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Portabella Philly Cheesesteak Recipe

Mushrooms are a great meat substitute, if you’re want some meatless meals. One of the best ways is with this Portabella Philly Cheesesteak recipe.

It’s one of our favorite Meatless Monday meals. For more meatless ideas, check out all of our vegetarian recipes.

A cheesesteak made with mushrooms in a roll with the words "Portabella Philly Cheesesteak" digitally written on top.

One of our favorite vegetarian recipes is our Portabella Philly Cheesesteak. It has all the flavor of a traditional Philly cheesesteak, but without any of the meat.

So you can eat these on Meatless Mondays, Ash Wednesday, Fridays during Lent, or whenever you just don’t feel like having red meat.

Yes, these are a vegetarian Philly cheesesteak, even though the word “steak” is in the name. We’re using the portabella mushrooms as the steak portion of these. They’re actually really meaty and hold up when you cook them, so they do mimic the ribeye that’s usually used in a traditional Philly cheesesteak recipe.

Mushrooms in a pan with the words "10 Budget-Friendly Mushroom Recipes" digitally written on top.

Did you buy too many mushrooms for this Mushroom and Feta Bisque and you’re wondering what else to do with them?

Check out our list of Budget-Friendly Mushroom Recipes for more recipes.

Portabella Philly Cheesesteak Recipe

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My go-to cheesesteak order at Pat’s King Of Steaks — the only cheesesteak place I’ll eat in Philly –is “American wit.” That’s how you have to order. You tell them your cheese (Cheez Wiz, American, or Provolone) then “wit” (with onions) or “wit-out” (no onions). No other words allowed. Then you pay cash.

So of course, our portabella mushroom cheesesteaks are made “wit,” but instead of American, I use cheddar cheese. The sharpness of the cheddar adds an extra depth of flavor. You could use American or Provolone if you prefer.

Portabella Philly Cheesesteak Ingredients:

  • 12 oz. portabella mushrooms
  • 2 medium onions
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon fresh oregano
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 4 oz. cheddar cheese
  • Bolillos rolls
  • Salt & pepper to taste

How To Make Portabella Philly Cheesesteaks:

Wash the portabella mushroom caps.

Wiggle the portabella mushroom stem to remove it (see more about that in the tips section below). Discard it.

Leave the portabella mushroom gills. They’ll add a beautifully rich color to your food.

Looking for a Meatless Monday meal? Try these Portabella Philly Cheesesteaks. You won't even miss the meat.

Slice the onion into 1/4-inch strips.

Saute the onions, on medium, in olive oil for about 5 minutes until they start to get translucent.

While the onion is cooking, slice the portabella mushroom into 1/4-inch strips.

Looking for a Meatless Monday meal? Try these Portabella Philly Cheesesteaks. You won't even miss the meat.

Add the mushrooms to the pan and begin to cook them down (about 25 minutes, depending on how thick you sliced the mushroom).

Don’t worry if they overflow out of your pan when you put them in. They’ll cook down and leave you with plenty of room.

Looking for a Meatless Monday meal? Try these Portabella Philly Cheesesteaks. You won't even miss the meat.

About halfway through, season them with pepper, oregano, and garlic powder. Drizzle them with soy sauce.

Add your salt and cook 5 more minutes until all the water released from the mushrooms is gone.

While that’s cooking, slice your cheddar cheese into thin slices.

Turn the heat down to low.

Looking for a Meatless Monday meal? Try these Portabella Philly Cheesesteaks. You won't even miss the meat.

Gather the mixture into the center of the pan. Top with equal parts cheese. Let the cheese melt, about three minutes.

Cut your bolillos rolls down the middle, making sure to not cut all the way through.

Fill the center with the portabella mushroom mixture.

Serve these portabella Philly cheesesteak sandwiches hot with homemade french fries or a salad.

Looking for a Meatless Monday meal? Try these Portabella Philly Cheesesteaks. You won't even miss the meat.

Quick note. We always buy the ALDI portabella mushrooms because the price is great. Those are 6oz. packages and have two to a pack. So we use four portabella mushrooms for this recipe to make four portabella mushroom cheesesteak sandwiches. You may have to adjust based on what size package you buy.

Less is usually more, but in the case of mushrooms, more is more. Mushrooms cook down so much, so you’re better buying more than you need rather than less than you need (if you have to choose).

