It’s almost grilling season!! I kind of want to make weekend grilling a thing at my house this year, so I’m testing some recipes. I already have some fun burger recipes on the site, so I figured it was time to make an option for all of my vegetarian friends. Marinated Portobello Mushroom Burgers are probably the easiest and tastiest vegetarian burger option, ever. And guess what? If you’re a meat eater, these marinated and grilled portobello mushrooms make a great topper to a regular burger, too!
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Tips for Buying Portobello Mushrooms
When buying portobello mushrooms, pay really close attention to the way they are priced. You’ll usually see them sold one or two ways: loose and priced per pound, or packaged in sets of two or three for a set price. Even though they are the exact same product, you might find a drastic price difference between the two options.
The loose mushrooms at my store today were $5.99 per pound. The packs or two mushrooms were sold for a set price of $3.99, but the package listed an approximate weight of 8oz., or 1/2 pound. So, if I had bought the packaged mushrooms I would have paid $2 more per pound. 🤯 I picked up two of the loose portobello caps and went on my way! :)
Do I Have to Grill These Marinated Portobello Mushroom Burgers?
While testing this recipe I also tested cooking them in a skillet and it worked quite well, although you won’t get those pretty grill marks. When cooking in a skillet, simply cook over medium heat, flipping the mushrooms occasionally, until they release all of their moisture and the liquid in the skillet has evaporated.
In addition to cooking these marinated portobello mushroom burgers on an outdoor grill, you can also use a grill pan, like in the step by step photos below. The cast iron grill pan I used fits right over the gas burners on the stove and has ridges on one side and a flat griddle on the other side. Here is a similar item on Amazon: Lodge Grill/Griddle Pan (affiliate link). A less expensive option would be a grill pan skillet, like this Lodge 10.5″ Square Grill Pan (affiliate link).
What to Serve on the Side
While you’ve got the grill going, grill up some vegetables for Grilled Vegetable Pasta Salad to serve on the side! Other great sides for these burgers include: Southern Style Potato Salad, Steak Fries, or a classic Creamy Coleslaw.
Marinated Portobello Mushroom Burgers
Servings 2Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.08)
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce ($0.12)
- 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar ($0.03)
- 1 tsp brown sugar ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp oregano ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp onion powder ($0.02)
- 1 tsp smoked paprika ($0.10)
- freshly cracked pepper ($0.03)
- 2 portobello mushroom caps (about 1/2 lb. total) ($2.94)
- 2 buns ($0.83)
Optional Toppings
- 1 cup spring mix ($0.32)
- 1 tomato ($0.70)
- 1/4 red onion, sliced into rings ($0.07)
- 4 Tbsp mayonnaise ($0.40)
Instructions
- In a small bowl, stir together the olive oil, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, and a little freshly cracked pepper (about 10 cranks of a pepper mill).
- Remove the stems from the portobello mushrooms.* Place the mushrooms in a shallow dish, gill sides up. Pour some of the marinade into the gills, then flip the mushrooms and pour the rest over the top. Let the mushrooms marinate for 30 minutes, flipping occasionally.
- Heat a grill or grill pan over medium to medium-high heat. Once hot, add the marinated portobello mushrooms and cook for about 7 minutes on each side, or until the mushrooms are soft and have released most of their liquid.
- Build your marinated portobello mushroom burgers on a bun with your preferred toppings. I love the classic mix of mayonnaise, sliced tomato, onion rings, and lettuce or spring mix.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
- Lodge Grill Pan
- Tongs
- Small Roasting Pan
Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Portobello Burgers – Step by Step Photos
To make the marinade for the portobello mushroom burgers, combine 2 Tbsp olive oil, 2 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp brown sugar, 1/4 tsp oregano, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp smoked paprika, and some freshly cracked pepper (maybe 10 cranks of a pepper mill) in a bowl.
If the mushrooms have long stems, pull the stems off. Place the portobello mushrooms in a shallow dish, gill side up, and pour some of the marinade into the gills. Flip the mushrooms over and pour the rest of the marinade over top.
Marinate the mushrooms for 30 minutes, flipping them a few times throughout.
Heat an outdoor grill, grill pan, or skillet over medium. Once very hot, add the marinated portobello mushrooms and cook on each side for about 7 minutes, or until the mushrooms are very soft and have released most of their moisture.
Then just build your burgers with your preferred toppings! I love a classic mix of mayo, lettuce or spring mix, and tomato and onion slices.
This is a great recipe. My grill was too hot and I burned mine a little and they still tasted amazing!
I loved this. It was really quick and easy, and I loved the flavor. I, unfortunately, do not have a grill or a grill pan, so I just put mine in a skillet, so it didn’t have the grill marks and likely cooked a bit differently than it would have on a grill, but it was still really delicious. The older I get, the more I realize that I don’t actually enjoy meat as much as I do vegetables, especially not poorly cooked meat. I find myself gravitating towards the vegetables in a stirfry rather than the chicken or beef, So to me, this portobello, while I can’t say it tastes quite like a burger, was delicious and had many o the same flavors, and it certainly sat much less heavy in my stomach than a burger would. I had mine with a garlic aioli I whipped up earlier spread on either side of the bun, mixed greens, red onion rings, and onion rings on the side (plus one onion ring on top.) Highly recommend it if this seems up your alley!
Easy and delicious! I’m over ‘plant based meats’ and burgers, and just want to eat plants these days, and this totally hits the spot!! I cooked them on the barbeque, topped with a grilled thick slice of onion. I did two caps per adult, with creamy goat cheese between, mayo and Dijon on a bun. So extremely good and satisfying.
