Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms with Crispy Goat Cheese
Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms topped with marinara, sautéed spinach, and crispy panko goat cheese medallions. A delicious and easy vegetarian stuffed portobello mushroom recipe that is a reader favorite!

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
It has been nearly four years since I shared these amazing stuffed portobello mushrooms with you. These stuffed portobello mushrooms remain one of my favorite vegetarian recipes on this blog to date. It was high time they deserved some love and attention.
I’ve tested and re-tweaked the original recipe and procedure to make this dish easier to prepare (one less pot to clean!), as well as updated the post with new photos. These mushrooms have gotten a major facelift and I’m feeling it!
If you’ve never tried this recipe or are new to the site, be sure to bookmark or pin it for later. It has been a reader favorite for years!
These vegetarian portobello stuffed mushrooms are filled with marinara sauce (store-bought or homemade), sautéed spinach, and a crispy panko breadcrumb coated goat cheese medallions.
The trick to the crispy topping is to lightly sauté panko breadcrumbs with melted butter, finely chopped shallots, and garlic. What’s not to love, right?
Find my tips for recipe success, step-by-step instructions on how to make stuffed portobello mushrooms, and helpful equipment notes below.
How to Cook Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms:
Before filling portobello mushrooms, it is important to cook them through and remove some of their natural moisture.
All mushrooms, particularly portobello mushrooms, have a very high water content. Cooking them prior to filling allows the moisture to evaporate and concentrate their flavor.
This step also reduces the amount of liquid they will release later during the final reheating stage. For this recipe, the portobello mushrooms are roasted for 20 minutes at 450 degrees Fahrenheit, stem side facing up, on a standard sheet pan.
It is a very fast and efficient way to cook the portobello mushrooms and ensures that we don’t have one more pan to clean later.
While the mushrooms are roasting, you’ll want to prepare the mushroom filling components: the sautéed spinach and the crispy panko breadcrumb mixture.

How to Pick Portobello Mushrooms:
When picking portobello mushrooms, look for completely firm caps and gills. The skin should be dry and unbruised. Shriveled, bruised, or moist mushrooms should be avoided as they are past their prime.
While you can adjust this recipe to work for any size portobello mushroom, I recommend finding large portobello mushrooms that are roughly 4-inches in diameter and have slightly deeper caps for filling. This will make them easier to stuff.
This recipe calls for 8 large portobello mushrooms. The mushrooms will shrink considerably once cooked.
If you’re serving these as a main course, I recommend at least two stuffed portobello mushrooms per person.
If you’re serving these mushrooms as a side dish or with grains, etc., you can halve this recipe and serve one mushroom per person. It really depends on your appetite!

Tips for Recipe Success:
- If you do not enjoy the texture of mushroom gills, you can remove and discard them prior to roasting.
- To make this recipe extra time-friendly, use a high quality store-bought marinara sauce (thicker is better!). I highly recommend Rao’s Homemade brand. You can also use homemade marinara as well. Please see recipe notes for a basic recipe.
- Be sure to use chilled soft goat cheese (4-ounce log) for this recipe. Keeping the cheese chilled allows it to be more easily sliced into medallions and coated in breadcrumb mixture. I love the tangy, unique flavor that goat cheese lends to this recipe, but you can substitute with other favorite cheeses, such as mozzarella or whole fat ricotta.
- Make This Recipe Gluten-Free: Replace the panko breadcrumbs with a gluten-free breadcrumb mixture.

Tools I Used For This Recipe:
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- standard aluminum half sheet pan
- cooling rack that fits within a sheet pan (*optional, but using one will ensure the mushrooms do not sit in any liquid released during cooking)
- Rao’s homemade marinara sauce (the only brand of store-bought sauce that I enjoy and love)
- panko breadcrumbs

