Recipe Box, Mushroom Pizza Poppers

These mushrooms started out to be a version of Poppers, cream cheese stuffed jalapenos wrapped in bacon…

I wanted to use mushrooms instead of jalapenos and then thought, let’s go a different direction and do an Italian version

This might have been influenced by the fact that I just happened to have pepperoni on hand

as well as Italian seasoning and bread crumbs  🙂

Wipe the mushrooms with a damp cloth to clean them and then remove stems

Saute onions until transparent and then add garlic, red peppers and chopped stems

Add cream cheese to melt after vegetables have cooked down

Season mixture with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.  Add Vermont sharp white cheddar, just stir it in, it doesn’t have to melt, it will have plenty of time for than when baking

Mound filling into mushrooms and place in a greased baking dish

Top with pepperoni pieces [you can leave the pepperoni slices whole, but cutting them up makes for easier eating]

Sprinkle tops with breadcrumbs and shaved Parmesan

The bread crumbs will absorb the drippings from the pepperoni

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes or until browned and melted and generally happy!

Print

Mushroom Pizza Poppers

Course Appetizer, Snack

Cuisine American, Italian

Keyword appetizer, mushroom pizza poppers, mushrooms, pizza, poppers, stuffed mushrooms

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 10

Ingredients

• 16 oz whole mushrooms about 10 large caps
• 4 oz cream cheese
• 1/2 onion diced
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1/2 red pepper finely chopped
• 2 oz sharp white cheddar grated
• 2 oz Parmesan grated or shaved
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• salt and pepper
• 1 T butter
• olive oil
• 2 T fine Italian breadcrumbs
• 16 pepperoni slices quartered

Instructions

• Clean mushroom caps with a damp cloth or paper towel. Remove stems and chop finely. Saute onion in butter with a dash of olive oil until transparent and starting to brown. Add garlic, red pepper and chopped stems. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning and cook until stems are done.
• Combine cream cheese with cooked vegetables and stir until melted. Add grated cheddar. Place mushroom caps in a greased baking dish and fill with cream cheese mixture. Top with pepperoni pieces and sprinkle with bread crumbs and Parmesan. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes
• Serve immediately. Makes 10

Notes

Mushrooms can be prepared up to 12 hours ahead and held in refrigerator until baking

Variation: Add more chopped pepperoni or cooked Italian sausage to the cream cheese vegetable mixture for a hardier mushroom

Use smaller mushrooms if you want more of a bite size appetizer

Enjoy!

Here are some other Popper-Pizza-Mushroom type bites you might want to check out~

Mushroom Pockets

Bleu Cheese Pepper Poppers

Hawaiian Pizza Empanadas

Dixie Mac & Cheese Poppers

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