Made these with a slight tweak to the marinate after reading other comments I added some steak spice to the mix omitted brown sugar and used an immersion blender to mix the marinate allowed the caps to marinate and turning caps every so often, and I found that I was able to grill gills down first made it easier to press later to get the char marks on cap better.
It smelled awesome cooking and tastes great. For the mayo I added some mustard it definitely didn’t taste like a mushroom smelled and tasted like a steak. I don’t like mushrooms at all but this tasted awesome we will be making it again my kids didn’t even notice it was a mushroom until we told them
We really like this recipe, but the marinade always seems a bit bitter after grilling. Any advice to mellow it out?
Sugar is usually a good way to neutralize bitterness. So I would try increasing the brown sugar slightly. You may also want to check to make sure your olive oil hasn’t gone rancid, which can often cause a bitter flavor.
After marinating, I prepared them in a skillet, beginning gill sides down. After flipping at 7 minutes, I dropped mini mozzarella balls atop the gills for the final 7 minutes. When done, I served them on toasted buns with the recommended fixings… Delicious! I’m not looking forward to the scrubbing I’ll have to do to clean the skillet, tho :/
Amazing! Tastes like a steakhouse steak flavour wise! 10/10 if you have portabellas grab this in your belly!
I want to add 1 slice of roasted eggplant, also marinated. And arugula (always arugula), regular butter on one and truffle butter on the other. Tomatoes on both, maybe topped with fleur de sel de Camargue on the truffle one, Maldon sea salt flakes on the regular butter one. Toast the cut side of the brioche buns that have been smeared with Kewpie mayonnaise. A little Dijon mixed into the mayo might be interesting, too.
This was DELICIOUS! My new favorite mushroom marinade!
This marinade is delicious! I air fried my portabellos but can’t wait to try this on the grill when it warms up a bit. Thanks for a great recipe!
I made these exactly as the recipe was written and they were easy and delicious! This is my new favorite burger recipe!! Thank you for sharing!
This tasted exactly like a burger..delicious!!! I would eat this for breakfast…it Sat very nicely on my tummy too…thank you for this incredible yet simple recipe!! To note..I used the exact ingredients the recipe called for..
Definitely will be making this, again. Grilled the caps on an outdoor gas grill. Delicious on a warmed Kaiser roll w/ farm fresh red tomato slices, grilled sweet onion slices, and lettuce. Corn on the cobb gave us the perfect home picnic meal.
I love portobello mushrooms, but this recipe was disgusting! I did eat the mushroom, but threw everything else out!
This is Excellent! Love the marinade. My kitchen smells so good after fixing this recipe😊
These are so good! I actually made five mushroom burgers with the marinade as written and didn’t have time to let them sit. I will definitely make these again!
Thank you 😊
I’ve made this recipe twice in a single week it’s so good. I didn’t make burgers with the mushrooms, instead I made baked beans and coleslaw and sliced up the mushrooms to go on the side.
I get a little sick of the ubiquitous balsamic vinegar marinade you see whenever you search for portobello recipes. This one is savory and delicious, with no balsamic in sight. They’re amazingly good.
I used half a yellow onion instead of onion powder, since I had it lying around. I then used the extra marinade to saute the onions for a topping. It was delicious.
I have to comment on this because I can’t stop laughing. The pre packaged mushrooms were $2 more per pound? Where I live in Australia our loose mushrooms are $11 per kilo (2.2 pounds to a kilo) and anyone dumb enough to buy pre packaged can expect to be paying $26 per kilo. So $2 wouldn’t even rate a mention. Obviously I never touch the pre packaged ones.
Yowsa!!!
I loved this recipe!
I used regular paprika. My 12-yr old loved it too. Will be making again for sure
Do you suggest making the marinade ahead of time or marinating the mushrooms overnight? Thanks!
You don’t need to (30 minutes is sufficient), but you can if needed. :)
The marinade makes the mushrooms taste very good, and uses ingredients we normally have on hand. I do not recommend grilling over an open flame because the water and oil cooking out causes flare-ups and charring. I tried the recipe a second time on a griddle and they came out fine.
Great tip!
Do you think these would freeze well? Freeze them after marinating but before cooking, or after cooking? I’m trying to make batch of them that I can eat when the rest of the family is eating beef burgers.
Hmmm, I’ve never tried to freeze anything like this, but I would guess that it probably wouldn’t do well. I feel like it would seep out all the water and marinade as it thaws and you’d lose a lot of that flavor.
I tried this tonight, and it was delicious. The marinade is flavorful and mad with things I always have on hand. My partner and I are trying to eat less meat, and this will definitely help us keep that up through grilling season.
Yum! Cooked these in a cast iron skillet. Topped with sautéed spinach, onions and blue cheese. Company-worthy meal.
I love portobello burgers! Defintely will try it.
I don’t own a grill pan. Could I still make these in a regular pan? I won’t get the grill marks of course, but will it still taste good?
Yes, absolutely. Just make sure to cook it long enough for the juices to evaporate out of the skillet.
Hey, I love your site! All of the recipes I’ve tried have turned out incredibly well, and I so appreciate having the opportunity to try new things in the kitchen while sticking to a budget.
I just wanted to suggest checking thrift stores and garage sales for cast iron cookware. You can often find excellent quality pans for less than $5. Often, they’ll look like garbage, but with a little scouring and re-seasoning, they’re granted a new life. The one I use is at least 75 years old, is built like a tank, and cost $1. Your kitchen benefits, and so does the landfill.
Thanks again for your amazing labor of love.
Brilliant recipe, tried with eggs and fried onions. Unreal!
This is similar to how I make mine. The one change I do make is swapping out the mayo for a bit of goat cheese. I love mushrooms and goat cheese together.