Are you looking for a good source of plant-based protein and minerals to incorporate into your diet? Introducing: the morel mushroom!
Morel mushrooms are notable for their numerous nutritional benefits and rich, meaty flavor, making them a healthy flavorsome addition to your plate.
If you’ve never cooked with morel mushrooms before, don’t worry, because we’re going to be recommending 20 excellent morel mushroom recipes in this article.
Whether you’re in the mood for soup, salad, or something a bit more substantial, check out our favorite morel recipes for your next meal!
1. Creamy Morel Mushroom Pasta
There’s something about a portion of mushrooms that really takes a creamy pasta dish to the next level, and we think this creamy morel mushroom pasta is one of the best we’ve ever tried.
The lemon juice and fresh herbs in this recipe contrast perfectly with the creamy earthiness of the sauce and mushrooms combined, so if you like a variety of flavors, give it a try!
2. Crab-Stuffed Morel Mushrooms
There are many variations of stuffed mushroom recipes available online, but trust us when we say that this crab and morel mushroom combination is just heaven!
For this recipe, you’ll be stuffing your morel mushrooms with fresh crab meat as well as scallions, garlic, and fresh herbs. You’ll also be adding parmesan cheese and mayonnaise for extra richness.
3. Morel And Quinoa Salad
This morel and quinoa salad is the perfect way to get plenty of plant-based protein into a single sitting – and even better, it tastes incredible.
In addition to the quinoa and morels, this recipe calls for pine nuts, arugula, and plenty of fresh herbs for seasoning. You can also choose to add vegan cheese (or goat’s cheese, if you’re not vegan) to make the salad more filling.
4. Fried Morel Mushrooms
If you’ve never tried fried morel mushrooms, this is your sign to do it! They’re meaty, chewy, and absolutely delicious.
This is a simple recipe that only requires a few ingredients for the batter in addition to the morels. Serve these with your favorite dip and some lemon wedges and they’ll quickly become a family favorite!
5. Potato Gratin With Morels
Pro tip: add some morel mushrooms to a potato gratin for extra flavor and nutritional value, just like in this recipe.
For this recipe, it’s best to use dried morel mushrooms. You’ll also need heavy cream, black truffle butter, fresh nutmeg, and gruyere cheese in addition to the potatoes, stock, and herbs.
A couple of these ingredients may be tricky to source, but you can always order them online in advance. We promise it’s worth it!
6. Morel Focaccia
Focaccia is undoubtedly one of the most delicious types of bread, but if you thought your homemade focaccia couldn’t get any better, wait until you try this morel focaccia!
For the dough, you just need all-purpose flour, instant yeast, salt, warm water, and extra virgin olive oi.
Then, for the topping, it’s just a question of adding morel mushrooms (and any other mushrooms you like), more olive oil, black pepper, sea salt, lemon, and chives.
7. Asparagus And Morel Pizza
Mushrooms and asparagus on pizza might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but don’t knock it until you’ve tried this amazing recipe.
You can buy the pizza dough pre-made to speed things up or make it yourself. Then you’ll add the asparagus and mushrooms along with mozzarella, garlic, red pepper flakes, and homemade garlic confit.
The garlic confit makes an already great pizza so much better in our opinion, so make sure not to leave it out!
8. Mushroom Tortellini
Another morel-based pasta dish we recommend is this mushroom tortellini recipe. The tortellini dough is easy to make with all-purpose flour and eggs.
The filling is made of dried morels, garlic, butter, salt, ricotta, thyme, black pepper, and caraway seeds. You can serve your tortellini with your favorite pasta side or use the suggestion outlined in the recipe.
9. Sauteed Morel Mushrooms
One of the most common ways of cooking morel mushrooms is sauteing, but that doesn’t mean sauteed morel mushrooms have to be a boring option!
These mushrooms make the perfect contribution to so many different recipes, and all you need are the mushrooms themselves, some unsalted butter, and some sea salt to taste.
10. Morel Mushroom Quiche
We love this morel mushroom quiche with caramelized red onions, especially as a light meal with a side of salad during the spring.
You can make the quiche crust yourself using the instructions in the recipe, but if you’re short on time, you can buy a crust ready-made.
The combination of sour cream, apple cider vinegar, morels, thyme, and red onions makes for an incredibly flavorful filling.
11. Pheasant And Morel Pot Pie
This traditional recipe for pheasant and morel mushroom pot pie is the perfect warming, comforting meal for cold evenings.
In addition to the pheasant and morels, the filling for this pie contains potatoes, pearl onions, baby peas, and some extra flavor from a couple of bay leaves. The result is delicious and satisfying.
12. Morel Bisque
Not everyone loves the idea of mushroom soup, but even if you’re on the fence, we think you should give this creamy morel bisque a try.
