This vegetarian shiitake mushroom stuffing takes this humble holiday dish and elevates it with yummy umami flavors. It is honestly one of the best stuffings I’ve ever had, and it’s easy to make! This is a stuffing you WANT to have for your holiday get togethers.
I really wanted to make a vegetarian stuffing dish that I just love, and I think I achieved that! The key to this shiitake mushroom stuffing is all the umami flavors from the soy sauce, sesame oil, and shiitake mushrooms. These ingredients give it that perfect savory flavor, so it feels like you’re eating something with meat in it when you’re actually not!
Ingredients, Substitutions & Adjustments
- Bread – The best kind of bread to use for stuffing is firm stale bread. Some excellent options are sourdough, wheat, and white bread. I wouldn’t recommend breads that are soft like milk bread or brioche. I tested this recipe with wheat and sourdough bread and found that I preferred sourdough because it kept its texture the best.
- Unsalted butter – Adds a nutty flavor to the dish. I would highly recommend using unsalted butter so you can control the amount of salt included in this dish.
- Yellow onions and shallots – These ingredients add sweetness to the dish. You can use all yellow onions or all shallots if you only want to use 1 kind of onion. A good substitute for both is white onion.
- Celery – Adds texture to the dish.
- Garlic – Adds more flavor to the dish.
- Shiitake mushrooms – These mushrooms add amazing umami flavor to the dish. I also like the chewy texture. Substitute with portobello or cremini mushrooms.
- Salt for seasoning
- Five spice powder – This spice also adds umami flavor to the dish. If you don’t have five spice powder, just use pepper. The flavor will be slightly different, but it will still be good!
- Soy sauce – Adds umami flavor to the dish! A good substitute for soy sauce is tamari.
- Sesame oil – Adds more umami flavor to the dish! If you don’t have sesame oil, leave it out.
- Thyme and parsley – Adds some herby flavor to the dish. Other good herbs you can include are sage and rosemary.
- Vegetable broth – This is the main liquid component to the dish. You can also use chicken broth if you don’t care about this dish being vegetarian!
- Egg – Adds richness to the dish and helps the stuffing bind together.
How to make my shiitake mushroom stuffing
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). Grease a 7×10 baking dish with oil or butter. Toast bread for 30 minutes until crispy. Add to a large bowl. While bread is toasting, cut the onion, shallot, celery, garlic, and shiitake mushrooms. Melt butter over medium high heat in a large pot. Add the onions, shallots, garlic, mushrooms, salt, and five spice powder. Cook until everything is cooked through (3-5 minutes).
Add the soy sauce, sesame oil, thyme, and parsley and mix until combined. Add 1 cup of the vegetable broth and bring to a simmer. Pour over bread and mix until combined. Whisk together last 1/2 cup of vegetable broth and egg. Pour over stuffing and mix until combined. Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake for 55 minutes to an hour until internal temperature is 160 degrees F. Optional: Garnish with extra parsley and serve!
Bonus ingredient – Chinese sausage
If you don’t care that this stuffing is vegetarian, you could add some minced Chinese sausage to the stuffing. Thinly slice the Chinese sausage and sear them in a pan before adding them to the stuffing mixture. I’ve made a Chinese sausage stuffing before, and I absolutely love it!
Tips on how to make the perfect shiitake mushroom stuffing
Buy pre-cut vegetables
The most labor intensive part of this dish is cutting all the vegetables. It takes about 40 minutes to cut everything, so if you can buy any vegetables pre-cut, I would do it.
Pour bread into the pot instead of using a mixing bowl
To be honest, I’m not 100% sure why using a mixing bowl to combine your stuffing ingredients is standard practice. I was using my large mixing bowl for something else when I did my last test of this recipe, so I poured my toasted bread into my dutch oven where I cooked all my vegetables (see pictures). It works just fine, and you reduce your dishes by 1.
Using a 9×13 vs 7×10 baking dish
I could not find my 9×13 baking dish while testing this recipe, so I used my 7×10 baking dish instead. I added 10-15 minutes of bake time to my recipe to account for that change. If you are using a 9×13 baking dish, bake the stuffing for 45-50 minutes until the internal temperature is 160 degrees F.
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Vegetarian Shiitake Mushroom Stuffing
Ingredients
- 10 oz bread see note 1
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup yellow onion minced, see note 2
- 1 cup shallots minced, see note 2
- 2 cups celery cut into 1 inch pieces
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 10 oz shiitake mushrooms
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp five spice powder
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp thyme minced
- 3 tbsp parsley minced
- 1 ½ cups vegetable broth
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C).
- Grease a 7×10 baking dish with oil or butter.
- Toast bread for 30 minutes until crispy and lightly brown. Add to a large bowl.
- While bread is toasting, cut the onion, shallot, celery, garlic, and shiitake mushrooms.
- Melt butter over medium high heat in a large pot. Add the onions, shallots, garlic, mushrooms, salt, and five spice powder. Cook until everything is cooked through (3-5 minutes).
- Add the soy sauce, sesame oil, thyme, and parsley and mix until combined.
- Add 1 cup of the vegetable broth and bring to a simmer.
- Pour over bread and mix until combined.
- Whisk together last ½ cup of vegetable broth and egg. Pour over stuffing and mix until combined.
- Pour into prepared baking dish.
- Bake for 55 minutes to an hour until internal temperature is 160 degrees F.
- Optional: Garnish with extra parsley and serve!
Notes
- The best kind of bread to use for stuffing is firm stale bread. Some excellent options are sourdough, wheat, and white bread. I wouldn’t recommend breads that are soft like milk bread or brioche. I tested this recipe with wheat and sourdough bread and found that I preferred sourdough because it kept its texture the best.
- You can use only shallots or only yellow onions if you only want to use 1 kind of onion.
- Buy pre-cut vegetables. The most labor intensive part of this dish is cutting all the vegetables. It takes about 40 minutes to cut everything, so if you can buy any vegetables pre-cut, I would do it.
- Using a 9×13 vs 7×10 baking dish. I could not find my 9×13 baking dish while testing this recipe, so I used my 7×10 baking dish instead. I added 10-15 minutes of bake time to my recipe to account for that change. If you are using a 9×13 baking dish, bake the stuffing for 45-50 minutes until the internal temperature is 160 degrees F.
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by Becca Du