt.
Notes
Approximate cost/serving: I can usually get portabella mushrooms for less than $1 each so it comes out to about $1 per serving.
Vegetarian/Gluten Free: Yes to both and vegan too!
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
2Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 135Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 766mgCarbohydrates: 3gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gProtein: 2g
Nutrition information is an estimate only.
Your intro paragraph made me laugh. 🙂 I feel similarly about steak but agree with you that portabella mushrooms are so delicious and a great substitute from time to time.
Oh yummy, I am going to have to look for that seasoning and try these. I also have a stuffed Portabella mushroom recipe I just found that I want to try because I am cutting down on meat, but love a good piece of steak. Afterall, I grew up in a ranching community in Oregon, so going completely vegetarian would just be wrong! LOL!
Totally!!! If you like the stuffed recipe would love if you post it in the comments. I LOVE stuffed mushrooms!
This sounds great! But you really should try some Himalayan pink salt. I get mine from Sustainable Sourcing https://secure.sustainablesourcing.com. The flavor is so much better than regular salt! Thanks for sharing this recipe—I can’t wait to try it!
Wow, those mushrooms look really big!
Here’s the Grilled Stuffed Portobellow Mushroom recipe. I made it tonight and they are yumm. I just did 1/2 batch.
2/3 c fresh tomatoes, chopped, 1/4 c shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, 1 tsp olive oil, 1/2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary or (1/8 tsp dried rosemary), 1/8 tsp ground black pepper, 1 garlic clove, crushed; 4 (5-6″ diameter) portobello mushroom caps, 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, 2 tsp low-sodium soy sauce, low fat cooking spray, 2 tsp fresh cilantro, chopped.
Prepare the grill
In a small bowl, combine tomatoes, mozzarella, 1/2 tsp olive oil, rosemary, pepper and garlic
using a spoon, scoop out the gills of the mushroom caps and remove the stems and discard
In small bowl, mix 1/2 tsp of the olive oil, lemon juice, soy sauce. using pastry brush, brush soy sauce mixture on both sides of the mushroom caps
Grill the caps, stem side down first for 5 minutes on each side or until soft.
Spoon 1/4 cup of the tomato and cheese mixture into each cap, cover and grill for about 3 minutes or until chees has melted.
Garnish with cilantro
ENJOY!!
I will definitely be trying this. Thanks for sharing Tonja!
simple but looks delish!