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms with Crispy Goat Cheese
Ingredients
For the Mushrooms:
- 8 large (4-inch wide) portobello mushrooms stems trimmed (*see notes)
- extra virgin olive oil
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the Sautéed Spinach:
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 shallot finely sliced
- 6 ounces baby spinach
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the Crispy Breadcrumb Topping:
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 shallot finely diced
- ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1 garlic clove finely minced
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
For Assembly:
- 1½ cups (12 ounces) high-quality store-bought (or homemade) marinara sauce I recommend Rao's brand (*see recipe notes)
- 4 ounce goat cheese cold from the fridge
Instructions
- Roast the Portobello Mushrooms: Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C) with a rack in the center position. Lightly spray or brush a standard sheet pan with olive oil. Distribute the portobello mushrooms, stem side up, on the baking sheet and brush or spray lightly with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Roast for 15 to 25 minutes (*this time will vary depending on the size of your mushrooms, check after 10 minutes or so to be sure), or until tender. If any moisture collects in the mushroom caps, carefully drain and discard. Set mushrooms aside on a large plate as you prepare the filling and crispy panko breadcrumb topping.
- Prepare the Sautéed Spinach: Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add the sliced shallots and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring frequently, or until soft and translucent. Add the baby spinach, increase the heat to medium-high. Sauté until just wilted, stirring continuously. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
- Prepare the Crispy Breadcrumb Topping: Melt the butter in a small sauté pan over medium heat. Once the butter is just beginning to sizzle, add the chopped shallots and a pinch of salt and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring continuously. Add the panko breadcrumbs and minced garlic, and toast for three to four minutes, stirring constantly to prevent the breadcrumbs from burning, or until the breadcrumbs are very light golden in color. Transfer to a shallow bow and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Assembly: Reduce the oven temperature to 425°F (220°C). Line the same sheet pan with parchment paper (*note: if you have a baking rack that can be set within a baking sheet, I prefer to place the mushrooms on this, as it helps prevent the mushrooms from sitting in any juice that releases during cooking).
- Distribute the roasted mushrooms, stem side up, on the sheet pan, in the center of the sheet pan so that they are just touching each other. Fill each mushroom with a large spoonful of marinara sauce. Distribute the sautéed spinach evenly among the mushrooms, spooning it on top of the sauce.
- Slice the goat cheese into ½-inch thick slices (roughly half an ounce). It may crumble a bit, but do your best to keep it in a roughly round slice. Carefully press the goat cheese slices, on both sides, in the panko breadcrumb topping and place on top of each mushroom. Sprinkle the mushrooms with the remaining breadcrumb mixture.
- Bake at 425°F (220°C) for 10 to 15 minutes or until heated through and the breadcrumbs are golden brown and goat cheese is just beginning to soften. Be careful to ensure that the breadcrumbs do not burn. Serve immediately.
Video
Homemade Marinara Sauce:
- Using large saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once the oil is warm, add the 4 cloves roughly chopped garlic, stirring continuously for 30 seconds, making sure that the garlic does not brown (this is essential). Add 2 tablespoons tomato paste and stir over low heat for a minute or so, stirring continously. Add 2 dried bay leaves and 1 tablespoon dried oregano to the pan, and 1 (28 ounce) can Italian crushed tomatoes, stir together, and bring to low simmer. Cover and simmer sauce for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Tips for Success:
- When picking portobello mushrooms, look for completely firm caps and gills. The skin should be dry and unbruised. Shriveled, bruised, or moist mushrooms should be avoided as they are past their prime. While you can adjust this recipe to work for any size portobello mushroom, I recommend finding large portobello mushrooms that are roughly 4-inches wide and have slightly deeper caps for filling. This will make them easier to stuff.
- If you do not enjoy the texture of mushroom gills, you can remove and discard them prior to roasting.
- These stuffed portobello mushrooms are hearty enough to be served on their own with a simple salad. I find that 2 stuffed mushrooms per serving work well. If you serve these as a side, you can get away with just 1 stuffed mushroom per person.
182 Comments on “Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms with Crispy Goat Cheese”