The recipe calls for dried morel mushrooms rather than fresh, so it should be easier to find ingredients for your soup if morels aren’t in season at the time.
The other ingredients, such as chicken stock, unsalted butter, heavy cream, sherry (or brandy), onion, and rice, are easy to source.
13. Wild Mushroom Sauce
Looking for a simple way to incorporate the delicious flavor and nutritional benefits of morels into multiple recipes? Try making this wild mushroom sauce! It works beautifully with various meats.
This sauce is made with morel mushrooms as well as other mushroom varieties, which include chanterelle mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, portobello, and crimini mushrooms. The shallots, red wine, and beef demi glace contribute extra richness.
14. Morel Mushroom Toast
We bet you didn’t know that morel mushrooms on toast can be a delicious meal in itself, but once you’ve tried this recipe, it will be one of your favorite ways to use morels.
You can use morels by themselves for this toast if you prefer, but the recipe calls for a mix of mushrooms in addition to other flavorsome ingredients such as shallots, chives, thyme, white wine, sour cream, and lemon juice.
15. Spring Garganelli
If you’ve never heard of garganelli, it’s a ribbed, cylindrical type of pasta. This spring-themed pasta dish involves a creamy sauce with just a dash of white wine and ½ a pound of delicious morel mushrooms.
You can, of course, serve this dish at any time of the year if you use dried morels, but we think the recipe is better using fresh mushrooms, which means you’ll need to make it when morels are in season during the springtime.
16. Morel Game Burgers
The meaty flavor of morel mushrooms makes them a great addition to meat-based dishes like this game burger recipe.
You’ll prepare the mushrooms first by processing them with avocado oil and garlic before adding them to the ground game meat and forming the mixture into a burger.
Then it’s just a question of smoking your burgers for 40 minutes and putting them into toasted buns with your preferred toppings.
17. Asparagus And Morel Risotto
Most mushroom lovers will have tried a mushroom risotto, but wait until you taste this asparagus and morel risotto recipe!
The reason we’ve seen this asparagus and morel risotto combination come up twice now isn’t just because it tastes great but because these ingredients have the same growing season.
With white wine, parmesan cheese, and balsamic vinegar, this risotto is so tasty it will quickly become your favorite springtime seasonal dish.
18. Morel Mushroom Pate
Pate can be a delicious addition to toast or crackers, but if you’re trying to reduce the amount of processed meat in your diet, morel mushroom pate makes a great substitute.
To make this pate, you’ll blend morel mushrooms with toasted walnuts, fresh thyme, lemon juice, parmesan cheese, cloves, butter, and white wine.
19. Omelet With Morels And Ramps
A mushroom omelet makes a great easy breakfast, but to elevate your usual omelet recipe, try making this one with morels and ramps.
You just need eggs, unsalted butter, morels, wild ramps, fontina cheese, and black pepper, so gathering the ingredients is easy and you can have the best omelet ever in just a few minutes.
20. Morel And Pea Ragout
A ragout is a classic evening meal, served either as a main course or a side. This morel and pea ragout tastes meaty and rich thanks to the buttery broth, and it takes less than an hour to prepare.
Make sure to soak your morels before using to ensure softness!
Frequently Asked Questions
Why Are Morel Mushrooms So Expensive?
Morel mushrooms have a particularly short growing period compared to some other species of mushrooms.
They only grow for a couple of months in the spring, between March and May, which means that when they’re in season, they tend to be in very high demand. This means that the price will increase accordingly.
What Are The Benefits Of Eating Morel Mushrooms?
Morel mushrooms are especially high in minerals like magnesium, zinc, iron, phosphorus, manganese, and potassium. The iron content of morels, in particular, is great for brain function.
Morel mushrooms also happen to be high in antioxidants which protect against the free radicals that have been linked to conditions like heart disease and diabetes.
Additionally, morel mushrooms contain 2.1 grams of protein per 66 gram serving.
Can You Forage Morel Mushrooms?
Since morels only grow from March to May, you only have a short window in which to forage for them, but if morels grow in your area, you may want to consider foraging for them yourself rather than paying high prices in stores.
If you do go foraging for morel mushrooms, though, be sure that you know how to distinguish them from other inedible mushroom species.
If you’re not 100% sure, you should take someone with more foraging experience with you. As always with foraging, take only what you need and leave more than enough behind for wildlife and other foragers.
Are Morel Mushrooms Dangerous?
Morel mushrooms are not dangerous as long as they are correctly identified, properly cooked, and not out of date. Morel mushrooms are, however, toxic if consumed when raw.
It’s also possible to be allergic to morel mushrooms, so if you’ve never tried them before, it’s best to start with a very small amount, especially if you have any other food allergies.
Final Thoughts
Morel mushrooms can be served for breakfast, lunch, or dinner! Make sure to consider morels’ growing season and raw toxicity before planning on making any of these recipes.
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