Crab Stuffed Mushrooms
Crab Stuffed Mushrooms are an elevated appetizer that’s perfect for serving at any occasion! These stuffed mushrooms are the perfect combination of cream cheese, herbs, crab meat, and grated parmesan cheese.
Don’t miss our other stuffed mushroom recipes like the classic Stuffed Mushrooms and Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms.
Table of Contents
Crab stuffed mushrooms are a wonderful appetizer for absolutely any occasion. They’re fancy enough to serve for a special occasion or a holiday party, but it’s also simple enough for a weeknight family dinner. Tender mushrooms are stuffed to perfection with a mixture that features crab meat, parmesan cheese, garlic, and more! It truly is like taking a little bite of heaven from all of the complimentary flavors and textures.
It’s a great appetizer for a crowd and you can easily double the recipe as needed. When I’m preparing for a larger group, I almost always double this recipe! For the best results, try to get portobello mushrooms that are close to the same size and ones that are not too small or too large. Although, you can use smaller mushrooms to create a one-bite appetizer but make sure to get more of them in that case.
These stuffed mushrooms are really very easy to make with simple ingredients in just under an hour from start to finish. This is a reliable recipe that you can count on, so don’t be afraid to whip up a big batch just before the party starts. If your friends and family are anything like mine, you’ll watch these crab stuffed mushrooms disappear with a quickness!
Ingredient Notes
Portobello Mushrooms – Try to pick out mushrooms that look nice and firm, no dark and soft spots. Don’t discard the stems! You’ll need them for the filling.
Crab Meat – You can use claw or lump crab meat, either will work just fine. SIFT THORUGH the crab meat thoroughly with your hands because there are always pieces of crab shell left behind.
Cream Cheese – I recommend using a full fat cream cheese for the best results. Remember to let it soften to room temperature prior to using!
Parmesan Cheese – Freshly grated parmesan cheese is the way to go for both superior flavor and consistency.
Bread Crumbs – you can also use gluten free bread crumbs if you need to make gluten free stuffed mushrooms.
See recipe card for complete information on ingredients and quantities.
PRO TIP: When working with crab, always spread the crab meat out and sift through it to find leftover shells. 90% of the time you will find some shells.
How To Make Crab Stuffed Mushrooms
Prepare the mushrooms: Rinse whole mushrooms under cold water and gently pat them dry with a paper towel. Carefully pop off the mushrooms stems, right where it connects to the cap.
Cook the veggies: Preheat a pan with 1 TBSP of olive oil over medium-high heat. Sauté the diced mushroom stems and diced onion until they begin to caramelize. Press the garlic into the onion/mushroom mixture and sauté just until fragrant. Add the cooked veggies to a mixing bowl.
Check your crab meat: Sift through the crab meat thoroughly with your fingers to make sure there are no pieces of shells accidentally left behind! Then, add crab meat to the mixing bowl.
Create the filling: Add all of the remaining ingredients for the filling to the mixing bowl and mix very well until it’s all combined.
Stuff the mushrooms: Set the mushroom caps in a slightly greased baking dish, cup side up. Generously fill each cap with stuffing mixture, pressing down lightly with your finger to fit a little bit more.
Bake: Sprinkle with some parmesan cheese over the top of stuffed mushrooms, then bake at 375°F for 20 minutes.
Recipe FAQs
This recipe isn’t naturally gluten-free, but it can easily be made that way!
Simply substitute breadcrumbs for gluten–free breadcrumbs and increase the amount slightly. Add an extra 1 or 2 tablespoons of gluten-free bread crumbs since they are not as dense as regular bread crumbs.
There have been a couple of occasions where I had some stuffing leftover. It all depends on the size of mushrooms and how much stuffing you can fit into them. If you want to make sure to use up all the filling, you can get an extra pack of mushrooms when shopping for the ingredients, just in case.
Otherwise, there is a very simple and delicious way to use up leftover filling. Spread some filling on baguette slices, flatbread triangles, or crackers. Bake it for 10-15 minutes at 375°F, depending on how much filling you add to each slice.
