The Ultimate New Year’s Eve Appetizer: Famous Stuffed Mushrooms

In our home, we have a tradition of hosting a New Year’s Eve party for all our friends. The night is full of ridiculous competitions — everything ranging from trivia to marshmallow-shooting fights. It is fun and high energy, and we need lots of tasty treats to get us to midnight. Everyone brings appetizers and desserts, and we pick from the food table throughout the evening. One of my favorite recipes to contribute to the finger food feast, and the ultimate New Year’s Eve appetizer, is stuffed mushrooms.

When I married into my husband’s family, a recipe for stuffed mushrooms was the first tradition passed down to me from his mom. We’ve spent a couple New Year’s celebrations with them, and these mushrooms are always crowd pleasers. This New Year’s Eve, I’ve decided to gather inspiration from a few different recipes and make a creamy, cheesy version of my mother-in-law’s famous mushrooms. Bite-size and simple, this New Year’s Eve appetizer will be a hit at your upcoming New Year’s party.

The Ultimate New Year’s Eve Appetizer: Famous Stuffed Mushrooms

As you get started, I find it helpful to gather all my ingredients. I’m a bit of a disorganized cook, so this step helps me stay on track. Once you’ve set out all recipe essentials, preheat your oven to 400°.

Before I got too far into my preparation, I decided to make my own breadcrumbs. I toasted two pieces of sourdough bread, buttered them and then chopped them up. I set these aside until needed later in the recipe.

Next, remove the stem from each mushroom. This is fairly easy with just your fingers, but I also used a spoon to scoop out the more stubborn remnants. I transferred my mushroom cups immediately to an ungreased jelly roll pan and set them aside for future stuffing. Take the stems and roughly chop them up. There’s no need for perfection here – it’s all going into the tasty stuffing!

Set those mushrooms aside, and head to the stove top. Grab a large skillet, add your garlic, onion, and sausage, and cook until the sausage is no longer pink.

Once the sausage is cooked through, remove it from the pan and drain all liquid. Make sure you get rid of as much moisture as possible! Add the mushroom stems into the hot skillet and cook until tender.

Bring the sausage mixture back into the pan. Add cream cheese and shredded parmesan, stirring until combined and melted. Stir in bread crumbs and remove from heat.

Fill the mushroom cavities with a heaping spoonful of the stuffing. Then, if desired, sprinkle on a bit of shredded parmesan. Place in the oven for 15 minutes.

When the mushrooms are done, they’ll be tender and melty and irresistable. Set aside to cool just a bit before enjoying!

Ingredients:

• 15 large mushrooms, good for stuffing (or 30 smaller mushrooms)
• 1 ½ lb pork sausage (hot or regular, according to preference)
• ¼ cup finely chopped onion
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 block of cream cheese (8 oz)
• ½ cup shredded parmesan (add more for optional topping)
• ⅓ cup toasted, buttered bread, chopped finely (or pre-packaged bread crumbs)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°
2. Remove stems from mushrooms. Chop stems and set aside.
3. In a large skillet, cook sausage, onion, and garlic over medium heat. Cook until sausage is no longer pink. Break sausage up into crumbles, and drain liquid from skillet. Remove sausage from pan and place off to the side. Add chopped mushroom stems to hot skillet, and cook until tender. Bring sausage mixture back to the pan.  Add cream cheese and parmesan, stirring until melted and combined. Stir in bread crumbs, and remove from heat.
4. While sausage is cooking, place mushrooms caps in a greased jelly roll pan (15x10x1in). Place mushrooms cavity side up, so that when the filling is all ready, you can spoon in the sausage mixture. Bake for 12-15 minutes and serve warm.

Serving Size: 15 people