If you’re looking for a filling snack to serve to your guests for game day, the holidays, or any gathering, you’ve come to the right place. These mushrooms are packed with a creamy venison and spinach filling that makes the perfect appetizer. To prepare the mushrooms, you’ll simply pop off the stems and scoop out the insides to make extra room for the delicious filling. Then, we’ll brown our ground venison with diced onions, and the reserved mushroom stems, and seasoned with a homemade all-purpose seasoning to amplify the flavor of the venison. To create the mouth-watering filling mixture, you’ll combine the seasoned venison with spinach, cream cheese, Parmesan, and breadcrumbs. Next, stuff the delicious filling into the mushrooms. Finally, we’ll bake the mushrooms for 15 minutes and you’re left with an appetizer that guests will keep coming back to snack on.

Ingredients

20 fresh Cremini or Baby Bella Mushrooms (large or medium size)

1 tablespoon olive oil or butter

1 pound ground venison

½ cup diced onion

½ cup diced mushroom stems

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon minced garlic

2 cups packed baby spinach, chopped

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

⅓ cup grated Parmesan

¼ cup breadcrumbs

Chopped parsley, to garnish (optional)

Recipe Directions

1. Wipe any outside dirt off the mushrooms using a damp paper towel.
2. Remove stems from mushrooms, and scoop out dark brown gills with a small spoon while keeping the mushroom cap intact. Reserve the mushroom stems to the side and dice them up, reserving ½ cups worth.
3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
4. Melt olive oil or butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add in ground venison and onion and cook for 5-7 minutes, until the venison is no longer pink
5. Add in parsley salt and black pepper and mix until well combined.
6. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
7. Once the venison is cooled, transfer to a large mixing bowl.
8. Add in chopped spinach, softened cream cheese, Parmesan and breadcrumbs. Mix well.
9. Gently stuff into mushroom caps. Then place each stuffed mushroom onto a parchment paper lined baking tray or a non-stick baking tray.
10. Bake them for 12-15 minutes. Garnish with fresh parsley and serve immediately.