I made this last night and it was amazing.
I used this as an inspiration for dinner tonight and it was delish! Only roasted the mushrooms for about 10 minutes and realized they were done, so keeping an eye on them helped. The bread crumbs were a great addition…I sprinkled the extras on top of the linguine and marinara that we made to go with the mushroom caps. Will make them again!
So happy to hear that! Thank you for the note regarding cook time – it will vary significantly depending on your portobello mushroom size, but I will add a helpful note to the instructions to give people a heads up. So glad you enjoyed it!
Yummy! Nice light lunch. I will be making this again and again.
Yay! So thrilled to hear that!
Hi! So I tried to make this for dinner because it looks fabulous but I roasted the mushrooms in the oven prior to stuffing them for the amount of time and the mentioned temp and they shriveled up to flat little nothings. Just curious what I might have done wrong?
Sorry that it didn’t come out as you imagined! My only thought is that your mushrooms might have been on the super small side, which would explain your results. In the post, I recommend large portobello mushrooms that are roughly 4-inches in diameter and have slightly deeper caps for filling. Although I will add those notes ito the ingredient list too! I hope this helps!
Made these tonight with leftover pesto I had in the fridge in place of marinara. Absolutely delicious and so easy to make. Crispy garlicky breadcrumb goat cheese was bomb.
I made these to supplement Thanksgiving dinner for our vegetarian guests. These were amazing! Best dish in the table!
Can I make any of this ahead of time; such as roast the mushrooms or sautéed spinach??
Thx!
Definitely! Just might take a few more minutes to warm through in the oven if it’s going in colder from the fridge. Hope this helps!
My husband and 12-year-old son LOVED these stuffed portobello mushrooms! I forgot to get panko breadcrumbs so just used regular and it still came out great! I didn’t scrape the gills out of the mushrooms and will do so next time! Will definitely be making these again!
Thanks for the recipe. Was quite good!!! Just a quick tip: when using tomato paste in your sauce, you should cook it in the oil and garlic for a few minutes until it turns orangey/rust color. It needs this extra step to bring out the flavor. Taught to me by my grandfather who was born in Naples, Italy. Makes a huge difference!
Absolutely delicious! Will definitely be making this one again and again!!
I LOVE THIS RECIPE!!! I added Italian sausage to the red sauce and otherwise followed the recipe exactly. It was AMAZING – I will definitely be making this often!
I’m gonna start making this in a few minutes and I’m super excited but FYI, you have conflicting info about which side up when roasting the empty caps. In your narrative before the recipe you have in bold type that an update has been made to the recipe and it now includes cooking them on their own, STEM SIDE UP. that is in direct conflict with both the directions within the recipe and the comment right above mine. Or am I crazy?
Hi Dalia! So sorry for the confusion. They should be roasted stem side up (prior to filling, as well as once you fill them). There was a typo initially when I posted this, and I missed updating another confusing part of the recipe. I have updated the recipe instructions with identical language throughout as to not cause further confusion. You are not crazy! Thank you for your comment/feedback. Hope you enjoyed them!
Cap side up?
Thank you so much for catching that! That was a typo on my end, and I have fixed the recipe. The portobellos should be roasted cap side up (gills facing down). Then, when you’re assembling them, you should add the toppings with the gill side facing up. Sorry for the confusion!
Made these skipped ra sauce and used a balsamic glaze and rolled my goat cheese in a sundried cracker crumb…thank you for sharing Delicious
Using flavorless dental floss makes cutting goat cheese really easy! I can’t wait to try these because goat cheese is one of my all time FAVORITE things.
Yes! That totally works too. 🙂
This look amazing. I’m moving back to Europe and goat’s cheese is the top of my list!
So glad you like it! Thanks Natalia!
I haven’t visited your site before but it was linked to another blog. I made this tonight (except used sauce I had made previously). It took less than 50 min total and everyone loved it. Oh, I used ricotta instead of goat cheese because that’s what we had. Thank you, this is a keeper!
Ok, so, I dislike mushrooms. Like you wouldn’t imagine! But seriously your pictures are so good I find myself wanting to reach out and try one. While my other arm wants to stop the arm reaching out!!! I don’t want to like mushrooms… 🙂
These look seriously good. Gah! 🙂
These were delicious! I added some crumbled chicken hot Italian sausage and left of the breadcrumbs and this made a great low carb meal.
So glad you liked them! Love your additions!
Thank you so much Laura! Looking out for more awesome recipes.
Cheers!