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This lovely white wine sautéed mushrooms recipe is quick and easy to make, full of rich savory flavors, and can pair well as a side dish with many different entrées.
Looking for a super-simple yet elegant side dish to serve for dinner? These white wine sautéed mushrooms are always a great idea.
This recipe has been one of my back-pocket favorites for years to pair with various meat or seafood entrées, pastas, risottos, salads, grain bowls, quiches and more. Simply sauté a big batch of mushrooms in butter and olive oil until they are perfectly browned and caramelized, toss with garlic and your favorite seasonings, deglaze and simmer in white wine, then finish with a generous sprinkling of Parmesan. I mean, there’s really no way to go wrong here, right?
That said, this recipe is clearly very flexible and open to customization. So if you’d like to experiment with different seasonings, add in a drizzle of pesto or balsamic glaze, sauté with shallots or pancetta, sprinkle on some nuts, or toss with cream…please feel free. It’s one of those dishes that can be easily dressed up for a formal dinner, but simple enough to also whip up on a busy weeknight. And after years of making various versions of it, I can vouch that mushroom-lovers around the table always make the entire pan disappear. ♡
Let’s sauté some mushrooms!
Sautéed Mushroom Ingredients
Here are a few quick notes about the sautéed mushroom ingredients that you will need to make this recipe:
Mushrooms: I prefer to make this recipe with baby bella (cremini) mushrooms, whose earthy flavor and robust texture hold up well in a sautée. But feel free to use a mix of whatever mushrooms you love best — shiitakes or oyster mushrooms would be especially delicious here too.
Butter and olive oil: I recommend sautéeing the mushrooms in a mix of butter and olive oil. The two flavors add a subtle extra layer of complexity here, and the olive oil is especially helpful in raising the smoke point so that the butter doesn’t burn.
Garlic: We’ll add a generous amount of minced or pressed fresh garlic to the sauté to season the mushrooms.
Seasonings: I went with a simple mix of fresh thyme, crushed red pepper flakes, fine sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, but feel free to experiment with any other fresh herbs or seasonings that you love best.
White wine: A good dry white wine does a wonderful job here of deglazing the pan and lifting up any of those delicious browned bits to add to the sauté. And, as always, the acidity and earthy flavor of the white wine beautifully enhances the flavor of the mushrooms.
Parmesan: Finally, I recommend finish the dish with a generous sprinkling of freshly-grated Parmesan, whose salty, nutty, umami flavor deliciously complements all of these flavors. If you want to make this dish vegetarian or vegan, be sure to use a vegan Parmesan cheese.
Recipe Tips
Detailed instructions for how to make sautéed mushrooms are included in the recipe box below, but here are 5 extra tips to keep in mind when making this recipe:
Clean the mushrooms properly. Wipe any dirt off of the mushrooms using a damp cloth or paper towel. Soaking them under running water can cause them to become too soggy.
Slice the mushrooms uniformly. Try your best to slice the mushrooms into uniformly-sized pieces so that they more or less cook evenly.
Avoid overcrowding. I recommend cooking the mushrooms in two batches so that each batch can fit in an even layer on the bottom of the pan, which will allow the mushrooms to properly brown instead of steam.
Maintain medium-high heat. It’s important to maintain pretty high heat in the pan so that any liquids can quickly boil off and the mushrooms can get right to browning.
Taste and season. Finally, as always, don’t forget to taste the mushrooms and add any additional seasonings needed before serving!
Recipe Variations
This sautéed mushrooms recipe is endlessly flexible, so please feel free to experiment with different variations and customize it to your liking! For example, feel free to:
Add shallots or onions: Sauté thinly-sliced shallots or onions along with the mushrooms.
Add citrus: Finish the dish with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice (or toss the mushrooms with lemon zest for even more flavor).
Add nuts: Toss the mushrooms with toasted pine nuts, almonds or hazelnuts just before serving.
Add cream: Toss the mushrooms with a splash of heavy cream just before serving.
Add bacon or pancetta. Sauté diced bacon or pancetta until crispy, remove from pan with a slotted spoon, use the leftover grease in place of butter to sauté the mushrooms, and finish with a sprinkling of crispy bacon bits.
Add pesto, balsamic glaze or truffle oil: Finish the dish with a drizzle of basil pesto, balsamic glaze or truffle oil.
Use different herbs: Use different herbs, such as fresh chives, rosemary, sage or thyme.
More Mushroom Recipes
Looking for more mushroom-loving recipes to try? Here are a few of our favorites:
optional: freshly-grated Parmesan cheese, for topping
Instructions
Brown the mushrooms.Melt half of the butter and olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add half of the mushrooms and cook, flipping occasionally, until browned. Transfer the cooked mushrooms to a clean plate and set aside. Repeat with the remaining butter, olive oil and mushrooms, cooking until browned.
Sauté the garlic.Return the previously cooked mushrooms to the pan, along with the garlic, thyme and red pepper flakes. Season the entire mixture generously with salt and pepper. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the garlic is fragrant.
Simmer in wine.Add the white wine and stir to combine. Cook for 2-3 additional minutes, stirring occasionally, until the wine has reduced by about half. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper if needed.
Serve.Serve warm, topped with a sprinkling of freshly-grated Parmesan and an extra twist of black pepper, and enjoy!
