I don’t know if I told you, but I used to make pizzas for a living. I didn’t earn a lot, but it was definitely one of my favorite jobs ever. I had tons of gourmet ingredients at my disposal and was free to make whatever creative pizza combinations that my heart desired. My favorite pizza to make was topped with sautéed portobello mushrooms, oil-packed sun dried tomatoes, and creamy goat cheese. Those three ingredients created a stunning black, white, and red pizza that was just as delicious as it was beautiful. Todays Ultimate Portobello Mushroom Pizza is inspired by that wonderful pizza memory, using ingredients that I had in my pantry and fridge. All I had to buy today was one portobello mushroom cap!
The Tangy Pizza Sauce
Instead of buying a jar of sun dried tomatoes, I made a quick batch of my (Not) Sun Dried Tomato Sauce. This sauce is sweet, tangy, and super concentrated, very much like sun dried tomatoes. It also has a hefty dose of spices, which makes it a perfect sub for pizza sauce. WIN.
Use Homemade or Store Bought Dough
I used my Thin & Crispy Pizza Dough recipe as the base for this pizza, but instead of rolling it out thin just after kneading, I let the dough rise for 30-45 minutes, which produced a nice light pizza crust. For a more classic pizza crust, try my Homemade Pizza Dough. If you don’t want to make your own dough, you can certainly use store bought dough. I suggest using frozen dough or dough purchased fresh from a pizzaria, and not the kind that comes in a can like biscuits.
What Size Pizza Does This Make?
Oh, also, I made this on a 12-inch pan because that’s what I have, but it probably would have been enough for a 14″ pie. You can cut it into 6 or 8 pieces, yielding 3 or 4 two-slice servings.
Ultimate Portobello Mushroom Pizza
Servings 3 2 slices eachIngredients
(Not) Sun Dried Tomato Sauce
- 1/4 cup olive oil ($0.64)
- 1 clove garlic, minced ($0.08)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano ($0.03)
- 1/2 tsp dried basil ($0.03)
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp dried rosemary ($0.02)
- 1 pinch crushed red pepper ($0.02)
- Freshly cracked black pepper ($0.02)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 3 oz. tomato paste ($0.27)
- 1/2 tsp honey ($0.02)
Pizza
- 1 large pizza dough ($0.59)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.16)
- 1 portobello mushroom cap ($1.91)
- Salt and pepper ($0.05)
- 4 oz. shredded mozzarella ($1.00)
- 2 oz. feta, crumbled ($1.12)
- Handful chopped parsley (optional) ($0.20)
Instructions
- Make the (not) Sun Dried Tomato Sauce first. Add the olive oil, garlic, basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, crushed red pepper, salt, and some freshly cracked pepper to a small skillet. Stir and heat the mixture over low heat for about 3 minutes. It’s okay if it sizzles slightly, but you don’t want it to get hot enough that the herbs burn.
- Add the tomato paste and honey. Allow it to heat through as you stir. It will not form a smooth sauce. Continue to stir and heat over low for about 5 minutes or until you notice the tomato paste has darkened slightly. Remove the sauce from the heat, then set aside.
- Gently wash any dirt or debris off the portobello mushroom. Cut the mushroom in half, then into thin strips. Add the sliced mushroom to a large skillet with 1 Tbsp olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat while stirring until the mushroom slices have softened and turned dark brown (3-5 minutes). Set the cooked mushrooms aside.
- Adjust your oven's rack to the highest position and preheat the oven to 500ºF. Stretch the pizza dough out to fit the pizza pan. Spread the (Not) Sun Dried Tomato Sauce over the surface of the dough and use any extra oil to brush the crust.
- Sprinkle the mozzarella over the tomato sauce, then add the cooked mushroom pieces and crumbled feta.
