Gluten Free Bacon and Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms

Bacon and sausage stuffed mushrooms are a classic hors d’oeuvres recipe. They’re so good.

These beautiful little mushrooms are stuffed to overflowing with savory Italian sweet sausage, bacon bits, and Mascarpone cheese. They’re my signature dish that I make each year for my family’s New Year’s Eve party. This December, though, I became a little impatient having to wait until the very last day of the year to enjoy this treat, and so I decided to make them several weeks earlier and share the recipe here on the blog.

I came across a similar recipe several years ago when scouring the Internet for ideas for a gluten-free version of stuffed mushrooms. Since then, I’ve added several ingredients (like the bacon bits!) and substituted my favorite gluten-free choices for those suggested in the original recipe. The end result is a show stopping appetizer that makes a wonderful addition to a holiday party or any special occasion.

These mushrooms are not difficult to make, but they do take a bit longer to prepare than most of the recipes on our site. I have to admit that when I find myself in the kitchen, I love to be adventurous and try to recreate unique and extravagant dishes that I may have tried at a fancy restaurant or seen on a cooking show, like that one summer afternoon that I thought it would be fun to make crème brûlée (it turned out much more difficult than I expected, though still delicious). No need to fear, however. Unlike that crème brûlée, these stuffed mushrooms are extremely easy to make, and once you take your first bite of the finished product, you will know that all of that time spent in the kitchen was very much worth it.

Here’s a tip. These stuffed mushrooms are much more fun to make if you have another chef in the kitchen to cook with you. I enlisted the help of my younger brother Peter to take photos of the stuffed mushroom making process and also give me a hand with chopping up the ingredients. We turned up the music and got to work.

You can choose to make these with or without the bacon bits. I like the added crunch that the bacon gives to the stuffing (seriously, you can never go wrong with bacon). My mom had made bacon earlier in the day for breakfast, so I stole several pieces, crumbled them up, and put them aside until they would be needed later in the recipe.

You will also need to decide what kind of mushrooms you would like to use. I prefer the small mushroom caps because they are easier to pop into your mouth and there are more to go around.

Remove the stems from the mushrooms (you can use your fingers to pop the stems right out from the mushroom caps), wash the stems, and put them aside. Then, wash the caps gently with water, dry with a paper towel, and remove any dirt. I placed the mushroom caps in a large bowl and marinated them in Annie’s Naturals Organic Red Wine & Olive Oil Vinaigrette. I don’t drench them in the vinaigrette, just toss a little of the dressing over them to give them a nice flavor.

Now it is time for all of the chopping. I like to have it all finished before I start making the sausages so I can easily add all of the ingredients step by step to the pan. First, chop up the mushroom stems, and then mince the scallions and garlic cloves (alternatively, you could use minced garlic from a jar if you like a stronger garlic taste).

Finally, it’s time to cook the sausage. I love to use Premio Sweet Italian Sausage for these mushrooms. You’ll need to slip each sausage out of its casing, add a little water to the pan, and follow the instructions for cooking on the package. I crumble up the sausage with a spatula while it sautés. Everything is pretty much a breeze after that. Stir in the chopped mushroom stems and continue to sauté with the sausage. Next, the garlic and scallions. Then the breadcrumbs (I recommend the gluten free panko style breadcrumbs from Kinnikinnik for a crispy, crunchy taste). Finally, I toss in the bacon bits.

When all of those ingredients are nicely combined, I add the Mascarpone. This is what gives the stuffing its creamy texture and holds the mixture together. Mascarpone is an Italian cheese and is used in a wide number of Italian deserts like tiramisu, but is not very sweet at all and could be used as a substitute for butter. I was able to track down a gluten-free Mascarpone made by BelGioioso, who assures that all of their cheeses are gluten-free. If you can’t find gluten-free Mascarpone cheese in your supermarket, you could substitute half part cream cheese with half part sour cream.

Finally, I take the stuffing off the heat, allow it to cool slightly, and then add in the Parmesan cheese. And it’s done! Now only to wait a little bit for the stuffing to cool down enough for me to handle it in order to start stuffing the mushrooms. I have to confess that a lot of the stuffing mixture disappears (ahem, we eat it quite liberally by the spoonful) before it makes it into the mushrooms.

Once all of those mushrooms are stuffed to perfection, I pop them into the oven for about half an hour until the stuffing is browned, and then they’re ready to eat!

Warm, juicy, and begging to be devoured. A word of warning: If you make these once for your friends and family, you will most likely be asked to make them again and again for every holiday dinner. Enjoy!

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Gluten Free Bacon and Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms

These beautiful little mushrooms are stuffed to overflowing with savory Italian sweet sausage, bacon bits, and Mascarpone cheese. 

Course Appetizer

Cuisine American

Keyword appetizer, gluten free, stuffed mushrooms

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 6

Author Barbara Bianchi

Ingredients

• 20 mushrooms
• 8 oz. package Applegate Sunday bacon cooked
• 1/2 cup Annie’s Naturals Organic Red Wine & Olive Oil Vinaigrette.
• 12 oz Premio sweet Italian sausage
• 1/4 cup minced scallions
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 1/2 cup gluten free Kinnikinnick Panko breadcrumbs
• 5 oz gluten free marscarpone cheese Or you can substitute half part cream cheese with half part sour cream
• 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese grated
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 ℉
• Remove the stems from the mushrooms, wash and put aside.
• Wash the mushroom caps gently with water, dry with a paper towel, and remove any dirt. Place them in a large bowl with gluten-free Italian vinaigrette. Set aside to marinate.
• Chop mushroom stems, scallions, and garlic.
• Slip each sausage out of its casing, add a little water to the pan, and follow the instructions for cooking on the package. Crumble up the sausage with a spatula while it sautés. About 15 minutes.
• Stir in the chopped mushroom stems and continue to sauté with the sausage, about 3 minutes.
• Add the garlic and green onions and continue to sauté for about 3 minutes.
• Finally, add the breadcrumbs, and then the bacon.
• Add the marscarpone cheese and stir well, continuing to sauté, until creamy and melted into the stuffing.
• Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
• Add parmesan and stir.
• Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Stuff the mushrooms and place them in a baking dish.
• Bake for 30 minutes until stuffing is browned.

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