Yes, you can wash whole mushrooms but avoid washing cut mushrooms. Mushrooms are like little sponges so when they’re cut, they will absorb a lot of liquid when exposed to it. Whole mushrooms won’t absorb liquid easily or quickly. So you can quickly rinse whole mushrooms under cold water and wipe them with a paper towel right away.
Make sure to wash mushrooms right before cooking them, not ahead of time.
Try More of the Best Crab Recipes
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Crab Stuffed Mushrooms Recipe
Ingredients
- 16 oz medium portobello mushrooms
- Save mushroom stems
- 1 tbsp olive oil to cook veggies
Filling:
- 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
- diced mushrooms stems
- 2 garlic cloves
- 4 oz claw or lump crab meat
- 4 oz cream cheese softened
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 tbsp minced fresh parsley
- 1 tbsp minced chives
- Salt
- black pepper
Topping:
- 1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375° and lightly grease a baking dish.
- Rinse whole mushrooms under cold water and pat them dry with a paper towel. Carefully pop off the mushrooms stems, right where it connects to the cap.
- Preheat a saute pan and 1 tbsp of olive oil on medium high heat. Saute diced mushroom stems and diced onion until starting to caramelize. Press garlic into the onion/mushroom mixture and saute just until fragrant. Add cooked veggies into a mixing bowl.
- Sift through the crab meat thoroughly with your fingers to make sure there are no pieces of shells accidentally left behind and add crab meat to the mixing bowl.
- Add all remaining ingredients for the filling to the mixing bowl and mix very well until all combined.
- Set mushroom caps in a slightly greased baking dish, cup up. Generously fill each cap with stuffing mixture, pressing down lightly with your finger to fit a little bit more.
- Sprinkle with some grated Parmesan cheese over the top of stuffed mushrooms.
- Bake stuffed mushrooms for about 20 minutes (about 25 for larger mushrooms).
Video
Notes
Nutrition
All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
I found these a little bit bland but with a little tweak I think they could be fine.
We used mozzarella cheese in place of the parmesan, and they were delicious 😋
Yum! So glad you liked it!
I made these this year for Christmas and they were a hit. Very tasty and easy to make. Thank you for sharing this recipe. It is a keeper for sure and I will definitely make these again.
I am so glad you liked it, Peg!
It’s definitely a keeper recipe. They were delicious.
Great! I am so glad you liked them!
Can you use imitation crab?
Sure, it will not taste the same as regular crab in texture or flavor.
They were very good I took I took part of the recipe and added some Italian bread crumbs and added some provolone cheese on top and those are very good too
Yum! I am so glad you liked it!
I added lime juice an red pepper flakes
Some panko bread crumbs too
Yum! Sounds good!
Can I use Panko bread crumbs?
Yeah, you can use those you may need to use a little less than what is called for in the recipe.
What can I use the rest of the stuffing with?
Try a dollop of the leftover filling on top of a piece of salmon or your favorite fish and then bake or broil. I’ve never tried this but I’ve seen it done with a crab mix that’s very close to my recipe for crab cakes so it should work well. Good luck.
That’s a good idea, Anthony! Thanks for the tip!
I’m making this for the second time tonight. I mash up the recipe with a topping I use for herb crusted cauliflower steaks instead of just parmesan. It includes panko parsley lemon zest and a mayo/Dijon mustard mix along with the cheese. Sorry to mess with your recipe. I’m sure that it would be fine as is but that’s just how I roll. I also make them in an air fryer which works great with foods that could be a bit wet. Around 8 minutes at 360° F.
Very good
Thanks, Sarah!
I made these yesterday as an appetizer for an informal dinner party. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any fresh chives or parsley. They needed both. I used a dried mix of Persian orange tarragon- not bad, but not as good as I know it would have been. Whatever, there were no complaints or leftovers.
I am glad it was still yummy! 🙂
What can I use instead of bread crumbs?
Low carb diabetic here
Hi Cathy,
I don’t know how it would work as I have not tried it but they have pork rind bread crumbs now that you could try.
Really good! I did reduce the amount of cream cheese used though.
Glad you liked it, Kathy!
Can I make the mixture a day ahead of time then fill and bake the next day?