- Bake the pizza for 7-10 minutes in the fully preheated oven, or until the cheese is bubbly and slightly browned on top. Finish the baked pizza with a little chopped fresh parsley. Cut the pizza into 6 or 8 pieces and serve.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Portobello Mushroom Pizza – Step by Step Photos
Make the (not) Sun Dried Tomato Sauce first. Add ¼ cup olive oil, 1 clove minced garlic, 1/2 tsp dried oregano, 1/2 tsp dried basil, 1/4 tsp dried thyme, 1/4 tsp dried rosemary, a pinch of red pepper flakes, a generous dose of freshly cracked pepper (10-15 cranks of a pepper mill), and 1/2 tsp salt. Heat over low for a few minutes. It’s okay if the oil sizzles just slightly, but don’t let it burn. Cooking it for a few minutes helps infuse the oil with the herbal flavor and cooks out the raw garlic flavor.
Next add 3oz. (half of a 6oz. can or about 1/3 cup) tomato paste and 1/2 tsp honey to the skillet. Cook and stir over low heat until it’s heated through and the tomato paste has darkened slightly (see the difference between the vibrant red in the last picture and this deep crimson color?). That should take about 5 minutes. Turn the heat off and set the sauce aside.
Gently brush or rinse off any dirt or debris from one large portobello mushroom cap. Cut the cap in half, then slice into thin strips.
Add the sliced mushrooms to a skillet with 1 Tbsp olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Sauté the mushrooms until they are softened and dark. Set the cooked mushrooms aside. (I actually just wiped out the skillet at this point and prepared my (Not) Sun Dried Tomato Sauce in the same skillet while the oven preheated.)
Adjust the oven rack to its highest position and begin to preheat the oven to 500ºF. Stretch your dough to fit your pizza pan (12 or 14 inch), then spread one batch of (Not) Sun Dried Tomato Sauce over the dough. I used my Thin & Crispy Pizza Dough recipe, but you can also use store bought. If you let the Thin & Crispy dough rise for 30-40 minutes instead of using it immediately after kneading, it becomes light and fluffy instead of thin and crispy.
Top the tomato sauce with 4oz. shredded mozzarella, the cooked mushrooms and 2oz. crumbled feta. You can reserve a small amount of the feta to top the pizza after it comes out of the oven for even more color contrast.
Bake the pizza in the fully preheated oven for 7-10 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly and slightly browned. Add a handful of chopped parsley when the pizza comes out of the oven (optional).
Slice your Ultimate Portobello Mushroom Pizza into 6 or 8 pieces and serve. It’s SO HARD for me to stop at just two pieces, but I just have to remind myself that just because I CAN eat the whole thing doesn’t mean I SHOULD. :P
I liked the recipe but i felt the sauce was so overwhelming I couldn’t taste the mushrooms anymore
Delicious! I used frozen naan as a base and quickly put this together for a quick dinner tonight and we wolfed it down!!!
We made this last night and it was such a hit!!! Wish I had thought of using portabellos before instead of white mushrooms. We used the pizza parmesan instead of feta since no one likes feta here. The only comment I have is that if you double the sauce recipe, do NOT double the oil because you end up with WAY too much oil. I love the recipe for the sauce but feel that you don’t need THAT much oil. A suggestion to make the sauce a thinner consistency if needed is to add vegetable broth, water, or tomato paste (in our case, we just mixed it with store-bought pizza sauce to thin it out a bit). I did love how concentrated the sauce was though by using tomato paste.
Wow this was seriously great. The sauce had a tangy taste to it that I loved, the mushrooms had great flavor. An A+ recipe. I use your site while I work part time and go to college, and you have some really simple recipes for people who don’t have a ton of free time. I really appreciate your site. My fiancé does too!
Perfect for a Friday pajama pizza party with my husband!
WE LOVED THIS!! Thank you so much!! That sundried tomato sauce added SO MUCH flavor to the pizza. We make a different pizza every week with frozen cauliflower crust, and this was the most flavorful! I added thin sliced red bell pepper to mine, and used fresh sliced mozzarella. We loved the tangy sauce; so genius, Beth! Will make again for sure, and sundried tomato sauce will be used in several recipes. Very cool that you budget the cost too. Thanks!!
You are the queen. Excellant recipe.