Last Updated on 22nd April 2022 by
If you love mushrooms, but you don’t love all the calories that come with them when you cook them in butter or oil, you may want to learn different methods of frying them up. You can use a dry fry method that requires no oil.
I’ll show you how to do that, and while it is a fairly simple method, you’ll also have to prepare the mushrooms properly to cook them this way. I’ll take you through everything step by step and break down how to cook mushrooms without oil for a healthier dish.
How to Prepare the Mushrooms
Before you slice or cook the mushrooms, you want to clean them. You might have heard that it’s not a good idea to wash your mushrooms, but it’s an important step you don’t want to skip out on. Mushrooms are often packaged with a little dirt or other debris stuck to them. You want to scrub them down by hand or gently use a kitchen scrubbing pad to clean them off under cold running water.
It’s okay to leave them a little moist from the cleaning process. That extra moisture will come in handy when you’re dry frying them.
Two mistakes people make when getting their mushrooms ready to cook is to not cut them at all or to cut them too small. They cook best when they’re sliced, but if you cut them too small, they can burn easily.
So, slice your mushrooms into pieces that are about 2 inches big. This way, they won’t cook too quickly. You could also just quarter the mushrooms, especially if you’re using smaller mushrooms.
How to Deep Fry Mushrooms without Oil
Here’s a simple method to cook up mushrooms on the stove in a frying pan. You want a little butter on hand for this for best results.
- Take a heavy frying pan and heat it on the stovetop on medium high heat. Keep in mind that you will be adding nothing to the pan while it heats.
2 - When the pan starts to get hot (which you can test by hovering your hand above the pan but not touching it), you can add in about a handful of mushrooms at a time. Don’t let them overcrowd in the pan, though. When you have too many cooking at once, they can let out a lot of moisture that creates steamed mushrooms that are sticky and kind of unpleasant.
- As the mushrooms cook, they will release liquid that causes the mushrooms to brown. Give them a stir every now and then while they’re cooking to keep them from burning.
- Once the mushrooms are browned, you can take them out, but you may want a little flavor added to them. Add some butter and perhaps a dash of salt. The just cooked mushrooms will soak up that butter, absorbing the flavor, and pass it on to your taste buds.
You could use this as a method for how to cook mushrooms without oil or butter. You’re not using the butter in the cooking process, and you don’t have to add it at the end, if you don’t want to. If you’re looking for a way to make the dish with lower calorie options, you can leave out the oil and consider a low-fat, vegan butter alternative.
How to Cook Mushrooms in Oven without Oil
This is another really easy method to cook mushrooms, and it leaves out the oil entirely, so you’re getting healthier mushrooms and using fewer ingredients. It’s win-win all around.
You need to prepare the mushrooms first, and we’ll be using portobello mushrooms for this, making what is known as a mushroom steak, since the texture comes out very similar to a steak.
Mushrooms make a great substitute for meat, so if you are switching over to a vegetarian or vegan diet, mushrooms are a good place to start.
These cook quickly and easily, baking in about 16 minutes, and you want to flip them partway through the cooking time. This ensures that they cook evenly all over and you don’t end up with the mushrooms getting burnt on one side. When they finish, the mushrooms taste really tender and juicy.
I prefer this method to sauteing them, since it takes less skill and you don’t have to keep a constant eye on them. Here’s how to make it.
Ingredients:
- 2 portobello mushroom caps
- 1 pinch of black pepper
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
- As the oven warms up, you can prepare the mushrooms by cleaning them like I showed you earlier, and then drying them off. You may want to trim the stems too, as that will help them to lay flat on the baking sheet.
- Once the oven has heated, place the mushrooms onto a lined (with parchment paper) baking sheet with the gill-side facing down. Pop them in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
- Give the mushrooms a flip at that point and then allow them to bake for another 10-12 minutes to finish.
- Remove the mushrooms from the oven and season them with the salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Slice them into quarters or however you desire.
These mushrooms are really tender and juicy, if you baked them according to the directions I gave you. You can add other seasonings as you like, even seasoning them just like you would a piece beef steak, if you want to go all in with the mushroom steak idea. You can rub them down with seasoning before they go into the oven, as you would a steak.
You can also make these in a similar way using an air fryer. Just heat it up to 390 degrees Fahrenheit and cook for eight minutes with the gill side facing down. Then, carefully flip them over using tongs and cook them for an additional 8 minutes on the other side.
I'm Pauline, a mother of four grown children, my passion for cooking stemmed from the joy i get cooking for my family. I love to try new dishes, especially when dining out but creating and sharing my own recipes is my favourite thing to do!
