Nothing should ever get in the way of you making this weeknight-friendly mushroom stir-fry. It’s a real “stone soup” arrangement—meaning if you’re missing an ingredient, there’s probably something in your house you can swap in and it will still be good. (Yes, even the mushrooms.) I like using a mix of shiitake, trumpet, and oyster mushrooms, but if you don’t have access to those varieties, standard grocery store crimini (baby bella) or white button mushrooms will be just fine. If you don’t have a large skillet, be sure to cook the mushrooms in batches to avoid sogginess.
You can also go in a different direction by precooking some potatoes in the microwave before getting them crispy on the stove. Or sauté tofu or any kind of veggies like bok choy, red bell peppers, or snow peas in a skillet or wok over high heat before incorporating the sauce ingredients.
The tangy, spicy, umami sauce is the real hero. Japanese BBQ sauce (like Bachan’s) does the heavy lifting. I prefer this style to American BBQ sauce here, as Japanese versions tend to be thinner and not as smoky. If you don’t have BBQ sauce of any kind, ketchup works in a pinch. A pat of butter gives the sauce a glossy finish, but if you’d prefer to keep the sauce vegan, plant-based butter works equally well.
I like to enjoy this mushroom stir-fry recipe over steamed rice or rice noodles topped with sesame seeds, furikake, and green onions, but it works with a variety of herbs, including basil, parsley, or chives. It also looks wonderfully sludgy when it’s unadorned. That doesn’t sound good, but it is. Sludge can sometimes be wonderful, and in this case it is.
Read More: The Mushroom Stir-Fry That Pleases Both My Co-Parents
Recipe information
Total Time
30 minutes
Yield
4 servings
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Stir together 2 Tbsp. soy sauce, 2 Tbsp. seasoned rice vinegar, 1 Tbsp. chili crisp, 1 Tbsp. Japanese barbecue sauce, and 1 Tbsp. mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine) in a small bowl. Set sauce aside.
Step 2
Stir together 1 Tbsp. cornstarch and 2 Tbsp. water in a small bowl; set slurry aside.
Step 3
Heat 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-low. Add 1 small onion, thinly sliced, and season with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 8–10 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
Step 4
Heat remaining 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil in same skillet over medium-high. Add 1 lb. mixed fresh mushrooms (such as shiitake, trumpet, oyster, maitake, and/or beech), sliced or torn into bite-size pieces, and season with a little salt (the sauce is salty) and pepper. Cook, stirring and pressing down on mushrooms occasionally and adding more oil as needed if pan looks dry, until softened and crisp and golden around the edges, 8–10 minutes. (Mushrooms will release water; let it evaporate while cooking.)
Step 5
Reduce heat to medium-low. Mix in cooked onion, then stir in reserved sauce. Give reserved slurry a quick stir if needed, then drizzle over mushroom mixture and cook, stirring, until sauce starts to thicken (this will happen almost immediately). Add ¼ cup water and cook, stirring and adding a little more water if needed, until sauce reaches your desired consistency. Add 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter and cook, stirring, until melted and sauce is glossy, 2–3 minutes. Remove from heat.
Step 6
Drizzle ¼ tsp. toasted sesame oil over stir-fry and top with toasted sesame seeds, furikake, or chopped scallions if desired. Serve over steamed rice or rice noodles.
