I am quite taken with these Mushroom Pizzas. Flavoursome and umami-rich flavoursome large brown mushrooms topped with a home cooked tomato sauce, a few of your favourite pizza toppings, some melty mozzarella cheese and you have mushroom pizzas that goes far beyond just a stuffed mushroom. They are sure to add a delicious twist to all that holiday cooking that is just around the corner.

I devised the recipe for these mushroom pizzas after I was asked to participate in the#festivemushrooms campaign held by the South African Mushroom Farmer’s Association. The brief was to come up with a mushroom recipe using either white button, big brown or portabellini mushrooms. I recalled seeing these beautiful large brown mushrooms at the OZCF farmer’s market and decided to use them and turn an average stuffed mushroom into a next level mushroom pizza.

The beauty of these mushroom pizzas are that you have endless options in creating them. You can keep them vegan and not use any cheese, keep them vegetarian by using no meat toppings or go the full hog with cheese and various meat toppings. Any friends looking to exclude gluten and carbs will love these too as in my opinion they are a much easier way to cut the carbs and gluten than making a cauliflower based pizza.

I think it is crucial to make a good flavoursome tomato sauce so get the sauce going while you prepare the rest of the toppings. Make a caprese version with tomato, mozzarella and fresh basil or keep the kids happy with torn ham and pineapple pieces on top. Meat lovers will be happy with toppings like bacon, pepperoni or chorizo while those who love strong flavours won’t say no to a pizza of tomatoes, capers, olives and anchovies. In fact these mushroom pizzas make it so easy to keep everyone happy by making different ones yet you can cook them all at the same time. To see the all the other #festivemushrooms contributions check out the SAMFA Facebook page. Enjoy!

Mushroom Pizzas

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients

4 very large brown mushrooms (deep enough to hold the filling) wiped clean
150 g Fior Di Latte mozzarella
Homemade Tomato Sauce:
a generous glug of olive oil
2 crushed cloves of garlic
1 fresh chilli chopped (optional)
410 g tin chopped tomatoes
1 - 2 tsp sugar
salt and freshly ground black pepper for seasoning
Topping suggestions:
Baby tomatoes
Fried bacon
Fried chorizo
Torn ham
Pineapple chunks
Pitted olives
Capers
Sliced jalapenos
Fresh basil leaves as garnish

Instructions

Fry the garlic and chilli in the olive oil until soft
Add the tomatoes and sugar
Season with salt and pepper and simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes, stirring often, until the tomato sauce has reduced and thickened
Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C
Place the mushrooms cap side down on a lightly greased baking sheet
Spoon the tomato sauce inside the mushrooms caps and spread the sauce to cover the cap
Tear the mozzarella into small pieces and dot the tomato sauce with 2 thirds of the cheese
Top the mushrooms with your preferred topping ingredients and dot with the remaining cheese
Place in the oven and cook for about 15 minutes until the mushrooms are cooked through and the cheese melted
Set the oven to grill and grill the mushrooms for a few extra minutes until the cheese bubbles to a golden brown
Serve immediately

I am thrilled that the Recipe Index has been given a visual makeover. Instead of just a recipe listing, every recipe now shows the image of the dish, making it much easier to search and find a recipe to prepare. I hope you like it as much as I do.

More photos, food and travel stories on: Instagram Pinterest Twitter Facebook

A few more of my favourite pizza style recipes :

Zucchini Labneh Naan Pizza