Grilled Portabella Mushroom Burgers

Meaty portabella mushrooms with smoked mozzarella, roasted red peppers and an herbaceous basil pesto kick this vegetarian burger up a notch!

Sometimes you feel like a burger, but you don’t really feel like having meat

Portabella mushrooms are a great substitute.  They’re meaty, take on robust flavors and grill up perfectly.  Not to mention, they’re WAY lower in fat and calories than ground meat

Prepare yourself… it’s gonna be good!

Let’s start by cleaning the portabellas.  Brush off any soil with a paper towel and remove both the stems and gills

Let’s marinate the cleaned portabella caps with a drizzle of olive oil & balsamic vinegar

Sprinkle with some chopped fresh rosemary, kosher salt and black pepper

Give them a flip and season the tops

While the mushrooms marinate, let’s work on the other components

We’re going to need some roasted red bell peppers

You can buy them already roasted in a jar, but nothing beats the flavor of roasting them yourself

Click the link for the three different methods that we use for roasting peppers

Show me how to roast red bell peppers

I poured myself a glass of wine and looked out into the backyard while I was roasting the peppers.  Even the cook gets to enjoy a few moments of peace.  Maybe it’s the calm before the storm…

Regardless of which method you use to roast the peppers, let them cool, peel the skins off and remove the ribs and seeds

Slice into strips for the sandwich assembly

You can use jarred basil pesto, but believe me, there’s nothing like fresh, homemade basil pesto.  And it SO easy to make.  Check out our link below

Basil Pesto

Let’s toast up some brioche buns.  Brush the buns with olive oil and place on the grill over medium heat

Ideally, we would use our gas grill to make these burgers but as luck would have it, a bad storm blew  it over on the patio and damaged it.  You can’t make this stuff up!  No worries, we’ll just use our flat top grill

Toast the buns for about 3-5 minutes or until lightly browned.  Remove and set aside

The last prep we need to do before grilling the ‘shrooms is slicing the smoked mozzarella

Cut the cheese in about 1/4″ slices.  We want it a little thicker so we get the ooey gooey goodness.  Yes, I said that

Gather together all of the toppings to make assembly a little quicker.  We’ve used baby greens that we’re growing right in our kitchen, but you can use baby spinach or whatever type of lettuce you prefer

Grill the mushrooms, stem side down for 3 minutes, then flip over.  Grill 3 more minutes, then flip back.  I like to pour the balsamic marinade that was left in the pan over the caps and grill for about 2 more minutes

You can cook a bit longer if you’d like… it’s really personal preference.  I like the burgers to be a little soft, but still have a meaty consistency

Last but not least, and certainly best in my opinion… drumroll please… add the cheese!

Divide the cheese up and place over the mushrooms.  It only takes 2 – 3 minutes to melt so keep an eye on them

Since our flattop has no lid, we used a large pan to cover while the cheese melts.  Cooking is all about improvising!

If using  gas grill, simply shut the lid

Remove from the grill and let’s start assembly

Spread some basil pesto on the toasted bun and add a layer of the roasted red pepper

Top the bun with the mushroom and greens… oh my.  There’s a reason this is one of the most popular posts on our blog!

This is one vegetarian burger to rival them all!

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Enjoy!

Tools used to make this recipe

Wilton Baking Pan

Farberware Cutting Board

Blackstone 28 inch Outdoor Flat Top Griddle

Mini Prep Glass Bowl

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