Vegan sausage and kale stuffed mushrooms with lemony zucchini spears
This recipe is inspired by a recipe my mom makes - sausage stuffed mushrooms. I really wanted to make a meatless version, because they used to be my favourite! I chose an Italian-style vital wheat gluten based sausage for this recipe. If you're gluten free, go with a non-gmo soy based sausage. I only eat meat substitutes once in a while, so this is a go-to recipe when it's time for that treat, because they're really transformed into something delicious. They remind me so much of the original! Choose a good quality plant-based sausage for this recipe, because the sausage does a lot of the work flavour wise, which makes it a pretty easy recipe! They are so savoury and delicious, and if you use mini mushrooms this could be an amazing appetizer even meat eaters will love. I promise! I paired these with simple grilled zucchini spears, because the mushrooms are without a doubt the star of the show.
This recipe is vegan, gluten free, and refined sugar free.
If you make this recipe and want to show off on IG, you can tag me, @gardentotableblog.ca!
Serves 2 as an entree
Ready in 1 hour, 30 minutes
Ingredients
Sausage stuffed mushrooms
8 baby bella mushrooms
2 meatless Italian sausages, crumbled
3 shallots, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, finely diced
1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning
2 scallions, finely sliced
4 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/2 cup kale, de-stemmed, finely chopped
1 tablespoon avocado oil
1/4 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1/4 cup lemon juice, fresh
Zucchini spears
2 zucchinis, sliced lengthwise into eighths
1 tablespoon avocado oil
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons lemon juice, fresh
1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 F
De-stem mushrooms. Separate the caps from the stems. Roll caps in the lemon juice until all sides have been coated. Reserve any excess lemon juice. Set the caps aside. Finely chop the stems and set aside
In a frying pan over medium heat, add avocado oil, and saute shallots, mushroom stems, and garlic for 2-3 minutes until fragrant
Add crumbled sausage, Italian seasoning, nutritional yeast, kale, salt, and pepper to the pan, and cook until sausage is browned and kale is wilted, about 5-10 minutes
Take pan off the heat, add any remaining lemon juice from step 2, add the scallions, and stir to combine. Let the sausage mixture slightly cool while you prepare the zucchini spears
For the zucchini, slice lengthwise into eight equal pieces. Coat in oil, Italian seasoning, nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper. Transfer zucchini to a large baking pan and evenly space them out
The sausage mixture should be cooled enough to handle by now. Start by stuffing each mushroom with a tablespoon-sized amount of the sausage mixture. Make sure to pack it down! Stuff the mushrooms until all the sausage is gone, creating a dome shape
Bake the mushrooms for 40 minutes in a baking dish, until mushrooms are juicy, and the top of the sausage has browned. During the last 15 minutes of cooking time, add the baking pan with the zucchini. This way, the mushrooms and zucchini will both be done at the same time
When the zucchini is done baking, dress it with the lemon juice. Serve the mushrooms with a sprinkle of fresh parsley and sunflower seeds
Remember
The mushrooms are okay to refrigerate and reheat if needed. But, I like to eat the zucchini fresh. I think it gets too soggy if it's left in the fridge