The Best Spices for Mushrooms: Garlic, Onion, Pepper, Herbs and Pickling Spices

Mushrooms aren’t a blank canvas. Cook and brown them and they already taste savory, so the best seasonings back that up instead of covering it. Garlic and onion, black pepper, and herbs like oregano and basil do most of the work, with bay and allspice for long cooking and pickling. Planning to can a batch? A tested recipe from the National Center for Home Food Preservation puts several of them together in one jar.

At a glance

What mushrooms bring to the dish

Lab studies find the same savory (umami) compounds in edible mushrooms that seasonings often get added to supply. In a 2016 study of 17 edible mushrooms, common button mushrooms came out highest in glutamate-like compounds.³ A 2019 study of oyster-type mushrooms traced the “mushroom” smell in most of them to two related compounds.⁴

For your cooking, that means mushrooms already taste savory once they’re cooked and browned. Seasoning works best when it builds on that, with aromatics, pepper and herbs, not heavy spice.

The core seasonings and what each does

Garlic: the default

Garlic has a powerful onionlike aroma and pungent taste. The National Center for Home Food Preservation’s (NCHFP) marinated mushroom recipe puts a quartered garlic clove in the jars.¹ Fresh garlic goes into sautés, sauces and marinades. Garlic powder mixes evenly into dry breadings and rubs. See garlic powder vs. garlic and, if it takes over, too much garlic.

Onion: the sweet-savory base

The NCHFP recipe uses ½ cup of finely chopped onions in the marinade.¹ Onions cooked down with mushrooms in butter or oil make the familiar base of soups, gravies and sautés. Onion powder is the dry form for breadings and rubs; see onion powder vs. onion.

Black pepper: gentle heat

The NCHFP recipe uses 25 black peppercorns for the batch, two or three per jar.¹ Freshly ground pepper at the end suits sautéed mushrooms. See cracked vs. ground black pepper.

Oregano and basil: the herbs

The NCHFP marinade uses 1 tablespoon each of oregano leaves and dried basil leaves.¹ Oregano is essential in Italian pizza and pasta sauces, and mushrooms often share those dishes with tomato. Thyme is another popular partner for sautéed and roasted mushrooms, though none of the sources we checked tests it. See oregano vs. thyme and fresh vs. dried oregano.

Bay leaves: depth in long cooking

Bay belongs in braises, stews and soups where mushrooms simmer a long time. J. Kenji López-Alt says bay leaves bring out the meaty flavors of beef and chicken. He also says to pull them before serving, because dried leaves stay tough, like a fish bone in the mouth.⁵ See cooking with bay leaves.

Allspice: for pickles and broths

PROSEA notes that whole allspice berries go into meat broths, gravies and pickling liquids.² The name comes from a flavor that resembles a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. A couple of whole berries in a mushroom pickle or broth add warmth. The NCHFP recipe doesn’t use it.¹ See allspice substitutes and pickling spice.

Pickled and marinated mushrooms

If you’re canning mushrooms to keep, use a tested recipe. The NCHFP’s marinated whole mushrooms combine most of the seasonings above in a marinade made with white vinegar of 5% acidity:¹

For canned jars, follow the tested recipe exactly. For a small batch kept in the refrigerator, the dried herbs and whole spices are the part you can play with.

Related

• Garlic
• Onion powder
• Black pepper
• Oregano
• Pickling spice
• The master list of herbs and spices