How To Clean Portabella Mushrooms

  • Start by rinsing your portabella mushrooms in cold water. Even though you buy them prepackaged at the store, portabella mushrooms do still have a lot of dirt on them. Dampen a paper towel use it to scrub the caps. You could also use a vegetable brush  if you have one of those. You’ll want to completely clean the dirt off off before you cook the portabella mushrooms.
  • Wiggle the stem back and forth to remove it. Treat it like a loose tooth. Wiggle, don’t pull. If you pull it out, you risk pulling out a huge portion of the mushroom.
  • If you’re making a stuffed portabella mushroom recipe, you’ll want to clean out the gills inside the mushroom caps. That’s actually the real word for those dark, black lines you see in the cap. Use a spoon to gently scrape them from the cap, making sure to not dig too far and remove the mushroom’s flesh. After you scrape the gills, be sure to rinse out the inside of the portabella mushroom cap to remove any gill pieces you left behind.

Tips For Cooking Portabella Mushrooms

  • As we mentioned above, portabella mushrooms have dark, black gills inside of them. They are edible, so don’t feel like you have to spend time pulling them out before you cook them. Some people do, though because the portabella mushroom gills can potentially turn your food brown. For this recipe, you can leave the portabella mushroom gills and your Portabella Philly Cheesesteak will be fine. But if you were making our Portabella Mushroom Pizzas, you would want to remove them.
  • The stems of portabella mushrooms are edible, although they can be a little tough to bite. So you might want to discard them for this recipe since that tough, fibrous texture will really throw off your recipe. You can cook them, in general, but be sure to cut them really fine if you’re going to make them.
  • Mushrooms cook down. A lot. So don’t underestimate the amount of portabella mushroom you need for any given recipes. Mushrooms look like a lot when you’re cutting them, but they’ll only be about 1/3 of the size after they’re cooked.
  • If you want to brown the portabella mushrooms in a pan, don’t salt them. The salt will pull out so much moisture from the portabella mushrooms, so they won’t caramelize. For something like our mushroom and feta bisque, that’s fine because you don’t want caramelized mushrooms in soup. But for something like sautéed mushrooms, you want to skip the salt. Other seasoning, like garlic powder (but not garlic salt), is fine.

Portabella vs. Portobello?

Portabella mushrooms are one of my favorite things to cook, but not one of my favorite things to spell. So let’s just get that out of the way. We spell it with two a’s — Portabella — instead of three o’s — Portobello — because that’s how The Mushroom Council, the authority on mushrooms spells it. So these are Portabella Philly Cheesesteaks.

But if you want to tell your friends you’ve found a delicious Portobello Philly Cheesesteak recipe, I don’t think the mushroom police are going to come after you.

Yield: 4 Sandwiches

Portabella Philly Cheesesteaks

Mushrooms are a great meat substitute, if you're want some meatless meals. One of the best ways is with this Portabella Philly Cheesesteak recipe.

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

  • 12 oz. portabella mushrooms
  • 2 medium onions
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon fresh oregano
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 4 oz. cheddar cheese
  • Bolillos rolls
  • Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Wash the portabella mushroom caps.
  2. Wiggle the portabella mushroom stem to remove it.
  3. Slice the onion into 1/4-inch strips.
  4. Saute the onions, on medium, in olive oil for about 5 minutes until they start to get translucent.
  5. While the onion is cooking, slice the portabella mushroom into 1/4-inch strips.
  6. Add the mushrooms to the pan and begin to cook them down (about 25 minutes, depending on how thick you sliced the mushroom).
  7. About halfway through, season them with pepper, oregano, and garlic powder. Drizzle them with soy sauce.
  8. Add your salt and cook 5 more minutes until all the water released from the mushrooms is gone.
  9. While that’s cooking, slice your cheddar cheese into thin slices.
  10. Turn the heat down to low.
  11. Gather the mixture into the center of the pan. Top with equal parts cheese. Let the cheese melt, about three minutes.
  12. Cut your bolillos rolls down the middle, making sure to not cut all the way through.
  13. Fill the center with the portabella mushroom mixture.

Nutrition Information

Yield

4

Serving Size

1

Amount Per Serving Calories 265Total Fat 12gSaturated Fat 6gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 5gCholesterol 28mgSodium 650mgCarbohydrates 28gFiber 4gSugar 5gProtein 14g

Have you made this Portabella Philly Cheesesteak recipe? Let us know in the comments.

Miz Helen

Tuesday 23rd of June 2020

Thanks so much for sharing your awesome post.

anneinthekitchen

Thursday 18th of June 2020

This looks delicious! I kind of think that anything is better with mushrooms. ;-) Thanks for sharing!

Joanne

Wednesday 17th of June 2020

That sounds so delcious!! I love portabella mushrooms. Pinned.

Kimberly

Wednesday 17th of June 2020

This looks amazing! Pinned it. Hubby and I would love to try this recipe.

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